Hi, I`m completly new to DJI-drones and had my first flight with my new Spark earlier today.
Very fun and easy to handle aircraft I must say. But putting that aside I had a nerve wracking experience in my second flight.
After approx 30 seconds I get a warning saying: "Magnetic Filed Interference. Exit P-GPS Mode". And the Spark started drifting off in high speed for a couple of seconds before I luckily got control back again.

Here are a summary of the series of events from earlier today:

• Preflight: Calibrated compass (because app told me to).
• First flight: Went really well. Flew approx 8-10 minutes befor landing and changed the battery.
• Second flight: As described above. After examining the flight-log I se lots of "Yaw error" before I lost control for some seconds.
• Third flight: Had control of the drone the whole flight, but when examining the flight-log I see some of the same errors as in flight two. But in addition I see "Compass error" in this flight.
  

I have read posts of people that have bee less fortunate than me, and lost their aircraft due to some og these errors.
So my question is; Is this a common situation for DJI-Spark (or other)? and is there something I should have done differently before takeoff?

Flightlogs can be downladed from this address:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PLTX7q-BUmNy7srAGvMLcudm2ZLk0Mqr

Best regards,
Ole-Jacob Jensen

That was a common issue back this past spring.
And although DJI never said anything about an internal design change, I feel that is what is causing it.
It did not happen "all of the sudden" with a firmware revision.

Try using DJI Assistant 2 to refresh the firmware.
If your issue continues, I hate to say ...you need to turn it into service.

Hi Ole-Jacob,

Had a look your 2 flights.

Second flight

At distance 63 meters away from HP (after 38 s) a Yaw error was seen.
Yaw errros often are followed by Interference warning, wich switches the drone into ATTI mode.
Luck for you that after approx 4 seconds P-GPS mode was back again, so AC easy to control.


Third flight
After takeoff a compass error is there, followed by speed and Yaw errors, and as 'normal' into ATTI mode.
Sometimes the cause Compass error direct after takeoff is a calibration carried out in an compass unfriendly envirioment. (near cars, steel, rebar etc)
It looks that your takeoff position was on a road, did you do a compass calibration before this flight? (don`t think so, not in your flightrecord)


IMO Spark drones have too often Yaw, Speed, Compass, IMU errors (out of the blue...) wich result in ATTI mode, often for the user un-controllable...loosing the SPARK.
See the pictch angles changes when SPARK get into ATTI, after that speed increases highly.

IMO best thing to do in ATTI is no stick input (as you did) , see what is happening and yaw AC towards home, than apply fwd stick.
This ofcourse if there are no obstacles and height is OK.

My advice is to calibrate Spark in the middle of a green field.....calib the IMU as well.

Second advice is to fly always with a screen recorder active, usefull to see what happend on the screen afterwards and kind of proof to show if you loose your Spark.

cheers
JJB

Hello and good day Ole-Jacob Jensen. Welcome to DJI Forum. I am sorry to know that you had this issue on your previous flight with your DJI Spark. Please try to refresh the firmware of your drone and try to fly the DJI Spark to a different location to see if the issue will still persist.  Please make sure to fly your drone in a wide-open area with no electromagnetic interference. Minimize interference by avoiding areas with high level of electromagnetism such as locations near power lines, base stations, electrical substations, and broadcasting towers. Thank you.

Thanks guys for great tips and and advice :-) And thanks @JJBspark for that detailed investigation of my flight-logs. Great Flight-log program btw!

When I think back to when i calibrated the compass. I think i did that in close proximity to my car, unfortunately. So that could be root cause for this. Lesson learned.

But do anyone know if I need to do a recalibration after changing battery? Because this happened after I changed battery. And i did not recalibrate the compass.

Try to make GOOD Calibration once - green field, no pipes underneath, no electrical lines...... even no smartphone, no watch, no belts on yourself . Put the controller with smartphone at least 6m away from the drone before you take it and start rotations circles...
After successful calibration never ever do it again until the drone will ask You to do it.

Glad you still have your Spark!  I had the same errors just a few weeks ago but mine was much further away and it was never recovered

My flight log looks pretty much the same though... Yaw/Speed errors and then got the magnetic field interference message and switch to ATTI meanwhile the RC connection cuts in/out and GPS cuts in/out even though GPS signal was great and there were no sources of interference in the area.  

