Miscellaneous Reliability Issues

[TheGrumpster]

Thanks to all those who responded to my "strong RF interference" warning thread. It seems maybe we can speak the truth here, unlike at RCG, where complaining about anything (regardless of whether it is real or not) will get you branded as a troll by the paid shills DJI has running the place. For the record, as someone who has done business with the Communist (and let's not forget that) Chinese for 25 years, the only thing that they count as a lie is the truth; something that sadly seems to have made its way to America as well.

In this thread, I wanted to mention a number of really annoying and potentially serious issues that I have encountered, to see if anyone else has seen them, or perhaps has a solution to them. Unfortunately, there are so many that I'm not sure I'll be able to recall them all. My bottom line is that the I2 would be a great platform, IF it wasn't so **** unreliable. Honestly, I rarely have an event-free flight. For the record, I use an iPhone 6s+ as my monitor with the Go app.

1) RC controller beeping because it claims to not be paired with the bird. This happens very frequently and is annoying as hell. What's weird is that it is obviously complete BS, because the Go app connects, all controls function normally, and the flight goes off without a hitch, but there is that red LED on the controller and that constant **** beeping. Sometimes power-cycling the controller will stop this, sometimes it will stop on its own mid-flight, sometimes it continues until the end. And re-binding does NOT solve this issue. Not sure what to think about this, but it is super annoying.

2) Go app failing to properly connect to the RC controller. This happens at least half the time, maybe more. You fire everything up and wait and wait and wait and the screen still shows disconnected. So you pull the USB cord and plug it back in and maybe that fixes it. The problem for me is that in my use-case, I am often in a hurry (I know, this is not good) and this delay is very bothersome. Plus, I have enough other things to worry about that the last thing I need is this issue to deal with. I do leave the Go app running between flights (with the controller off, obviously), but that doesn't matter.

3) Video failing to initialize. Rarely, the Go app connects to the bird, but you don't get anything out of the camera other than a red-bar warning across the top of the app. This is scary as hell, especially when you're in a hurry. Power cycling the bird and the controller and the app seemed to fix this the couple of times it happened.

4) Idiotic, Useless, and Bogus warnings during flight. These are critically bad, especially on a tiny screen like I am using because they block a large portion of your image and also cause an unwarranted distraction.
a) "right control wheel locked, tap gently to unlock" : I don't even know what this means, but man does this ever piss me off. It occurs pretty much every time to you touch any control on the controller other than the sticks. And it is complete nonsense, because the control wheel is not locked or jammed or whatever the hell this warning says it is. Just complete idiocy that occurs multiple times on every flight.
b) "strong RF interference" : we already covered this in another thread
c) "unmarked airports", etc. : yea, duh. I don't mind this prior to flight, but once I dismiss it, it needs to go away and stay gone. I truly hate DJI and their attitude towards their customers. In their mind we are all mere children, and this is probably because 99% of what they sell are the low-end toys that morons use to get all of us in deep trouble with the public. But the I2 is supposed to be a "professional" (as if DJI has a clue what that even means) craft. I laugh at the real professionals that try to use this toy as a reliable tool. You can't be competitive when you can't have total confidence in your equipment.
d) "high wind" : maybe idiots need this, but anyone with half a brain knows when the wind is blowing. And as a Part 61 pilot, I know about winds changing at altitude, etc., but again, I do not appreciate Daddy DJI assuming I am a moron. There needs to be a way to permanently disable this sort of BS, perhaps with a disclaimer that doing so voids your warranty, condemns you to an eternity in hell, disbars you from the Chinese Communist Party, etc. I don't care, I just want these moronic warnings off my screen while I am flying.
e) "OA disabled due to landing gear" : the totally retarded thing about this is that it stays on the screen long after the gear is up. And it's another useless warning, in that anyone who understands the way the bird works already knows this. Don't irritate the piss out of me by showing me idiotic messages I already fully understand.
It seems to me that the ONLY time a warning should appear is if the big bad wolf really is knocking at the door, i.e. a battery has failed in flight, or you are about to enter a no-fly zone (which I have not experienced, but have friends that have had this falsely occur with very bad results), etc. Just really bad design and a sign that the people doing the design have never actually used the product.

