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Drift when hovering
14690 17 2022-7-21
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Eveezy
lvl.3
Flight distance : 19170 ft
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Hi All,
New DJI owner here. By no means am I any where near experianced as most of you, but so far I am really liking this new drone (Mini 3 Pro). Coming from only "toy" drones this thing flys like a dream.

I haven't had much time to fly it yet, but the 1st few flights were perfect. Last night I got it out just to put in a new SD card and decided to fly it indoors just for a few. I noticed it was drifting all over. Up, down, side to side, forward etc... probably within a few feet of the "start". I found this odd since all the other flights it stayed put almost perfectly especially in doors (had 23+ sats connected). Once I landed it it said compass needed to be calibrated, so I did that then it gave the same error for IMU so I did that. Tried again and still drifting around. I ended up letting it cool down, recalibrated IMU, took it outside and recalibrated compass and did a very short outdoor flight in very low wind. It was still drifting all over even with over 20 sats. It was dark out so I don't know if that has anything to do with it as my previous night flight did not have this issue.
*edit - forgot to add that I got the message to calibrate the compass on both the RC and the Drone. Calibrated both.

Anyway figured I would post here in case there is something else I should be looking out for. Everythign was updated before first flight, so that is all updated. Grabbed the new RC update this AM. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance!


2022-7-21
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digibud
Second Officer
Flight distance : 8043855 ft
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it should be the IMU that resets that problem. IF that was done all correctly I'd check with DJI for further advise.
2022-7-21
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Eveezy
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Flight distance : 19170 ft
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digibud Posted at 7-21 08:15
it should be the IMU that resets that problem. IF that was done all correctly I'd check with DJI for further advise.

Thanks for your response.

I going to assume its "user error" for now. I'll try recalibrating the IMU. I tried multiple times. When letting it sit on its side its not perfectly upright, so tried it sitting on its side however it lays and then again holding it upright to see if there was any difference. I noticed in a youtube video that the user was holding it to keep it upright so figured I would try that too.
2022-7-21
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hallmark007
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First off, if you decide to fly indoors you will continually get compass needs calibration. Indoors is full of magnetic interference and if you calibrate indoors the you’re setting the compass parameters to that environment and it could cause you problems outside where parameters are totally different.

Second, you drone need good light underneath and a textured surface to lock VPS on to if this is not the case then this is what’s likely causing drone to not hold position.

There is no need for IMU Compass Gimbal or any other calibrations. If your drone asks for calibration, turn it off and move to another location, never calibrate in an area where there is magnetic interference.

If you have calibrated drone indoors then recalibrate in an area free from magnetic interference “Outside”

You should also read your manual, lots of information in there. Check out below for safe flying .

Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.


1/ Never calibrate Compass unless prompted to. Your compass will always prompt to calibrate if it needs it .

2/ start AC leave until you receive enough gps lock ,

3/ if you get Compass interference turn off AC and move to another location,
without interference.

4/ In bottom left hand corner on your map you will see small red/blue triangle, check to make sure that this triangle is pointing in the same direction (heading) as your AC, this will show good compass on the ground.

Raise AC to height of 8ft
Hover for 20 seconds
Fly forward 2ft
Backward 2ft
Left 2ft
Right 2ft
Up 2ft
Down 2ft
Yaw left
Yaw right
Each time returning to hover position
If you have a good horizontal each time, you will then know you have good GPS good IMU and good Compass, and your ready to fly.

This exercise takes less than 1 minutes and is worthwhile doing before every flight,
2022-7-21
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Eveezy
lvl.3
Flight distance : 19170 ft
United States
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hallmark007 Posted at 7-21 08:34
First off, if you decide to fly indoors you will continually get compass needs calibration. Indoors is full of magnetic interference and if you calibrate indoors the you’re setting the compass parameters to that environment and it could cause you problems outside where parameters are totally different.

Second, you drone need good light underneath and a textured surface to lock VPS on to if this is not the case then this is what’s likely causing drone to not hold position.

Thanks for the response. As mentioned, I did do the recalibration outside with the same result, but who knows maybe I did it wrong. I'll try again. And thanks for the safe flying tips. I have been doing something similar before going out too far, but this list helps keep it to standard work. I like it, thank you for sharing.

I'm guessing it prompted me since I was indoors, so I will keep that in mind. Also, I did read the manual several times actually and again when noticing this behaviour to see if there was any troubleshooting guide for it (also checked youtube and these forums before posting). I try to at least make an effort before asking a question lol.

