Hi Everyone,

Had the P3S for a couple of weeks and only flown in back garden and just last weekend in Berri the Riverland a couple of good flights, always stayed in beginner mode have the latest firmware upgrades and an iPhone 5.

Do people have a problem immediately when turning beginner off and the home point changes when about to take off as my home point stays the same but too worried about risking it and haven't taken off.

Or if you stay in sight does the RTH point change on it's own or just when you press RTH? just don't want it to fly away?

Cheers

Christian

The evidence at this point in time is that the problem of setting a home point far away only happens if you have beginner mode on, and set maximum distances. I never used beginner mode, could not see that it prevented anything. If you want to avoid the problem, switch off beginner mode and delete the maximum distance settings.

Geebax Posted at 2017-1-30 02:44
The evidence at this point in time is that the problem of setting a home point far away only happens if you have beginner mode on, and set maximum distances. I never used beginner mode, could not see that it prevented anything. If you want to avoid the problem, switch off beginner mode and delete the maximum distance settings.

Geebax,

As far as I can tell it's not Beginner mode and max distance, it's either or. In fact any setting that will have the aircraft outside of a max set distance when the home point is reset by the bug & it will try to get back inside that set zone. Also most evidence so far seems to point to Android only on 3.1.2.

Yesterday I was flying with a friend and his P3S.

He has an Android device (unsupported, as far as I can tell), DJI GO App version  is 3.1.2. He has no beginner mode, nor max distance set.
Nonetheless, the HP was set roughly 1km  far from where we were standing.

Oddly enough, the HP was later updated and corrected after the Drone connected to the App (showing finally both the "H" and the "red ariplane icon" in the same spot on the map.

Don't be put off by all the posts about RTH flyaways, they are rare, its usually operator error and remember we don't have those NFZ programmed in like they do in the land of Trump. Make sure you have set a suitable Failsafe altitude in DJI GO before you fly and in P mode make sure the Phantom automatically sets the RTH GPS home point before it takes off.

I have never tried RTH within 20m of the home point and I have no idea why it lands on the spot if it was within that radius but every RTH I have had would have landed no more than 200mm from the home point if I had let it touch down.

The RTH button does not alter the home point ever, all it does is initiate RTH and if RTH is already in progress then it cancels RTH. So if you are not sure whether RTH has been initiated then look for a white flashing ring around the RTH button which tells the OP that RTH has been activated.

That is unless the AC is well and truly out of range in which case you won't actually know that RTH has been activated until the AC is back in range. In that case frantically hitting the RTH button won't do any good (its going to activate automatically anyway) and may have nuisance value by cancelling RTH after the auto activation.

Quamera Posted at 2017-1-30 03:28
Don't be put off by all the posts about RTH flyaways, they are rare, its usually operator error and remember we don't have those NFZ programmed in like they do in the land of Trump. Make sure you have set a suitable Failsafe altitude in DJI GO before you fly and in P mode make sure the Phantom automatically sets the RTH GPS home point before it takes off.

I have never tried RTH within 20m of the home point and I have no idea why it lands on the spot if it was within that radius but every RTH I have had would have landed no more than 200mm from the home point if I had let it touch down.

Sorry I wrote my previous post before having a look at some of the P3 posts and some of them are almost unbelievable, it is beyond my comprehension that firstly the software could reset the home point and secondly DJI could actually release software with that sort of a bug in it. It is almost as if their software development section was hacked and sabotaged without their knowledge.

By the look of it if you have the 3.1.2 running on Android don't fly until you have backtracked to an older version, even in beginner mode.

I was a bit annoyed that the RC for the P4 (GL 300 C) has a weaker Tx power (and performance to match)than both the P3 and Inspire controllers but at least my P4 hasn't flown away yet.   

Quamera Posted at 2017-1-30 03:28
Don't be put off by all the posts about RTH flyaways, they are rare, its usually operator error and remember we don't have those NFZ programmed in like they do in the land of Trump. Make sure you have set a suitable Failsafe altitude in DJI GO before you fly and in P mode make sure the Phantom automatically sets the RTH GPS home point before it takes off.

I have never tried RTH within 20m of the home point and I have no idea why it lands on the spot if it was within that radius but every RTH I have had would have landed no more than 200mm from the home point if I had let it touch down.

Quamera,

There is a known bug in 3.1.2 version of the Go app that resets the Home point  itself during a flight, sometimes several times. The new home point is often set over 1Km away & if RTH kicks in because of loss of connection or is initiated by operator the aircraft will disappear off to the new home point if the operator is unaware it has changed. The aircraft quickly gets out of range & it will either auto land or hover at new home point or will land when the battery runs out which ever comes sooner. This will also happen if max distance is set or beginner mode is active when the home point is reset by the bug.
There have been more than enough cases over the past few weeks proving this is a bug & not operator error & a few people who have diagnosed the issue & proved it's the Go app by downgrading the app & not getting the issue. As said above it also only seems to be affecting Android versions of the app but that is still not 100% proven.

taurus35 Posted at 2017-1-30 04:51
Quamera,

There is a known bug in 3.1.2 version of the Go app that resets the Home point  itself during a flight, sometimes several times. The new home point is often set over 1Km away & if RTH kicks in because of loss of connection or is initiated by operator the aircraft will disappear off to the new home point if the operator is unaware it has changed. The aircraft quickly gets out of range & it will either auto land or hover at new home point or will land when the battery runs out which ever comes sooner. This will also happen if max distance is set or beginner mode is active when the home point is reset by the bug.

