DJI Air 2S Smart Controller Update & MAX Speed Test. The implementation with DJI Smart Controller and Air 2S is not good, the video feed is lagging big time making it unusable compared to using it with my Mavic 2 Pro flown under the same conditions :-(

Maybe its not the smart controller firmware, maybe its the air 2s firmware which causes the problems. Have you tried different models?

Have you tested outside the car,  the metal might be interfering.

DAFlys Posted at 4-19 00:40
Have you tested outside the car,  the metal might be interfering.

Yes, shortly but I would do it again along with some other tips I need to test. But as written, I have no issue with my Mavic 2 Pro operating it from inside the car as well as having screen recording running

FlyRacer Posted at 4-18 23:58
Maybe its not the smart controller firmware, maybe its the air 2s firmware which causes the problems. Have you tried different models?

you might be on to something here, as it works with Mavic 2 Pro

Interesting, thanks for sharing.  Seems if it works okay with M2P then the issue is with Air 2S firmware.  Just guessing.

I'm seeing the same problem! Very Dangerous, was flying today in the US over rural farmland as well.
I actually had the Smart Controller LOCK UP COMPLETELY...!!! Not acceptable, luckily the drone was very close when it happened and was able to get it landed. Re-booted Smart Controller and it did not lock up again with the next 2 batteries.
The lag has been around since I switched to the SC and is not apparent with the included controller.
DJI will have to come up with a fix ASAP.

DowntownRDB Posted at 4-19 04:23
Interesting, thanks for sharing.  Seems if it works okay with M2P then the issue is with Air 2S firmware.  Just guessing.

Its almost certain to be new FW, but op updated FW In his car through the app and update specifically says only update through dji assistant, this could be cause of FW not updating correctly.

Wow thanks ill be getting my air 2s in the morning .. this is very scary and dangerous!!! Thanks for keeping us advised of the faulty SC use!

DowntownRDB Posted at 4-19 04:23
Interesting, thanks for sharing.  Seems if it works okay with M2P then the issue is with Air 2S firmware.  Just guessing.

I will test this later, and I have done the following:

1. Refreshed the SC through the DJI Assistant 2
2. Made a factory reset of the controller
3. Completed the Air 2S firmware update (for some reason it failed even saying 100% at some point, can't rule out I moved too fast here)

When I get on site I will
1. Step out and away from the car
2. Test with or with Screen recording
3. Check with Mavic 2 Pro as a reference

And hopefully document my findings in another video :-)

Watching this post as that is terrible. Will not be able to use the SC like this.

TP-FPV Posted at 4-19 04:25
I'm seeing the same problem! Very Dangerous, was flying today in the US over rural farmland as well.
I actually had the Smart Controller LOCK UP COMPLETELY...!!! Not acceptable, luckily the drone was very close when it happened and was able to get it landed. Re-booted Smart Controller and it did not lock up again with the next 2 batteries.
The lag has been around since I switched to the SC and is not apparent with the included controller.

Totally agree this is not acceptable, let’s see what my testing later today will reveal

Henrik Olsen Posted at 4-19 06:16
I will test this later, and I have done the following:

1. Refreshed the SC through the DJI Assistant 2

Looking forward to your follow up test video.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 4-20 02:28
Looking forward to your follow up test video.

I have recorded the video :-) Hope to upload it later this week (spoiler it's still crap)

That did not look to good!

Henrik Olsen Posted at 4-20 04:37
I have recorded the video :-) Hope to upload it later this week (spoiler it's still crap)

Oh no, that's not good.  

Same problem here, video feed lagging on SC, perfect on the normal controller.
Very disappointed... hope to be fixed soon together with the 2x crop at 50/60 fps... WTF dji?

Hi, I am sorry for the issue. Would you mind helping to export the Fly app log from the Smart Controller (route: DJI/dji.pilot.pad/LOG/), and the flight data from the drone via DJI Assistant 2? You can upload the lof to Dropbox/Google Drive. We would love to investigate further about this issue. Thank you for your assistance.

On my side today no lag at all... I don't know, voodoo stuff is going on

the_p1gg0d Posted at 4-22 03:29
On my side today no lag at all... I don't know, voodoo stuff is going on

No Voodoo mine this morning behaved just fine.

the_p1gg0d Posted at 4-21 14:56
Same problem here, video feed lagging on SC, perfect on the normal controller.
Very disappointed... hope to be fixed soon together with the 2x crop at 50/60 fps... WTF dji?

I can report the same issue - video lagging on SC. On the Standard RC no problem at all, also with my M 2 Zoom.

Yesterday I tested Air 2S and SC at home. Maybe I recognized, that the first binding Air2S to SC shows the lagging in the display, but after I switched off Air 2S and switched on again with binding it was okay.

I will test this outside this weekend. Whatever, there is something wrong, probably the software is causing the issue.

With further test of my smart controller today I ran into another issue that is not good!
I was flying in "S" Sport Mode and when I switch backed to "P" Normal Mode the controller locked up the left & right movement of my drone.
When I moved the switch to "C" or "S" I could move left or right but anytime I moved the switch to "P" no left or right movement.
I verified this behavior for 15 minutes within 100' from my home spot and observed the same visually.

I'm still carefully testing the SC controller with the A2S and as noted by Henrik it is definitely a fail without a software or firmware update.
I haven't lost my drone yet but would definitely not be using it as a beginner pilot.

TP-FPV Posted at 4-25 13:56
With further test of my smart controller today I ran into another issue that is not good!
I was flying in "S" Sport Mode and when I switch backed to "P" Normal Mode the controller locked up the left & right movement of my drone.
When I moved the switch to "C" or "S" I could move left or right but anytime I moved the switch to "P" no left or right movement.

