Ok, so I was flying my phantom 2 vision + at night (stupid) and I could not see a tree, it caught the propellors and got hung up in the tree. I shut down the props, it was not a bad crash at all, it was actually hovering over the tree when it got wrapped up in it. I have had other crashes 10X worse. I got it out of the tree and everything looked fine as I imagined it would. However, I went to fly it and it would not stay in one place. It would hover around in a big circle or may would start drifitng back or foward. There was absolutely no wind. It had a perfect GPS lock, both with the light and confirmed I had 11 satellites on the vsion app on my phone. So the GPS was there but its not acting like it> It should just stay in about a 3ft circle like ususal. I also took the top of the phantom off and checked the gps chip and it looked ok, no visble crack or anything. Should I try some type of calibration or something?? PLEASE HELP

I would calibrated the compass. Make sure all you arms are straight. IAlso be sure there is nothing (leaves, little twigs etc.) in the motors. If it still has issues I would cal the IMU. A tech at a hobby shop told be after a crash you should cal the IMU.

agree, in fact, rod and i sort of deduced in one of the other threads that imu calibration is basically determining the relative difference between the absolute levelness of the imu VERSUS the absolute levelness of the motor tips.  and you can imagine that a crash could definitely have an effect (even if a small one) on those two planes.

Thanks for the responses. I have tried all of that and it does not seem to work. Nothing in the props/motors and the Compass on the IMU looks good X- 152 Y- 472 Mode- 1513  This was after a compass wipe with a magnet. It lift off fine and then just starts to drift all around despite a perfect GPS lock. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Ok, so I was flying my phantom 2 vision + at night (stupid) and I could not see a tree, it caught the propellors and got hung up in the tree. I shut down the props, it was not a bad crash at all, it was actually hovering over the tree when it got wrapped up in it. I have had other crashes 10X worse. I got it out of the tree and everything looked fine as I imagined it would. However, I went to fly it and it would not stay in one place. It would hover around in a big circle or may would start drifitng back or foward. There was absolutely no wind. It had a perfect GPS lock, both with the green lights and confirmed I had 11 satellites on the vsion app on my phone. So the GPS was there but its not acting like it? It should just stay in about a 3ft circle like ususal. I also took the top of the phantom off and checked the gps chip and it looked ok, no visble crack or anything.

I reset the compass with a magnet and checked it on the IMU assistant. Everything looks good X-152 Y-472 Mode-1513 also went ahead and did a advanced IMU calibration. Checked all the motors for any leaves, twigs, etc.. in them and even put on some new props on for the hell of it. However, its doing the same thing. I get a good GPS lock 8-11 satellites, lift off, it goes straight up, but when I let go of the controls it will start drifting like crazy one way or the other. Makes it very hard to land as well even though I am going no higher then 10 feet. Do you have any suggestions or would you think purchasing a new compass would make a difference? It just concerns me because everything looks good in the IMU. Thanks in advance.

Ok, so I was flying my phantom 2 vision + at night (stupid) and I could not see a tree, it caught the propellors and got hung up in the tree. I shut down the props, it was not a bad crash at all, it was actually hovering over the tree when it got wrapped up in it. I have had other crashes 10X worse. I got it out of the tree and everything looked fine as I imagined it would. However, I went to fly it and it would not stay in one place. It would hover around in a big circle or may would start drifitng back or foward. There was absolutely no wind. It had a perfect GPS lock, both with the green lights and confirmed I had 11 satellites on the vsion app on my phone. So the GPS was there but its not acting like it? It should just stay in about a 3ft circle like ususal. I also took the top of the phantom off and checked the gps chip and it looked ok, no visble crack or anything.

I reset the compass with a magnet and checked it on the IMU assistant. Everything looks good X-152 Y-472 Mode-1513 also went ahead and did a advanced IMU calibration. Checked all the motors for any leaves, twigs, etc.. in them and even put on some new props on for the hell of it. However, its doing the same thing. I get a good GPS lock 8-11 satellites, lift off, it goes straight up, but when I let go of the controls it will start drifting like crazy one way or the other. Makes it very hard to land as well even though I am going no higher then 10 feet. Do you have any suggestions or would you think purchasing a new compass would make a difference? It just concerns me because everything looks good in the IMU. Thanks in advance.

OK first off does it constantly drift in one direction or is it staying in one location just with significant horizontal variation (how much variation) ?
Do you know what your local Earth Magnetic field declination value is? ( just curious)
Have you flown any straight lines yet, or are you just taking off and let it hover?

