DJI WKM wish list
- Thread starter Droider
- Start date
It is not DJI shutting down the motor it is the ESC loosing phase sync. The timing is not correct for that motor!
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GGoodrum
Member
Yes, this is true. Once enabled, you can't stop the process. The first time I tried the RTH function, my GPS module came loose. This caused a 30-foot spiral descent, part of which went right over my head, and then it flipped over after skidding on the ground. Broke two props. I had zero control. I consider this to be safety-of-flight issue, that needs to be addressed. There absolutely should be a way to dis-engage the auto-land function, once initiated.
-- Gary
Sorry GGoodrum, but I have to say that has absolutely not been my experience. If I engage the failsafe switch on my TX the blue light shows it has gone it to failsafe mode and it initiates the RTH sequence. However, if I then disengage the failsafe switch I can then fly as before.
It's easy enough to try out - after all the worst that would happen if you can't get out of failsafe (assuming a working system, unlike when a GPS module has come loose) is that it will return home and land. But honestly, you can just flick the switch and carry on flying.
All I can assume is that those that can't get out of failsafe mode are using a different transmitter that either doesn't support this kind of operation or isn't configured right.
It's easy enough to try out - after all the worst that would happen if you can't get out of failsafe (assuming a working system, unlike when a GPS module has come loose) is that it will return home and land. But honestly, you can just flick the switch and carry on flying.
All I can assume is that those that can't get out of failsafe mode are using a different transmitter that either doesn't support this kind of operation or isn't configured right.
Droider
Drone Enthusiast
@ Gunter you need to go to manual and back.. which can be quite scary! Well I do on my DX8
+++ with the 180º tilt in the gimbal pitch.. not sure it needs to be that much but certainly more than it is right now..
Dave
+++ with the 180º tilt in the gimbal pitch.. not sure it needs to be that much but certainly more than it is right now..
Mine seems to be ok after last firmware..cant se it in the footage but thee again I aint trying to get on the end of a ploe footage! ;-)
In that mode it will just sit there until your batteries run out then if you have the battery fails safe on it will sort of auto land.. you need to click on the return to home button not the hover one for it toreturn to its home point.
Dave
GGoodrum
Member
The latest version I've tested, which is v5.02, the gimbal drift problem was not fixed.
Inaugural RTH ends very badly
What a day. We have been steadily tuning the GPS hold on our Cinestar8. Although the WKM would be quick to attain a GPS fix, like others, we had been struggling with the counter clockwise toilet bowl in GPS mode. First we systematically worked our way through various gain combinations with minimal success. Things improved considerably when we moved the GPS down the boom, roughly 3cm closer to the center plate? We resumed testing today hoping to iron out a slight but consistent yaw...then we fine tuned gain settings to try and perfect GPS. It wasn't perfect, but it was very good....a real pleasure to fly in GPS mode.
We had one battery left and decided to try our first RTH flight. Our TX is the Futaba T8FG Super. We tested the fail safe on the TX in the software and it worked fine. The plan was to climb to 30 feet in GPS, turn the TX off and watch it go through the RTH process. If things went poorly...we would turn back on the TX and switch from GPS to manual and then back to Atti mode and take back control of the Octo. When I turned the TX off, the Octo started to toilet bowl and climb slightly, we wanted to give it a chance to RTH and patiently/nervously watched as it picked up speed and continued to toilet bowl in a wider circle. At that point I elected to cut short the mission and resume control by turning back on the TX and switching from GPS to manual to Atti. I expected to have control, but watched helplessly as the Octo spun out of control while I desperately wondered why it wasn't responding to my stick inputs. I don't have a lot of time behind the WKM and am more accustomed to the responsiveness of the MK. At this point things are mostly a blur to me. My partner says that the octo performed two pronounced yaws while it was losing altitude, and that at one point I was nose in and the bird was flying towards us. It then banked/yawed away and circled down into its final decent. At this point a crash seemed imminent and I tried to cut the power to limit the speed at which it would smash into the ground. Our beautiful bird crashed sideways into the ground carrying our GH2. At that point I was able to cut the motors and heard my buddy say "Lets hope we can salvage something."
