Gps dropping out

[John Robinson]

Hi all

I just sold my old version D Inspire 1 and purchased my new version D. While at home I updated everything with the latest firmware as well as twice calibrating Imu and everything else.

I travelled down to the caravan site where I have flown many times before and calibrated the compass. Then checked everything and it all seemed good.

So I took off and hovered for approx 5 minutes at around 1.5 metres checking that all the controls were fine. I then landed and removed the propellers to check the mounts and did another check around to ensure all screws were good.

I then took off again and flew around a little. 10 metres off the ground and 20 away from me. Then suddenly a warning "atti-mode" and then back to Gps mode. A few seconds later the same thing. I reduced height and several times the same warning.

I landed and recalibrate it this time far away from the cars and caravan. As I said before I have flown around my caravan for several months with a lot more cars and caravan without problems.

5degrees C. No wind. Clear day. Full signal on both controller and AC. No watches. Wifi and phone signals turned off. Basically everything exactly like it usually is.

So I would appreciate if someone had a little advice on what I'm doing wrong. Or of course as it's brand new is there a problem with the Inspire?

I have read a lot about others problems but usually different firmware or the advice fly in atti-mode to get used to it. I like Gps mode and bought the drone for that function. However it randomly falling out and changing the flight characteristics is not desired.

Dropbox - Gps error

Thank you very much in advance.

John

 

[The Editor]

Hi all

I just sold my old version D Inspire 1 and purchased my new version D. While at home I updated everything with the latest firmware as well as twice calibrating Imu and everything else.

I travelled down to the caravan site where I have flown many times before and calibrated the compass. Then checked everything and it all seemed good.

So I took off and hovered for approx 5 minutes at around 1.5 metres checking that all the controls were fine. I then landed and removed the propellers to check the mounts and did another check around to ensure all screws were good.

I then took off again and flew around a little. 10 metres off the ground and 20 away from me. Then suddenly a warning "atti-mode" and then back to Gps mode. A few seconds later the same thing. I reduced height and several times the same warning.

I landed and recalibrate it this time far away from the cars and caravan. As I said before I have flown around my caravan for several months with a lot more cars and caravan without problems.

5degrees C. No wind. Clear day. Full signal on both controller and AC. No watches. Wifi and phone signals turned off. Basically everything exactly like it usually is.

So I would appreciate if someone had a little advice on what I'm doing wrong. Or of course as it's brand new is there a problem with the Inspire?

I have read a lot about others problems but usually different firmware or the advice fly in atti-mode to get used to it. I like Gps mode and bought the drone for that function. However it randomly falling out and changing the flight characteristics is not desired.

Dropbox - Gps error

Thank you very much in advance.

John

At the time this occurred were you flying full speed in any particular direction (but mainly forward) or were you just hovering and it happened?

 

[John Robinson]

At the time this occurred were you flying full speed in any particular direction (but mainly forward) or were you just hovering and it happened?

Hi.

It's a new drone so very little speed. Roughly walking pace.

John.

 

[The Editor]

Hi.

It's a new drone so very little speed. Roughly walking pace.

John.

OK, it's not what I though it was then.
Did you happen to notice how many satellites you had locked when you took off?
What is the long and lat of the location you flew and the date and time.
You can check the constellation position for the GPS satellites at any given time. It's possible they were low on the horizon and your sat count dropped below 6.

 

[John Robinson]

OK, it's not what I though it was then.
Did you happen to notice how many satellites you had locked when you took off?
What is the long and lat of the location you flew and the date and time.
You can check the constellation position for the GPS satellites at any given time. It's possible they were low on the horizon and your sat count dropped below 6.

Hi Editor!

Thanks for your quick replies. I'll check in the morning and post straight away with my findings. I am pretty sure they were double figures but will check the video again.

Have a good night/day.

Thanks.

John

 

[John Robinson]

Just checked the video. It went from 15 down to 3 in a second...

When the drone was next to the controller it went from 2 to 14 and back to 2...

 

[hoodlum1]

Never to late for a controller mod

 

[The Editor]

Just checked the video. It went from 15 down to 3 in a second...

When the drone was next to the controller it went from 2 to 14 and back to 2...

