dji Phantom - Recover from Fail-Safe

[@Zbip57]

Step 3 is important. In Assistant, under Tools, Import Parameters. Otherwise the firmware update defaults the NAZA to settings not specific to the Phantom. Check under Basic, RC, that the Receiver Type is set to PPM, otherwise the stock Phantom transmitter won't connect.

[@Zbip57]

That's 3 issues. 1. Flashing yellow while IMU is warming up, how long are you waiting? It can take several minutes. 2. Throttle springing to mid-point is normal on the newer version of the transmitter. 3. Not being able to connect, you can't start the motors until the IMU warmup (yellow flashing) is complete. After that, move both sticks to bottom corner of travel to initiate the motors.

[@HubertDuijzer]

Very helpful for someone who's Phantom is in backorder and who is trying to understand how this amazing thing works. Thumbs up!

[@Zbip57]

1) DL and install Naza Assistant. 2) Plug in Phantom's USB, plug in battery, Run Naza Assistant, let it update Phantom. 3) Load Phantom default settings file. 4) Unplug Phantom USB, do compass calibration (spin in a circle). Ignore error LEDs. 4) Wait 10 minutes for "MC cooldown". 5) Plug in Phantom's USB, plug in battery, Run Naza Assistant, run "Advanced Calibration". 6) Unplug Phantom USB, do compass calibration (spin in a circle). You should get GOOD LED blinks this time.

[@DaveTavres]

This may be *THE* best DJI Phantom video online! Thanks for sharing this instruction. DJI should be doing these kinds of videos! (But I'm glad you did it!)

[@Zbip57]

Note: This was a very old firmware version. There have been many improvements since then. For one, now you cannot start the motors until the IMU warmup sequence is complete. Two, using the Assistant software, you can configure the right switch to GPS/ATTI/Failsafe. Failsafe can then be triggered with the switch, and cancelled by switching back to ATTI. No need to turn off the transmittter.

[@Zbip57]

Yes, mine is an old transmitter. I posted this video back in April 2013. Thanks for answering the question about the auto-centre throttle. So the newer transmitters *will* boot up with the throttle stick centred.

[@Zbip57]

In any mode (GPS, ATTI, or Manual), losing transmitter signal triggers the autopilot Fail-Safe Return-to-Home function. When back within transmitter range, Fail-Safe can be cancelled by switching to ATTI mode, or it is immediately cancelled if already in ATTI mode at the moment the Phantom comes back within tx range. With Fail-Safe cancelled you are back in control and can then switch to any flight mode you like (GPS, ATTI, or Manual) to resume flying.

[@Lamaquinaforte]

Superbe video , sur toute les video que j ai vu celle si reste la plus explicative ! Avec le forum Kosem et cette video ... C est génial . Résumer God video

[@Zbip57]

With the latest firmware update, you now have the option of using the Assistant software to configure the 3-position flight mode switch to (default) GPS/ATTI/ATTI, or GPS/ATTI/Manual, or GPS/ATTI/Fail-Safe. Assuming you have good GPS satellite lock, flipping to Fail-Safe triggers the return-to-home function, and flipping back to ATTI, or through ATTI to GPS, immediately cancels Fail-Safe. Nice feature!

[@Zbip57]

2 items. The transmitter will not arm unless the throttle is at zero. It beeps a warning and flashes a red light if the throttle is not at zero. You can have the throttle at any non-zero position, switch tx on, and when it beeps just quickly dip the throttle to zero and immediately back up. That works too. 2nd, if the tx is turned back on in GPS mode, the Phantom stays in failsafe until you choose to cancel by switching to ATTI. If tx is turned on in ATTI, failsafe is cancelled immediately.

[@Zbip57]

This was back in April, using an older firmware version. It blinked single green in GPS mode, single yellow in ATTI mode, once IMU warmup was completed and before motor start. It blinked double only after motor start if any sticks aren't centred. Newer firmware now blinks double green or yellow even before motor start if any stick, including throttle, isn't centred. Always check before takeoff, with throttle centred, that you get a single blink to confirm your tx is properly calibrated.

[@Zbip57]

Using the Assistant software, it's a good idea occasionally (**ESPECIALLY** after any firmware upgrade) to confirm that your control sticks still give you full range of travel and are actually centred when released. If not, under Basic, RC, do the calibration by clicking the START button then move the sticks through their full range.

[@Zbip57]

Yes. Switching to ATTI cancels FailSafe and puts you back in control. Once control is recovered you can immediately switch to any other flight mode (GPS, ATTI, or Manual).

