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Why OTG cable?

Rekanix

Active Member
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Feb 27, 2018
Messages
42
Age
54
I took Sparky flying yesterday (it had been awhile - he and I had to get up and out for awhile!), and I couldn’t find my OTG cable to connect my phone to my controller. So I just flew it without the cable (just my phone and the controller).

I figured I would only be able to fly a short distance, but I was able to fly it nearly out of site before I began losing signal. There was a certain point that I was trying to fly over and I didn’t think I’d be able to make it without the cable. But I made it that far and then some.

So why the cable? What do I need it for? I did lose signal at a certain point but was still able to fly farther than I thought without it.
 
i had the same experience, now only fly wi fi. i think it was improved in the last up date.
 
You raise a good point. WHY? DJI did us a great favor allowing us to connect to our phone or tablet wirelessly. Before Spark all other DJI drones required a cabled connection. i have always found this to be a pain, who needs an extra wire dangling from the controller? DJI flat out states this is not supported or recommmended. So many people write here about how do I get OTG to work? I love the fact that I can connect wirelessly and have never had an issue with the connection. I can easily control the Spark far beyond visible range, which is farther than anyone should be flying anyway.
 
On some devices the live feed will choppy and broken up. The otg cable will help with that issue. But if you don’t experience any issues with the live feed then the otg is useless and just an extra step before you fly.
 
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I guess I have to ask just the opposite question. Why not the OTG cable. I mean look at it this way. If you know a little piece of wire is going to give your remote and your device a secure connection no matter what the conditions, why would you risk not having that?
 
I have tested flying with both and can flat out say flying with the otg cable is so much better. It's nothing to do with getting further otg doesn't do that. It just makes the feed so much smoother for some reason flying with WiFi it's laggy as hell and it's horrible to fly. I'll never go back to flying WiFi again. I've just come back from flying both my spark and mavic pro because the feed is smooth as butter on the pro you notice how bad WiFi is on the spark as soon as I put that otg in its a lot better.

Just remember otg isn't for getting you extra distance it's to make the video feed smoother so when you press the sticks it instantly responds to your input.
 
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I find it interesting that DJI continues to say OTG isn’t supported... when DJI Goggles (and the Moverio BT-300 augmented reality glasses) require a cable to be used with the Spark.

Epson, maker of the BT-300 is a DJI Partner and that hardware runs on the Android OS.

 
Last edited:
I guess I have to ask just the opposite question. Why not the OTG cable. I mean look at it this way. If you know a little piece of wire is going to give your remote and your device a secure connection no matter what the conditions, why would you risk not having that?
Please explain why you need a "secure connection" from controller to phone? What you see on the phone does not get recorded on the Spark. I have never lost my wifi connection and do not get enough lag that I don't know what I am "seeing". A cable, or wire as you call it, can fail, and you can wear out the socket on your phone or damage it if you bump it. The least amount of connections and wires hanging off my stuff, the better for me. The only reason I am replying to you is not to argue your point, but to let others know it is not a necessary thing to improve quality. And yes, I know the difference. I fly an Inspire 2 professionally and wish I could connect that controller wirelessly.
 
I don't see OTG cable as failure proponent as implied above. I have an old Galaxy S5 with cables that are probable that old too, the connectors on both components have not wear out.

If you are having no issues connecting one way or the other, then pick what you like or is easiest. As for me OTG cable gives me the better connection every time, if it was the other way, then I would use WIFI.

Use the setup that works better for you and don't get frustrated what others do, the information can be valuable in the future if you change setups.
 
I guess I have to ask just the opposite question. Why not the OTG cable. I mean look at it this way. If you know a little piece of wire is going to give your remote and your device a secure connection no matter what the conditions, why would you risk not having that?
It seems to me people are wanting everything wireless, whats wrong with a tiny wire, it's a lot less trouble than trying to find your drone that goes walkabout, I agree why take the chance for something that really doesn't matter. Also lots of flyers keep quoting the rules of not flying out of site, what if you own 20 acres.
 
I have tested flying with both and can flat out say flying with the otg cable is so much better. It's nothing to do with getting further otg doesn't do that. It just makes the feed so much smoother for some reason flying with WiFi it's laggy as hell and it's horrible to fly. I'll never go back to flying WiFi again. I've just come back from flying both my spark and mavic pro because the feed is smooth as butter on the pro you notice how bad WiFi is on the spark as soon as I put that otg in its a lot better.

Just remember otg isn't for getting you extra distance it's to make the video feed smoother so when you press the sticks it instantly responds to your input.
Very well put. You nailed it! Both the explanation of the use of the OTG cable and the differences both with and without it.
 
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You raise a good point. WHY? DJI did us a great favor allowing us to connect to our phone or tablet wirelessly. Before Spark all other DJI drones required a cabled connection. i have always found this to be a pain, who needs an extra wire dangling from the controller? DJI flat out states this is not supported or recommmended. So many people write here about how do I get OTG to work? I love the fact that I can connect wirelessly and have never had an issue with the connection. I can easily control the Spark far beyond visible range, which is farther than anyone should be flying anyway.
Have to agree 100%
 
Using or not using OTG may depend more on your phone/tablet capabilities more than anything else. On the Spark box, it states made for iphone/ipad. I used to use a good android phone, and it's performance with the Spark, and Mavic sucked! I use my wife' old iphone 6, and it works flawlessly, but as a regular device it's no where near as good as my android phone. I used an OTG with the android phone, and the connection improved greatly, but still not as lag free as the iphone 6.
 
The USB (OTG) in the SPARK and the MAVIC AIR are used for CrystalSky monitors. I have found the OTG works with all updates.
 
Please explain why you need a "secure connection" from controller to phone? What you see on the phone does not get recorded on the Spark. I have never lost my wifi connection and do not get enough lag that I don't know what I am "seeing". A cable, or wire as you call it, can fail, and you can wear out the socket on your phone or damage it if you bump it. The least amount of connections and wires hanging off my stuff, the better for me. The only reason I am replying to you is not to argue your point, but to let others know it is not a necessary thing to improve quality. And yes, I know the difference. I fly an Inspire 2 professionally and wish I could connect that controller wirelessly.
Hi Bob. You sound like a smart *** that would probably do whatever he wanted no matter how I tried to explain myself. So no, I will not explain my post to you.
 
OTG does not talk to your drone - its a communication lie between device(phone/tab) and the RC
If i have a choice i will always go hardwire - more secure connection and less interference (thats good enuf for me)

On your laptop would you rather have wifi or ethernet ? to talk to the WWW
 

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