This happened to me on my 3rd flight after calibrating my compass in the middle of a beach.  I calibrated the compass because I was in a new location several hundred miles from my home where I initially calibrated.  I have yet to make sense of whether it's best to do one really thorough and accurate calibration and never do it again or to calibrate during certain situations such as when moving locations.  

I think in your case though checking the firmware and doing a careful compass calibration are needed.  Hopefully that works otherwise maybe your new Spark has a hardware/software issue?

Ole-Jacob Posted at 1-11 13:50
Thanks guys for great tips and and advice :-) And thanks @JJBspark for that detailed investigation of my flight-logs. Great Flight-log program btw!

When I think back to when i calibrated the compass. I think i did that in close proximity to my car, unfortunately. So that could be root cause for this. Lesson learned.

Its my pleasure.

Normally after a battery change no need to do a compass calibration.
If possible always take-off / land from a "non-magnetic" place, so do not land very close to your car and do the batt swap there. I always try to stay away from cars, metal bridges, rebar etc. Just in case.
Same with switching ON my Spark, not in the car and walk away to put in on the ground....

Don`t know if it helps but when rotate my Spark to compass calib i do it really slow slow.
(since that procedure i haven`t had a compass error again).

BTW, imo the warning magnetic interference is not a valid warning when its appears after YAW or IMU warnings. Only when magn interference to aircraft is on its own, than i believe that warning. The only problem is that lot of warnings are not shown in the Go 4 app.....
I think DJI should change that, so the user knows that a switch to ATTI mode in in the near future....  ;-)

cheers
JJB

JJBspark Posted at 1-12 02:53
Its my pleasure.

Normally after a battery change no need to do a compass calibration.

Does sports mode upset yaw etc. Too fast with motor current & angles that may upset the compass & IMU?  Do your logs from others & FRAP support the same? That's my guess from limited tests. Limited 'cos I want to keep Spark alive. Thank you JJB for your great work!

Sparkz71 Posted at 1-12 04:36
Does sports mode upset yaw etc. Too fast with motor current & angles that may upset the compass & IMU?  Do your logs from others & FRAP support the same? That's my guess from limited tests. Limited 'cos I want to keep Spark alive. Thank you JJB for your great work!

Good question, i don`t know.  

Some on this forum said that SPARK in Sport mode is less sensitive for YAW etc errors.
In my own SPARK experience i see no big convincing difference in P-GPS and SPORT mode and errros....

I have a small GPS tracker on top of my Spark, so in case its flys away i know where it has landed/crashed.
2 days to find Spark, untill the batt runs to zero of the tracker....

cheers
JJB

JJBspark Posted at 1-12 04:58
Good question, i don`t know.  

Some on this forum said that SPARK in Sport mode is less sensitive for YAW etc errors.

Thank you for the reply. Just an idea & checking as I know you have many logs to compare, thus I thought (was hoping) you may know the answer from collecting others logs. I guess it changes per experience. Thanks again. Happy flying & best wishes to the OP, JJB & everybody else on the side.

JJBspark Posted at 1-12 04:58
Good question, i don`t know.  

Some on this forum said that SPARK in Sport mode is less sensitive for YAW etc errors.

Good idea the GPS tracker thing,.... Sorry for my bad english

JJBspark Posted at 1-12 04:58
Good question, i don`t know.  

Some on this forum said that SPARK in Sport mode is less sensitive for YAW etc errors.

Good idea on the tracker.  What model do you use?

OP - this might be a good near term solution while testing?   

I'm not familiar with very many GPS trackers - but I was thinking of a Tile tracker, like the one you put on your keys.  I think it's wifi so it only works between 75 and 150ft I think (depending on the model).   But they're light, inexpensive, and the battery lasts a long time.  It's probably not as good as a GPS tracker but I think getting a signal within 75ft increases the odds of finding a lost spark substantially!

Hi Ole-Jacob,

Especially as a beginner you should familiarize yourself how to fly your Spark in ATTI mode.
See this thread about ATTI mode flying.

Cheers,
Wolferl

JJBspark Posted at 1-12 04:58
Good question, i don`t know.  

Some on this forum said that SPARK in Sport mode is less sensitive for YAW etc errors.

Hi, I think it's the opposite, it is more sensitive to these errors in sport mode, at least from what I have read so far. ATTI mode seem to happen more in sport mode.

