Toilet bowling, then slow flyaway.

Jenn348 · Feb 19, 2015

I launched my inspire and let it hover for a minute, and it started toilet bowling. I laughed at it with the kids for a few seconds, then it started drifting away in a weird curve. I took control and brought it back, and no further issues.

Anybody else get this before?

Rig · Feb 19, 2015

It's been acknowledged by DJI and is being addressed in the next FW update.

DRONEONER · Feb 19, 2015

Jenn348 said:
I launched my inspire and let it hover for a minute, and it started toilet bowling. I laughed at it with the kids for a few seconds, then it started drifting away in a weird curve. I took control and brought it back, and no further issues.

Anybody else get this before?

Yeah i get a bit of the "toilet Bowl Effect" but not full drift away.

pokercop · Feb 19, 2015

I get that exact same behavior with the toilet bowl and slow fly away drift every few flights. As soon as I take control of it the problem instantly goes away. I certainly hope they address this in the next firmware update.

PetePerrim · Feb 19, 2015

This was a real common problem with the Phantoms until they fixed it with a firmware upgrade about halfway through last year. I'm looking forward to the Inspire having it fixed. I flew my Phantom today and yesterday and still marvel at what a rock-solid little workhorse that thing is, fantastic. Anyway, I'll feel much more comfortable flying my I1 once it sits still after take-off.

GizaDog · Feb 19, 2015

I see the "Toilet Bowl Effect" as well but steady it and it seems fine after that. I'm just trying to figure out which way its spinning based on my location since I'm in the northern hemisphere.

SloMo · Feb 19, 2015

Which flight mode were you in?

Jenn348 · Feb 20, 2015

SloMo said:
Which flight mode were you in?

GPS control, not ATTI or anything.

lrwskyfilms · Feb 20, 2015

Glad you got control back, as said before it's a known issue and hopefully get sorted in the next FW update. Did you switch to ATTI to get back?

douglas.brownlie · Feb 20, 2015

I took ownership of my inspire 1 two days ago. Maybe I'm wrong but I think this is the same effect I am seeing.
For my first flight I setup and calibrated the compass. Launched and had great fun flying. The battery started to run low so I landed and changed over batteries. When I powered up i waited for the app to say safe to fly. After taking off I glanced up from the app to see the yellow light on the rear blink just once. Looking back at the app it sad there was a problem with the compass calibration. The quad started flying in atti mode until I landed again and launched again. Is this the same problem as people are talking about here or is this something completely different?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

lrwskyfilms · Feb 20, 2015

Sounds like it, the GPS drops out, it's a known problem. Assuming you're not near any inference.

Kilrah · Feb 20, 2015

douglas.brownlie said:
The quad started flying in atti mode until I landed again and launched again. Is this the same problem as people are talking about here or is this something completely different?

No, completely different.
Toilet bowl effect only happens in GPS mode due to erroneous sensor data. Your issue is widely documented though.

jonnyvermont · Feb 20, 2015

I got flushed yesterday 5 mins into a flight. I was mesmerized! I was particularly interested because it said GPS in green (can't wait for them to add back in the number of satellites.). I was inspecting my roof (lots of ice dams here in Vermont USA). I was able to get control just before it almost smacked into my gutter.

It's a very responsive craft. Such a joy to fly.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

blade strike · Feb 20, 2015

This is not a fly away... This is simply the craft dropping down to ATTI, hence the drift. Flyaway is absolutely no control over the craft.

lrwskyfilms · Feb 20, 2015

Some great replies above, until this issue is sorted, my belief in best practice is take off and hover in GPS and land in GPS, but be quick to change into ATTI mode.

Tahoe Ed · Feb 20, 2015

I would add be quick to be ready to fly in ATTI mode if needed. Forewarned is forearmed.

PB30X · Feb 20, 2015

Tahoe Ed said:
I would add be quick to be ready to fly in ATTI mode if needed. Forewarned is forearmed.

Absolutely!! Just wandering if there were no GPS at all, if people would consider the thought of flight lol.. Expect the unexpected, it happens! More practice and understanding all its functions and features will make for a better flight experience.. Good or bad, it's a learning experience. When something is wrong or goes wrong, you are in "somewhat" control and prepared... Again, interference is just that and must be acceptable and understandable.. Welcome to the world of RF, EMI of electronics.. It's NOT a perfect world... VPS is the beginning of New things to come, COUNT ON IT lol...

DaBone · Apr 3, 2015

Got my first "toilet bowl" effect today.

I did not care to make a compass dance for the first time, after that some folks said that it is unnecessary to do it every time.
Had GPS all time and no warnings.. after a minute it stopped and I could fly normally.
The next place I was at, I did compass dance and then it was rock steady in the air.

lake_flyer · Jun 24, 2016

DaBone said:
Got my first "toilet bowl" effect today.

I did not care to make a compass dance for the first time, after that some folks said that it is unnecessary to do it every time.
Had GPS all time and no warnings.. after a minute it stopped and I could fly normally.
The next place I was at, I did compass dance and then it was rock steady in the air.

Here we go again....
This has been discussed in numerous threads. It's not just 'some folks' that don't calibrate every time just because they happen to be stubborn.

The reason NOT to calibrate the compass is because a known GOOD calibration can NEVER cause a lot of trouble, even after you traveled 100 miles. The only thing you would notice is that it wouldn't fly perfectly straight lines anymore. Then it's time to calibrate.

The chance that you do a completely WRONG calibration, somewhere in the field, where you have no idea what interference might be present, is quite severe, and a cause for many fly aways (during RTH while flying beyond VLOS for instance, "it just never came back"......).

The toilet bowl effect is normally a IMU matter. Just as the magnetic compass, it is sensitive to magnetic fields. Did you have anything on you that might have caused interference? Or during transport? Subwoofer in the trunk?

DaBone · Jun 28, 2016

lake_flyer said:
Here we go again....
This has been discussed in numerous threads. It's not just 'some folks' that don't calibrate every time just because they happen to be stubborn.

The reason NOT to calibrate the compass is because a known GOOD calibration can NEVER cause a lot of trouble, even after you traveled 100 miles. The only thing you would notice is that it wouldn't fly perfectly straight lines anymore. Then it's time to calibrate.

The chance that you do a completely WRONG calibration, somewhere in the field, where you have no idea what interference might be present, is quite severe, and a cause for many fly aways (during RTH while flying beyond VLOS for instance, "it just never came back"......).

The toilet bowl effect is normally a IMU matter. Just as the magnetic compass, it is sensitive to magnetic fields. Did you have anything on you that might have caused interference? Or during transport? Subwoofer in the trunk?

LOL.. One year ago. But I still calibrate the compass and have not had any problems.

I forgot, got my second fly away (first with the Inspire 1) a couple of days ago. And that was when I for once, not had time to calibrate.....

Remembered threads here and how it was recommended that you should not calibrate. So when I had a stressful job, I thought that it will go well ..
It went well anyway, when I gained control again with the ATTI-mode, so no damage or anything.