Sparky has the worst range

macoman · Mar 31, 2019

I bought my spark a few weeks ago and I have not test it flying until today that I saw a great sunshine with no breeze and nice weather. The spark took off from my room bed to the outside with gps locked and otg cable connected. The spark basically lost connection at 50 meters away from me and started going home after I was unable to see well and video started freezing. I have to kill the go home thing and manually descended the aircraft on my backyard. I though the range was limited compared to my others aircrafts the Evo and mavic pro but not this bad. I am kind of dissapointed but I need to test it in a park or isolated place. Where I live is too many wifi signals.

Video:

nilanjan118 · Mar 31, 2019

macoman said:
The spark took off from my room bed to the outside

That's a very brave thing to do in your very first flight. And definitely not the ideal place to test the range of the AC.

macoman said:
The spark basically lost connection at 50 meters away from me and started going home after I was unable to see well and video started freezing.

The Spark's RC signal strength is regulated depending upon the region you are flying in. However, there are hacks to overcome this. Which country are you flying in? Here's another thread posted in this forum today where someone got 1.8 miles on his Spark before RTH initiated due to low battery. He had good signal even at that distance.

DJI Spark: Distance Test In Sport Mode - 1.8 Miles (9565ft)

I went out to do a distance test on the DJI Spark in Sport mode. I forgot to hit record on the Spark but lucky me I screen recorded my IPhone. I was able to make it out 1.8 miles (9565ft)

sparkpilots.com

McCloudSpark · Mar 31, 2019

Yeah, you should take it to a more open and quieter location and try again before you give up on it. If the WIFI signal was being block be something solid (wall, fence, etc.) that would give you those symptoms.

macoman · Mar 31, 2019

McCloudSpark said:
Yeah, you should take it to a more open and quieter location and try again before you give up on it. If the WIFI signal was being block be something solid (wall, fence, etc.) that would give you those symptoms.

If you watch the video I posted about it, you will see there was not wall or fence.

dat1 · Mar 31, 2019

It seems you were controling it from... inside.. ?!!
The antennas need to be parallel and in visual with
the Spark.

macoman · Mar 31, 2019

dat1 said:
It seems you were controling it from... inside.. ?!!
The antennas need to be parallel and in visual with
the Spark.

Again, if you see the video, there was a window, when the spark was out, I also was outside on the window with the controller pointing to the aircraft directly and still lost connection at around 50 meters away.

McCloudSpark · Mar 31, 2019

macoman said:
If you watch the video I posted about it, you will see there was not wall or fence.

I didn't know where you might of been with the remote...

Paul215 · Apr 1, 2019

Strong WiFi router in your apartment? Spark use normal wifi frequency. CE or FCC-mode?

macoman · Apr 1, 2019

Paul215 said:
Strong WiFi router in your apartment? Spark use normal wifi frequency. CE or FCC-mode?

FCC... I am in the US plus yes, there are a lot WiFi devices in this area from others homes

lmel2005 · Apr 1, 2019

Sparks use WiFi to communicate with controller.
This connection is very sensitive to interference, so yes, in your case it's normal to loose signal in 50m.

If you want more "investigation" of your flight, you have to post some more info, like what device you use, if you connect your device via WiFi or otg cable to controller, and upload your flight logs using these instructions:

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Jaq Grafiq · Apr 1, 2019

macoman said:
I bought my spark a few weeks ago and I have not test it flying until today that I saw a great sunshine with no breeze and nice weather. The spark took off from my room bed to the outside with gps locked and otg cable connected. The spark basically lost connection at 50 meters away from me and started going home after I was unable to see well and video started freezing. I have to kill the go home thing and manually descended the aircraft on my backyard. I though the range was limited compared to my others aircrafts the Evo and mavic pro but not this bad. I am kind of dissapointed but I need to test it in a park or isolated place. Where I live is too many wifi signals.

