Hi folks. Going to take my first Litchi flight tomorrow with my Phantom 4 and I am as nervous as a cat in a bag. I have read the Litchi manual and everything I can find online and can not seem to find the answer to some questions. I have a simple 6 Waypoint, 1 acre box, loaded in the tablet. Do I start the flight with DJI Go app and climb to 25-30' and hit Pause on the controller, then kill DJI GO and open/boot Litchi and un-pause to start the autonomous flight?
DO I use DJI Go at all?
Can both Litchi & DJI Go be running and not create problems?
At the end of the mission and it returns to a hover, do I just close the throttle in Litchi and it will land, or do I kill Litchi, open DJI Go and land?
I can't wait to use Litchi but, I am so confused about the actual operation of the drone between autonomous & manual flying.
If the drone is hovering, will it continue to hover on its own, while I kill one app and boot the other?Thanks for your help.
BIll J   

Most of the time I will start my P4 with Go and make sure all is OK.   Then kill the GO app and start Litchi.    i may or may not shut down the P4 when doing this.    Take off with Litchi and go to the general location I want to start, then upload the flight plan to the P4 and tell it to go.    When it returns I normally have the last point to hover.  Then land it manually and shut her down.

You might want to fly around in Litchi just to get a feel for the  program before trying any planned flights.    Suggestions for first several planned flights:   
Keep it close, keep it simple.   
ALWAYS, double check altitude.   
Before  you try something new with the program go back to keep it close and keep it simple till you get it figured out.

BTW, did I mention to ALWAYS double check altitude.

EdM Posted at 2016-11-9 19:06
Most of the time I will start my P4 with Go and make sure all is OK.   Then kill the GO app and star ...

Thank you. The altitude thing is a little confusing too. I thought originally, that the altitudes at each Waypoint I was setting were the height above the ground at the point, (AGL), but now I think they are the height above the Take-off Waypoint, irregardless of what the ground is doing. Am I correct? Hence the need to be VERY careful about setting the altitudes. How do I tell Litchi to "Go". I have not hooked it to the bird yet and and do not see a "go" button on the screen. Does that appear, after I hook it to the bird?
Can I hit the Pause button on the Controller and have the bird stop & hover if something goes wrong, or there is something I do not like?

crackthesky Posted at 2016-11-9 19:12
Thank you. The altitude thing is a little confusing too. I thought originally, that the altitudes a ...

Crack,

I don't fly the P4 but have been flying with Litchi with my P2 and two P3P's since Litchi's inception.  I rarely ever fly with DJI Go and only have it installed for settings that are not available in the Litchi app.  As Ed stated, fly around with Litchi a bit before taking any autonomous flights just to get familiar with it. Make your first and last waypoint close to you. Altitude is calculated from your home point not based on the terrain you're flying over. I usually open Litchi, put the bird in the air and then load my mission to the bird. I don't like auto takeoff's or landings. Once the mission is loaded just hit the "play" button and you're good to go. I rarely ever pause a mission, if something concerns me I just abort and take over manually. Take your time, check and re-check your mission, practice with Litchi manually before launching your autonomous flight and you should be fine. Good luck and have fun!

Jerry

crackthesky Posted at 2016-11-10 09:12
Thank you. The altitude thing is a little confusing too. I thought originally, that the altitudes a ...

Don't know if you have downloaded the manual yet but you can get it here.   Several versions available depending if you are using Android or iOS.   Here is the link.

Litchi Help

JtrJr-UAV Pilot Posted at 2016-11-9 19:33
Crack,

I don't fly the P4 but have been flying with Litchi with my P2 and two P3P's since Litchi' ...

Thanks so much for the words of wisdom. Going to start out slow & easy. Using flat, & wide open area for training.

EdM Posted at 2016-11-9 19:59
Don't know if you have downloaded the manual yet but you can get it here.   Several versions avail ...

Yea, read the IOS manual, but it raised more questions then it answered. Up, Up & away, today.

I bought Litchi 2 months ago and have not used Go-app with my P4 since.  You can have both Litchi and Go-app on your device.  I use Android.  When you open either Litchi or Go-app, make sure you say Once Only / This time only.  This will insure that it does not start up as the default app each time you connect your controller.

Do not start up with the one app and then use the other.  Make sure your settings are correct, that the waypoint for RTH has registered and that the Ready to Fly is indicated.  My first flight with Litchi was a 2.5km multiple waypoint autonomous flight.  I now use Litchi extensively for flying FPV with cheap Blitzwolf goggles - it works VERY well.  Also remember that you can use the PAUSE button or flick the mode from P to S or A to halt the multi waypoint (autonomous) flight to either cancel or fly manually if you wish.

At the end of the autonomous flight my settings let the P4 hover at the last waypoint from where I land it manually.

Hope this helps.

JWC P4 Posted at 2016-11-10 06:29
I bought Litchi 2 months ago and have not used Go-app with my P4 since.  You can have both Litchi an ...

