Hello all,

I am having trouble controlling when the aircraft returns to home on a low battery. During my missions, it sometimes aborts and comes home with 23% battery remaining, other times 18%, other times it does not auto-return. I would prefer to disable any automatic returning to home and just do it myself. I can't seem to find any options in the user interface to do this. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you!

I just read in the user manual about 'low battery RTH'. It seems that the aircraft will return to home whenever it feels the battery is too low to continue flying. Although I like the emphasis on safety, it would be great to opt out of this automatic feature. I have had two problems with this auto RTH. 1) it aborted in the middle of a flight line and the newest firmware code will resume on the next flight line (omitting coverage). 2) It is generally my protocol to catch the drone out of the sky because I've had countless tip-overs over the years where the rotors chop into the ground and get dirt in the motors.  Last week, the moment I caught the drone, it initiated a return to home procedure. That was scary to say the least.

I would suggest that you not wait that long to bring it back.   Receipe for disaster.

jgillan Posted at 5-10 12:58
I just read in the user manual about 'low battery RTH'. It seems that the aircraft will return to home whenever it feels the battery is too low to continue flying. Although I like the emphasis on safety, it would be great to opt out of this automatic feature. I have had two problems with this auto RTH. 1) it aborted in the middle of a flight line and the newest firmware code will resume on the next flight line (omitting coverage). 2) It is generally my protocol to catch the drone out of the sky because I've had countless tip-overs over the years where the rotors chop into the ground and get dirt in the motors.  Last week, the moment I caught the drone, it initiated a return to home procedure. That was scary to say the least.

You cannot opt out of RTH, it is a built in safety feature that will occur whether you want it or not. However, the best option is to choose to return earlier while you have control.

Geebax Posted at 5-10 14:16
You cannot opt out of RTH, it is a built in safety feature that will occur whether you want it or not. However, the best option is to choose to return earlier while you have control.

Did you read the post? The problem is that the user has no way of knowing when "earlier" is, since the software will determine this on the fly, regardless of settings.

"Safety features" are good to have as options, but overrides should always exist for those that wish to handle problem situations themselves, and for cases where those features actually pose more of a safety hazard than a remedy.

patiam Posted at 5-10 19:40
Did you read the post? The problem is that the user has no way of knowing when "earlier" is, since the software will determine this on the fly, regardless of settings.

"Safety features" are good to have as options, but overrides should always exist for those that wish to handle problem situations themselves, and for cases where those features actually pose more of a safety hazard than a remedy.

Yes, I read the post very carefully, apparently you did not read it or my reply with the same care. The Return To Home function is independant of the software he is running, and DJI have chosen to make it happen irregardless of what the pilot wants to happen. They also have chosen not to make it user defeatable.

Geebax Posted at 5-10 20:37
Yes, I read the post very carefully, apparently you did not read it or my reply with the same care. The Return To Home function is independant of the software he is running, and DJI have chosen to make it happen irregardless of what the pilot wants to happen. They also have chosen not to make it user defeatable.

User: "The software does X which is bad and it would be good if it didn't do that"
Other users: "Yeah, me too"
Geebax: "The software does that".

How does pointing out the fact that DJI has implemented failsafes that many users find onerous contribute in any way to helping resolve the issue? We know what the system does.

My response was also with respect to your statement that " the best option is to choose to return earlier while you have control.". If the software chooses the RTH point itself on the fly, the pilot has less chance of premptively RTH "earlier".
BTW "irregardless" is, well... nm.

patiam Posted at 5-10 21:19
User: "The software does X which is bad and it would be good if it didn't do that"
Other users: "Yeah, me too"
Geebax: "The software does that".

'It would be good if it didn't do that'. Yeah well the long history of this forum and DJI has demonstrated that DJI do not listen to what people on here ask for. The P4PRTK is still basically a P4 and operates in almost exactly the same way, and it appears that once DJI decide that a particular feature is, in their eyes, a good idea, they do not change. And that is largely true of the Chinese in many business practices. You simply have yet to come to terms with that. Ask the members here how DJI has responded to constant criticism of their NFZ policy.

Disengage Smart RTH in the battery settings in the app - this will take out the low battery RTH procedure so the drone will not initiate the ten second count down and leave it to you to gauge when it's safer to come home. Note that at 10% the battery reaches a critical warning and will begin to land wherever the drone may be so if you switch off Smart RTH be very astute in checking your battery percentage. You can maintain altitude in a critical battery landing by pushing on the thorttle stick but your drone should have landed safely way before this happens...

A J Posted at 5-11 03:39
Disengage Smart RTH in the battery settings in the app - this will take out the low battery RTH procedure so the drone will not initiate the ten second count down and leave it to you to gauge when it's safer to come home. Note that at 10% the battery reaches a critical warning and will begin to land wherever the drone may be so if you switch off Smart RTH be very astute in checking your battery percentage. You can maintain altitude in a critical battery landing by pushing on the thorttle stick but your drone should have landed safely way before this happens...