OK, there are six sources of error that can affect GPS reception. The most likely and common is atmospheric error and the ionoshere is the most common.
Additionally, the elevation mask in the GPS receiver will ignore or lock out satellites that are low on the horizon. If at your location the majority of satellites over and above 6 were below the elevation mask this could account for momentary drop outs into P-Atti mode.
Unless this becomes a regular occurrence I would put it down to a GPS anomaly and continue to fly.
If it shows itself regularly then more investigation is required.
As an aside....it is actually NOT a good idea to calibrate the compass at each new flying location. My reasoning behind this is well documented over the forum.

 

[The Editor]

Never to late for a controller mod

The OP was talking about momentary loss of GPS - not sure how a controller mod would improve this since the GPS receiver in question is located on the aircraft?

 

[John Robinson]

OK, there are six sources of error that can affect GPS reception. The most likely and common is atmospheric error and the ionoshere is the most common.
Additionally, the elevation mask in the GPS receiver will ignore or lock out satellites that are low on the horizon. If at your location the majority of satellites over and above 6 were below the elevation mask this could account for momentary drop outs into P-Atti mode.
Unless this becomes a regular occurrence I would put it down to a GPS anomaly and continue to fly.
If it shows itself regularly then more investigation is required.
As an aside....it is actually NOT a good idea to calibrate the compass at each new flying location. My reasoning behind this is well documented over the forum.

Ah ok. I will fly again and take it from there.

I did however have to calibrate the compass as it was it's first ever flight.

Much appreciated and thanks for the information. I will still take a look at the logs tomorrow.

Cheers.

John

 

[John Robinson]

Hi and sorry for the late reply. I checked what logs I could. Very strange results and I am hoping will point to some solution?

No drop of satellites for the effected flight. None. :-(

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[John Robinson]

Editor? Any ideas anyone?

 

[The Editor]

Bit of a strange one but......
Could your current aircraft have been subjected to a crash/very hard landing before you purchased it.
Two things can happen.
1. The GPS plug could be dislodged going into the flight controllers
2. The GPS antenna can crack in extreme cases.

The other possible situation is you can momentarily lose GPS lock if you are flying full forward at top - this has the effect of tilting the aircraft at an acute angle and thus sporadically limiting the reception of the number of satellites, however your log would suggest that is not the case.
I would personally continue to fly in the same location as this maybe just a one off GPS anomoly. If however you get repeated instances further investigation would be warranted with a strip down of the aircraft to check the items mentioned above.
Make sure you are competent/happy in P-Atti mode in whatever conditions you are flying in.

 

[John Robinson]

Hi and thanks for the reply.

I am wondering if you think it could be my controller? While at home I am constantly getting poor quality registered on the app. Something that was not the case with my old inspire 1.

I bought a second controller and have connected it as the master and while poor quality still shows it is not as often.

I will test for with the second controller and see if these is any improvement. I have to wait for the weather to improve first as I'm not flying in the snow.

If it proves that the second controller is better (or fixed) the problem do you have any idea what could be causing the controller poor quality problem? Is it something that can be fixed or am I looking at a replacement as it was delivered new with the fault? To be honest I do worry about flying with repaired equipment as I tend to lose faith in it.

Thanks in advance and for your time.

Kind regards
John

 

[The Editor]

Hi and thanks for the reply.

I am wondering if you think it could be my controller? While at home I am constantly getting poor quality registered on the app. Something that was not the case with my old inspire 1.

I bought a second controller and have connected it as the master and while poor quality still shows it is not as often.

I will test for with the second controller and see if these is any improvement. I have to wait for the weather to improve first as I'm not flying in the snow.

If it proves that the second controller is better (or fixed) the problem do you have any idea what could be causing the controller poor quality problem? Is it something that can be fixed or am I looking at a replacement as it was delivered new with the fault? To be honest I do worry about flying with repaired equipment as I tend to lose faith in it.

Thanks in advance and for your time.

Kind regards
John

No - it won't be the controller causing your aircraft to drop into P-Atti mode.
The controller has its own built in GPS receiver for use when utilising dynamic home point. However, due to a poor design the antenna is located at a strange angle and usually obscured by the tablet/iPad etc. This can frequently throw up a 'Weak GPS Signal' error in the app but it is the controller not the aircraft.
The Inspire has its own dedicated GPS antenna and receiver internally that uses both the Navstar (GPS) and Glonass satellite constellations.