The problem is in 3.1.2 version of the Go app and it has caused problems for any P3 model.
The problem has shown up whether or not there is a Max Distance enables but it's harder to deal with if the limit is enabled because after the home point jumps, the Phantom thinks it's outside the limit (from the new home point) and won't go even further away (towards the old home point).
The solution is to delete the app and install the earlier version.

It's unbelievable that nothing has been heard from DJI even though it's been over a week now.
Not a peep from any of the DJI people here and nothing from the company.

Labroides Posted at 2017-1-30 05:34
The problem is in 3.1.2 version of the Go app and it has caused problems for any P3 model.
The problem has shown up whether or not there is a Max Distance enables but it's harder to deal with if the limit is enabled because after the home point jumps, the Phantom thinks it's outside the limit (from the new home point) and won't go even further away (towards the old home point).
The solution is to delete the app and install the earlier version.

That's because they now have your money so don't give a rat's ***. They are giving us all an indisputable reason to believe that by their lack of action and replies to this negligent version of DJI Go.

MerlinL14 Posted at 2017-1-30 05:45
That's because they now have your money so don't give a rat's ***. They are giving us all an indisputable reason to believe that by their lack of action and replies to this negligent version of DJI Go.

I don't believe that's true.
I've seen reports of replacement Phantoms being given to some affected fliers.
I don't know what the reason is but it's very strange.

"I've seen reports of replacement Phantoms being given to some affected fliers." Share your source's and I will gladly retract my statement.

MerlinL14 Posted at 2017-1-30 10:29
"I've seen reports of replacement Phantoms being given to some affected fliers." Share your source's and I will gladly retract my statement.

It is standard operating practice not to admit to a fault in a product, and that applies even to the American Golden Boys at Apple. DJI have people threatening to sue them every second of the day, so do you really expect them to admit there is a problem?

It will just get silently fixed in the next issue of software.

Geebax Posted at 2017-1-30 13:32
It is standard operating practice not to admit to a fault in a product, and that applies even to the American Golden Boys at Apple. DJI have people threatening to sue them every second of the day, so do you really expect them to admit there is a problem?

It will just get silently fixed in the next issue of software.

Yep thats exactly right, however, dji do not have a good reputation on issuing good app updated or drone firmware update so I wonder what will be the next problem with any fix.

Bay Cruiser Posted at 2017-1-30 13:54
Yep thats exactly right, however, dji do not have a good reputation on issuing good app updated or drone firmware update so I wonder what will be the next problem with any fix.

Yes, I agree. My aircraft is a P3P, and it has not been updated since firmware 1.6 or 1.7, I forget which. Since then I have disabled updates to the Go App, and do not upgrade the firmware. It has been flying faultlessly for the last 18 months or so. Every update seems to be a roll of the dice.

Geebax Posted at 2017-1-30 14:02
Yes, I agree. My aircraft is a P3P, and it has not been updated since firmware 1.6 or 1.7, I forget which. Since then I have disabled updates to the Go App, and do not upgrade the firmware. It has been flying faultlessly for the last 18 months or so. Every update seems to be a roll of the dice.

Yep mine is all switched off at 1.7.9 and dji app at 3.1.1 however I would of liked 2.9.1 or even 2.8.3 to get rid of geo maps but Charles Poxy wont work for me and I can't get a download for a iPhone. Spent 6 days now trying so will have to stay with what I have. I just wish my iphone was not changed for a battery error in December or I would have some older back ups on iTunes.

Labroides Posted at 2017-1-30 05:34
The problem is in 3.1.2 version of the Go app and it has caused problems for any P3 model.
The problem has shown up whether or not there is a Max Distance enables but it's harder to deal with if the limit is enabled because after the home point jumps, the Phantom thinks it's outside the limit (from the new home point) and won't go even further away (towards the old home point).
The solution is to delete the app and install the earlier version.

Thankyou to all those who have pointed out my incorrect statements in post #5. Although my statements reflect how the system should work obviously the train has fallen off the track down at DJI software development and a malicious little bug has crawled into the cabin. We can only hope they have hunted down the critter and evicted it.

Surely even if DJI didn't want to admit the fault they could have at least pulled the update so another P3 isn't needlessly lost. I have always said if it isn't broken, don't fix it so I never apply updates to any of my equipment (that is working as designed) unless there is a new function I need.