DJI Spark drifting

[smartgeek80]

Hi all,

Just to start - I am fairly new to drones. I got my Spark a couple week ago and its been great. However a couple days ago I had a minor crash and I damaged one propeller. I replaced the propeller and is seemed fine (hover test). I took it out yesterday on a family outting - tried to do a basic "dronie" and it would go backwards, after about 10m it would fly backwards and to the left (kind of like a figure "J"). Could it be because of the single propeller change? Do I need to change all 4 at the same time?

Thanks in advance for the the input.

Gary

 

[alex_hidrobo]

No.

 

[alex_hidrobo]

The propelers has an order. Did You follow it?

 

[smartgeek80]

I did notice the new propeller was a lot stiffer to open than the remaining original 3? Just a thought.

 

[smartgeek80]

Yes I replaced the broken one with a "marked" one just like the original one

 

[Speedmeister]

You may need to calibrate your imu and compass. Did you do your hover test at above 7 meters altitude? Spark can hover steadily below 7m using VPS. Hovering above that would use GPS to keep it steady. If your imu and compass are off, it would not be the case. My guess is the automated flights use GPS You can also try RTH and see if it lands on same spot.

 

[smartgeek80]

Speedmeister - you may be on to something, I did not do my hover test above 7m since I was in my backyard. Now that i think about when I initiate the "dronie" it seems fine for the first while then as starts to get some altitude it starts to drift. I will attempt the calibration tonight and see what happens. Appreciate the input.

 

[Blind Rookie]

I'm new to this as well and appreciate the question as I has a similar experience minus the crash.

Cheers!

 

[RPL]

In my experiencing with DJI drones (2.5 years), drifting almost always indicates a need to perform a compass and/or IMU calibration.

 

[Speedmeister]

I always do a hover test after the message “your home point has been saved”. I cant trust that saved homepoint if It drifts at hover. Even with the presence of wind, the spark will fight to maintain its position.

 

[ZPFunk]

I agree with the others, always perform full calibrations on hardware after a major crash. If it breaks a prop, i'd consider it a major crash.

 

[thewhatever]

In my experiencing with DJI drones (2.5 years), drifting almost always indicates a need to perform a compass and/or IMU calibration.

Yep mine drifted to the right, a good compass calibration and it was perfect again

 

[smartgeek80]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I did the calibration and hovered about 7m and its seems pretty stable. I noticed it was rotating a bit to the right while hovering but maybe i'm being too picky. Going to take it out on my lunch hour for a proper flight.

ZPFunk - It does sound bad but it was only hovering about 1 ft off the ground and I had a brain fart, instead of landing with the left joystick I used the right joystick and hit the exterior of my house and it fell. It was a good lesson - completely see when/where you need to use the prop gaurds, it would have completely prevented this crash

 

[Speedmeister]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I did the calibration and hovered about 7m and its seems pretty stable. I noticed it was rotating a bit to the right while hovering but maybe i'm being too picky. Going to take it out on my lunch hour for a proper flight.

ZPFunk - It does sound bad but it was only hovering about 1 ft off the ground and I had a brain fart, instead of landing with the left joystick I used the right joystick and hit the exterior of my house and it fell. It was a good lesson - completely see when/where you need to use the prop gaurds, it would have completely prevented this crash

I always fly spark with prop guard on. I dont have prop guards on my phantom but I dont fly it where I normally fly spark. I fly spark with obstacle avoidance off and fly it close to objects using FPV.

 

[Sparky007]

In my experiencing with DJI drones (2.5 years), drifting almost always indicates a need to perform a compass and/or IMU calibration.

I would agree with the above statement 100% I lost a drone due to not letting the GPS kick in before taking of on a flight in moderate winds.

 

[smartgeek80]

Hi all - to update I believe the drifting issue has been resolved. I calibrated the imu and still had a drift issue, then I calibrated the compass and it seems to be good now. The first dronie shot was perfectly straight and then I had a couple test with the drone moving left or right by maybe a meter or so but it was also going back about 60m so I think I’m being too picky. Overall I’m happy with how it’s behaving now.

Appreciate the input everyone!

Gary

In my experiencing with DJI drones (2.5 years), drifting almost always indicates a need to perform a compass and/or IMU calibration.

I would agree with the above statement 100% I lost a drone due to not letting the GPS kick in before taking of on a flight in moderate winds.