Anyway thanks again for the tips. Take care.
2022-7-21
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hallmark007
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Eveezy Posted at 7-21 09:09
Thanks for the response. As mentioned, I did do the recalibration outside with the same result, but who knows maybe I did it wrong. I'll try again. And thanks for the safe flying tips. I have been doing something similar before going out too far, but this list helps keep it to standard work. I like it, thank you for sharing.

I'm guessing it prompted me since I was indoors, so I will keep that in mind. Also, I did read the manual several times actually and again when noticing this behaviour to see if there was any troubleshooting guide for it (also checked youtube and these forums before posting). I try to at least make an effort before asking a question lol.

Your welcome safe flying…
2022-7-21
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DJI Stephen
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Hello there Eveezy. Welcome to DJI Forum and thank you for reaching out. Just a friendly reminder that DJI do not recommend flying your DJI Mini 3 Pro indoors as the environment may have interference and caused an incident and also during low light condition as the vision sensors may not work properly. DJI suggest to choose an outdoor open area where the GPS is good, no magnetic interference, to fly your DJI Drone and check if all the functions are normal. Thank you and fly safe always.
2022-7-21
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Eveezy
lvl.3
Flight distance : 19170 ft
United States
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Had a chance to take it outside today and even in windy conditions is hovered perfectly (well close as perfect can be anyway).

So ya, user error flying indoor and under low light conditions.

Thanks to all for the help!


2022-7-21
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GaryDoug
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No need to recalibrate anything. Indoors is a crap shoot unless you have a pattern on the floor that is not plain colored. I have an Indian rug in my living room. Lots of vivid detail ;-)When I launch outdoors in full darkness, i go up quick to get into GPS control. Otherwise the drone does drift a lot, including the M3. I watch carefully at first.
Lighting is everything.


2022-7-21
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Labroides
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Eveezy Posted at 7-21 09:09
Thanks for the response. As mentioned, I did do the recalibration outside with the same result, but who knows maybe I did it wrong. I'll try again. And thanks for the safe flying tips. I have been doing something similar before going out too far, but this list helps keep it to standard work. I like it, thank you for sharing.

I'm guessing it prompted me since I was indoors, so I will keep that in mind. Also, I did read the manual several times actually and again when noticing this behaviour to see if there was any troubleshooting guide for it (also checked youtube and these forums before posting). I try to at least make an effort before asking a question lol.

I did do the recalibration outside with the same result, but who knows maybe I did it wrong. I'll try again.
There is almost never any need to recalibrate the IMU or compass.
Even when you think the compass is asking for recalibration, it probably isn't.
DJI's warning is badly worded and the proper action is to switch off and move away from the problem the compass is warning you about.




2022-7-22
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Eveezy
lvl.3
Flight distance : 19170 ft
United States
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Labroides Posted at 7-22 03:04
I did do the recalibration outside with the same result, but who knows maybe I did it wrong. I'll try again.
There is almost never any need to recalibrate the IMU or compass.
Even when you think the compass is asking for recalibration, it probably isn't.

Good to know, thanks again for sharing tips / knowlege. It helps new flyers like me who aren't super confident yet taking the drone out too far of a distance.
2022-7-22
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daravigkosandre
lvl.1
Flight distance : 1117572 ft
Greece
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Hi everyone!
I'm experiencing problems when hovering my drone.  

https://youtu.be/GJ2JxcjRnhw

As seen on the video, my drone has a major vibration at the front arm, even though, it has new propellers all around.
Barely any breaze (you can see it on the grass) and it wobbles like crazy, while it cannot maitain altitude or position.
If I let it hover, it can move up to five meters to any direction with zero input on the controls.
It refuses to land most of the times because of faulty ground detection.
What I mean by that, it hovers 10cm above ground and reads between -2.9m and +4.7m.
I have tried multiple compass and IMU calibrations with zero effect whatsoever.
I believe the problem started after the last update, but I can't be sure because i didn't fly for many days after the update.
Anyone having same issues?
2023-10-6
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Sean-bumble-bee
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daravigkosandre Posted at 10-6 01:03
Hi everyone!
I'm experiencing problems when hovering my drone.  