@AJ. Thank you, very helpful.

patiam Posted at 5-11 08:02
@AJ. Thank you, very helpful.

You're welcome.

Geebax Posted at 5-11 02:35
'It would be good if it didn't do that'. Yeah well the long history of this forum and DJI has demonstrated that DJI do not listen to what people on here ask for. The P4PRTK is still basically a P4 and operates in almost exactly the same way, and it appears that once DJI decide that a particular feature is, in their eyes, a good idea, they do not change. And that is largely true of the Chinese in many business practices. You simply have yet to come to terms with that. Ask the members here how DJI has responded to constant criticism of their NFZ policy.

"You simply have yet to come to terms with that. Ask the members here how DJI has responded to constant criticism of their NFZ policy"


Yeah, kinda like that terrain awareness thing you were so sure was impossible, eh?


But seriously, I'm not making the claim that folks calling for a software enhancement here actually resulted in it happening (and also not ruling it out). But to think that that expectation is the only reason for voicing issues with the hardware and software we've been given is shortsighted.


True, our complaints on this forum may never actually drive improvements in the systems we all use. But raising the issues serves another purpose- sharing experience and educating fellow users about the pitfalls and shortcomings of the platform. We do this not only to vent, but to develop and share workarounds, and even if it has a low chance of success, to voice our wishes to DJI for bug fixes and enhancements.

You can save your admonishments about the likelihood of DJI acting on issues raised in this forum for noobs that bother to engage with the DJI rep/mod/bots here. Since we're all aware of that, maybe we can contribute constructively to discussions of system issues in a way that benefits each other, or if not, just abstain?


I'll not respond to your statement about "the Chinese" beyond saying that I won't respond to it.

patiam Posted at 5-11 22:29
"You simply have yet to come to terms with that. Ask the members here how DJI has responded to constant criticism of their NFZ policy"

"I'll not respond to your statement about "the Chinese" beyond saying that I won't respond to it."

No, you probably won't, as most Americans are scared of levelling any form of criticism at an ethnic group of people for fear of it being seen as racism. Fortunately, here in Australia we are not hobbled by those views, we see things for what they are and call them out on it. I have had extensive experience in having products made in China and dealing with them as contracted manufacturers. As a result, I can say that there are certain entrenched attitudes deeply embedded in Chinese society, especially towards people who point out to them where they need to improve their workmanship. China is still in the very early stages of learning to do business with Western counties, and DJI is a classic example of that progress. Their success in selling their product has outstripped their ability to deal with customers in a manner that those customers in the West have come to expect.

These comments don't have a place in this forum. We are here to help each other as well as making requests for features and to report bugs. So let's  keep this clean.

I second LYVFD8142.  We are all in the same boat trying to get the most out of an imperfect system and rely on these forums to provide insights that we have not been able to reach ourselves as the product is new and constantly evolving.

So hug it out fellas.

I'm done. Not interested in pursuing this further. Apologies to all for any unpleasantness.

So after taking a look at the battery settings on the controller, I'm not seeing any option to disable smart RTH. I'm wondering if AJ was referring to DJI Go? I'm looking in Homescreen>Fly>...>Battery Arrow Icon. The only option that I'm seeing is to reduce the low battery warning level... Nothing about Disable Smart RTH, this would be a very nice feature for long flightlines

patiam Posted at 2019-5-11 22:29
"You simply have yet to come to terms with that. Ask the members here how DJI has responded to constant criticism of their NFZ policy"

Patiam and other participants of this forum I just want to thank all your collaborations since 1 month ago I bought the P4RTK and from what I see the after-sales technical support is still so bad, at least here, so I was forced to consult all the publications of this forum and remove doubts and understand changes that otherwise would have been impossible! Best regards!

NICK CAVE Posted at 2-18 11:00
Patiam and other participants of this forum I just want to thank all your collaborations since 1 month ago I bought the P4RTK and from what I see the after-sales technical support is still so bad, at least here, so I was forced to consult all the publications of this forum and remove doubts and understand changes that otherwise would have been impossible! Best regards!

@NICK CAVE (great handle BTW)-

You're very welcome- helping each other figure out how to best use our DJI kit is what this place is all about!

Very happy you found some value in the content here. I've been posting much less frequently lately but still try to check in at least weekly.

jgillan, we all have developed processes based on experiences, equipment used and risk tolerance.  I learned the hard way not to push LiPo batteries. I rarely let the flight control software determine when to come home. My decision to return home is based on wind, distance, terrain and where the drone is in the flight plan. Under very few circumstances will I push beyond 30% remaining.  I'd rather come home and swap a battery than risk a crash due to a depleted battery

Skyveyor112 Posted at 2-25 06:43
jgillan, we all have developed processes based on experiences, equipment used and risk tolerance.  I learned the hard way not to push LiPo batteries. I rarely let the flight control software determine when to come home. My decision to return home is based on wind, distance, terrain and where the drone is in the flight plan. Under very few circumstances will I push beyond 30% remaining.  I'd rather come home and swap a battery than risk a crash due to a depleted battery

Agree 100% w/ Skyveyor112