We took the long walk to the wreckage, as we approached, things looked bad. Parts of the frame/gimbal were twisted/crooked...but luckily nothing was broken. Can't say enough about the Cinestar frame and gimbal...top notch to come through that crash with no damage. Our old AV200 would probably have been a pancake. Our GPS rod was intact, our bare HDMI to composite converter was intact. To early to celebrate, but we may have gotten very lucky. One broken prop, and somehow the record button on the GH2 got damaged. I was in shock. We tried to understand what had gone wrong. I explained that I never felt that I was controlling the octo after turning back on the TX. Seems silly to not know....but we hypothesized that maybe when the bird was nose in, I instinctively corrected the wrong way and accentuated the bank instead of correcting it? This would give me the impression that the bird was not responding to my commands, leading to more drastic inputs, increasing the loss of control. What a sick, horrible feeling. At first I was pretty sure I had no control, my partner asked me to relive the flight, the more we talked the less sure I was...did I panic and freeze up? Reminded me of those stories of an experienced detective convincing an innocent suspect that he had in fact murdered someone. "OMG, maybe I did do it?"
Why did the octo react so erratically when we turned off the TX? Why didn't it return home? My partner asked if I was sure that I had GPS lock when I took off? We typically get GPS very quickly...did I assume it was on? What are we going to do now? We brought the bird back to the shop and started the autopsy. In our experience, user error is the likely suspect. My first mistake, was not being 100% clear on what the protocol is for WKM RTH. I had read various posts, thought I had an understanding....not good enough! We reread the manual...I'm still not sure. Do we have to go to manual mode? Atti mode? Or does the TX reengage when you turn it back on? If I had not waited for a GPS lock and the WKM was unable to locate home, would it hover and then auto land, or just get all squirrely and crash? Was there a delay between the time you turn on the TX, and the time it will acknowledge input? Did I rush the GPS through Atti to Manual back to Atti sequence while the TX was turning back on? Is this even necessary? We thought about it, reread the manual and my partner tested the TX sequence looking for clues. He found that when the T8FG Super Futaba is turned back on with the throttle engaged, there is a safety feature, "Throttle position warning" that asks you to push a button on the display screen in order to disregard the warning and transmit. So for anyone out there who are still learning about these things, make sure you turn off "Throttle position warning" safety feature before you attempt to turn off your TX and prompt RTH.
Lesson here is to be 100% prepared...and not to become complacent about things as you get more comfortable.
Anyone have any theories other than no GPS lock for the erratic RTH behavior?
What a day. We have been steadily tuning the GPS hold on our Cinestar8. Although the WKM would be quick to attain a GPS fix, like others, we had been struggling with the counter clockwise toilet bowl in GPS mode. First we systematically worked our way through various gain combinations with minimal success. Things improved considerably when we moved the GPS down the boom, roughly 3cm closer to the center plate? We resumed testing today hoping to iron out a slight but consistent yaw...then we fine tuned gain settings to try and perfect GPS. It wasn't perfect, but it was very good....a real pleasure to fly in GPS mode.
We had one battery left and decided to try our first RTH flight. Our TX is the Futaba T8FG Super. We tested the fail safe on the TX in the software and it worked fine. The plan was to climb to 30 feet in GPS, turn the TX off and watch it go through the RTH process. If things went poorly...we would turn back on the TX and switch from GPS to manual and then back to Atti mode and take back control of the Octo. When I turned the TX off, the Octo started to toilet bowl and climb slightly, we wanted to give it a chance to RTH and patiently/nervously watched as it picked up speed and continued to toilet bowl in a wider circle. At that point I elected to cut short the mission and resume control by turning back on the TX and switching from GPS to manual to Atti. I expected to have control, but watched helplessly as the Octo spun out of control while I desperately wondered why it wasn't responding to my stick inputs. I don't have a lot of time behind the WKM and am more accustomed to the responsiveness of the MK. At this point things are mostly a blur to me. My partner says that the octo performed two pronounced yaws while it was losing altitude, and that at one point I was nose in and the bird was flying towards us. It then banked/yawed away and circled down into its final decent. At this point a crash seemed imminent and I tried to cut the power to limit the speed at which it would smash into the ground. Our beautiful bird crashed sideways into the ground carrying our GH2. At that point I was able to cut the motors and heard my buddy say "Lets hope we can salvage something."