Seriously not trolling here, but want to set the record straight and understand the prevalence of these issues. And perhaps some of the more reputable dealers that monitor these forums will get back to DJI with these complaints, because it is obvious that end users have no voice at that company.

 

[NickU]

1) RC controller beeping because it claims to not be paired with the bird.

Haven't experienced this - I've two I@ RC's and neither have behaved like that across any firmware level.

2) Go app failing to properly connect to the RC controller.

Have had this happen so often that it's second nature to pull n replug if the screen doesn't pop up after a couple of seconds. To be fair, it's been more prevalent on some levels of firmware/DJI Go than others... don't ask me which versions though. At the time of writing, I can't recall it happening with my current versions.

3) Video failing to initialize. Rarely, the Go app connects to the bird, but you don't get anything out of the camera other than a red-bar warning across the top of the app.

Not had this with a drone. I have had it with the Osmo Pro though. I do tend to use my iPhone 6 with the Osmo, but I use an iPad Air 2 with the I2, so maybe it's something to do with the iPhone and the graphics processing ability on it. Although again, it seems to come and go with different versions of DJI Go, so may be a similar thing with Go 4.

4) Idiotic, Useless, and Bogus warnings during flight....

lol... they do get a bit much ... my main gripe with them is that you generally have to tap them to dismiss them - means taking a hand of the sticks to do it

a) "right control wheel locked, tap gently to unlock"

It happens when you use the scroll wheel to adjust a camera setting. Theoretically it means you have to click the scroll wheel to re-enable its ability to change whatever setting you have selected. It's a pointless 'nannyism' - can you imagine Canon, Nikon or Sony telling you they'd locked the aperture or back scroll wheels on their pro cameras and you need to click to re-enable them... they don't do it, it's just not necessary, not even on their consumer cameras!

b) "strong RF interference"

Yup, get this now. Seems to be a self inflicted warning latest versions.

c) "unmarked airports"

Fortunately, the UK is fairly small and doesn't have much of that, so haven't experienced that warning.

d) "high wind"

I can normally feel the wind when I'm outside, so tend to have a good idea if it's strong or not. The level of pitch and roll from the fpv cam or main cam (on a P4) gives me some idea what the wind is doing. As does the compass/inclinometer artificial horizon thing that is displayed bottom left of DJI Go.

e) "OA disabled due to landing gear"

I appreciate the reminder so I don't hit a fence or wall on the way back home Besides, there are a few people don't realise the OA gets disconnected with gear down - I've pointed it out to them a few times on various forums when they scream that OA isn't working ...

It seems to me that the ONLY time a warning should appear is if the big bad wolf really is knocking at the door

Yup

I also wish that the 'don't display again' tick box when using various intelligent flight modes would remember that it'd already been ticked a million times and not display each time too

I'd actually add that most of the yellow warning messages already appear across the flight status bar at the top in some form or another, so the pop up ones on the camera screen are a bit of overkill, and tend to be a big nuisance. I'd like to see the ability to choose to disable/not display some of the warnings - certainly the "high wind" and "right wheel" ones.That way when a one I need to know about happens, It hasn't been pushed off the screen by a load of useless others that happen right after it... I have had that happen and missed a 'compass error' warning because "right wheel" and "wind" have appeared at the same time

 

[Mad_angler1]

TheGrumpster, I don’t see why you feel the need to post all that crap at the start, If your referring to Blade and Ed as Paid Shills then that’s very unfair they can only give you the info they have, no one else is paid by DJI they are the only one who are, if your going to make accusations about anyone else then I suggest you back that up with facts and proof please otherwise it’s helpful to no one to use language like that, you would get a lot more help and answers if you were not quite so aggressive when the responses don’t fit in with what you what to hear.

