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Brianc

Member
Join
Jul 2, 2017
Messages
9
Age
77
Loc
Adelaide, South Australia
Hi everyone.
I am a 71yr old Spark pilot and because of poor distance perception I rely strongly on the RTH function to bring the aircraft back to me.
I have been panicking after all the reports of failed or inaccurate FTH.
Is there someone out there where the function works perfectly for them?
At present my spark returns up to 3-4 metres away, hovers for a while and then asks if I want to land!
I am really nervous of flying unless I am only a few meters away and can back up to where I started.. I have also started to use the direction indicator so that might help.
Any comments or feedback would be welcome - how many other Spark pilots have the same problem and why does it happen - firmware problem,?

Cheers
Brian
 
I usually bring it back using screen image and telemetry, including the "radar" screen then when within 30 or 40' I bring it to a hover within a few feet looking at it. I don't have issue with depth perception but I find it easier to turn it around facing away from me and back it to a hover point where I can't reach it and flip it down
 
I usually bring it back using screen image and telemetry, including the "radar" screen then when within 30 or 40' I bring it to a hover within a few feet looking at it. I don't have issue with depth perception but I find it easier to turn it around facing away from me and back it to a hover point where I can't reach it and flip it down
 
I have initiated RTH plenty of times. It works without a hitch. It will even engage RTH when signal is lost. In have it return, get to it's position, descend, and when just a few feet off the ground, it will ask me if I want to land or not.
 
Thanks for your reply.. Does RTH work properly for you?
I cant tell which way the drone is facing from 30-40 meters away and have also put a color patch on the front.. It would be great for the function to work as specified
 
I never tried it. The manual does say that RTH is not designed to be used on a routine basis.. maybe it s a CYA thing :)
 
I forgot to mention I am on all the current updates as well and using an Android device. I have yet to have so much as a hiccup. (Knock on wood) I have livestreamed using data and OTG, OTG and Wi-Fi from my house, taken it to the max distance from where I live with Wi-Fi interference and everything. I put it through real life use. 145+ flights so far. I have tracked my wife and dog on walks, my kids on bikes, used the gestures, and just about everything you can possibly do with this thing. The only issue I ever came across was using my everyday phone, an LG Stylo 3. But when using my old LG Stylo 2 that is not activated as a phone anymore, not one problem. Sorry forgot to mention the problem was the app crashing. But a simple restart of the app and all was well again.
 
I haven't had to use it yet, but I have tested it many times to see how it behaves.

The one thing that I saw in my tests that worries me the most is that with the sun at a low angle the shadows seem to trigger the object avoidance sensor continually. While testing RTH once the Spark was returning back at 30m and then suddenly stopped and got stuck due to the shadows and tree line much lower on the ground (there were no objects within 50m of it). It kept trying to ascend and avoid. I finally got fed up, turned off object avoidance and just brought it down manually. Not a big deal when you can see it but would really suck if it's somewhere where you cannot see it.

I also get false object avoidance halts flying manually with it turned on during such contrasty and shadowy conditions.

From this experience and other's posts I think it best to simply turn off object avoidance during phases when RTH may be used or triggered.

Note that even with RTH off you still get the annoying beeping and a proximity notification on the screen. Once you get comfortable reading that and flying FPV you can just take that into consideration but not be automatically limited by it. So for this reason I mostly fly with object avoidance turned off now.

The other two things I take into consideration:
- ensure that I never set a home point (or have one set) under a tree or within about 5m of a tree. I don't want the drone descending down into a tree on RTH.
- ensure that if flying under trees I never push the battery level low enough that RTH will get triggered automatically, I don't want it to suddenly ascend up into the trees. There are other factors that can also trigger RTH (like a radio disconnect) but I have little control over that.
 
My son and I use RTH all the time with precision landing. When you take off do not use the right stick at all until you have ascended at least 30 feet. Stop for a couple seconds and then you can move off and do your flying or videoing. When you want to come back make sure that you are at least 60 feet away from the takeoff point when you activate the RTH. The spark will return and land within a couple inches of the takeoff point. Very consistant :)
 
Ascending straight up to 30 feet sets the Precision Landing feature! It's buried in the manual somewhere :) Yes, we us the portable fold up landing pads and the sparks consistently land back on the pads!
 
Agee with all that's been said about the landing pads and return to home. Raise up to 30ft and wait for a few seconds to establish precision landing. Also, don't trigger RTH until 30 meters away at least.
 
I just noticed in the specs for the Spark the following:

Vision System
Altitude Range: 0-26 ft (0 - 8 m)
This is for the vertical distance sensing sensor. In addition there is a small camera bellow that is used for flight stabilisation in case there is no GPS. This is OPTI mode. It is also used for precision landing.
 
I do indeed take off straight up to 10m+, hover for a couple sec, then fly around.
It lands back perfectly.
 
The minimum is 7 meters up at take off to trigger the precision landing from what says the manual.
 

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