I've had my drone now for a couple of months and have gotten quite comfortable with DJI Go. I just downloaded Litchi in order to use a couple of its unique features when appropriate, so I'm a real novice with that software.  I've read the manual  - the whole thing - twice - but cannot find any mention of initiating Return To Home.  So, for you Litchi users, does the RTH right side button on the control unit work the same way?  Is there any other way to initiate RTH with Litchi?

yes (I believe), and yes. RTH works in manual mode, and you can also specify RTH as a command event at the end of a mission. However, if you choose to use the latter, make sure the last waypoint (where you'll no doubt trigger the RTH command) is not within 20 metres of the home point, else it'll just start to descend whereever it is. Not always a good thing if, for example, the last waypoint is over a tree and that's within 20 metres of you. Someone I know, umm, yeah someone - let's just go with that - did that once and almost had to go tree climbing if it wasn't for his razor-sharp reflexes...

One caveat of Litchi and RTH - remember that running a waypoint mission with Litchi puts the craft into autonomous flight mode. If you lose signal connection with the craft it'll continue on its merry way until end of mission. Obviously, if you hit RTH at some point after connection is lost, the craft will never receive it. You'll have to wait until you see a connection re-established on the app - or the end of the mission.

[Edit] Having mentioned RTH as a command at the end of a mission, I can't locate it looking at the Mission Hub. Either I've recalled incorrectly, or it's been dropped as a selectable command. I'll keep looking.

Never mind the complex answer he gave you.
Yes, when using Litchi, the RTH button on the remote is the only way to do a RTH while flying (not including out of signal range waypoint missions).
The RTH button on the remote works with or without an app, tablet, phone etc. As you can fly the Phantom without the use of a tablet, phone etc.

HWCM Posted at 2017-4-19 22:29
Never mind the complex answer he gave you.
Yes, when using Litchi, the RTH button on the remote is the only way to do a RTH while flying (not including out of signal range waypoint missions).
The RTH button on the remote works with or without an app, tablet, phone etc. As you can fly the Phantom without the use of a tablet, phone etc.

Seriously? What's wrong with mentioning some of the traps, and not just providing a high-level response (like yours)?
Hey, the point of this forum is to share information, and not to make a call as to whether your answer may be better than someone else's...

HWCM Posted at 2017-4-19 22:29
Never mind the complex answer he gave you.
Yes, when using Litchi, the RTH button on the remote is the only way to do a RTH while flying (not including out of signal range waypoint missions).
The RTH button on the remote works with or without an app, tablet, phone etc. As you can fly the Phantom without the use of a tablet, phone etc.

Sorry, this is not correct.  You can also initiate RTH by turning your controller completely off for several seconds.  Sometimes this is the best way because it removes the risk of the RTH command not reaching the AC.  

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-4-19 23:10
Seriously? What's wrong with mentioning some of the traps, and not just providing a high-level response (like yours)?
Hey, the point of this forum is to share information, and not to make a call as to whether your answer may be better than someone else's...

I thought your answer was ok. If someone is going to use Litchi, they are probably getting it for the reason of running missions anyway, and yes you have to understand the consequences that come along with it. It is like everything we read here, a lot of flyers will jump into something and not take to time to read the manual thoroughly, or watch You-tube videos to gain knowledge of what to expect. Not trying to criticize the OP for asking, because he wants to know, but there is a ton of information out there. The other thing is I think you should experiment with things a bit to know what is going to happen before you get in that bad situation.

RicardoGray Posted at 2017-4-20 04:25
I thought your answer was ok. If someone is going to use Litchi, they are probably getting it for the reason of running missions anyway, and yes you have to understand the consequences that come along with it. It is like everything we read here, a lot of flyers will jump into something and not take to time to read the manual thoroughly, or watch You-tube videos to gain knowledge of what to expect. Not trying to criticize the OP for asking, because he wants to know, but there is a ton of information out there. The other thing is I think you should experiment with things a bit to know what is going to happen before you get in that bad situation.

Thanks Ricardo, and I agree. The apps are just tools which can be used both well and badly. Experience will tell you which...

