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GPS weak

Kenneth Jackson

Well-Known Member
Join
Jul 3, 2018
Messages
68
Age
60
I've had 3 fly aways recently. All are due to the Spark losing gps signal mid flight. It has happened at different locations. Yesterday, I was hovering at 300 ft.. when gps was lost and spark went into atti mode. I had 9 satellites before the failure. Needless to say the Spark went rapidly down wind but I was able to bring it back in.
Im thinking that maybe the antenna cable is loose or something. My Spark has always had issues with gps but now it's much worse.
Any thoughts?
 
Send it into dji. You have a faulty gps. Or maybe the Russians have a giant return to home button which messes with the glonass unit in your drone.?????
 
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Send it into dji. You have a faulty gps. Or maybe the Russians have a giant return to home button which messes with the glonass unit in your drone.[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
My Spark is out of warranty.
I disassembled the Spark. There is no visual indication of what the issue is. I am considering replacing the gps module.
 
Mine did that also for a bit then I got imu warnings as it went into atti mode and hit a tree at 50km. I had dji refresh but was pissed that i was told to pay the 49 so i did then they say since i paid they wont do a diagnostic test on it. Half *** backwards in my mind
 
The number of satellite signals locked at take off will change during flight. Sometimes it gets lower and you switch at ATTI Mode (but usually it increases with time and altitude).

Best to wait until 12+ satellites locked before takeoff if you experience this often. Great to check UAV Forecast app to check Kp index and number of visible satellites before planning a flight. On any given day your favorite spot could be unsafe to fly.

I don’t think it’s your gps module because although there are often faulty they are also quick to give error messages.
 
I would think it needs to get the GPS replaced. It used to be that if you changed location by 500 miles or so before start up it could take up to 45 minutes to find the location unless the Lat-longs or the location was entered manually but I haven't experienced that with my drones. In fact they almost instantly notify you that you are in a different country. Quite often my Spark finds the home point in the house.
Aviation GPS's show the location of the satellites and which one's are received. I think there are 24 and the GPS needs 4 to show altitude and gets by with only 3. I don't know why the drone needs so many but it does..Don't leave home without the homepoint noted.
 
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Aviation GPS's show the location of the satellites and which one's are received. I think there are 24 and the GPS needs 4 to show altitude and gets by with only 3. I don't know why the drone needs so many but it does..Don't leave home without the homepoint noted.

The number of satellites shown by the DJI Go app refers only to the quantity of satellites seen. It’s actually more important to know the quality of the signals but that info isn’t displayed. The Spark needs 3 signal to identify a point over the ground and a fourth to determine altitude. Depending on their position in the sky some signals may be rejected if too weak. The drone is always choosing “the best” 4 signals so it’s beneficial to have more to choose from. Additionally the relative position of the 4 drones is critical to achieve accuracy. If they are closer together the dilution of precision (DOP) is greater and the drone is less sure of its location as well as the Home Point.

DJI choose 10-11 signals to add a measure of redundancy to the minimum requirement. It would be even safer if they required more but doing so could take excessive time to lock a Home Point or leave pilots grounded.
 
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Do you think if the spark had the ability to pick up Galileo satellites it would have better GPS accuracy ?
I have seen a mod where other DJI drones can have this ability turned on and they are able to pick up , up to 30 sats.
Why would that not be an option from the factory ? I feel that would prevent a lot of the posts about fly aways.
 
I was hoping that as Chinese product, it would not be limited to GPS satellites only, but would also work with Galileo, Glonass and possibly with Beidou, as is common with latest cellphones.
 
there is a software mod that allow some dji drones to see galileo satellites. I am not sure if the spark is one of them it is not NLD maybe super patcher no sure and i don't think you can mix the two
 
I replaced the GPS. Im getting 12+ now.
I would think it needs to get the GPS replaced. It used to be that if you changed location by 500 miles or so before start up it could take up to 45 minutes to find the location unless the Lat-longs or the location was entered manually but I haven't experienced that with my drones. In fact they almost instantly notify you that you are in a different country. Quite often my Spark finds the home point in the house.
Aviation GPS's show the location of the satellites and which one's are received. I think there are 24 and the GPS needs 4 to show altitude and gets by with only 3. I don't know why the drone needs so many but it does..Don't leave home without the homepoint noted.
 
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