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a little insight on error messages.
1844 20 2018-8-20
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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Hi All,
I got my spark for a couple weeks now and wanted to test sports mode and see how far i can go with it. So i found a place where people fly drones and thought this would be the perfect place. I calibarted the drone IMU and compass and sent it off but experienced all kinds of errors and would lose controll from time to time. On top of losing control I was using the OTG cable and my video would cut out or stutter, the drone even would initiat RTH to a location away from me but with in the same general area (about 30 feet away from take off). Now this happened over a couple flights but linked is one of the flights i had so many issues with. I am on the latest firmware on AC, RC and app. I am hoping you guys can give me some insight as to what is causing it and what i can do to avoid this int he future. I am going on a trip in a few weeks and this makes me feel confident in using it on my trip to get some nice ocean shots.

PS i made sure the antennas were possitioned properly and i was the only person on the field those days so i dont think i got interferance from others.

https://app.airdata.com/share/OpNTLl

Thanks in advanced!

2018-8-20
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Haggi
Captain
Flight distance : 2581785 ft
Norway
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Well, that round shaped slab looks like concrete.
Concrete contains rebar.
Stay away from concrete at any cost.
Never ever recalibrate your drone on/close to concrete decks or slabs!

Recalibrate again as soon as possible far away from steel, wires and concrete.
2018-8-20
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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Thanks for the tip but if you see my flight path i get compass errors away from the concrete more than near the concrete.
2018-8-20
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Haggi
Captain
Flight distance : 2581785 ft
Norway
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Datree Posted at 2018-8-20 09:22
Thanks for the tip but if you see my flight path i get compass errors away from the concrete more than near the concrete.

Doesnt matter.
You calibrated drone on the spot?

Stay away from concrete (because of the rebar) like its the plague!

Lots of ppl has experienced fly-aways in environment like that.
Consider yourself lucky :-)
2018-8-20
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DJI Gamora
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Hi, thanks for reaching DJI Forum. We do apologize for having troubles with your aircraft. I'd like to ask if you already tried to switch cables? Also, what is the SD card that you used, have you formatted it the when you activated the aircraft? We're here to help you this. Thank you.


2018-8-20
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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Hi,
I have the samsung 32GB U3 and it has been great, i believe  it came pre formatted. I did not switch cables but i did change to Wifi connection after that and was considerably worse constant choppy video and cut out. I have not had any issues with recording video or pictures Only controlling the drone and receiving so many errors. I will try Haggi suggestion and avoid concrete during calibration see if that sorts out the issues.
2018-8-20
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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Haggi Posted at 2018-8-20 09:26
Doesnt matter.
You calibrated drone on the spot?

wellll.... lol on the last flight that same night my drone did fly away right over me and slammed into a tree...
2018-8-20
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DJI Tony
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Datree Posted at 2018-8-20 09:37
Hi,
I have the samsung 32GB U3 and it has been great, i believe  it came pre formatted. I did not switch cables but i did change to Wifi connection after that and was considerably worse constant choppy video and cut out. I have not had any issues with recording video or pictures Only controlling the drone and receiving so many errors. I will try Haggi suggestion and avoid concrete during calibration see if that sorts out the issues.

Hi Datree, Thanks for the response, I would recommend restoring factory defaults and refresh the firmware using the DJI Assistant 2 afterward reboot the aircraft then re-link the RC to Ac, re-calibrate the IMU and compass again to see if there will be changes. Please see the link below.

https://www.dji.com/spark/info#downloads
2018-8-20
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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DJI Tony Posted at 2018-8-20 10:27
Hi Datree, Thanks for the response, I would recommend restoring factory defaults and refresh the firmware using the DJI Assistant 2 afterward reboot the aircraft then re-link the RC to Ac, re-calibrate the IMU and compass again to see if there will be changes. Please see the link below.

https://www.dji.com/spark/info#downloads

Thanks will try this and get back to you.
2018-8-20
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DJI Tony
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Datree Posted at 2018-8-20 11:00
Thanks will try this and get back to you.

Thank you for the response. Please let us know on the latest progress.
2018-8-21
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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Hi Tony,
   I did not get a chance to fly yesterday but will hopefully try tonight thanks.
2018-8-21
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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DJI Tony Posted at 2018-8-21 10:00
Thank you for the response. Please let us know on the latest progress.