Before anyone even addresses the other problems DO NOT FLY that drone again until you get the vibration fixed. Such vibration will probably damage the airframe even if the airframe is as yet undamaged.
Post a good clear photo showing BOTH blades of that motor with the blades in the flying position.
Have you crashed this drone? Is the motor securely mounted on the arm?
Does the motor appear to wobble when you rotate it by hand?
Have you replaced propeller blades on that motor? If so did you replace BOTH blades on that motor with a pair from a freshly opened DJI pack? The blades are matched for centrifugal balance and you should ALWAYS replace BOTH blades on a motor with a matched pair, even if only one blade is damaged.

The wobble might also possibly be a symptom of a failing front arm pivot or damage to the airframe where the front arm pivot attaches.
2023-10-6
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daravigkosandre
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Greece
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Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 10-6 03:25
Before anyone even addresses the other problems DO NOT FLY that drone again until you get the vibration fixed. Such vibration will probably damage the airframe even if the airframe is as yet undamaged.
Post a good clear photo showing BOTH blades of that motor with the blades in the flying position.
Have you crashed this drone? Is the motor securely mounted on the arm?

20231006_183824[1].jpg 20231006_183859[1].jpg
I havent crashed the drone with speed, but i have tumbled down a tree with no visible damage to the propellers. The accident was 2 months prior to the problem.
the motor is securely mounted on the arm.
I cannot recall if I have mixed propellers from different sets though.
I had two new sets of propellers and mounted them as sets. problem soved! I made a rookie mistake!
Thank you very much for the help!
I also updated to the 700 firmware today, don't know if that made any difference though.
2023-10-6
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Sean-bumble-bee
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daravigkosandre Posted at 10-6 07:49
[view_image][view_image]
I havent crashed the drone with speed, but i have tumbled down a tree with no visible damage to the propellers. The accident was 2 months prior to the problem.
the motor is securely mounted on the arm.

"I cannot recall if I have mixed propellers from different sets though" if the blades are from the same pairing then the numbers AND letters after DJI should match each other. Do they?  See the attached image.
If they don't match then either replace them with a new pair or go through your presumed loose blades that are not in sealed packs and find an undamaged blade that matches one of the blades and fit that in place of the 'non-matching ' blade.

The screws holding the propeller blades onto the motors look different, are they different?
Are both blades free to move around their pivots?
Also, photograph the blade hubs from the side, with one photo showing the motor top and both screws. The interest is in how high the screws sit relative to their propeller hubs and the motor's top.

Calling the silver/grey bit of the motor that you can see, the "rotor". Does the rotor wobble when you rotate it, as if it were fixed/attached to a shaft and that shaft was bent? With these motors I do not know it the rotor rotates around the shaft or if the shaft rotates with the rotor.

With the drone switched off but the arms in the flying position......
Calling the amount by which you can move  the outer end of the arm "play",  is the play of the left front arm significantly different from the play of the right front arm?
See  https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=297136

prop 2 copy.png
2023-10-6
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Sean-bumble-bee
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Additionally, I am not sure if it is an optical illusion but to me the outer end of the blade in the top photo looks to be perpendicular to the blade's lead edge ( the straighter edge). The outer end of the blade in the lower photo looks to make an acute angle (less than 90deg) with the leading edge of its blade.
blade tips differ.png
2023-10-6
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daravigkosandre
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Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 10-6 08:37
"I cannot recall if I have mixed propellers from different sets though" if the blades are from the same pairing then the numbers AND letters after DJI should match each other. Do they?  See the attached image.
If they don't match then either replace them with a new pair or go through your presumed loose blades that are not in sealed packs and find an undamaged blade that matches one of the blades and fit that in place of the 'non-matching ' blade.

Found the numbers, mached them properly
The screws are the same, wierd sadowing makes them look different, and they sit perfectly flush with propeller hub
The "rotor" doesn't wobble at all
There is zero difference between the two arms play
I had all the sets mixed, I checked after you pointed out the numbers
2023-10-6
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Sean-bumble-bee
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Do the blades pivot freely about their pivots?
Are the angles of the outer ends of the current blades the IDENTICAL ?

Last idea before I am stumped.
Take the props off the front left motor and start the motors, use the CSC to start the motors at idle. Does the front left arm visibly vibrate? Stop the motors by holding the throttle closed.

Carefully touch the outer end of each arm, does the front left arm feel to be vibrating more than the others I would guess there should be virtually no detectable vibration from a blade-less motor, I recollect that's what I have felt when I have made similar checks. If there is vibration look inside the rotor to check if all the magnets are there, I can't imagine how one could be lost but........ .
If the blade-less motor is vibration free try a new pair of blades on it.
2023-10-6
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