Hi guys,
I’ve just upgraded from Phantom 3 to Mini 2 and very happy with it so far. One thing I’ve noticed is that Mini 2 is loosing altitude when hovering (slowly but surely). I constantly have to correct it on the stick. This was happening in no wind condition. All firmware is updated. This could be a problem for me as I take lots of videos above the water and usually in low altitude. Anything that I could do about it?
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The first thing I would do is recalibrate the Compass and the IMU and do not do it where there could be interference (wires, steel structures, etc…). Best is outside on flat ground like a driveway (but be sure to look up to ensure there are no high-tension wires overhead.
Now, if you are really serious then you will be performing a more scientific test. Get yourself a stick that can be poked into the ground or one that has some sort of base on it so it will stand up by itself. A 5-foot stepladder would be perfect, if not use a yard stick. It has to be long enough that the drone can hovering near it and the drone will not go into landing mode…
Now, you are going to perform a hover test in several places, over grass, over cement, over blacktop, over dirt, you get the idea…
Place your “height Indicator” in one of these locations and hover your near it, this way you have a positive indicator that your drone is losing altitude, not some vague glance that it looks like it’s losing altitude.
Start up the drone, give it several minutes to perform it’s self-test, when you have at least 10 satellites, lift off about 3-4 feet and hove a few seconds and let the drone reestablish it home point. Now fly the drone over to your “gauge” The reason you need to know the actual (at least close approximation) of the actual height of the “gauge” and si so you can look at your height indicator on your Fly App.
Is the reading on the App what you would expect it to be (ie: 4.9 feet near a 5-foot ladder…).
Now let the drone hover there for a few minutes, monitoring the actual height of the drone in comparison to the your gauge, and your need to monitor the height indicator in the App.
There should be no real difference during the test. You need to do this test on different surfaces to see it the Optical sensors have a problem with the different surfaces.
If your drone is really dropping, then it needs to go in for service.
You wrote that you just got the Mini 2, so below is the link to all of the downloads offered by DJI for the Mini 2. You will also find the 75-page User’s Manual, in case your Drone did not come with one. The User Manuals are published in different languages.
After you read the Manual, read it again, you will be surprised what you missed the first time and you will be better prepared for that first “scary moment…”
Good Luck!
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Thank you so much for your elaborate instructions. I will do recalibration, didn’t have message to do so but that could be a issue. I’ll start there and if that doesn’t fix the issue then I’ll do the tests as you suggested.
Hey @Shoma ,
I faced same issue today.
I took of from corner of lake and then for a second while drone was hovering I was checking my phone and i saw it dropping the altitude. I swear it was going to drown today. I was on Cinematic mode.
Looking forward to your reply if what was mentioned in the elaborate comment helped you
Now, we need to see if you were really “only” checking your phone. I want you to open your device (your phone?), open the Fly App, on the Intro Screen, Tap the Profile Icon (lower Left on Screen); On the Profile Screen, Tap the “More” Button (Lower Left); In your Flight Data Center, Tap the Flight that you are writing about.
On this Screen, you will see your flight path, it is Scalable, and you can zoom in. On the upper right, there are three Buttons. The lower one lets you select the map layer, choose Satellite, the middle button lets you select center on Home point, etc…, but I am more concerned with the top Button, it brings up your Stick inputs during the flight.
As the video plays, it shows your flight, height, distance, speed, Drone orientation, and that Top Button now shows the Stick Inputs, and that is what I want you to look at…
Zoom into the area that you wrote that your drone was going to go swimming and watch the video play out and look to see it there was any stick inputs as your drone descended.
I’m betting that as you checked your phone, you accidently, without even being aware of it, you were gently, ever so gently, touching the stick, perhaps it might even have been a piece of clothing, but look to see if there was any Down Movement input to the stick.