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-4-20 02:25
Sorry, this is not correct.  You can also initiate RTH by turning your controller completely off for several seconds.  Sometimes this is the best way because it removes the risk of the RTH command not reaching the AC.

Question about this,  lets say my drone has flown out of range, if I shutdown the control how would it know if its out of range with no connection?

Johnny281 Posted at 2017-4-20 05:29
Question about this,  lets say my drone has flown out of range, if I shutdown the control how would it know if its out of range with no connection?

It 'assumes' it is out of range if the connection is lost for more than 3 seconds irrespective of what caused the signal loss. So whether the signal is blocked by buildings, or you switch off RC. In both cases the aircraft has lost signal and the aircraft itself will initiate return to home. That's why the RTH position and RTH height are stored in the aircraft.

Aardvark Posted at 2017-4-20 06:02
It 'assumes' it is out of range if the connection is lost for more than 3 seconds irrespective of what caused the signal loss. So whether the signal is blocked by buildings, or you switch off RC. In both cases the aircraft has lost signal and the aircraft itself will initiate return to home. That's why the RTH position and RTH height are stored in the aircraft.

Thanks,  that makes sense.  

I use Litchi all the time with waypoint missions. If it loses signal trust me, it returns back to you. Also in mission settings you choose final actions. I would also suggest if you're going to use Litchi, take the phantom film school class. It's inexpensive and you'll not only learn Litchi, you'll learn shot composition, editing, safety, planning and much more. It gave me a big head start.

fans67b52e3b Posted at 2017-4-20 09:55
I use Litchi all the time with waypoint missions. If it loses signal trust me, it returns back to you. Also in mission settings you choose final actions. I would also suggest if you're going to use Litchi, take the phantom film school class. It's inexpensive and you'll not only learn Litchi, you'll learn shot composition, editing, safety, planning and much more. It gave me a big head start.

That must be some new option then, because Litchi is known for continuing the waypoints mission regardless of whether the AC senses a control signal.  It's one of the main reasons people use Litchi.  

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-4-20 13:49
That must be some new option then, because Litchi is known for continuing the waypoints mission regardless of whether the AC senses a control signal.  It's one of the main reasons people use Litchi.

Yes Mark, you're correct. I have to assume that the earlier poster meant that if it loses signal, it returns back to you after the mission has completed.

Yes, it will try to complete the mission first and only RTH of you have it set to.

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-4-20 02:25
Sorry, this is not correct.  You can also initiate RTH by turning your controller completely off for several seconds.  Sometimes this is the best way because it removes the risk of the RTH command not reaching the AC.

True, but I am thinking typical ways.

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-4-20 13:49
That must be some new option then, because Litchi is known for continuing the waypoints mission regardless of whether the AC senses a control signal.  It's one of the main reasons people use Litchi.

I think this topic is very important.  And you are right about Litchi: it is very user friendly and powerful for waypoint missions.  But... there are a lot of misterious details about it. (i.e they are not on the manuals).

When you ask about these things to Litchi or DJI, I have concluded that the office staff NOT always know the answer, despite of their very good disposition to help you.  After making many questions and researching a lot, I still have some doubts on waypoint missions.  Maybe you know the exact answer to them.

Absolutely, when you are in a Litchis mission, nothing will stop it (and thats wonderful).  If you lose signal or turn off your controller or your cell phone or your home lights  , it will continue the mission.  I have verified this many times, even with missions 8000 meters long, flying 18 minutes (round trip).

One exception to this rule is referred to battery capacity.  And here is where my biggest doubts arise. I have never got a low level battery trigger, so I can not scientifically affirm how this really work.  And that is my first question.  I ASSUME that the plane is all the time calculating if the current battery capacity is enough to complete the whole trip anf if it is not, it will abort the mission and will initiate the RTH maneuver and when it is close enough, you will can take the control again of the drone, if necessary.

And my second doubt, maybe more difficult to answer, is if in the same context,  it is possible to turn off before the flight, as part of the mission, the RTH operation, in order to avoid the drone starting the RTH procedure,  even if it gets its battery exhausted.  If it is possible,  I ASSUME that the drone will try to complete its mission till its battery level gets 10% and will descend wherever it is at that moment.  Has anyone verified this?   There are some situations when you need this kind of  behaivor.

