Couple of quirks with my spark

sgrinavi · Mar 16, 2019

Hey all,

So I've had my spark out a few times and have noticed some glitches that seem odd (to me). I've had my M2z for a little while and a P2v+ before that, so I'm not a complete noob, but almost.

- The indicated altitude is not realistic, I know it switches from the optical sensors to the barometer at 25 feet, or so, but up to that point there is no way that the optical sensors are accurate

- Even the barometric readings are funky - I've had it go from 100 feet to zero and back again. One time I was coming down from about 200 feet and noticed that it was basically falling out of the sky. Looked at the indicated altitude and it was zero, I attempted to stop it, but when I centered the stick it kept falling, the only thing that saved it was that it fell through a tree and slowed it down enough, and flipped it so it landed on its back. Didn't get a scratch - tough little guy.

- When you push the left stick full up it goes up pretty fast, when you release the stick it keeps going up for longer than physics would allow, like 8 or 10 feet certainly further than my M2z goes up when you center the stick (that one seems like it stops, but maybe it goes up a little bit)

I reinstalled the firmware which seems to have helped on the zero indications at altitude, but the optical readings are still wonky.

Do you think I have a problem child or is this normal behavior?

Thanks

-

sgrinavi · Mar 16, 2019

25 views and no response? I didn't know there was any such thing as a drone flyer that didn't have an opinion on drone flying characteristics lol

Surfnut · Mar 16, 2019

Sorry Sgrinavi, I’m a relative newbie and don’t have the technical knowledge to help you...

Andre Levite · Mar 16, 2019

sgrinavi said:
Hey all,

So I've had my spark out a few times and have noticed some glitches that seem odd (to me). I've had my M2z for a little while and a P2v+ before that, so I'm not a complete noob, but almost.

- The indicated altitude is not realistic, I know it switches from the optical sensors to the barometer at 25 feet, or so, but up to that point there is no way that the optical sensors are accurate

- Even the barometric readings are funky - I've had it go from 100 feet to zero and back again. One time I was coming down from about 200 feet and noticed that it was basically falling out of the sky. Looked at the indicated altitude and it was zero, I attempted to stop it, but when I centered the stick it kept falling, the only thing that saved it was that it fell through a tree and slowed it down enough, and flipped it so it landed on its back. Didn't get a scratch - tough little guy.

- When you push the left stick full up it goes up pretty fast, when you release the stick it keeps going up for longer than physics would allow, like 8 or 10 feet certainly further than my M2z goes up when you center the stick (that one seems like it stops, but maybe it goes up a little bit)

I reinstalled the firmware which seems to have helped on the zero indications at altitude, but the optical readings are still wonky.

Do you think I have a problem child or is this normal behavior?

Thanks

-

What you describe is not normal.

I have 2 Sparks and my actual altitude correlates well with my perceived altitude. Always

McCloudSpark · Mar 16, 2019

Sounds like there is a problem with the BP sensor or circuitry. I've seen it on this forum before. May need to have DJI take a look at it. You may have other Spark issues as well. I don't like the sound of the drifting and falling issues!

Miket · Mar 17, 2019

So you had 25 views without a comment. I'll guarantee that's because none of the 25 viewers have ever had those sort of problems and didn't think they could give any constructive comment. I have not experienced anything like what you describe but would suggest it is going to be a connection error somewhere, involving both telemetry transmission and control signals. If you have eliminated atmospheric and environment influences by moving to another area and you still have repeatable situations, I would recommend involving DJI tech to take a look. Wish I could help more.

Miket · Mar 17, 2019

Miket said:
So you had 25 views without a comment. I'll guarantee that's because none of the 25 viewers have ever had those sort of problems and didn't think they could give any constructive comment. I have not experienced anything like what you describe but would suggest it is going to be a connection error somewhere, involving both telemetry transmission and control signals. If you have eliminated atmospheric and environment influences by moving to another area and you still have repeatable situations, I would recommend involving DJI tech to take a look. Wish I could help more.

I would guess that when the bird is dropping out of the sky, the motors have stopped and she thinks she has landed if I ever experienced seeing my spark falling like that the first thing to try is restarting the motors.

sgrinavi · Mar 17, 2019

Miket said:
I would guess that when the bird is dropping out of the sky, the motors have stopped and she thinks she has landed if I ever experienced seeing my spark falling like that the first thing to try is restarting the motors.

Would the flight log tell me that ?

Miket · Mar 17, 2019

sgrinavi said:
Would the flight log tell me that ?

I would guess so. Got to be worth a try. Must admit I have never had cause to look at my logs

Paul215 · Mar 17, 2019

The red zero altitude is a problem with the vps sensor. Do you have something mounted under your drone, a skin? Take a look at the two sensors next to the camera. Are the dirty or is there moist in it?

sgrinavi · Mar 17, 2019

Paul215 said:
The red zero altitude is a problem with the vps sensor. Do you have something mounted under your drone, a skin? Take a look at the two sensors next to the camera. Are the dirty or is there moist in it?

That was the first thing I looked at, looks fine

Paul215 · Mar 17, 2019

sgrinavi said:
That was the first thing I looked at, looks fine

Ok can you upload the flight log from the flight were it fall out of the sky? When we see what the spark sensors measured at this time it could help.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

I don't know how firm you are with flightlog so a short explanation

at the link you can read were to find the flightlog file. After uploading you can post the link here and we can see it. If you know that already... forget what I sad

nilanjan118 · Mar 17, 2019

Miket said:
Must admit I have never had cause to look at my logs

Not quite an answer to the OP, but regarding flight logs/records, I don't think one should wait for any "cause" to arise to have a look at them. There is a whole bunch of information you can get from the flight logs like battery info, signal strength, gps info etc. Personally I have learnt a lot about my Spark by studying the flight logs and make it a point to review my flight log after each flight. I use Airdata to manage and analyse my flightlogs. Here is a thread on it if you would like to take a look.

Diagnose disconnects, flyaways and other problems with Airdata!

Though I'm sure this has been posted before it probably bares repeating. There's a never ending stream of posts on this forum concerning flyaways, disconnects, malfunctions, etc from flummoxed pilots. The answers often lie in your flight data. Create a free account on Airdata, upload your flight...

sparkpilots.com

sgrinavi · Mar 17, 2019

Thanks, I plug her in tomorrow and have a look. I reinstalled my firmware after the crash, does that wipe out the logs?

nilanjan118 · Mar 17, 2019

sgrinavi said:
I reinstalled my firmware after the crash, does that wipe out the logs?

No. The logs are stored in your mobile device.
If you are using an Android device, simply connect it to your computer and find the specific folder. The path should be something like this.
DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightRecord
If you are using an Apple device, follow these instructions.

There is also an option in Airdata which automatically syncs your flightlogs and you don't have to search manually and upload. But this option will sync all your logs to Airdata and some people do not like to do so.