I cannot thank you enough. Your post really got it to sink into my head what I need to do.

Double check your altitude for each point first.
Check your speed for each point OR use CRUISE and set the cruise speed in settings for Litchi application to apply to all points for the mission.
Mind your camera direction, original, custom etc.  
When you run or start the mission watch carefully while riding along and be ready to either hit pause on the screen or switch the mode to S and that will kill the mission if something does not seem right.

My first test missions were 4 points in an open field.  I did that to learn what the gimbal settings would do.  Once confident of that I made additional missions in the same field adding points and started experimenting from there.  Eventually I made a mission to outline our whole park and it came out really well as far as matching points on the pc mission hub and the actual flight.

It should work fine just take your time and look things over.  Post some video for us to see also.

MicroFPV Posted at 2016-11-10 11:04
Double check your altitude for each point first.
Check your speed for each point OR use CRUISE and s ...

Thanks so much. The part I am still not sure of is; When I hit Pause or Mode S does the machine just stop & hover until I input stick commands, or does it go wild and I have to be ready to catch it with the sticks?

Crack The Sky Posted at 2016-11-11 06:16
Thanks so much. The part I am still not sure of is; When I hit Pause or Mode S does the machine ju ...

It will hover.

If you are a new flyer, you need to learn to fly with the Go app first so that you understand everything there is to know about how the Phantom operates.
Then try Litchi.

Labroides Posted at 2016-11-10 15:19
It will hover.

If you are a new flyer, you need to learn to fly with the Go app first so that you ...

Thanks for the input. Flown the P-4 a lot - just never had a need to switch out of P mode.

Yep will stop in it's tracks as long as you have signal contact.  That being said, when you run a mission that takes you outside of your radio range or say there's some other odd kind of interference... and you lose contact with the P4, then it will continue on it's programmed mission until complete or you gain signal again and can abort and take control.

This is one of the reasons you need to be sure about altitudes and locations of your points so you don't hit something.  DJI handles this by making you fly the path first and record waypoints as you go etc.
I tried this some at home and it (DJI GO) was fussy about how far I was, or not far enough, maybe an altitude issue... can't remember exactly but I was having difficulty recording points and camera angles while comparing to the ease of initial mission planning with the big L and I gave in.

MicroFPV Posted at 2016-11-11 13:08
Yep will stop in it's tracks as long as you have signal contact.  That being said, when you run a mi ...

Thank you so much for the input. I really appreciate it. Going to go out today if I get time & try switching "P" off for the first time and flying in Atti & S. Then give Litchi a whirl. I've triple checked that all Litchi Waypoints are 40+ feet above the Home Point & the ground slopes away for most of the simple boxed flight. Final Waypoint is back 20' from the starting Waypoint. It will never be more then 350' from me and cruise speed is set for 5 mph so I have plenty of time to react if something goes haywire.

Crack The Sky Posted at 2016-11-11 14:05
Thank you so much for the input. I really appreciate it. Going to go out today if I get time & try ...

Good plan.    .   
May I make another suggestion.   After you have the plan saved edit it with curved corners.   Save it with another name.    Edit that plan with a POV for the whole flight back at the home position with a 10' POV height.   Save it and then modify it some more, maybe setting up POV spots to the outside of the box, each halfway between the edges of box.

If the first plan goes like you want then fly the others in order.    You will quickly start to pick up the possibilities of Litchi.

EdM Posted at 2016-11-11 15:59
Good plan.    .   
May I make another suggestion.   After you have the plan saved edit it with cu ...

Brilliant; thank you. It shall be done....
BJ

Question: can I review at the end of the mission the video shot with Litchi? How?

egargiulo Posted at 2016-11-29 06:06
Question: can I review at the end of the mission the video shot with Litchi? How?

Answered in your other post.

I'll add another Gotcha to the list for Litchi. If your last mission waypoint is within 20m of your home position, it will land THERE rather than RTH - if that's what you'd set as the last action. This almost burnt me, as in my first mission the last waypoint was over vegetation (to allow a phase-out shot to be created at the finish) - I had to take control quickly once I realised what was happening.

With respect to getting heights right (as altitude is based on take-off point), you can map out your mission with the heights you want on the Mission Hub prior, when there fly the P4 to the lowest waypoint and take note of the height at its base (give or take), then adjust each waypoint with that height as an offset.

To Add to what Punch Buggy said, I always set mt last way point right next to the first way point.  With this method  I do not have to worry and remember what I may have set as what to do after the mission is completed since by design the end of the mission is home.

samuraiz Posted at 2016-11-29 10:50
To Add to what Punch Buggy said, I always set mt last way point right next to the first way point.   ...

Agree - or set it more than 20m away, and then the P4 will honour the RTH action (if set) and not just decide to land there and then...
But your approach - of not having a final action set - is much safer. hehe