Edit to add:  And please try to stick to one topic and not open new ones all the time, thanks

It drifts differently, sometimes it will just go in a big circle but the last couple of times I have tried to fly it will just drift dead away from me. No I do not now what my local earth magnetic field declination is, its my back yard where I have always flown or (taken off) with no problem. I have not flown any straight lines, it to erratic for me to get up and do a lot of flying with, its hard enough to even land it because it will not stay still and hoover. I have been grabbing onto it to land it because it will not stay still enough to land it.  I hope this helps. Thanks

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-10 22:35
It drifts differently, sometimes it will just go in a big circle but the last couple of times I have ...

One simple question,  Do you have your Phantom setup on your computer as Phantom mode or NAZA-M mode, and if in NAZA-M mode, what position are your switches?  S1

As Gerry states, check switch position,
Also sounds like you could have home lock on as you state it wants to go in a circle away from you as when in home lock, the Phantom will only get so close then it finds that magic bubble it cannot fly within any you have to switch modes if you want it to come right to you.

Make sure both S1 and S2 are straight up or position 1 and let us know what happens.

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-10 22:35
It drifts differently, sometimes it will just go in a big circle but the last couple of times I have ...

Check here for your local declination angles.

Thanks for all the help guys, but I am in Phantom mode only. I have switched to NAZA once before but switched back into Phantom, (easy mode) and have been there for a while. Both the S1 and S2 switches are up. Still does not make any sense. All the numbers look good?  So to answer your question I have been in Phantom for 99% of the time and both my switches are always up. Any more suggestions or troubleshooting?

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-10 23:29
Thanks for all the help guys, but I am in Phantom mode only. I have switched to NAZA once before but ...

You didn't say whether you calibrated your sticks on the transmitter and the Phantom.  Have you done that?
Also in the advanced IMU calibration, the third box in the first row should be close to 0.0 and the third box in the second row should be close to 1.0

Calibrating the sticks ? I am not familiar with that, no I have not! How would I do that? Yes, the 3rd boxes in the first and second row are spot on! Everything seems good there. But this is the first I have heard about calibrating the sticks? How do I? Thanks

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-11 00:16
Calibrating the sticks ? I am not familiar with that, no I have not! How would I do that? Yes, the 3 ...

Connect the remote control to your computer and open the RC program.  You can calibrate the remote controller control sticks there and then take your props off the phantom when inside the house, connect the Phantom to your computer and PT2 program, you can also calibrate the Phantom sticks there.  Do them both.  It is also in your manual on calibration.

Ahhh, got it, I have calibrated them once before. But do you think that would make a difference? I mean when I take the phantom up to about 10 feet it starts drifting all over the place when the controls are not even being touched. thanks for your time!

If your RC callibration does not fix your problem, I would think it might be a bad compass. The circling would indicate that. I had a similar issue.

Kind of what I am thinking. I have calibrated, done the whole magnet deal and all. I went ahead and got a compass on order, at $20 shipped it is to cheap not to at-least try that if I cant get it figured out!

I have a similar problem, but perhaps not as serious.
Did a video of how my Phantom 2 behave. Previously, it has been very steady, but not anymore.

I did not see you mentioning anything about checking or replacing the propellers.  Did you replace the props with new ones, regardless of how the ones looked that attacked the tree?

DaBone Posted at 2015-2-11 01:02
I have a similar problem, but perhaps not as serious.
Did a video of how my Phantom 2 behave. Previo ...

I would think that your drifting is still within the norm (+- 0.6m). However, I would suggest you perform an advances IMU calliubration. This might fix possible issues with the barometer for example.

PS. Is your video from somewhere at the black forest?

Hello, even though the props were not damaged I did replace them just to be sure. I have also done the full IMU calibration and everything looks good as far as the numbers are. However I am still having the same problem. It is not normal, it will start drifting out of control, if I did not correct it with the controller it would go far away. Its not just hovering in a 10 or so foot circle, its not even really hovering as much as it is just drifting dead away from me. Thanks

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-11 01:19
Hello, even though the props were not damaged I did replace them just to be sure. I have also done t ...

10-4 on the prop change, best to do so when you have a prop strike.

What is the rear LED light sequence when you are doing this hovering/flying?

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-11 01:19
Hello, even though the props were not damaged I did replace them just to be sure. I have also done t ...

Check for your stick calibration both in the RC-Assistant and after with your Phantom assistant connected to your Phantom.
Re. Compass it is not very likely your problem, compass issues ( and high declination angles)  usually result in J-hook or in more extreme cases toilet bowl effect but not linear drifts since GPS data takes priority once it moves and has enough sats locked.
Did you inspect the arms for deformation/bends as mentioned here or in another post of yours by someone else?
There also had been cases where the Naza-M controller moved or got lose after a crash which can cause stability issues but to check this you'd have to open the shell.