Both questions are referred EXCLUSIVELY to AUTONOMOUS WAYPOINT MISSIONS ONLY.  To avoid confusions, please we must forget other kind o flights.

Please, do not forget that we are talking on fully autonomous missions and that you have no control of the drone, after 150 meters (45 seconds) of departure.  So Murphy´s Law must be considered at full.

Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise on these two topics.

BobBob Posted at 2017-8-28 18:22
I think this topic is very important.  And you are right about Litchi: it is very user friendly and powerful for waypoint missions.  But... there are a lot of misterious details about it. (i.e they are not on the manuals).

When you ask about these things to Litchi or DJI, I have concluded that the office staff NOT always know the answer, despite of their very good disposition to help you.  After making many questions and researching a lot, I still have some doubts on waypoint missions.  Maybe you know the exact answer to them.

The Litchi app use the DJI-GO firmware and app info too. If you have the smart-RTH turned off in your Go app, even though it may not be running, Litchi will ignore the low battery info. This has been discussed by several of us. The problem is that I discovered was that with the smart-RTH turned on, I have Litchi abort waypoint missions that I had run before. I had to toggle the smart-RTH off in the Go app, and all was good again. Yes, you have to watch your battery voltages yourself. It will not trigger the RTH automatically for you. Litchi claims until DJI changes the firmware, that is how it is. Just understanding  what is going on is a big help for me anyway. To turn off the mission all you have to do is toggle the function switch to any other position than "F" mode. That is if you have a signal! If you off somewhere and lost signal, your phantom will complete the mission, but you cannot release the mission if you have no signal. But, with that being said, as soon as it picks up the signal again, you can cancel the RTH then. You cannot however re-start the mission from where you stopped. At least that is the way I have found it. Apparently, Litchi says with the latest release (V4.1.2), they added the option to "stop" your mission and continue with a push of a button, but I tried it and it didn't seem to work for me. I noticed with the new release also they reverted back to 20-channels instead of the 31 with previous versions, so I went back to what I was using (V3.10.9), and I will stay there. These are my own experiences, and hope it might answer a couple of your questions regarding Litchi.

RicardoGray Posted at 2017-8-29 07:37
The Litchi app use the DJI-GO firmware and app info too. If you have the smart-RTH turned off in your Go app, even though it may not be running, Litchi will ignore the low battery info. This has been discussed by several of us. The problem is that I discovered was that with the smart-RTH turned on, I have Litchi abort waypoint missions that I had run before. I had to toggle the smart-RTH off in the Go app, and all was good again. Yes, you have to watch your battery voltages yourself. It will not trigger the RTH automatically for you. Litchi claims until DJI changes the firmware, that is how it is. Just understanding  what is going on is a big help for me anyway. To turn off the mission all you have to do is toggle the function switch to any other position than "F" mode. That is if you have a signal! If you off somewhere and lost signal, your phantom will complete the mission, but you cannot release the mission if you have no signal. But, with that being said, as soon as it picks up the signal again, you can cancel the RTH then. You cannot however re-start the mission from where you stopped. At least that is the way I have found it. Apparently, Litchi says with the latest release (V4.1.2), they added the option to "stop" your mission and continue with a push of a button, but I tried it and it didn't seem to work for me. I noticed with the new release also they reverted back to 20-channels instead of the 31 with previous versions, so I went back to what I was using (V3.10.9), and I will stay there. These are my own experiences, and hope it might answer a couple of your questions regarding Litchi.

Yes Ricardo, thank you.  Your answers helpme and others to complement the knowledge about extreme situations with Litchi and DJI software.

In my case, missions are fully autonomous.  I have even tried automatic landings after finishing some missions.  And it is incredible... no failures.  The most I do missions, the most I get confident on drones hardware.  Just one button, no human intervention and happy landing, after a 12 minutes flight.  I love that.  But you need to plan your flight very carefully.

