Hi,

Went for a short flight yesterday, after a few minutes the drone shot off in a random direction, had a warning of weak GPS, despite launching with a strong signal. Just replayed flight and found this error on screen. Thankfully go home kicked in and I didn’t lose the drone.

Screenshot https://photos.app.goo.gl/GOcuuM0vfgaC2Yyx2

• What does these errors mean?
• What should I do about it?
• How can I be sure my spark won’t fly off in a random direction again?
  

Thanks,

Well my friend.....Sincerely nobody knows why this happens....I dont think that you will find an answer to your question....It just happens....Maybe a bug in firmware a bug on hardware ....

Is there a way to get someone from DJI to take a look?

Glad you got the drone back in one piece - looking at the photo - the location you flew in is my main concern. The houses/buildings you flew over at just 43M above the homepoint have obviously a high degree of WiFi noise which has caused an interference in the WiFi transmission - especially if using 2.4Ghz frequency. Also, I know this is a GPS map rather than real time but it looks like there are yachts around the area and close by to you/the drone - some of these will have very powerful radar receivers and would knock out your GPS and compass very easily. In short, you flew too low within a congested area near heavy metal objects, radar transmitters and heavy WiFi noise which sent your GPS, compass and IMU out of synch. You were very lucky to get the drone back - fly in an open area and stick to the drone regs of not flying within 50m of buildings, people and vehicles not in your control...

djiuser_jAlksnx Posted at 2017-10-6 04:59
Is there a way to get someone from DJI to take a look?

Please upload your .dat file so I can help have a look.

You can upload your flight log to link below, just click on link and follow instructions, come back and post link here. It will give you a good understanding of what happened.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Thanks for the reply all, I can’t get the dat as I only have my iPad.

There were not many boats as in the sat view, but it’s good to understand that radar can have an effect on reception, that’s something I didn’t know.

djiuser_jAlksnx Posted at 2017-10-6 05:36
Thanks for the reply all, I can’t get the dat as I only have my iPad.

There were not many boats as in the sat view, but it’s good to understand that radar can have an effect on reception, that’s something I didn’t know.

Your ipad should have flight logs which will help us evaluate the details of the flight.  We can speculate, but if you can post the logs it will give us more data to work with.

Charles Adams Posted at 2017-10-6 05:48
Your ipad should have flight logs which will help us evaluate the details of the flight.  We can speculate, but if you can post the logs it will give us more data to work with.

As Charles said , you can used your Ipad to access some logs. Please follow the link to extract the data http://www.phantomhelp.com/Retrieve-DJI-Flight-Logs-From-iTunes/ then submit to http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

El Diablo Posted at 2017-10-6 05:44
It happens to drive you crazy... to wonder if you made the right purchase... to come here and complain and to 'unleash' the dogs in this forum against you... pilot error... read the manual...

WOOF WOOF (translation:  Yes I'm admitting I'm one of the dogs).

My evaluation will be honest and forthright.  If I see some evidence that pilot choice or behavior contributed to the incident, I'll state so.  If I see some evidence that there is/was a product defect in the system, I'll go there.

I don't think that's so bad.  I would want and expect the same honest assessment applied to me and my flights.  Since "pilot error" is the easiest defect for me to address and correct, I want any and all critique.  I hope that any individuals who come here and want an explanation or evaluation of their flights are open minded enough to accept my critique.

WOOF.

El Diablo Posted at 2017-10-6 05:44
It happens to drive you crazy... to wonder if you made the right purchase... to come here and complain and to 'unleash' the dogs in this forum against you... pilot error... read the manual...

LOL, that's it!

I divide the amount payed for the drone between my increasing number of flights, and I am happy to see that every day my flights are cheaper. So, the day my spark fly away or fall down, it will not hurt me so much

Obviously thats a joke but, what else can we do?

Hi,

I don’t have my computer with me, so if extracting the log involves iTunes it’ll have to wait until I return. If the logs contain additional information I would love to understand and read more.

I am grateful for any and all critism, I have flown about 3 hours total. Since it happened I’ve recalibrated the compass and IMU.

djiuser_jAlksnx Posted at 2017-10-6 12:04
Hi,

I don’t have my computer with me, so if extracting the log involves iTunes it’ll have to wait until I return. If the logs contain additional information I would love to understand and read more.

