Where to start...... I received my P4P on 17 of December and since then, except 2-3 good and enjoyable flights, all I had was problems.....

1.     Clicking gimbal. I noticed immediately that the ribbon cable was making that noise, but after searching the net for a while I realized that this is a common problem and decided not to ask for a replacement unit as I needed the craft for some surveying missions and dindt have time ti waste. Of course that doesn’t mean that I am happy about it.

2.     On my second or third flight, the controller lost aircraft signal at about 800m distance from home and (using 2.4GHz) and started the RTH, after a few seconds I noticed that my controller was linked again with craft, but I didn’t have any video signal on my phone device (black screen with noise). The only think I had, was the telemetry readings. Then I noticed that the craft climbed at 156m (500ft, over maximum allowed height of 400ft here in Greece). I couldn’t do anything as I didn’t have video signal and I couldn’t see it. When I had the craft in sight I disengaged RTH and landed it manually. Even this time I didn’t do anything as I thought that a firmware release could solve that problem.

3.     AND finaly….. On 4th of January I tried to fly an autonomous mission to start some surveying projects that I had to do. One day before I tried it inflight data mapper app and the craft completed the mission perfectly. The day of the incident  (same place same mission) I switched on the craft connected it to my remote, opened DJI GO 4 to check everything was OK, and after that I used Datamapper to upload the mission data to craft. The craft took off normally, started to climb at planned altitude and it started heading to starting point of mission as supposed. Unfortunately after 1-2 minutes in the air, it continued flying straight and I lost view of it behind a hill.  I realized then, that the app got stuck and I didn’t have signal on the controller (App freezed). I immediately pressed RTH on the controller, closed the app and loaded DJI GO4, but it was too late and impossible to connect as the aircraft was away behind a hill and out of site. After waited for 25 mins on the spot (in case RTH worked as supposed), I took my car and drove around the hill having switched on the controller. 30 minutes later the remote controller linked with the aircraft and I was able to locate it in a remote hill side 900m from launch point. The access was not so easy so it took me 2 hours to collect it from a high bush. There was no obvious damage to the craft (except from a scratch on one prop and a broken prop mount), so I suppose that it didn't crash, but landed slowly somehow. I am sure that it did not start the mission as I didn't found any photographs in the sd card, Since the craft is brand new and the purpose that I bought it is to use it for autonomous flights for surveying it is important to know what went wrong, so to prevent accidents in the future.

  

I contacted DJI support and after one week they asked me to send it to Germany!! and wait 15-20days to check it out. No further details unfortunately. I am very frustrated and don't know what to do. I didn’t ask for repairs, I didn’t ask for guarantee coverage for broken prop mount and damaged prop (in fact I bought the P4 parts already). I just asked to evaluate the craft flight data to see if there is something wrong and if using my craft is dangerous. If something is wrong i suppose that my dealer should arrange with DJI for a replacement product, else they should inform me to continue using it. I am afraid that I paid 1700€ for the craft, + extra batteries + sd cards + car charger + replacement parts (2200€ total) to do work with it and now I have to wait for a month or more. And of course I paid DJI care refresh for 12 months (minus one of course).

  

BTW in the new Dji assistant software, DJI released a viewer for DAT files. From that I was able to read the data of the craft.

  

For the RTH altitude problem I was able to see that the craft considered that the initial (home) altitude was -76m (from sea level)!! so when it lost signal climbed 76m to reach 0 level and another 80m (instead of 40 that I had preconfigured)!!

  

The flyaway issue was caused, as GPS status parameter changed to 0 level. At that same time the satellite count was 18 – 20!. Also the datamapper app log, shows the correct coordinates of the flyaway course. This is something that need investigating. I don’t know Does anyone had the same or similar issue?

hi, what device are you using for inFlight and go4 app.

If both apps are running there will be complications. I mean not just close the app not in use, really shut down so it don't run in the background.

BTW. if you are using android,I dont see it is compatible with p4p

Compatible with DJI’s latest drones: Phantom 4, Phantom 3, Inspire 1, Matrice 100, Matrice 600.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3.  I am aware of that Issue and GJIGO4 was closed completely.

1) Damage resulting from the use of third party accessories, batteries or software. Is not covered by care refresh, so I presume they will have to check if this was as a result of the third party app or aircraft malfunction,
You were lucky that there was no damage or very little, the timeframe for aircraft to be assessed seems a bit long I would contact a moderator here on the forum and see if they can escalate your case.

Not nice to hear of crashes or flyaway, I hope everything works out for you, please let us know the outcome. Good luck

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-1-10 08:48
1) Damage resulting from the use of third party accessories, batteries or software. Is not covered by care refresh, so I presume they will have to check if this was as a result of the third party app or aircraft malfunction,
You were lucky that there was no damage or very little, the timeframe for aircraft to be assessed seems a bit long I would contact a moderator here on the forum and see if they can escalate your case.

