Cant get my Return to Controller to work correctly

[jyamaharider713]

Hey so I want to fly my spark off of my boat. I know there is a return to controller setting in the App. When i go to fly the drone no matter if i set the setting before i take off or after i take off once I'm in the air the home point doesn't change from where it left the ground. I thought that with return to controller setting if something happened while flying off my boat the drone would come back to my location not the location i left. I need this to work because if I'm flying off my boat and we change locations on the boat if something goes wrong the drone would just land in the water.

If anyone could explain how to get this feature to work that would be awesome.

Thanks.

 

[Tentoes]

Alas, the return to controller feature only works in active track mode, making the whole return-to-home feature pretty useless in a boat. Landing in the water where you took off would be pretty bad.

 

[jyamaharider713]

Alas, the return to controller feature only works in active track mode, making the whole return-to-home feature pretty useless in a boat. Landing in the water where you took off would be pretty bad.

Wow that pretty disappointing. The reason i bought it was to fly from my boat on vacations. Seems like i wasted my time..

 

[Tentoes]

Wow that pretty disappointing. The reason i bought it was to fly from my boat on vacations. Seems like i wasted my time..

You just have to be careful to fly it back to yourself instead of relying on RTH.

 

[Diavel drone]

As above its no big deal because you wont have obstacles or sight impairments out on the water. Just set your battery warning to 30% to ensure you can get back.

 

[DameEdnaBrown]

As above its no big deal because you wont have obstacles or sight impairments out on the water. Just set your battery warning to 30% to ensure you can get back.

How about using Dynamic Home point

 

[Spark 317]

How about using Dynamic Home point

That works with Active Track. But even then, the Spark updates the Home Point of where the Spark is at every 30 meters or so (edit 15 meters), not the controller, so that if the Spark loses the subject during Active Track, it flys back to the last recorded Home Point and hovers, verses the Spark flying all the way back to it's original Home Point.

If he his tracking his boat, that may work, but if filming the shoreline while moving and wanting it to come back, probably not.

There's a break in the weather here and I'll do a Home Point test soon.

As I understand it, the options to change the Home Point are there, whether it's where the Spark is at or where the controller is at, depending on which button you push in the app.

I fly primarily with a WiFi only mini4 so I can't do it with that since it doesn't have GPS in it.

I'll try with my Droids that do have GPS and see what happens.

I've also read that you have to keep pushing the button every time you move, it's not just a one time push during the flight.

 

[Tentoes]

While active tracking the other day, it said, "The home point has been updated, please check it on the map" every few seconds while I was walking around. It didn't if I was staying still. I don't know if it was setting the drone's location or my location. Perhaps I'll experiment.

 

[Spark 317]

I did a quick flight out in the parking lot and changing the Home Point to the controller seems to work with a GPS enabled phone, although it wasn't directly to me like a precession landing, but was close enough to get control of it and bring it to me.

This is the first time I used the RTH button and noticed it counts down the ETA flight time in the top banner.
Neat.

 

[Spark 317]

While active tracking the other day, it said, "The home point has been updated, please check it on the map" every few seconds while I was walking around. It didn't if I was staying still. I don't know if it was setting the drone's location or my location. Perhaps I'll experiment.

I checked the manual and it updates every 15 meters and not 30 like I thought, so about every 45 feet.

 

[Tentoes]

I checked the manual and it updates every 15 meters and not 30 like I thought, so about every 45 feet.

I just checked it in the field and got every 50 ft, which would be mighty close to 15 meters. At least within the precision of my measuring technique.

It also sets the AIRCRAFT position as the home point. Tested 2 ways: 1. I let it change the home point a few times, then hit RTH. Phoebe landed. 2. I let it follow me a ways, setting the home point. Then I walked a big circle around the spark. As it swiveled it never moved more than 6 ft from the home point while I walked a LONG way. It did not set the home point while it was pivoting.

While I was doing this, the auto service place called to say my car was ready. I told them I'd be there shortly. Then my stupid phone decided I wanted to block their number. Phoebe hovered and laughed at me while I switched back to GO4.

Another test I did: Phoebe flew back to the home point for low battery once, and somebody complained "It flew right over my head! I had to duck!" So I tried low battery RTH today again. She went up 328 ft, then flew back to me. If he had to duck, he was REALLY tall. I also don't think he was within a hundred yards of her path as he never showed in her video or on screen.

 

[Tentoes]

I did a quick flight out in the parking lot and changing the Home Point to the controller seems to work with a GPS enabled phone, although it wasn't directly to me like a precession landing, but was close enough to get control of it and bring it to me.

I haven't tried that option. I have all 3 batteries on charge now, so perhaps I'll play with that later.

 

[Spark 317]

Hey so I want to fly my spark off of my boat. I know there is a return to controller setting in the App. When i go to fly the drone no matter if i set the setting before i take off or after i take off once I'm in the air the home point doesn't change from where it left the ground. I thought that with return to controller setting if something happened while flying off my boat the drone would come back to my location not the location i left. I need this to work because if I'm flying off my boat and we change locations on the boat if something goes wrong the drone would just land in the water.

If anyone could explain how to get this feature to work that would be awesome.

Thanks.

I did a test flight this afternoon and it seems to work with a GPS enabled device when the right button is pressed in the app during the flight, it reset the Home Point to me.

I even reset the HP, called the Spark home, walked across the parking lot to another spot, paused the RTH, Spark hovers, reset HP again, hit RTH and it started coming to me at the new spot.

Keep in mind what your RTH settings are at because if you are fly at 50', and the RTH is set for 100', the Spark may rise up to that point before going home depending on the distance from it.