Can anyone help me, beginner drone user here.
I was recently at sea looking for whale sharks to swim with. I found one on the drone then realised the drone was 1km away and i had know idea how to get to its location. There was no landmarks to work with. I guess there must be a way to record the drones location then use that location to navigate to that point.
What would be the best way to do that?
Im using a mini 2 se
DJI offers no such functionality.
Litchi has a setting named “Show GPS Coordinates” that allows the current latitude and longitude of the aircraft to be displayed next to the altitude, distance and speed indicators at the bottom left of the screen.
However, the Mini 2 SE is not one of the compatible drones from their compatibility list.
@Msinger is correct, DJI does not show GPS Coordinates, but if there is enough battery power to keep your drone in the air until you can arrive to retrieve it, then this is the way to go…
But first, I cannot help but wonder where your drone though it Return to Home position was located… A lot of folks launch their drones from boats and at that instance, the Home Position is recorded, then they go fly their drone and even race around following it. Then if the battery runs low and the drone goes into RTH mode, it goes back to where it was launched (wherever that was…)… And if they cannot see their drone flying to the old Home Position, it’s going to its watery grave…
There is a feature to reset the home point, and this is useful when the pilot is moving, like on a boat, hiking, etc…
One funny story was a lazy pilot on a boat clicked the Return to Home button so they did not have to fly it back themselves. They heard the drone, but the RTH altitude was set so high that they could not see it and the drone flew back to where it was launched. The drone’s video showed the drone landing in the water…
But I digress, I assume you flew your drone so far away that you actually had no idea where it was nor how to bring it back… I fly the Mini 2 and this is how it works on mine Drone…
On the bottom Left of the screen is the ATTI Square, tap it, to bring up the Map, Tap the “+” to fill the screen, if you have data, the map will have details, if not, it’s pretty devoid of detail, but it will show you the drone as a Blue Triangle and it will be pointing in the direction it is headed. It will also show the Home Point and it will show the location of the controller (that’s you…).
There will also be a Blue Line showing the most direct line of flight from the drone to the controller.
If you just want to fly the drone back to you, point it towards the controller and fly back…
If you want to go to the location of the drone, you follow the Blue Line to your drone and point the drone towards the location of the controller and sooner or later, as you approached the drone, you will appear on the video…
The Find My Drone only Blinks its Lights and beeps a Buzzer but does not function while it is flying nor if it’s crashed into the water…
Do you still have that original Mini 2 SE or is this help for the next time?
Thanks for your reply. Im aware of the RTH function and the risk of using it at sea. I also know how to bring it back using the blue arrow to return to the controller.
I tried to find the drone doing roughly what you have suggested although i dont recall a blue line. I ended up going in the wrong direction. I did notice the distance reading never changed when the drone was stationary in the air and the boat was moving towards it (or not in my case). I will have to try again on land and look for the blue line and experiment more.
thanks again
Not sure what you mean by this?
This sounds perfect but not for me and my drone
Thanks
In the Link below, they mention a RED Line, I was wrong, but I thought it was BLUE but iti is actually RED… any case the video explains it pretty good… and the Blue line is the path you have already flown.
Below is a map showing a flight of my Mini 2, I keep my maps orientated with North always up… I have flown the drone off to the East and the Blue Line is the flight path I took…
Looking at the Drone, the Triangle is facing Left towards the West and there is a “Greenish” color out front, like the “headlights of a car” showing the direction of the drone.
If I could not see my drone and I did not trust my Return to Home, I would turn my Drone so it was facing the Home Point and then fly it back along the RED LINE…
Now, if this was you on your boat, you would now know the Drone is off to your West… How far, you would have to look at the main screen and check the Distance and Height, but always remember that there is always wind and if the drone is downwind, it has to fly home against a headwind.
Here is a good video on updating the Homepoint, especially if you are going to be flying your drone while on a boat…
My question, "Do still have the original Mini 2 SE, meant was were you able to recover the drone or was it lost at sea?
You wrote, “I found one on the drone then realised the drone was 1km away and i had know idea how to get to its location.”
So I figured that if you did not know where it was, how did you get it back to the boat?
That’s because the distance is between the drone and the homepoint. Not between the drone and the controller.
Good Point, I forgot about that, I usually do not travel far from the home point, Maybe a short distance, not like the OP mentioned with traveling on a boat.
Thanks for the info, in few days ill take it out and have play with it.
You wrote, “I found one on the drone then realised the drone was 1km away and i had know idea how to get to its location.”
So I figured that if you did not know where it was, how did you get it back to the boat?
I could get the drone back to me, thats never been an issue. I wanted to get to the drone, with the drone stationary, the drone was marking the position of the whale shark.
