Unresponsive Inspire 1 Pro

[Steve Spain]

I tried my first flight with the latest DJIGO app software upgrade. Craft, controller and batteries had all been updated and up to date status reflected in app. ( I may have had Litchi on in the background )on my tablet, but I am not sure of this. I calibrated the compass. I did not have my gimbal/camera installed. IMU "did not need calibration". I had "green" safe to fly in P mode.

Prior to take off, the F modes were not displaying when attempted, and I had a message to "take off and retry". I decided to try it, and used auto take off. I took off and the RC had no control of the craft. Neither joystick had any control and the craft just hovered at its 3.9 meters. I toggled back and forth between P and F modes several times with no effect. I was able to lower the landing gear and took hold of the craft. Attempts to lower it to the ground were met with fierce motor resistance trying to maintain its 3.9 meters. The landing gear raised, and I had to move my hand. The craft then drifted right, into a brick wall (gently), and I was able to retrieve it and hold it until it shut down, spinning its broken props.

I am afraid to put this thing back up in the air...Advice?

Has anyone else had any trouble since this last upgrade? What did I do wrong?

 

[Mad_angler1]

What happens when you try to calibrate the sticks in the Go App ?

Does CSC perform ?

Do the camera controls work on the ground ?

 

[The Editor]

What were your mod values prior to take off?
After your firmware update did you perform both an IMU and stick calibration?
Did the craft perform correctly within the simulator?
Have you flown a multirotor or RC aircraft before?

 

[Steve Spain]

Ok, I have about 100 hours with this craft.
As I mentioned, the camera and gimbal were not installed (luckily, given the crash!)
I had just calibrated the IMU the day before, which was several day AFTER I installed the updates, so I did not do it again. I did check it though, just before takeoff, and the app said it did not need IMU calibration.

Before flying, I did the joystick and the wheel button calibration (that is a new feature) and got " success" afterward, but I did not see any activity on the display as I calibrated. I thought it seemed unusual that I did not get some visual feed back on the calibration, But it did say "success". And, yes, this was done after the firmware update.

I did calibrate the compass, and had the Green good to fly in P ATTI mode. I used auto takeoff, so the RC did that, and the RC also allowed me to raise the gear. But nothing else seemed to work.

It did not shut off until I picked it up from the crash (quickly!) with motors still spinning. I waited a bit and then turned my RC off. After about a minute, the motors shut down.

I created a ticket with DJI and synced my flight log, but as we all know that is a painfully slow process!

I didn't try simulation before this flight, I had flown a dozen or more successful flights with Litchi after the DJI firmware update. This was my first flight with the DJI firmware.

What 'mod' values are you referring to?

 

[Skynet1]

Ok, I have about 100 hours with this craft.
As I mentioned, the camera and gimbal were not installed (luckily, given the crash!)
I had just calibrated the IMU the day before, which was several day AFTER I installed the updates, so I did not do it again. I did check it though, just before takeoff, and the app said it did not need IMU calibration.

Before flying, I did the joystick and the wheel button calibration (that is a new feature) and got " success" afterward, but I did not see any activity on the display as I calibrated. I thought it seemed unusual that I did not get some visual feed back on the calibration, But it did say "success". And, yes, this was done after the firmware update.

I did calibrate the compass, and had the Green good to fly in P ATTI mode. I used auto takeoff, so the RC did that, and the RC also allowed me to raise the gear. But nothing else seemed to work.

It did not shut off until I picked it up from the crash (quickly!) with motors still spinning. I waited a bit and then turned my RC off. After about a minute, the motors shut down.

I created a ticket with DJI and synced my flight log, but as we all know that is a painfully slow process!

I didn't try simulation before this flight, I had flown a dozen or more successful flights with Litchi after the DJI firmware update. This was my first flight with the DJI firmware.

What 'mod' values are you referring to?

You reported you may have had a third party app running in the background along with the Go App. If you feel comfortable checking once again you may want to give it a try with only the Go App running, The other flight App MAY have created a control issue. MAYBE! nothing definite just some food for thought. : )

 

[The Editor]

Ok, I have about 100 hours with this craft.
As I mentioned, the camera and gimbal were not installed (luckily, given the crash!)
I had just calibrated the IMU the day before, which was several day AFTER I installed the updates, so I did not do it again. I did check it though, just before takeoff, and the app said it did not need IMU calibration.