Hi thank you for your response. Luckily the damage was minimal and not worth even to mention it. Seeing the FLY logs the impact force was 2g's so it actually landed. The prop must hit a brunch before motors stopped.  Also I bought an IPAD to be able to use DJI's new App (dji gs pro) That i hope will not  be considered as 3rd party app
Thanks again

Hi lef,
although i have read about  flyaways,  sat gps problems etc, there is a chance that 3rd party app maybe was the problem. But sure there isa chancethis is a good excuse for dji p4p.

I fly many years  dji drones overal i am happy but i am still waiting on the 2nd batch o P4P's here in Greece to have one also. Just in case...

I also think that for us professionals dji through ts dealers should have a replacement bird while waiting a month+ for service abroad. Even if i have 2 or 3 birds as a professional, i still believe that the defective bird should have a replacement.

Good luck my friend i hope that the 3rd app only was the case and you will enjoy a perfect bird.

Roi

Thanks Roi I doubt that the problem is the app. As you will see below I am attaching some screenshots of the DJI log viewer.
On 3rd Of January I flew the exact same mission and the bird completed it perfectly. See log.

Here we can see craft taking of getting to 120m and them stating to scan the land below according to coordinates that i had preload on it through the app.



Here we can see magnified the mission. RC status value is 2 all the time (Red) and GPS status value is 4 (recording home point) and 5 (Very strong) all the time.

Going to the accident day now....


Here we see that from second 150 that the incident occurs the distance from home is disappearing and reappears after the fall of the bird (almost at 900m)


Here we see that the bird is taking of normally, getting in correct altitude (120m) and at the moment that it should start heading to starting point is starting to lose GPS signal. See below


Well here we see that from second 147, as soon as it reached fly altitude, the GPS signal drops to 0, then 2, then 5 and again and again till stops at 0 some 30 second later. Of course the satellite count is 18 to 20, so it seems that I shouldn't have problem with that. Furthermore studying datamapper log I was able to double check the timer of the bird log. App log is going till second 375 that craft is losing signal from the controller (Value goes to 4 Red line). after that the rest is history.

Having in mind all the above data I can't understand how the app can be responsible for the GPS signal loss of the craft (with 18-20 satellites on sight!!!)

Except the above also I cant figure out how and why the craft landed. As we can see it is starting to descend (See velocity down speed) and as soon it touches down it gains again GPS signal and RTH is initiating (Too late of course as it is already down!!!!)

Luckily touchdown was smooth enough see below accelerometers log (Max 2.8g on Z axis) it landed in a bush!!!

OK Something is happening with picture uploading so....
Here are the links in correct order

Successfull mission
Successful  mission Magnified
Accident distance from home
Accident Altitude view
Accident details
G forces

[url=]Picture[/url]

Flyaway?  What flyaway?

People are so quick to claim that their Phantom flew away.
But modern DJI drones just don't fly away.

Back in the early days (pre-P3) if you lost your drone and didn't know why or didn't want to say way, you could just say that it flew away and people would believe you.
But from the P3 with flight data recording in the app, it's been clear that a genuine flyaway is very, very rare.
The caused of supposed flyaways are almost always due to operators misunderstanding, confusion or mistakes.
You flew your Phantom on an autonomous mission.
Are you able to check the mission details still?
In autonomous missions, detail is critical because if you program it wrongly, the Phantom does exactly as you tell it.
What makes you say that the Phantom flew away?

Hi my friend,

  

First of all, as I wrote above, this autonomous mission was done for the second time. First time the previous day mission accomplished perfectly.

  

  

Of course I studied the application log AND the DAT files (Flight logs of the aircraft). Since a few days ago DJI released a viewer for that.

  

  

When the craft loses GPS signal suddenly, it is a problem, don't you agree?

  

I can't imagine that ANY app that can affect the craft this way.

  

SEE below

[url=]Picture[/url]

lefgrter Posted at 2017-1-10 13:55
Hi my friend,   First of all, as I wrote above, this autonomous mission was done for the second time. First time the previous day mission accomplished perfectly.     Of course I studied the application log AND the DAT files (Flight logs of the aircraft). Since a few days ago DJI released a viewer for that.     When the craft loses GPS signal suddenly, it is a problem, don't you agree?  I can't imagine that ANY app that can affect the craft this way.  
SEE below
Picture

"When the craft loses GPS signal suddenly, it is a problem, don't you agree?"

If the Phantom loses GPS that would be a problem (but not a flyaway).
But I've stared at your graph and still can't see where you lost GPS.
It appears to be showing that your GPS sat count was always more than 12? (the purple line)

The Green line is the GPS Level.... The purple is the sat count (18-20 sats all the time). Since then the craft continued at straight line till it landed. After landing GPS level rised again to value 5.
The route that craft followed till the end, is recorded to Datamapper app log (So all the time Aircraft kept sending coordinate data back to application log)
I really wish that it is not a hardware problem.