Taking Off on Take Off - Not Hovering

[pdmike]

Today I went for my second attempt. The first time I tried it, I got the props spinning, hit the throttle a tad, and it rose up about 5 feet and hovered right there. Great. I was even able to move it left a little, move it right a little, and keep it hovering, generally in front of me. Double great. But then, it stated to drift. I couldn't control it, and it crashed, knocking off the one of the prop guards. On this quad, prop guards are hard to put back in place. But I got it back on and tried it again.

This time, when I hit the throttle, it totally forgot what it was supposed to do (and had done the previous try). It rose about a foot off the ground, put its nose down and TOOK OFF. I couldn't control it, and it crashed into the ground, knocking off two prop guards.

And that's all it did the rest of the time. I thought these bad boys were supposed to rise to 5 feet and just hover there until you tell them to go somewhere. How can I get back to that?

 

[mozquito1]

Questions questions questions.
We got no idea what drone you got or anything. Hover till you tell it to go, WTF.

 

[Rick M]

First, until you are a bit higher off the ground, the quad is still getting turbulent air blown back up off the ground. It's trying to hover in unstable air. Bring it up 3-4' off the ground.

If you are in still air and trimmed just right, you might get a 'hands-off' hover for a few seconds, but no more than that. Without GPS or a visual positioning system it won't be THAT stable. Also, if you have a crash or hard landing, re-calibrate your gyros. Check your manual for how to do that. It's probably 1) set the quad to high rate, then 2) hold both sticks bottom left, then 3) set the rate back to low.

Last, once you are in the air you may still want to use the trim switches to fine-tune.

 

[pdmike]

Questions questions questions.
We got no idea what drone you got or anything. Hover till you tell it to go, WTF.

Read my signature line.

 

[pdmike]

First, until you are a bit higher off the ground, the quad is still getting turbulent air blown back up off the ground. It's trying to hover in unstable air. Bring it up 3-4' off the ground.

If you are in still air and trimmed just right, you might get a 'hands-off' hover for a few seconds, but no more than that. Without GPS or a visual positioning system it won't be THAT stable. Also, if you have a crash or hard landing, re-calibrate your gyros. Check your manual for how to do that. It's probably 1) set the quad to high rate, then 2) hold both sticks bottom left, then 3) set the rate back to low.

Last, once you are in the air you may still want to use the trim switches to fine-tune.

Thanks, Rick. Good advice. My drone does not have GPS, but it does have some kind of feature that puts it into a hover mode automatically when you ascend from the ground on takeoff. Most of the time, it does that but, as I said, for some reason it stopped doing it on my last outing.

I am aware of the turbulent air blowback problem on takeoff. Once again, I never experienced that with my drone except for my last outing - if that is what was causing it to act that way.

 

[Rick M]

I'd bet that re-calibrating your gyros would cure it. Always re-calibrate after a hard landing or crash, just in case.

 

[pdmike]

God knows, I've had enough hard landings/crashes. I have never calibrated anything.

My Chinese/American instruction booklet is a little vague on how to do that. It says: "2 as shown: the left and right joystick to move the lower left corner position at the same time 1-2 seconds, then the aircraft four corner lights flash, the aircraft into the level of calibration, until the four corners of the aircraft light is lit, the level of calibration success."

Could you interpret for me?

 

[Jackson]

Could you interpret for me?

What's to interpret? Do what it says.

 

[Rick M]

LOL...just pull both sticks down and left all the way, then watch for the lights on the quad. They will change within several seconds to confirm the gyro is re-calibrated.

Usually the lights will go flashing at first, then solid when the calibration is complete, and it sounds like that's true of your quad. I might be wrong, but I'm betting $10 that solves your issue.

 

[Rick M]

...and any remaining tendency to drift consistently in any direction should be solved with trim adjustments.

 

[pdmike]

OK, guys - I'll give it a shot when I get home tonight. I can do it with the quad just sitting on a table in my home, right? I mean, props aren't going to start spinning and it wants to take off or anything?

 

[Rick M]

Correct. Just make sure that the surface is level.

 

[pdmike]

All right. Thanks.

 

[pdmike]

Correct. Just make sure that the surface is level.

I put the drone on a table. Turned it on and the transmitter. I moved the controllers lower left, simultaneously (Jackson: that means at the same time ) and held them down for 3 or 4 seconds. The drone lights began blinking on and off rapidly. I put the controllers back to central position. The drone lights stopped blinking rapidly, but continued blinking at a slower pace. Am I calibrated? Or do the lights have to stop blinking? If so, what else do I need to do?

 

[Rick M]

Only way to be sure is to go fly it!

 

[pdmike]

Will do.

 

[RENOV8R]

I put the drone on a table. Turned it on and the transmitter. I moved the controllers lower left, simultaneously (Jackson: that means at the same time ) and held them down for 3 or 4 seconds. The drone lights began blinking on and off rapidly. I put the controllers back to central position. The drone lights stopped blinking rapidly, but continued blinking at a slower pace. Am I calibrated? Or do the lights have to stop blinking? If so, what else do I need to do?

Yes, that indicates that it's calibrated and ready to arm. Just do what you'd normally do, throttle up then down. Let 'er rip

 

[pdmike]

Yes, that indicates that it's calibrated and ready to arm. Just do what you'd normally do, throttle up then down. Let 'er rip

That's right - I had forgotten. Once you arm it, the lights stop blinking. Thanks.

 

[Rick M]

You know how to get it calibrated, understand what trims do, and have a good grasp of the basics. Now go fly! You might well break a couple of things...just buy some spare parts. Go get some stick time.

 

[pdmike]

You know how to get it calibrated, understand what trims do, and have a good grasp of the basics. Now go fly! You might well break a couple of things...just buy some spare parts. Go get some stick time.

Yup. I'm still working, however, so I have to wait until the weekend, but when it arrives, I'll be out there.