One of the application of dissabling the RTH function is to let the drone to land IN THE MIDDLE of a mission.  You can not do this otherway.  Did you realize on this?

BobBob Posted at 2017-8-29 09:40
Yes Ricardo, thank you.  Your answers helpme and others to complement the knowledge about extreme situations with Litchi and DJI software.

In my case, missions are fully autonomous.  I have even tried automatic landings after finishing some missions.  And it is incredible... no failures.  The most I do missions, the most I get confident on drones hardware.  Just one button, no human intervention and happy landing, after a 12 minutes flight.  I love that.  But you need to plan your flight very carefully.

No I didn't realize you could land while running a mission. So, how do you do that? Also I will have to try the landing feature, I normally just get it close and take over from there. I too, think it is crazy that you can program these missions, and just let it go. I have caught myself saying "Man, this is awesome!".

RicardoGray Posted at 2017-8-29 10:21
No I didn't realize you could land while running a mission. So, how do you do that? Also I will have to try the landing feature, I normally just get it close and take over from there. I too, think it is crazy that you can program these missions, and just let it go. I have caught myself saying "Man, this is awesome!".

Yes, you are right.  Drones do incorporate the latest and most advanced technologies developed so far: multitasking computers, paralell computing, satellites, electronic compasses, accelerometers, inertial navigation systems, electronic barometers, very high quality brushless motors and controllers,  etc.  All of this packaged in a small footprint circuit design.  And behind the scenes, a very clever software, well designed.  I think it is important to appreciate these hidden things.

Using the Litchi software as is, it is not possible to land in the middle of a mission.  I think the only way to do this is to go to the waypoint where you want to land and do a trick.  You can not hover or do other things at any waypoint, for more than 70 seconds in total. This is the maximum time that you can stay in any waypoint.  So, for landing, you must spend time at your landing waypoint, moving up and down many times, till your battery is depleted.  At this condition, the drone will land autonomously.

But it is mandatory that the Smart Return to Home function be disabled before departure.

If you get the low battery critical level (10%) before your desired waypoint... you got a problem.

BobBob Posted at 2017-8-29 14:01
Yes, you are right.  Drones do incorporate the latest and most advanced technologies developed so far: multitasking computers, paralell computing, satellites, electronic compasses, accelerometers, inertial navigation systems, electronic barometers, very high quality brushless motors and controllers,  etc.  All of this packaged in a small footprint circuit design.  And behind the scenes, a very clever software, well designed.  I think it is important to appreciate these hidden things.

Using the Litchi software as is, it is not possible to land in the middle of a mission.  I think the only way to do this is to go to the waypoint where you want to land and do a trick.  You can not hover or do other things at any waypoint, for more than 70 seconds in total. This is the maximum time that you can stay in any waypoint.  So, for landing, you must spend time at your landing waypoint, moving up and down many times, till your battery is depleted.  At this condition, the drone will land autonomously.

Yeah I found out about the smart RTH early on too. I understand what you are doing now.
Yeah, these are amazing machines, and we are all too quick to criticize DJI. What they have going on in this Go app is beyond me for sure. Yeah sometimes things don't go like we think, but we should be grateful too for this outstanding technology. But with that being said, I still enjoy the Litchi...my hat is off to them as well for things they have done for us. Nice chatting and have fun!

quadpilot Posted at 2017-8-30 14:59
so if using Litchi app I have to turn off the SRH function in the dji app
because at the moment i have it turned on?

If it works ok for you, don't mess with it. I have a couple 6-7 miles missions I run routinely, and Litchi would initiate a RTH before the mission completed. So I turned it off in the go app and everything is good again. If you have the latest go app I don't think you can turn it off. I am on older firmware on my phantom 3 advanced, and I also run the older version go-app. It works for me so I'm going to stay there.

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-4-20 14:18
Yes Mark, you're correct. I have to assume that the earlier poster meant that if it loses signal, it returns back to you after the mission has completed.

On completion of mission it stops at last mission command which is usually return to base.

Litchi actually warns you about circumstances that RTH will not initiate ..... worth taking a look - I will not paraphrase here to avoid getting it wrong.