 

[John Robinson]

No - it won't be the controller causing your aircraft to drop into P-Atti mode.
The controller has its own built in GPS receiver for use when utilising dynamic home point. However, due to a poor design the antenna is located at a strange angle and usually obscured by the tablet/iPad etc. This can frequently throw up a 'Weak GPS Signal' error in the app but it is the controller not the aircraft.
The Inspire has its own dedicated GPS antenna and receiver internally that uses both the Navstar (GPS) and Glonass satellite constellations.

Thanks for the quick response, again. ;-)

Ok so we are back to damaged on arrival. I have flown my old Inspire 1 at the same location at all times of the day all throughout the year without any problems so it must be the New Inspire where the problem lies. All the other items including firmware, tablet and cables are the same.

Do you know if I can ask for a direct replacement rather than a repair as not only is there a problem with the Gps but it also arrived with a dead battery that they have replaced. Seems like the whole package is damaged in some way.

If they repair it (local Internet shop has been cleared to complete repairs here in Norway) I will have less faith in it. The Inspire 1 already makes me nervous without the worry of a less than perfect repair.

Again thank you for taking the time to respond to me.

Have a great evening / day.

Cheers
John

 

[The Editor]

Thanks for the quick response, again. ;-)

Ok so we are back to damaged on arrival. I have flown my old Inspire 1 at the same location at all times of the day all throughout the year without any problems so it must be the New Inspire where the problem lies. All the other items including firmware, tablet and cables are the same.

Do you know if I can ask for a direct replacement rather than a repair as not only is there a problem with the Gps but it also arrived with a dead battery that they have replaced. Seems like the whole package is damaged in some way.

If they repair it (local Internet shop has been cleared to complete repairs here in Norway) I will have less faith in it. The Inspire 1 already makes me nervous without the worry of a less than perfect repair.

Again thank you for taking the time to respond to me.

Have a great evening / day.

Cheers
John

Can't answer that one I'm afraid as Norway is not an EU member you would not be covered by the same distance selling European guidelines/protections. I guess it would fall on your own countries particular internet selling rules.
However, I would have thought this could be argued that it was faulty on arrival and therefore demand a replacement or refund. However that would be down to your retailer.
If you purchased with a credit card your credit card company/bank should be joint and severally liable for the transaction somof you cannot get satisfaction from your retailer you can demand the money back from your CC issuer.

 

[John Robinson]

Can't answer that one I'm afraid as Norway is not an EU member you would not be covered by the same distance selling European guidelines/protections. I guess it would fall on your own countries particular internet selling rules.
However, I would have thought this could be argued that it was faulty on arrival and therefore demand a replacement or refund. However that would be down to your retailer.
If you purchased with a credit card your credit card company/bank should be joint and severally liable for the transaction somof you cannot get satisfaction from your retailer you can demand the money back from your CC issuer.

Hi again.

Even though Norway isn't an official EU member it follows all eu rules and that includes company warranties so if it's usual to get a replacement for a bad unit then I should be covered.

I'll see how it plays out as I am now in dialogue with the company I bought it from. They asked for the whole unit to be returned and repaired. I don't want a repair for a new product delivered faulty. We will see.

Thank you for all your help. I will write a quick post letting you know the outcome. ;-)

Kind regards, John.

 

[Gustavo Correa]

John, did you get to fix your problem? I got a brand new Inspire 1 Raw and I'm experience the same thing. And I have one detail: gps drops just when I raise the landing gear. Regards.

 

[John Robinson]

John, did you get to fix your problem? I got a brand new Inspire 1 Raw and I'm experience the same thing. And I have one detail: gps drops just when I raise the landing gear. Regards.

Hi.

My Gps problem was all of the time and was not worse or better depending on landing gear position.
When the shop had it for repair they noted "Safe to fly, non-gps" even with 18 satalittes locked so they replaced the MCU and apparently it was able to achieve Gps lock afterwards.
I couldn't confirm this as the drone ended up going back to dji for replacement before I could test to see if it was fixed.
Hope you figure yours out.

Kind regards
John