Before flying, I did the joystick and the wheel button calibration (that is a new feature) and got " success" afterward, but I did not see any activity on the display as I calibrated. I thought it seemed unusual that I did not get some visual feed back on the calibration, But it did say "success". And, yes, this was done after the firmware update.

I did calibrate the compass, and had the Green good to fly in P ATTI mode. I used auto takeoff, so the RC did that, and the RC also allowed me to raise the gear. But nothing else seemed to work.

It did not shut off until I picked it up from the crash (quickly!) with motors still spinning. I waited a bit and then turned my RC off. After about a minute, the motors shut down.

I created a ticket with DJI and synced my flight log, but as we all know that is a painfully slow process!

I didn't try simulation before this flight, I had flown a dozen or more successful flights with Litchi after the DJI firmware update. This was my first flight with the DJI firmware.

What 'mod' values are you referring to?

OK, forgive me but if you have circa 100 hours on the Inspire I would have thought you would be more familiar with the functions.

• Calibrating the compass before every flight is not a good idea (irrespective of what DJI say)
• The stick calibration IS NOT a new feature and has been there since the release of the original DJI Pilot App over a year ago
• It is never a good idea to have both a third party application and the Go App open simultaneously. Conflicts can occur
• Mod values are one of the most important things to check pre flight and their ideal ranges are published (mostly by me) over both this forum and the DJI users forum (have a search over the forum, there are some lengthy threads regarding checking mod values for the gyroscope, accelerometers and compass)
• The function (F modes) will not and have never functioned and are not designed to until the aircraft is airborne

I would respectfully suggest you have a good read of some of the posts over this forum where their is a lot of good information and hints and tips that probably would have prevented your unfortunate mishap.

 

[Steve Spain]

I don't know for sure that Litchi was active on my Tablet when this happened, but I will be sure that it is off/stopped when I try again.

I hadn't really expected to fly the craft last night, as I was just going through the new DJI Firmware and wanted to check the Flight modes in the F mode. When I switched from P to F (before my flight), I got the message in F mode that the there was an error in displaying the F modes, and to "launch the aircraft and retry". I thought this was unusual. In retrospect I should have rebooted everything and started over, rather than launch the aircraft.

Interesting though, that once this fated flight began, and I toggled to F mode, the various flight modes were displayed across the screen, so I guess DJI got that right, at least....they just didn't work! :-(

I will try it again soon, and test the gimbal/camera before launch. However, I will remove the gimbal before flying, I can't afford that risk until I am sure this won't happen again.

Can anyone confirm that flying without the gimbal is okay and not likely the cause of an issue like this?.

 

[Steve Spain]

Oh, and I know the stick calibration is not new, but I don't recall seeing the flywheel calibration before, that is what I think is new.

I will check the Mod values, likely I just don't know them by that name. My controls have all remained at the factory presets except for stick gain, which I have maxed out at a value of 20.

I have been flying Litchi a lot lately and not DJIGO, and now I recall that the DJI F mpdes aren't active until airborne....thanks for the reminder and that explains the error and" launch and retry" message.

 

[Steve Spain]

My Mod values : 0. 1.0. 1550 When I check IMU it tells me calibration not needed.

Interesting I haven't come across adjusting Mod values in online turorials...back to the books for me, but it would not appear that this was an issue in my case.

 

[Skynet1]

It appears your overall Mod values are OK, between (1400 - 1600), and
the exclusion of the of the Camera/ Gimbal assembly should not affect flight characteristics of the model, to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Steve Spain]

Ok, I flew this craft in simulation and for real this weekend and everything seemed fine. In going over this scenario, all my firmware and calibrations were up to date and good. My conclusion is that I must have had Litchi 'on' while using the DJIGO app to try to fly the craft.

So here are my takeaways:

1. If you use other software for your craft, be sure only one is active. Go to settings and "force stop" to be certain, and if you have ever answered "always" to using an application when connected to the RC, change your default and thereafter use "just once" as your response.

2. Never use the Auto Takeoff. If I had used CSC to start the motors, I think I would have detected the RC failure much sooner. Either CSC would have failed to start the motors, or the inactive L stick would not have allowed me to accelerate to take off. Either way, I would have been aware of the issue before leaving the ground. Never hurts to have one more step to assure things are behaving normally.

Thanks to all for input and advice here.