Cautions with Litchi?

[Roger S]

I just instant installed Litchi on my phone, but haven't flown with it yet. I noticed in settings Smart Return to Home is turned off by default. That looks dangerous. I've come to expect Spark to automatically return to home if battery runs low or I lose connection which I routinely do.

Anything else I should watch out for?

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

atti mode when you are beyond RC range....

 

[Roger S]

That would guarantee a lost bird for sure. I make a point of never flying without GPS lock after losing my 1st spark. dji said it was my fault because I was flying in atti mode. Kind of a bummer 'cause GPS is weak where I live.

 

[Roger S]

Another setting that concerns me is Signal Lost Behavior for Manual Flying. I see it in the online manual, but not in the Litchi app on my phone. Will it show up when the spark is connected or has it been removed? I want the drone to RTH if connection is lost.

 

[Sp@rkyPilot55]

I just instant installed Litchi on my phone, but haven't flown with it yet. I noticed in settings Smart Return to Home is turned off by default. That looks dangerous. I've come to expect Spark to automatically return to home if battery runs low or I lose connection which I routinely do.

Anything else I should watch out for?

So, turn it back on. Or fly it back yourself or don't use litchi[emoji41]

 

[Roger S]

So, turn it back on. Or fly it back yourself or don't use litchi[emoji41]

Why is turning it off an option, and especially the default?

 

[pmshop]

According to Litchi support, Smart return is for when the Spark is out of range of the controller for too long, it RTH even though there is enough battery to complete the mission.
My 4 mile round trip mission triggered RTH at 3 mile on the return because it was out of range of the controller for too long but landed with 32% battery left.
You can tell by the "RTH camera jump" that it kicked in @ 1:35:

Turning it off does not kill the low battery RTH.

And Northwood, the Spark does not go into ATTI mode when it gets out of the range of the controller in a litchi waypoint mission...or anything else in Litchi.

Waypoint missions, the Spark continues on with the flight plan.
Orbit, if the target area is out of range, the mission will not even start.
And so on.

 

[Wsteele]

I just instant installed Litchi on my phone, but haven't flown with it yet. I noticed in settings Smart Return to Home is turned off by default. That looks dangerous. I've come to expect Spark to automatically return to home if battery runs low or I lose connection which I routinely do.

Anything else I should watch out for?

Roger,

I fly my Spark Routinely with Litchi. After reading your post I took it out and checked your issue and the Litchi Software shows three selectable lost signal options including Hover, Land, and RTH. I keep it set on RTH. I then flew an eight minute Litchi waypoint mission with the Spark. I lost contact about 1/2 way through the 6600 ft mission and the Spark flew the remainder of the mission autonomously to the last way point then automatically returned to home. The action at the end of the waypoint mission is also selectable between None(Hover), RTH, Land, Back to waypoint 1, or fly route in reverse.

I only fly 2-3 times a week with my Spark or my Mavic 2 Pro and Litchi but I've never had a problem with Litchi other than the momentary stress level increase when the drones are flying part of a waypoint mission autonomously.

Bill

 

[Locutus40]

im lost how does a app tell a drone to come home when its lost connection... first its out of range so it cant transmit anything anyway... unless it uploads a packet to the drone telling it hey if you dont hear from me come to this spot.... but i dont see it doing that..... maybe....

and if you dont see home point locked i think you can manaully lock it ot tell it where home is.... before you fly..... also dont fly far if it does not home lock you still can fly just pay attention to the battery and to the distance and go ok 50% battery time to come home

dont reply on a app or program rely on your brain.. do you think helicopter pilots rely on instraments alone no ok we can fly 6 hours lets fly 6 hours lol no you can fly 3 hours 3 for the return unless its stated it can fly 6 and reserves get you home for the 6 hours out so 12 hours round trip.... im going off on a tangent lol you get my point

 

[Wsteele]

im lost how does a app tell a drone to come home when its lost connection... first its out of range so it cant transmit anything anyway... unless it uploads a packet to the drone telling it hey if you dont hear from me come to this spot.... but i dont see it doing that..... maybe....

and if you dont see home point locked i think you can manaully lock it ot tell it where home is.... before you fly..... also dont fly far if it does not home lock you still can fly just pay attention to the battery and to the distance and go ok 50% battery time to come home

dont reply on a app or program rely on your brain.. do you think helicopter pilots rely on instraments alone no ok we can fly 6 hours lets fly 6 hours lol no you can fly 3 hours 3 for the return unless its stated it can fly 6 and reserves get you home for the 6 hours out so 12 hours round trip.... im going off on a tangent lol you get my point

I probably didn't adequately explain how the Litchi App works with DJI Drones. If you're flying a way point mission, for example, all the information (lat long, altitude, camera focus point, drone pointing direction, etc) for every waypoint is loaded into the drone when you start the mission. When you take off, the home point is automatically recorded on the drone. When you click mission start (actually this is when the mission information is transferred to the drone) the drone is flying essentially autonomously of the app through the whole mission. If you have connectivity, you can watch the progress of the mission via the app on your display. If you lose contact with the drone, it completes the entire route and records the video and flight data on the SD card. At the end of the waypoint mission, it then follows the instruction you pre-programmed (hover, land, RTH, etc.) regardless of whether you have reestablished connection between the drone and the app. If you have connectivity between the drone and the app you can cancel the mission at any time.