We took the long walk to the wreckage, as we approached, things looked bad. Parts of the frame/gimbal were twisted/crooked...but luckily nothing was broken. Can't say enough about the Cinestar frame and gimbal...top notch to come through that crash with no damage. Our old AV200 would probably have been a pancake. Our GPS rod was intact, our bare HDMI to composite converter was intact. To early to celebrate, but we may have gotten very lucky. One broken prop, and somehow the record button on the GH2 got damaged. I was in shock. We tried to understand what had gone wrong. I explained that I never felt that I was controlling the octo after turning back on the TX. Seems silly to not know....but we hypothesized that maybe when the bird was nose in, I instinctively corrected the wrong way and accentuated the bank instead of correcting it? This would give me the impression that the bird was not responding to my commands, leading to more drastic inputs, increasing the loss of control. What a sick, horrible feeling. At first I was pretty sure I had no control, my partner asked me to relive the flight, the more we talked the less sure I was...did I panic and freeze up? Reminded me of those stories of an experienced detective convincing an innocent suspect that he had in fact murdered someone. "OMG, maybe I did do it?"
Why did the octo react so erratically when we turned off the TX? Why didn't it return home? My partner asked if I was sure that I had GPS lock when I took off? We typically get GPS very quickly...did I assume it was on? What are we going to do now? We brought the bird back to the shop and started the autopsy. In our experience, user error is the likely suspect. My first mistake, was not being 100% clear on what the protocol is for WKM RTH. I had read various posts, thought I had an understanding....not good enough! We reread the manual...I'm still not sure. Do we have to go to manual mode? Atti mode? Or does the TX reengage when you turn it back on? If I had not waited for a GPS lock and the WKM was unable to locate home, would it hover and then auto land, or just get all squirrely and crash? Was there a delay between the time you turn on the TX, and the time it will acknowledge input? Did I rush the GPS through Atti to Manual back to Atti sequence while the TX was turning back on? Is this even necessary? We thought about it, reread the manual and my partner tested the TX sequence looking for clues. He found that when the T8FG Super Futaba is turned back on with the throttle engaged, there is a safety feature, "Throttle position warning" that asks you to push a button on the display screen in order to disregard the warning and transmit. So for anyone out there who are still learning about these things, make sure you turn off "Throttle position warning" safety feature before you attempt to turn off your TX and prompt RTH.
Lesson here is to be 100% prepared...and not to become complacent about things as you get more comfortable.
Anyone have any theories other than no GPS lock for the erratic RTH behavior?
Droider
Drone Enthusiast
Not sure what going on with yours there GG.. mines like a rock..
Icarus... OUCH.. glad you go away mostly unscathed. It nice to see some one looking at there own performance first rather than immediately blaming something else!
Download the latest firmware and RTFM ... 2.3 is the latest version. Got to say you where very brave doing a RTH with all that lit on board AND not fully understanding the feature.. anyhow lesson learned and thankfully not to much damage eh Geoff at quadcopters.co.uk had a similar issue.. PM him I am sure he found out what it was
Good luck with the next one just make sure you have it dialled if first.
All we need now is for the pitch on the gimbal to be increased
Dave
Icarus... OUCH.. glad you go away mostly unscathed. It nice to see some one looking at there own performance first rather than immediately blaming something else!
Download the latest firmware and RTFM ... 2.3 is the latest version. Got to say you where very brave doing a RTH with all that lit on board AND not fully understanding the feature.. anyhow lesson learned and thankfully not to much damage eh Geoff at quadcopters.co.uk had a similar issue.. PM him I am sure he found out what it was
Good luck with the next one just make sure you have it dialled if first.
