DJI F550 will not stably hover

[ShanghaiPhil]

Hi all, first post, at least one Drone Vibes - was on MultiRotors before.

I am a professional photographer... and very far from a professional drone operator, but I am taking an interest both because of the nature of my work but also because of my inner geek.

I have a DJI F550 with Wookong M and a Futaba T14SG.

I had stored my drone away for quite a while and decided to take it back out this week. I remember that my drone used to be a lot more stable than this. It now drifts when I don't touch the remote.

Would this be a Wookong issue (pitch / roll / yaw / vertical / attitude)?
Or is this an issue with the remote with trim tabs?

How can I troubleshoot this to figure out where it's coming from? I've tried making some tweaks, and though I see some improvements, it doesn't seem to be optimal.

 

[John Doecliff]

Start with a fresh calibration of your GPS compass. After that make sure you have a good lock on satellites when in GPS mode.

 

[Lobbo]

Simple things first. You haven't got it in ATTI mode instead of GPS have you?

 

[ShanghaiPhil]

I definitely have it in GPS mode, and have done and redone the calibration several times. It goes blue, then green, then white for 3 seconds. So I assume all is calibrated. Right?

 

[Lobbo]

I definitely have it in GPS mode, and have done and redone the calibration several times. It goes blue, then green, then white for 3 seconds. So I assume all is calibrated. Right?

That sounds right although it's quite a while since I last flew mine.

 

[ShanghaiPhil]

Yeah just checked wiki page. That's correct. But it then flashes red-red-purple which wiki says means GPS=5 which I have no clue what that means...

 

[Lobbo]

Yeah just checked wiki page. That's correct. But it then flashes red-red-purple which wiki says means GPS=5 which I have no clue what that means...

Neither do I. In fact I've just re-read you original post. Mine has a Naza-M not a Wookong. Sorry.

 

[John Doecliff]

Just checked the DJI app. red, red, purple means you have a lock on 5 satellites. Not the best but not bad either, although it could be better. If you let it hover does it have what's called the toilet bowl effect? that's when in hover it slowly makes small circles then with time the circles may get larger and faster. That could be a gain setting problem or a compass problem. I haven't dealt with it in a while, I forget whether it means the gains are set too high or too low. And just for the record, your compass and IMU are pointing in the right direction?

 

[steven swanciger]

It means you have 5 satellites but it also means your satellite count is too low for GPS lock so it is in ATTI until you get 6 or more satellites..