I did not check this out, but I also believe that if your drone is autonomously flying a mission that was loaded by Litchi and you reach a point where the drone determines there is not enough battery life to complete the route it aborts the waypoint mission and initiates a RTH procedure regardless of whether it's communicating with the app.

Your last point regarding helicopter pilots is well taken. Before I even start the mission I fly to the starting altitude (not required but what I do) and then reconfirm that the estimated time for the mission as displayed in the Litchi App is significantly less than the estimated mission time capacity of the battery. With the Spark I make sure there is three or 4 minutes of battery reserve. I also take into account the effect wind may have on the estimated mission time.

However, while I am a very conservative flyer, I do recognize the difference between a manned helicopter costing $100's of thousands a dollar and an unmanned drone in the $400-$1500 price range. I'm pretty confident about the Litchi autonomous mission reliability and I'm essentially 100% confident in the DJI RTH functionality and I use it with almost every mission.

I have also read complaints about the position accuracy of the RTH function. As long as you do not initiate RTH within about 60 feet (May not be the exact distance as I did not look it up) of the RTH point, the drone returns home pretty accurately. If you initiate RTH within the 60 foot radius, the drone with just land where it is.

Roger, be confident that the Litchi App is well designed and at least as reliable as the DJO Go 4 app. Go out and have fun.

 

[Rafiky]

I probably didn't adequately explain how the Litchi App works with DJI Drones. If you're flying a way point mission, for example, all the information (lat long, altitude, camera focus point, drone pointing direction, etc) for every waypoint is loaded into the drone when you start the mission. When you take off, the home point is automatically recorded on the drone. When you click mission start (actually this is when the mission information is transferred to the drone) the drone is flying essentially autonomously of the app through the whole mission. If you have connectivity, you can watch the progress of the mission via the app on your display. If you lose contact with the drone, it completes the entire route and records the video and flight data on the SD card. At the end of the waypoint mission, it then follows the instruction you pre-programmed (hover, land, RTH, etc.) regardless of whether you have reestablished connection between the drone and the app. If you have connectivity between the drone and the app you can cancel the mission at any time.

I did not check this out, but I also believe that if your drone is autonomously flying a mission that was loaded by Litchi and you reach a point where the drone determines there is not enough battery life to complete the route it aborts the waypoint mission and initiates a RTH procedure regardless of whether it's communicating with the app.

Your last point regarding helicopter pilots is well taken. Before I even start the mission I fly to the starting altitude (not required but what I do) and then reconfirm that the estimated time for the mission as displayed in the Litchi App is significantly less than the estimated mission time capacity of the battery. With the Spark I make sure there is three or 4 minutes of battery reserve. I also take into account the effect wind may have on the estimated mission time.

However, while I am a very conservative flyer, I do recognize the difference between a manned helicopter costing $100's of thousands a dollar and an unmanned drone in the $400-$1500 price range. I'm pretty confident about the Litchi autonomous mission reliability and I'm essentially 100% confident in the DJI RTH functionality and I use it with almost every mission.

I have also read complaints about the position accuracy of the RTH function. As long as you do not initiate RTH within about 60 feet (May not be the exact distance as I did not look it up) of the RTH point, the drone returns home pretty accurately. If you initiate RTH within the 60 foot radius, the drone with just land where it is.

Roger, be confident that the Litchi App is well designed and at least as reliable as the DJO Go 4 app. Go out and have fun.

That was a great explanation.
Do you use a Wi-Fi range extender or repeater to fly the spark with litchi in waypoints mission?

 

[Wsteele]

That was a great explanation.
Do you use a Wi-Fi range extender or repeater to fly the spark with litchi in waypoints mission?

I have a set of reflectors I put over the antenna and that helps a little but one of the Litchi missions I fly is autonomous about 40% of the time. Reading most forum comments about Litchi missions, the most common error is not setting the waypoint altitude high enough to avoid augering into trees or the ground.

 

[Rafiky]

I have a set of reflectors I put over the antenna and that helps a little but one of the Litchi missions I fly is autonomous about 40% of the time. Reading most forum comments about Litchi missions, the most common error is not setting the waypoint altitude high enough to avoid augering into trees or the ground.

Thank you, do you mind sharing the reflectors model you use?

 

[tmtwomey]

Reading most forum comments about Litchi missions, the most common error is not setting the waypoint altitude high enough to avoid augering into trees or the ground.

Before I let Litchi fly a mission, I make a copy of the mission and set the mission speed to 0. If the mission uses POIs, I disable them so I can control the camera. I then fly the test mission letting Litchi follow the waypoints, while I control the speed. I go very slowly when near any hazard, watching with the camera. After one safe pass, I can use the real mission knowing that I am not going to hit a tree or building