Video:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Hiya, I bought Range extenders, they improved it by over 5 times! I feel they have turned my little spark into a mavic ?? Watch my test proving it, here:

pmshop · Apr 1, 2019

My original range test:

hiflyer · Apr 1, 2019

that looks like a SUPER WIFI intense area. you are going to have to find an open area around there to fly it or it's going to come home and land on your roof. I've lost connection with mine outside while flying with my phone only. (I received a call and clicked on it..big mistake. Airplane mode from then on) I had taken off from slightly under my partially covered patio. The Spark returned to exactly the same spot and decided the landing area was not safe so it continued to hover. I thought I was going to have to get a ladder to retrieve it but I finally got enough sense to reconnect it to my phone and landed it. I've been tempted to fly it from hotel balcony's many times since but that one experience has me spooked. I've seen many video's where that has been done safely.
I would think you might have a problem getting the spark back thru the window because of the sensors. I would shut them off before trying that again. It should back in ok..but..

Buzz · Apr 1, 2019

I had mine out to around 1800 feet or so, no problems with drop outs or connection. I use an iPhone 6s plus and always set it to Airplane mode...helps.

maumau · Apr 2, 2019

It's good that your spark didn't initiate a RTH to go back land on your bed... lol

DIgitalMD · Apr 2, 2019

macoman said:
I bought my spark a few weeks ago and I have not test it flying until today that I saw a great sunshine with no breeze and nice weather. The spark took off from my room bed to the outside with gps locked and otg cable connected. The spark basically lost connection at 50 meters away from me and started going home after I was unable to see well and video started freezing. I have to kill the go home thing and manually descended the aircraft on my backyard. I though the range was limited compared to my others aircrafts the Evo and mavic pro but not this bad. I am kind of dissapointed but I need to test it in a park or isolated place. Where I live is too many wifi signals.

Video:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

I"m not sure what the point of your post is. There is absolutely nothing DJI or any vendor can do about your trying to operate in a cluttered Wifi environment that you have been advised against. These devices are NOT intended to operate in that environment and if you do so it's with the full knowledge that performance will be degraded and you are risking loss of the aircraft. In order to comply with country WiFi regulations (FCC in the US) DJI must use the assigned frequencies (shared with normal wifi users) and operate within the power limits set by the FCC. A bigger aircraft can carry a bigger antenna and use a little more power, so it may perform a little better, but still operating in an environment which you have already been told is not safe will produce poor results and potentially dangerous and erratic aircraft behavior.
The Spark, when used as designed and in an environment you have been informed is the proper environment performs very well and very reliably well BEYOND the legal limit of range (visual contact by pilot at all times is required by US FAA regulations).

Andre Levite · Apr 2, 2019

OP says he's only flown his Spark for a grand total 1 day and admits it was in a wifi congested area. He got his GPS lock while indoors and then flew through a bedroom window. He got bad results as he expected.

He posted his "disappointment" online with a detailed explanation of everything he did wrong.

That's such a bad start -- can only get better from here!

juming · Apr 6, 2019

Here my phone screenshot of my Spark few days ago, it actually fly more far than that.

Buddy411 · Apr 14, 2019

lmel2005 said:
Sparks use WiFi to communicate with controller.
This connection is very sensitive to interference, so yes, in your case it's normal to loose signal in 50m.
[/URL]

All DJI drones (and most others) use WI-FI to connect the remore to the drone. The Spark also uses it to connect the remote to your tablet / phone *unless you are using the OTG cable thing.. You really need to check all your WI--FI settings no matter what drone you're flying to get the best signal.

Akuen_527 · Apr 15, 2019

TLDR: Pilot error, gets no sympathy from the sparkpilots. But seriously, buy a toy and fly it inside if you have to fly where you are. Otherwise take the spark somewhere it's full potential can be used. Or use your evo or mavic you talked about for urban exploring. (mavic occusync ftw, idk anything about autel lol)