Post flight log this will show stick movements, this sounds like a problem with your smart controller, not your drone.

Phantom help...

Could it be the Smart Controller needs to be updated to support OcuSync 3.0 natively? Currently I see only support for version 2.0 while the Air 2S is version 3. I'm a little surprised that dji didn't announce a new version of the Smart Controller at the same time as the release of OcuSync 3.0. Would have made a huge splash. Hmm.

hallmark007 Posted at 4-25 15:15
Post flight log this will show stick movements, this sounds like a problem with your smart controller, not your drone.

Phantom help...

Ahhh yes...as the title of the topic of this thread is referring to, it would be a smart controller fail not the drone.

TP-FPV Posted at 4-25 17:28
Ahhh yes...as the title of the topic of this thread is referring to, it would be a smart controller fail not the drone.

I think if you bothered your arse to watch the video you’d realize the topic was RC failure caused by FW for air2s so in other words its working with other drones but not air2s. Just post your log and we we should see what wrong if its drone or SC.

MIDIhead Posted at 4-25 16:41
Could it be the Smart Controller needs to be updated to support OcuSync 3.0 natively? Currently I see only support for version 2.0 while the Air 2S is version 3. I'm a little surprised that dji didn't announce a new version of the Smart Controller at the same time as the release of OcuSync 3.0. Would have made a huge splash. Hmm.

Think a new version may come soon, but standard controller with air2s is O2 also.

Hello Henrik,

As I stated on your youtube video comment. I am also receiving the same exact issues as you are seeing. I even have 2 smart controllers with the exact same response. It has everything to do with a crappy firmware. I don't even want the smart controllers any longer. I think they are no longer fixable since the last firmware update. This is totally unacceptable. I got lost money in smart controllers that I will never get back. They are useless to use now, cannot take a chance that I will crash a drone because they are not liable to use any longer.

Mugsie Posted at 4-26 08:59
Hello Henrik,

As I stated on your youtube video comment. I am also receiving the same exact issues as you are seeing. I even have 2 smart controllers with the exact same response. It has everything to do with a crappy firmware. I don't even want the smart controllers any longer. I think they are no longer fixable since the last firmware update. This is totally unacceptable. I got lost money in smart controllers that I will never get back. They are useless to use now, cannot take a chance that I will crash a drone because they are not liable to use any longer.

yes, I saw that.. I hope they can fix it to an extent where it's useable

DJI Air 2S is dangerous with DJI Smart Controller and I do not recommend flying with it before DJI gets it fixed as the signal breaks up all the time. This is an update, where I have taken all your feedback into account :-)

I hadn't noticed the lag on my A2s and the SC but I'll look for it on my next flight.  I do want to thank you for teaching me something.. the "return button/record button " to start screen recording. I've been swipping down and then tapping record.

Thanks again!

Did DJI do anything about the SC problem yet?

What should i do when getting such a freeze on the SC? Any suggestions? Best practise?

djiuser_Rl5QVRDpuZPU Posted at 5-19 10:31
What should i do when getting such a freeze on the SC? Any suggestions? Best practise?

For starters “ignore this guy” he fails to test correctly and most of his posts are about clickbait . His headers are completely misleading and in no way designed to help anyone.

Use Link below to a you tuber who tests correctly gives sound advice and is here to help not to dramatize.
I have followed his advice and my SC works perfectly with Air2s.

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=242567

hallmark007 Posted at 5-19 12:31
For starters “ignore this guy” he fails to test correctly and most of his posts are about clickbait . His headers are completely misleading and in no way designed to help anyone.

Use Link below to a you tuber who tests correctly gives sound advice and is here to help not to dramatize.

I agree... my SC works great with the Air 2S. No issues with lag, breakup, or range. Perhaps some people are having issues, and they might be cleared up with new software, but this thing has been blown out of all proportion by people trying to promote their websites.

arizona mavic flyer Posted at 5-19 13:09
I agree... my SC works great with the Air 2S. No issues with lag, breakup, or range. Perhaps some people are having issues, and they might be cleared up with new software, but this thing has been blown out of all proportion by people trying to promote their websites.

That’s exactly it, and it works really well for me also.

my problem is when I used smart controller with my 2s, video mode is fine. but when I switched to photo mode,  the photo was just frozen even the drone camera changed to different direction.   I did everything I could including reset to factory default and refresh the firmware, but the issue is still there.

fansd60f61ed Posted at 5-25 17:04
my problem is when I used smart controller with my 2s, video mode is fine. but when I switched to photo mode,  the photo was just frozen even the drone camera changed to different direction.   I did everything I could including reset to factory default and refresh the firmware, but the issue is still there.

I have had exactly the same problem. I've sent logs and video capture to DJI, and hopefully it will get sorted out soon. I reverted back to Fly 1.4.0 and all is working again.

arizona mavic flyer Posted at 5-25 18:48
I have had exactly the same problem. I've sent logs and video capture to DJI, and hopefully it will get sorted out soon. I reverted back to Fly 1.4.0 and all is working again.

Just downgraded to 1.4.0 and it worked! really appreciate. but with 1.4.0, we just lose the funcationality of colorful video option when in d-log. Pls let me know if Dji get some solution for you. Thanks again!

fansd60f61ed Posted at 5-26 03:40
Just downgraded to 1.4.0 and it worked! really appreciate. but with 1.4.0, we just lose the funcationality of colorful video option when in d-log. Pls let me know if Dji get some solution for you. Thanks again!

Glad you are up and running... if I get a solution from DJI will post it here.