Litchi Mission - Travis, Metzger, Cross Mountain Loop - August 25, 2018

pmshop · Aug 25, 2018

A 15 waypoint Litchi mission performed with the DJI Spark.
A mission I used to fly with the home made drones.
Total traveled distance about 15,000ft in 7 minutes.

Northwood Mediaworks · Aug 25, 2018

Cool flight, thats one hell of a swimming pool I see at :26 seconds.... alright for some!

gareth5000 · Aug 26, 2018

Wow! Great vid. Love those smooth curvy turns.

graywoulf · Aug 26, 2018

Northwood Mediaworks said:
Cool flight, thats one hell of a swimming pool I see at :26 seconds.... alright for some!

Yeah, I noticed that pool also. I have never seen a lap pool like that before.

pmshop · Aug 26, 2018

graywoulf said:
Yeah, I noticed that pool also. I have never seen a lap pool like that before.

Me neither.
When i did the loop back in '16, I saw the dig.
I thought it was going to be like a vetenarian's flea dip for horses or cattle since it was so close to the pen next to it

graywoulf · Aug 26, 2018

OK, back to Litchi. I have been watching videos on it albeit that there are no new videos about the new stable version and how it works specifically with the Spark

If I am understanding this correctly, the first waypoint is not the home position unless you set the RTH as such in the Mission Finish section of the Mission Settings menu. Am I right in this so far? I was just watching this video which I thought was a good basic overview of how to use the Mission Hub.

On that note, I see that if you do not use the Mission Hub to plan a flight, then you have to do all of the waypoints settings only after the Spark is actually off the ground and hovering. I don't understand why that is as you can use up a lot of the battery setting up the mission if you are not very proficient with the planning process and or want to do some fine tuning for that mission.

Lots to learn... again.

pmshop · Aug 26, 2018

In the order of their appearance:
WP 1 is NOT home - WP 1 is where the mission starts from.
Case in point with this last mission; I started in my driveway, went up 120ft, turned to WP 1 over the road and hit it. The camera then tilted down -12° as programmed and the craft went on its way to do the mission. WP 15 was behind WP 1 in the road. When it was hit, the mission ended with announcement. The craft then turned to where I took off from, moved to and landed right on target (Mission End Action: RTH).

"then you have to do all of the waypoints settings only after the Spark is actually off the ground and hovering. "
Incorrect.
Before turning the Spark on, plan the mission in the app if you do not have access to Mission Hub.
There is nothing saying you have to have the Spark turned on, or flying, to plan the mission.
Plan the mission and save it.
Turn on the Spark, controller and link up with Litchi.
Load the flight and hit the play button.

I believe Waypoint is the only mode that the Spark does not have to be turned on or in flight to plan.
You do not have to be in the air to start a waypoint mission.

I do know you have to be in flight to engage Orbit.
And, kinda pointless, but you have to be in the air also for Focus to work.
So it should go without saying that you need to be in the air to track and pano too.

webvan · Aug 26, 2018

Nice video but you should maybe to a PIP with a screen capture of the map because when you don't know the area it's hard to relate with the route .
What software do you use to speed up the video ?

pmshop · Aug 26, 2018

webvan said:
Nice video but you should maybe to a PIP with a screen capture of the map because when you don't know the area it's hard to relate with the route .
What software do you use to speed up the video ?

Might be a possibility with the Hotdogging 25 waypoint video but not with most of my long range Litchi Missions.
You would only get the attached "live" route

I use Sony Vegas pro for the traveling/ hyperlapse shots.
But I use ProDad ReSpeedr if I need timelapse higher than 4x (limit of Sony).
For timelapse sunsets/ sunrises, I bump it up to about 10x or 15x depending on stability.

graywoulf · Aug 26, 2018

So, when you take off, then do you have to climb straight up as you did then hit the play button to proceed to waypoint 1 for the mission to begin? I take it that the mission cannot just begin at the time of takeoff. And then when RTH is set for the ending of the mission the AC lands automatically just like it would if using the Go 4 app? I am curious, can a whole mission be flown with the AC pointing backwards?

pmshop · Aug 26, 2018

How I fly a Litchi waypoint mission:
1) Plan on Mission Hub or the mobile device and save.
2) Turn on the Spark and controller and allow to link.
3) Wait for 8+ satellite reception.
4) Load flight plan to Litchi.
5) Press play button on screen - Spark takes off, starts camera (if auto record selected on settings) raises up to desired altitude.
6) Once the desired altitude is reached, the Spark will go to waypoint 1 and start the mission.