All we need now is for the pitch on the gimbal to be increased
Dave
Icarus - that must have felt awful! For this were you using a dedicated switch on your TX to activate it or were you turning off the TX completely? By the sounds of it you were turning off the TX.
I use the T8FG Super and have RTH programmed to a switch. Provided I have a GPS lock I can at any time, in any mode, flick that switch and it initiates the failsafe sequence - namely hover for 3 seconds to confirm failsafe mode, climb if not already above 60', fly back to start point (provided it was recorded, i.e. not taking off until max 1 red LED flashing), hover for 15 seconds then land. At any time during this sequence I can flick the RTH switch off again (really the "pretend failsafe mode switch"), go to Atti mode and regain control.
As you said, there is a feature in the T8FG which will prevent the transmitter transmitting at all if you switch it on with the throttle in a position other than zero. Given that you can't fire up the rotors without a very deliberate action that feature is unnecessary with the WKM.
I recommend you experiment with using a failsafe mode switch rather than switching off the Tx, at least at first. That way you can retake control at any moment without waiting for the Tx to power up and reestablish a link.
I guess we'll never know if it was that or if it was as you say a bit of high stress nose-in flying that was the ultimate demise. Great news that nothing was seriously damaged though.
I use the T8FG Super and have RTH programmed to a switch. Provided I have a GPS lock I can at any time, in any mode, flick that switch and it initiates the failsafe sequence - namely hover for 3 seconds to confirm failsafe mode, climb if not already above 60', fly back to start point (provided it was recorded, i.e. not taking off until max 1 red LED flashing), hover for 15 seconds then land. At any time during this sequence I can flick the RTH switch off again (really the "pretend failsafe mode switch"), go to Atti mode and regain control.
As you said, there is a feature in the T8FG which will prevent the transmitter transmitting at all if you switch it on with the throttle in a position other than zero. Given that you can't fire up the rotors without a very deliberate action that feature is unnecessary with the WKM.
I recommend you experiment with using a failsafe mode switch rather than switching off the Tx, at least at first. That way you can retake control at any moment without waiting for the Tx to power up and reestablish a link.
I guess we'll never know if it was that or if it was as you say a bit of high stress nose-in flying that was the ultimate demise. Great news that nothing was seriously damaged though.
plingboot
Member
is RTH a genuine feature or a last option before a crash for radio loss?
as i understand it, the way dji have implemented it, makes it a last ditch function rather than an equal to other functions (like MK's come home), which make me think i don't want to try it - for the above reasons as it all seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
if it's a genuine function, it would be good if dji allow it to be assigned to a switch - either a switch of it's own or maybe giving the options for "manual, atti, gps" or "atti, gps, rth" on the existing 3 position switch.
as i understand it, the way dji have implemented it, makes it a last ditch function rather than an equal to other functions (like MK's come home), which make me think i don't want to try it - for the above reasons as it all seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
if it's a genuine function, it would be good if dji allow it to be assigned to a switch - either a switch of it's own or maybe giving the options for "manual, atti, gps" or "atti, gps, rth" on the existing 3 position switch.
Thanks Droider. I have to say I like your characterization of my actions as "very brave".:highly_amused:
I can just see myself after a horrible crash turning to a throng of spectators and telling them that they have just witnessed a heroic act of bravery!
Seriously, the lesson I'm taking away from this is that knowing 80% about anything multi rotor is essentially useless, and probably dangerous. I'm going to make the WKM manual my bible. Fingers crossed that there isn't some unseen damage.
Hey swisser,
Are you saying that even with one red flash the WKM should have been able to locate the "home position"?
Yes I was turning the power completely off on TX during flight to trigger the RTH. I will look into the advantages of putting the RTH function on a switch. Based on how the TX responded during testing after the crash, it seems close to certain that at no point did I have any control of the Octo as the TX was implementing it's safety feature, and I only engaged the TX when I dropped throttle to try and avoid a hard crash.
The real question now, is why did the Octo not RTH? Ideally it would be because of pilot error and the possibility that I flew off without a GPS lock...unfortunately I don't think that is what happened? It would make a lot of sense though?