The rear light sequence is just green blinking as usual. The arms look good, the shell looks good, no noticeable problems. When you say the Naza-M  controller may have moved what exactly is that? I have no problem taking this thing apart as I have already done so. Thanks

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-11 02:49
The rear light sequence is just green blinking as usual. The arms look good, the shell looks good, n ...

The Naza-M is your flight controller. The IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) is inside that box too. The barometer, Gyroscope, 3-axis Accelerometer are componants of the IMU. If the NAZA-M Box is off center, these precision gadgets might report wrong infos and cause the phantom to act weird.

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-11 02:49
The rear light sequence is just green blinking as usual. The arms look good, the shell looks good, n ...

"There also had been cases where the Naza-M controller moved or got lose after a crash which can cause stability issues but to check this you'd have to open the shell."

Once established exactly what flight mode you are in via the LED's, that was going to be my next question.

I am in GPS mode with slow blinking green LED light indicating I have a GPS lock. I have tried everything,. Just took it up and it started drifting away. It also start butching down, right, left, just acting crazy like it does not know whats going on, if I were not a skilled pilot it would crash every time. I will be taking it a part to look at the NAZA controller now. Also, is there a chance the compass could be bad and a new one would fix the problem?

Thanks

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-11 04:03
I am in GPS mode with slow blinking green LED light indicating I have a GPS lock. I have tried every ...

Check out my vid (when I had no clue how to prevent a crash after such an event)
A bad compass palcement caused this behaviour. If yours is similar, I could well be a faulty compass in one way or another.

mpm00572.gmail Posted at 2015-2-11 04:03
I am in GPS mode with slow blinking green LED light indicating I have a GPS lock. I have tried every ...

Not sure about the compass, but make sure the NAZA module is still afixed with the double sided tape to the circuit board.

markus2015 Posted at 2015-2-11 01:13
I would think that your drifting is still within the norm (+- 0.6m). However, I would suggest you  ...

Thank you! I'll try the advanced calibration tomorrow.

It began when I started from a street. I think there was a lot of disturbance and possibly that I come to think of afterwards, piping in iron under the starting point. For the drone just started drifting away, as soon as I lift.
After this, it has behaved in this way, from being completely still in the air.

No, I live in Sweden .. ;)

You reset the compass with a magnet?  I have never seen that before.  Do you think the compass was damaged by the magnet?  I have read about keeping the magnet away from a lot of metal etc. but never using a magnet.

When you did the advanced imu calibration was it level?

Jamie Hellmich Posted at 2015-2-11 09:59
This is a duplicate post.  Another one which is  the same has 26 replies and is a bit farther down t ...

I wasn't aware that a user can delete his/her own post or a thread comment for that matter. Can it be done?

Yes you can delete your own post.  Click on editor,  then click on additional options.  You will see delete this post within the thread. click on that and your post will be gone.  I'm not sure if you can delete the whole subject thread.

oakspi Posted at 2015-2-11 05:57
You reset the compass with a magnet?  I have never seen that before.  Do you think the compass was d ...

If  your compass is messed up from interferences like a strong mangetic field from an airport scanner for example and the compass callibration can't fix it, you could only use a magnet to "fix" the compass, i.e. to bring it to into such a state that the compass callibration can adjust the compass properly again. There is a dji video somewhere in the iNET explaining this prosedure.

markus2015 Posted at 2015-2-12 02:49
If  your compass is messed up from interferences like a strong mangetic field from an airport scan ...

Here is the degaussing compass fix that you mentioned Marcus.

oakspi Posted at 2015-2-11 05:57
You reset the compass with a magnet?  I have never seen that before.  Do you think the compass was d ...

degaussing the compass with a magnet

My guess is the problem is a result of your advanced IMU calibration.  Search "yaw drift" and you'll see how many others are having the same issue.  The problem seems to be the internal IMU is not level and you have to compensate in order to eliminate drift.  Either you can level the IMU by popping the top off the Phantom or you can shimmy up the Phantom's stand/legs using card stock.  This is a trial and error process.  Try propping up the legs that are in the same direction as your drift.  Good luck!  This is a common, common problem!!

I made this levelling plate just for times like this. Acrylic sheet, 4 7/16" nuts and bolts with the nuts epoxied on the acrylic sheet. Pop the top on the bird, put your spirit level on the IMU, then adjust the acrylic plate using the bolts on each corner. Once that's done, plug the bird into your computer, then run Advance Calibration on your IMU.