Yes the wind warnings and all the others are a PITA at lot of the time but as they have been here for over a year now in one form or another (especially the wind one )I don’t see them going anywhere, everyone under the sun has asked for a change or a off option but it’s not happened so I would not hold out it will in the future, one of the BIG Cendence benefits is a button to clear them, but that’s a work around not a solution imo.

RC connection

Connections to the RC I would do some diagnostics with different devices and cables and if it’s the same all the time then you could have a bad RC, while showing disconnected from time to time that’s resolved by unplugging and plugging back in does happen it’s not ever time or every other time for that matter.

Your RC Beeping

That’s usually a sign that the sticks need calibrating or one is not center, are any of the knobs sticking as I had a P4 remote to this my self.
I would recalibrate everything not forgetting the two knobs on each corner and if/when it does it again after that just gently move each knob until the Beeping stops as I’d bet you have one not quite centring, RH Gimbal wheel would be my bet.

OE Off warning

Sorry this is an important one IMO but should close its self after 10 seconds.

You need to understand that EVERYTHING gets fed back to DJI one way or another, through the Beta programs,the Reps, Dealers and other methods but no amount of shouting or complaint will make it happen now, soon or at all. DJI will do what they do and that’s the way they are and always have been, we would all like to see some things be improved now but all we can do is make sure they understand what the issue is and why it’s important it’s changed then wait, again everything gets fed back but that’s all that can be done.

They get so much right but yes there is still room for a lot of improvement as always.

 

[WillT]

| 1) RC controller beeping because it claims to not be paired with the bird.​

I'm so glad I'm not the only who has experienced this utterly random (and scary!) problem. It's happened to me twice and it's FREAKY - especially to nearby friends/family/randoms (and I assume for those pros out there, clients!). They're like, "What the hell is that? Is it going to crash?"

And the fact that the beeping stops as randomly as is starts is just as unnerving.

I don't think this is tied to a button calibration thing either - if so, that should be easily detectable by the software - why not just report that as root cause rather than the terrifying "unpaired" message!?

Will

 

[TheGrumpster]

I'm so glad I'm not the only who has experienced this utterly random (and scary!) problem.

Well that's certainly interesting. You're the only one beside myself to have this problem, or at least, the only other one to actually report it publicly.
I have 2 Inspire 2s and only one of them does this. It may very well be bad hardware for all I know. Oddly, it seems to mean nothing. I've never had any actual issues other than that **** super-annoying beeping; the bird flies just fine and the camera works fine too. I really don't know what to think.
I'd send it back to DJI, but that is basically a waste of time. They took two attempts just to repair a simple crash, so my confidence isn't so high. And being a former executive at a high-tech firm, I know all too well that intermittent hardware problems are essentially impossible to diagnose. Just throw the old one away and replace it is the proper repair procedure.
Funny that, given my crashed I2 was originally billed to me at about $560, which is entirely reasonable, if only it had been repaired correctly. After immediately crashing on the first test flight thereafter, they subsequently quoted me $1250 for the second repair, but took care of that themselves. I reckon the I2 bird itself isn't worth that much at their cost, so why they just didn't replace the thing originally, I have no idea.
And as a follow-up to my many complaints above, nearly all of them are a result of feces-tier software quality. I've recently (via hacking) rolled back everything to the way it was about nine months ago, and many of my difficulties have disappeared.

 

[WillT]

Oddly, it seems to mean nothing. I've never had any actual issues other than that **** super-annoying beeping; the bird flies just fine and the camera works fine too.

Yes, that's exactly my experience too. When the beeping started the first time, I immediately landed the drone, turned everything off, started everything up again and it still beeped! After a couple more tries of the same, with no other indication that anything was wrong (could control the gimbal, camera, etc.), I was like, "F*** it" and just did my planned flight/photography - beeping and all - with no other issues. About 5mins into the flight the beeping and message disappeared as mysteriously as it came.

Since then it's happened once again, but quickly quieted (perhaps after 1-15 beeps).

So weird! (and scary!)

Will