For me, it will be ATTI mode 100% of the time in sport mode because I switched the sport mode to ATTI, to be able to practice that mode.

ajmckay Posted at 1-12 07:26
Good idea on the tracker.  What model do you use?

OP - this might be a good near term solution while testing?   

Maybe the Marco Polo tracking system? it's the smallest tracker and people are using it on the Spark. It's just so expensive. In Canada it is near 300$.

Daniella3d Posted at 1-12 09:59
Hi, I think it's the opposite, it is more sensitive to these errors in sport mode, at least from what I have read so far. ATTI mode seem to happen more in sport mode.

For me, it will be ATTI mode 100% of the time in sport mode because I switched the sport mode to ATTI, to be able to practice that mode.

Hi Danielle,

Amazing, if you switch to Sport mode and you get ATTI, for sure something wrong with your Spark.

Spark should be flying in P-GPS and SPORT mode where is made for ; that is not ATTI !

cheers
JJB

ajmckay Posted at 1-12 07:26
Good idea on the tracker.  What model do you use?

OP - this might be a good near term solution while testing?   

Hi,

I use this one >  https://forum.dji.com/thread-173375-1-1.html

only 23 grams!  if someone find a tracker < 23 gram please let me know

cheers
JJB

ajmckay Posted at 1-11 22:29
Glad you still have your Spark!  I had the same errors just a few weeks ago but mine was much further away and it was never recovered

My flight log looks pretty much the same though... Yaw/Speed errors and then got the magnetic field interference message and switch to ATTI meanwhile the RC connection cuts in/out and GPS cuts in/out even though GPS signal was great and there were no sources of interference in the area.  

Sorry to hear about your Spark. After reading several posts regarding this issue, I realize that I was very lucky it wasnt further away from me.

Wolferl Posted at 1-12 08:13
Hi Ole-Jacob,

Especially as a beginner you should familiarize yourself how to fly your Spark in ATTI mode.

Hi Wolfer, great tutorial! I will definitly try this for training.

I have experience with other (smaller/cheaper) drones without gps. But its always good to be prepared if or when gps falls out.

JJBspark Posted at 1-12 11:19
Hi Danielle,

Amazing, if you switch to Sport mode and you get ATTI, for sure something wrong with your Spark.

It's not a defect, I did the change in the program and switched the sport mode to ATTI. I don't need the sport mode for now, but I do want to get proficient with ATTI when it will occur and I know it's only a matter of time before it does. It's very easy and quick to do that modification. there is a thread about how to do it here in the forum. It's an awesome tutorial from Wolferl

https://forum.dji.com/thread-173114-1-1.html

Daniella3d Posted at 1-12 14:13
It's not a defect, I did the change in the program and switched the sport mode to ATTI. I don't need the sport mode for now, but I do want to get proficient with ATTI when it will occur and I know it's only a matter of time before it does. It's very easy and quick to do that modification. there is a thread about how to do it here in the forum. It's an awesome tutorial from Wolferl

https://forum.dji.com/thread-173114-1-1.html

oke, than i mis understood your posting. Yes, indeed a good video about ATTI by Wolfer!
I had a small not stabilized drone before, so think i know how to fly in ATTI.Plus i had a few ATTI (out of the blue) moments on my SPARK.....and still have it!

cheers
JJB

Just for feedback guys. Have done more flights since I created this thread, and with all your advice, I have flown  several successful flights with no glitches :-) Also done some atti-mode training. Thanks to @wolfrl for that great tutorial! And to @JJBspark for investigating my first flightlogs

The only thing I had trouble with was connection between my cellphone (android) and the RC (I know this because I could control the spark when the app says disconnected). Using OTG-cable so I was afraid that it was something wrong with the RC, but after closer investingation it is clear that there are the USB on my phone that is faulty. But using wifi now and it works pretty good I must say.

Again, thanks for all good advice for a rookie

Hello from Brazil.
I had the same problem 2 days ago. After take off, it started to show many yaw error messages.
I am sending my video/log .
https://app.airdata.com/share/dx ... ns&val=detailed
Look at 25.5 sec, i decided stop the mavic in sticks and it continued flying away to right. So i tried to move the stick to left. It continued flying away , At 38 sec it started to hit in some trees. 2 propellers were broken.  I think it was only things demaged.  I dont trust in drones anymore.