roverT
lvl.2
Flight distance : 22103 ft
Offline
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Hey guys,
I'm sure this happens a lot and if this is a repeat of of a thread that I have not come across in the previous threads, my apology for my ignorance and a link to help me better understand would be of great education!
I've been flying my Spark for a little over a year now (14hr flight time/65km/multiple countries if that helps) and have watched a ton of Youtube videos to learn do's and don'ts. I pride myself on being able to equip myself with such knowledge as well as be able to practice it out in the field and learn from my humble shortcomings as a human.
During my warranty period I had many random disconnects and loss of transmission so the Spark would RTH at times when it would not reconnect within a second. I had sent in inquiries of this to DJI with ZERO follow-up. It wasn't a big enough problem for me to pursue them because I was within my warranty period and thought if it happened more, I would attempt to start communication again. Presently if this happened before taking off, I would restart the remote or the Spark and I'd wait a minute to make sure it was stable then I would take off as soon as I could set RTH.
This time, I was getting some footage and realized after I landed, that I didn't hit video record for one last video clip and my battery was red after landing it. I put a freshly charged battery in and made sure all clips were solid. I started Spark up again to get that one final video. Once I got satelittes and RTD location/altitude verified, I started Spark up into the air for one simple forward in Sport and incline at max speed like I just did in the previous battery to create a reveal shot. After about 400ft away the picture went blank and the remote went red and my GO4 app verified if I want to return to home. I slide it over to say, yes, but it didn't matter because the remote showed a red LED and zero connection. I didn't worry because I know whenver my Spark lost remote connection it would just RTH, so I waited patiently to hear buzzing overhead since it was less than 400ft away and less than 100ft high from my starting position. After 1 minute, nothing. After 2 minutes, silence. I got worried and looked down on the remote showing a red LED. I hit RTH on the remote but that didn't help. After 5 minutes I patiently gave up that it was coming back.
I launched and set my RTH point at the highest point of my intended trajectory so if RTH had to be initated the Spark would rise to my 30m set altitude even though it didn't have to because there is nothing in the way in my direct line of sight maneuver. There were some trees around but they might have been 5m higher than the take off height which is a non-issue for my RTH settings. Even if it RTH with no altitude change it was already 97' above where my location was. I just used the phantomhelp website and uploaded my flight log to the sight but it doesn't show any anomalies. The Spark and exterior conditions were nonimal including battery voltages (11.26V) for each of the three cells with a 0.028V deviation at 92% capacity when it lost conact.
Because the last known whereabouts were over the ocean, I made the decision that because I had only 2 hours to get to the airport to catch my international flight, I would not attempt to scuba dive for Sparky. LOL. It would have dropped into the ocean where the depths quickly range from 16.4' to 37.7'. The weather conditions were perfect with light wind and clear blue skies. I did not have any visual of Spark because it's so small, even at 100ft away, you lose visual of it and after a couple hundred feet you stop hearing the propellors cutting the air. I do have my flight data and I do have the streamed 720p video up until the remote LED went red. The steamed video showed zero sign of aerodynamic disturbance/physical parts failing and there were no large birds in the area to have swooped and grab Spark let alone having any bird try to catch up immediately with a 53km/h at max cimb rate. My maneuver from RTH point only took 11 seconds until loss of signal.
Now I want to find out if DJI or any other users with more experience can help me learn WHY my Spark react the way it did and what are the supporting reactions for RTH to become disabled when remote connection is lost?
PS. Thank you ahead of time for taking the time to read my "as much accuracy as I can", story.
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