spark misbehaving today

Moore887 · Dec 5, 2018

Hi,

I went to do a short flight today. My batteries have gone into self discharge as I haven't used the drone in over a week but I just needed to take a quick photo of our pool cage which was assembled today. The picture on the phone kept going grey or not refreshing. I don't believe I was losing wifi between the remote and the phone (galaxy s9+) and I was still able to control the drone (almost) flawlessly with the remote. I did experience a little unresponsiveness moving forward when trying to land on a small paver. Changes I've made in the last couple of days are: The addition of ND filters (although I had no problems flying with one when they first arrived, Change of phone case to a genuine samsung one (in order to improve wireless charging and samsung pay reliability although I never had a problem with the drone when using the spigen case even though it was a tighter fit into the remote) and I have also a new samsung galaxy watch (although that's connected to the phone via bluetooth so shouldn't be an issue). The sun may be down before I get a 100% battery to try again. I have restarted the phone, remote and drone numerous times and tried a different (50% charge) battery with same results. No OTG cable here.

I will report back when I get a 100% battery in the air.

Haggi · Dec 6, 2018

Bluetooth connections should be avoided!
If flying above your head, be sure the adjust the antennas on the RC accordingly (flat sides pointing at aircraft).

Mrmund · Dec 6, 2018

Try without the watch, my Spark hates my Bluetooth headphones

Moore887 · Dec 6, 2018

Turned the watch to aeroplane mode. No difference. Turned off Bluetooth on the phine. Fixed everything!

RodS · Dec 6, 2018

I use a Samsung bluetooth watch but I use a separate mobile device with the Remote Control and dont seem to have a problem.

Moore887 · Dec 6, 2018

RodS said:
I use a Samsung bluetooth watch but I use a separate mobile device with the Remote Control and dont seem to have a problem.

It could be the close proximity of my Galaxy to the controller. I have a lot of older phones that I could use as a dedicated controller but none with the screen size or quality of the s9+. I was thinking of trying an old apple iPad air 2 although I would have to get an attachment to hold it to the controller.

Northwood Mediaworks · Dec 6, 2018

Dentists love blue teeth, makes them money. Sparks and BluTooth should be avoided

Huntman2014 · Sep 17, 2019

never tried bluetooth with it (I'm glad) LOL!

Chrislaf · Sep 17, 2019

My Spark does not like Bluetooth either. If I have bluetooth on, on my phone and/or my cheap Bluetooth watch, I get lots of interference warnings. I make sure Bluetooth is off on phone and either my watch is turned off or left at home.

I have always wondered why the Spark is so sensitive to Bluetooth whereas my Phantom 3 Standard couldn’t care less.

Chris

Spark 317 · Sep 17, 2019

Chrislaf said:
I have always wondered why the Spark is so sensitive to Bluetooth whereas my Phantom 3 Standard couldn’t care less.

Lightbridge verses WiFi?

Try an OTG cable.

It helped a lot.

Chrislaf · Sep 17, 2019

Spark 317 said:
Lightbridge verses WiFi?

Try an OTG cable.

It helped a lot.

Not sure how an OTG cable would make any difference in Bluetooth as both the Spark and P3S are WiFi drones - no lightbridge in either and the OTG cable just helps with video feed not controller signal.

Chris

Spark 317 · Sep 17, 2019

Chrislaf said:
Not sure how an OTG cable would make any difference in Bluetooth as both the Spark and P3S are WiFi drones - no lightbridge in either.

Chris

The cable will provide a solid connection from the device to the remote. The WiFi connection is vulnerable to BT interference.

I would occasionally forget to turn off the BT on my phones when flying via WiFi and would receive the warnings.
Since using the cable, I haven’t had any BT warnings at all.
Even when the BT is turned on both my phones.

Chrislaf · Sep 17, 2019

Spark 317 said:
The cable will provide a solid connection from the device to the remote. The WiFi connection is vulnerable to BT interference.

I would occasionally forget to turn off the BT on my phones when flying via WiFi and would receive the warnings.
Since using the cable, I haven’t had any BT warnings at all.
Even when the BT is turned on both my phones.

Might be something to consider trying. I have never used an OTG cable since I have never had any connection problems other than BT interference.

Chris

zenfly · Sep 17, 2019

I've never flown Spark or MA without the cable.. Before I started with the Spark I first read about loss of control and fly aways and never trusted the wifi.. so far so good.