With this method, the automation starts the moment you hit play so in essence, yes, pushing play starts the mission from take off.

And yes, if RTH is selected for mission end, once the craft reaches the last waypoint...a few seconds will pass, mobile device will announce "mission ended" and the controller will start beeping indicating RTH is engaged.
The AC will move to where it took off from and land just like with DJI GO 4 app.

graywoulf · Aug 26, 2018

Sound simple enough. How often during your planned missions have you lost connection with the AC? Obviously, you have enough faith in Litchi to complete the mission as planned and return home. And from what I have read and seen, there is still a failsafe as far as an automatic RTH built in as well.

pmshop · Aug 26, 2018

graywoulf said:
Sound simple enough. How often during your planned missions have you lost connection with the AC? Obviously, you have enough faith in Litchi to complete the mission as planned and return home. And from what I have read and seen, there is still a failsafe as far as an automatic RTH built in as well.

Every time when the missions are long distance.
This mission posted, the Cross Mountain/ Hackberry Loop and the 4 mile Waypoint mission all disconnected.

Bad thing about it, with my home mades, there was an onboard log that kept everything.
But with the Spark, the only thing that keeps recording is mission time.
Total distance, altitude, positioning and other items recorded in RC range are not recorded out of range.

Yes, battery failsafe will still activate if it gets too low.

graywoulf · Aug 26, 2018

pmshop said:
Bad thing about it, with my home mades, there was an onboard log that kept everything.
But with the Spark, the only thing that keeps recording is mission time. Total distance, altitude, positioning and other items recorded in RC range are not recorded out of range.

What about the Airdata app, does it not keep all of the flight data if you are disconnected with the AC?

pmshop · Aug 26, 2018

graywoulf said:
What about the Airdata app, does it not keep all of the flight data if you are disconnected with the AC?

No, the CSV log file is generated from the mobile device while connected to the AC.
I uploaded the log to Air Data and got the same flight path as I posted from my online logbook.

desert spark · Aug 26, 2018

Back to programming waypoints without Litchi HUB.
On my Ipad in the Litchi flight program when you switch to the Waypoint function and open a file and load it you can modify the mission completely without being connected to the Spark. The only thing you need to remember is there is a small padlock icon in upper section of the flight screen that you need to unlock prior to making the changes and saving them.

graywoulf · Aug 26, 2018

I am now oficially another Litchi user.

Now, can someone point me towards a place that will show me how to get it set up on my iPad Mini 4? I have been searching here, there and everywhere but I can't find any help in making the basic setup and for registering with Litchi.

pmshop · Aug 27, 2018

graywoulf said:
I am now oficially another Litchi user. Now, can someone point me towards a place that will show me how to get it set up on my iPad Mini 4? I have been searching here, there and everywhere but I can't find any help in making the basic setup and for registering with Litchi.

I know there is not much out there on setup but creating the account is easy:
Just open the app and under the touch menu upper left (might say FPV by install default)
Scroll down to Log in and tap.
Use Sign up to create the account and follow the prompts.
Once created you should be logged into the app.
Use the same log in to get into the Mission Hub.

From everything you have read...plan carefully and have fun

graywoulf · Aug 27, 2018

Thanks for the information. I did stumble across that last night. Seems that the Litchi website would have some information or directions about getting started. I am watching as many of the latest instructional videos that are out there but there are not many that are current with the new stable version much less ones that are geared towards using Litchi with iOS. Even the Litchi website has links to way outdated videos which surprised me to see. I'll keep plugging away at it and hopefully soon I will be flying again. Maybe I will start a new thread here for Litchi newbies like me. Thanks to you and all of the others that have gotten me this far.

pmshop · Aug 27, 2018

graywoulf said:
Thanks for the information. I did stumble across that last night. Seems that the Litchi website would have some information or directions about getting started. I am watching as many of the latest instructional videos that are out there but there are not many that are current with the new stable version much less ones that are geared towards using Litchi with iOS. Even the Litchi website has links to way outdated videos which surprised me to see. I'll keep plugging away at it and hopefully soon I will be flying again. Maybe I will start a new thread here for Litchi newbies like me. Thanks to you and all of the others that have gotten me this far.

I would seriously put one together if I had the time