You just need to go to link I have given you you don’t need iTunes just log from your phone app

Based on the screenshot provided, it could potentially be interference. Just to clarify, did you notice this right out of the box, after a firmware update or hard landing?

djiuser_jAlksnx Posted at 2017-10-6 12:04
Hi,

I don’t have my computer with me, so if extracting the log involves iTunes it’ll have to wait until I return. If the logs contain additional information I would love to understand and read more.

If you send an email to support with your DJI account email and the time/date of the record you want them to review, and they can look at the internal data to see if there are any hardware issues to look for.

Could you also clarify whether or not you have the Spark RC, or just use your iPad?

Thanks for the reply, Spark RC using an OTG cable to iPad.

I’ll contact support so they can review.

As OTG isn't officially supported with the spark, I guess the support will decline any further investigation...

SpeedCore Posted at 2017-10-7 01:11
As OTG isn't officially supported with the spark, I guess the support will decline any further investigation...

never understood why dji doesn't support it.  back when i owned a spark OTG was the way to go, especially in crowded areas where so many devices and signals that the spark was basically being jammed out, OTG doubled distance and halved latency.   

if dji denies warranty claims based on OTG useage then Dji is asking for legal trouble, because that goes in direct violation of consumer protection acts in europe and in the US, i believe most other places that have consumer protection as well.  the only way out of it is if DJi can without a doubt, prove OTG causes malfunctions, or if DJI flatout removes all possibilities of supporting OTG, which still wouldn't fully protect them even if mandatory updates since it was at some point a feature, official or not..   but dji can deny a claim if lets say OTG caused the usb port to fail completely, but if you had a fly away and dji elected to deny claim or ignore you based on OTG that is against consumer protection laws that are well established.


think about it liek this, say you put a spoiler on your car, but then your car needs warrenty work for the front suspension because it failed.  if the maker dnies you service because you modified it, that is illegal, the cause of failure is not related to you putting on a spoiler.  they could however deny you repairs on your trunk lid however because you had to mess with that to install the spoiler.. same if say you repainted it or wrapped it, they cant say because you modfied it, that not going to replace a transmittion link, unrelated, unless they can prove somehow a rear spoiler or a respray/wrap caused those issues.  same here with OTG, dji has to without shadow of doubt prove OTG causes all the problems inorder to deny claims that or kill the feature alltogether, which will only mostly protect them, still will be people that will exploit legal loopholes.

never understood why dji doesn't support it.

Probably because your controller wouldn't last an hour. Android outsells Apple 12 to 1 last time I checked, and all Android devices will try to recharge from any USB port they are plugged into, unlike Apple.

If the drone received interference that caused Compass and IMU issues at such a heigh, I'd be phone the cops to investigate what the hell the people in that house are building. Maybe they have a Star Gate or something else equally ridiculous worth suggesting.

WiFi Interference doesn't cause compass and IMU issues. It causes ONLY Wifi Interference which in the very worst case can ONLY result in you loosing connection and the drone simply coming back to you on it's own.

A Weak GPS signal is also NO excuse either for the error. Weak or no GPS at all will result in the drone going into ATTI mode where you still have full control over it to fly it wherever the heck you like.

1: You either need to do a full IMU and Compass calibration as something is clearly off and not working right.  
2: Your drone maybe developing a fault.
3: Or the house below contains a Star Gate or something else equally ridiculous.

Either way, get Logs sent to DJI before you run into trouble.

djiuser_jAlksnx Posted at 2017-10-7 00:18
Thanks for the reply, Spark RC using an OTG cable to iPad.

I’ll contact support so they can review.

How about connecting via WiFi? According to the screenshot you offered, it seems that GPS quality is not very good...

Sharp Posted at 2017-10-7 03:00
Probably because your controller wouldn't last an hour. Android outsells Apple 12 to 1 last time I checked, and all Android devices will try to recharge from any USB port they are plugged into, unlike Apple.

I believe an OTG cable or adapter disables the charging ability. It certainly has in my case.

maybe you don't do the compass and imu calibration first?

Try flying in a different spot to see if the aircraft behaves as such. Do a test flight and don't get too ambitious. DJI Jaime has a good point that you may of had areas that involved interference. Of course, you never want to fly line out of sight.