Hi Tony,
   Looks like Haggi suggestion worked. I turned on the drone away from cement and was still getting crazy compas readings but after calibrating away from cement all errors went away and i flew 300 feet up in the air and about 700 feet away without any cut out or issues. Had a great solid flight thanks for the help!
2018-8-21
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Greg F
Captain
Flight distance : 944308 ft
Australia
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Sadly even if you do an IMU and Compass calibration you could still have issues if you calibrate near any metal.   Having said that I had issues in the middle of an open field 100m from anything.    The drone may in fact get interference in the air which causes some issues and errors and even drop outs.    The further away you fly the larger the risk of issues become.   Sure we all want to see how far we can fly, bit pointless when you can't see the drone.  
2018-8-21
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BrandonW77
lvl.4
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Yep, I'm guessing compass calibration error too.  It's recommended that you don't calibrate the compass/IMU unless prompted to do so in the app or if you've traveled a far distance from where you normally fly.  It was probably calibrated fine before you arrived, but once you got there you calibrated it near the reinforced concrete which caused a compass error and resulted in a bad calibration and erratic flight.  To check this, before you launch make sure the arrow on the map is indicating the actual position the drone is pointed in (i.e. if it's pointed north it should show north on the map in the app), if it doesn't then you know the compass is whacky.  In the future, only calibrate things if you are prompted to do by the app or if you're a couple hundred miles from where you normally fly.
2018-8-22
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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BrandonW77 Posted at 2018-8-22 04:31
Yep, I'm guessing compass calibration error too.  It's recommended that you don't calibrate the compass/IMU unless prompted to do so in the app or if you've traveled a far distance from where you normally fly.  It was probably calibrated fine before you arrived, but once you got there you calibrated it near the reinforced concrete which caused a compass error and resulted in a bad calibration and erratic flight.  To check this, before you launch make sure the arrow on the map is indicating the actual position the drone is pointed in (i.e. if it's pointed north it should show north on the map in the app), if it doesn't then you know the compass is whacky.  In the future, only calibrate things if you are prompted to do by the app or if you're a couple hundred miles from where you normally fly.

I checked the sensor status for both IMU and compass before and after flight. Before i took off compass was red but IMU was green after calibration Compass became green. The app DID NOT ask me to calibrate even though it was red.
2018-8-22
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nixuspix
Captain
Flight distance : 2864974 ft
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Latvia
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Better provide ideal conditions for calibration and it with all precautions  once and then never ever calibrate until you are asked to.
I never calibrate even travelling from EU to Thailand or US or South Africa and never had any problems.
VERY IMPORTANT IS RIGHT CALIBRATION!
2018-8-22
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DJI Tony
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Datree Posted at 2018-8-21 19:40
Hi Tony,
   Looks like Haggi suggestion worked. I turned on the drone away from cement and was still getting crazy compas readings but after calibrating away from cement all errors went away and i flew 300 feet up in the air and about 700 feet away without any cut out or issues. Had a great solid flight thanks for the help!

Hi Datree, Wow that great to know! I would recommend avoiding a hazardous environment to prevent an incident. Please let us know if you need our help. Thank you for the support.
2018-8-22
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BrandonW77
lvl.4
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Datree Posted at 2018-8-22 08:08
I checked the sensor status for both IMU and compass before and after flight. Before i took off compass was red but IMU was green after calibration Compass became green. The app DID NOT ask me to calibrate even though it was red.

That kinda supports my theory I think.  It was red which means there was probably interference, then when you calibrated it near that interference it got a bad calibration and then went wonky.  Basically, by calibrating it when there was interference you told it that the interference was normal so it thought it's calibration was good but in fact it was not and once it got outside of that interference it got really confused. Think of it like filling the gas tank in your car with water, the fuel gauge will show that it's full but it will not operate properly.
2018-8-22
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Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
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BrandonW77 Posted at 2018-8-22 08:55
That kinda supports my theory I think.  It was red which means there was probably interference, then when you calibrated it near that interference it got a bad calibration and then went wonky.  Basically, by calibrating it when there was interference you told it that the interference was normal so it thought it's calibration was good but in fact it was not and once it got outside of that interference it got really confused. Think of it like filling the gas tank in your car with water, the fuel gauge will show that it's full but it will not operate properly.

I think i didnt explain it properly. This last flight i took where it flew perfectly this was the case. I was out in the field away from concrete and the compass was red before i calibrated it.
2018-8-22
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BrandonW77
lvl.4
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Datree Posted at 2018-8-22 09:17
I think i didnt explain it properly. This last flight i took where it flew perfectly this was the case. I was out in the field away from concrete and the compass was red before i calibrated it.

Ok.  Well, in the future it is best practice to only calibrate the compass when prompted to by the app.  I'd recommend finding a safe, flat place that's free of interference to calibrate your compass and IMU and then leave them alone.  Hopefully that will help you avoid any future episodes like this one.
2018-8-22
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jacksonnai
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Welcome to the forum mate
2018-8-22
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