Nigel

HWCM Posted at 2017-4-19 22:29
Never mind the complex answer he gave you.
Yes, when using Litchi, the RTH button on the remote is the only way to do a RTH while flying (not including out of signal range waypoint missions).
The RTH button on the remote works with or without an app, tablet, phone etc. As you can fly the Phantom without the use of a tablet, phone etc.

you're answer is not accurate also.  I personally run several missions  wherein upon losing signal the litchi rth fails, secondary option rth button on remote, fails also with an error message "failed to execute" so both methods are not 100%  i have not tried to turn off the remote, however,  i am pleased to report it did make it back everytime.  the most troubling part is watching the video afterwards and watching how bad you're pre-flight planning is and even worse you're time distance and alititude calculations.   I can't stress enough how important it is to properly pre-flight..

fansdebf8e13 Posted at 2018-1-28 03:36
you're answer is not accurate also.  I personally run several missions  wherein upon losing signal the litchi rth fails, secondary option rth button on remote, fails also with an error message "failed to execute" so both methods are not 100%  i have not tried to turn off the remote, however,  i am pleased to report it did make it back everytime.  the most troubling part is watching the video afterwards and watching how bad you're pre-flight planning is and even worse you're time distance and alititude calculations.   I can't stress enough how important it is to properly pre-flight..

Ummmm, its not supposed to RTH during a mission by design. If it is out of range the RTH button will not work either...because it is out of range to receive the RTH signal.
So yes, my answer is correct.
Please read the Litchi manual.

Aardvark Posted at 2017-4-20 06:02
It 'assumes' it is out of range if the connection is lost for more than 3 seconds irrespective of what caused the signal loss. So whether the signal is blocked by buildings, or you switch off RC. In both cases the aircraft has lost signal and the aircraft itself will initiate return to home. That's why the RTH position and RTH height are stored in the aircraft.

"That's why the RTH position and RTH height are stored in the aircraft."

That's good to know!  So if everything else fails the AC will RTH by itself.  

Christine96 Posted at 2018-9-3 16:53
"That's why the RTH position and RTH height are stored in the aircraft."

That's good to know!  So if everything else fails the AC will RTH by itself.

That's how it should work if it has GPS, enough height to clear obstacles (OA should work as well), and is not batting against a strong wind (RTH is quite slow) which could stop it getting home.

BobBob Posted at 2017-8-29 09:40
Yes Ricardo, thank you.  Your answers helpme and others to complement the knowledge about extreme situations with Litchi and DJI software.

In my case, missions are fully autonomous.  I have even tried automatic landings after finishing some missions.  And it is incredible... no failures.  The most I do missions, the most I get confident on drones hardware.  Just one button, no human intervention and happy landing, after a 12 minutes flight.  I love that.  But you need to plan your flight very carefully.

Sorry I've been using Litchi for just over a month ... I did some Missions and everything went ok !! Even if when the drone leaves I get anxious ...
But I just wanted to say one thing ... when it happened to me (rarely) that I had to or want to interrupt a Mission I pressed the interrupt button and the Drone remained where it was ... so I believe that in case of problems we can at that point press the RTH on the Controller and the Drone should go home. What is still doubtful is its accuracy in finding the exact HOME ... in some videos it seemed very reasonable in others they say that it can be wrong by several meters.

Bensi Posted at 11-10 06:50
Sorry I've been using Litchi for just over a month ... I did some Missions and everything went ok !! Even if when the drone leaves I get anxious ...
But I just wanted to say one thing ... when it happened to me (rarely) that I had to or want to interrupt a Mission I pressed the interrupt button and the Drone remained where it was ... so I believe that in case of problems we can at that point press the RTH on the Controller and the Drone should go home. What is still doubtful is its accuracy in finding the exact HOME ... in some videos it seemed very reasonable in others they say that it can be wrong by several meters.

However in Italy ... ENAC has imposed that drones like my Dji Mini SE (Open class) must not be flown beyond the point of view (i.e. at a distance that is usually not more than 150-200 meters) to this point .... the signal loss problem is very difficult.