[@Spothewonderdog]

Very helpful video, thanks. I had a friend turn off the transmitter while I went to get the bird with the props still spinning. I was able to grab it but spent several harrowing moments trying to open the battery door without having my hands turned to sliced brisket.

[@loganboyd]

Great demo and walkthrough. Thanks for taking the time to put this together!

[@EW0gi0PJ]

Inertial Measurement Unit? It's the gyroscopic control system that stabilizes the Phantom in flight when in ATTI or GPS flight modes.

[@Zbip57]

Read the Phantom Quickstart Manual. When tx signal is lost the Phantom will first stop and hover. If the signal isn't regained within 3 seconds, the Phantom will then turn around and head home. If it is already more than 20m above its takeoff height it will head directly home. If lower than 20m above its takeoff point, it will first climb straight up to 20m height before heading home. Without the props it hovers for 3 sec, then tries to climb to 20m, but can't. It's stuck in climb mode.

[@drtubbygooberman]

Thanks Zbip. I am new to this and having a great time. However, the Phantom seems to go into failsafe mode randomly. Last time I flew it, I waited for the green light\ CL forward lock, as well as >5 GPS sat acquisition. I then hovered at about 6 feet, because I had been having these issues. I'm standing just 10-12 ft from it. Suddenly, the drone was unresponsive to my sticks, went into failsafe, crashed into a tree and fell upside down. What was strange, was it would NOT shut off.

[@regfeener]

Awesome man...Thanks for the video..Wonderfully explained..

[@Zbip57]

Yes. Turn transmitter on with throttle at midpoint, and just quickly dip the throttle to zero and back up to cancel the tx beep warning. Don't leave the throttle at zero!

[@teamscreem]

Yes, it is nice, at any time I can just toggle the right switch and take over the craft in either atti or gps mode. I am flying the heck out of this thing, it is so smooth and predictable, unlike my budget build quads I have assembled with KK2 boards. They are very aerobatic but you need to keep them in sight for orientation or you could easily lose one.

[@Zbip57]

The danger with the old-style tx is, if you forget when turning the tx back on and leave the throttle at zero, when the transmitter comes on stream in ATTI mode and thus immediately cancels Failsafe mode, it puts you back in control but with no power on the Phantom's motors. It'll drop out of the sky unless you immediately raise the throttle again.

[@FlyingCameraGuy]

Nice visual demonstration.

[@GeneAtTheLake]

Good thinking - nobody but you, to my knowledge, has come up with the idea of testing the behavior of the Phantom without actually risking the bird doing it. Your experiments could possibly explain a lot of the "flyways." My Gamin GTU-10 arrives next week, though, and I'm still going to feel more comfortable when it's on board.

[@jonathansherman961]

Hey thanks for the video. I just got the phantom and my throttle always bounces back to neutral and I've never been able to connect it to the phantom. The phantom is constantly flashing yellow and no matter what I do with the remote it doesn't communicate. Any advice?

[@MicBergsma]

thanks for the subtitles!!

[@Zbip57]

Sorry about that. I realized only after posting the video. Fail. d'oh.

[@EW0gi0PJ]

Actually, credit goes to "user/jumanoc" as I saw him do it first. It was his video that got me wondering about all this because his Phantom drops out of Fail-Safe the moment the transmitter is then turned on. That wasn't my experience when I used GPS mode.

[@melvoid]

Good informative video, I will watch this one a few more times to get the right setup... but one problem. It's Will Robinson, not Will Smith. Heavy sigh.

[@PineValleyDigital]

Excellent! Best demo yet. And all without the horrible translation! :)

[@CV_CA]

You did a good job, nice and clear.

[@Zbip57]

Red flashes indicate it's not receiving a good GPS signal. Are you out in a clear field? The GPS antenna is mounted on top inside the Phantom shell. It is possible to crack the antenna in a crash, or if anything bends the top of the Phantom shell. Or maybe the antenna just isn't plugged into the NAZA?

[@XB223]

Excellent!!! Thanx for the post!

[@leea.6101]

Easier to go into phantoms settings/software and set the failsafe to the S1 switch instead of the remotes on/off switch. That way when u want to regain control after switching to failsafe using S1, u just move S1 out of failsafe back to GPS setting. Switch goes: GPS-ATTI-FAILSAFE

[@Zbip57]

On my old original-style transmitter the throttle has to be at zero for the tx to switch on, otherwise it just beeps a warning. If the throttle is not at zero, when it beeps like that, I can momentarily dip the throttle to zero and right back up, then a couple of seconds later the tx finishes initializing and the LED on the tx goes solid red to indicate it's on. How does it work with the new-style spring loaded throttles? Do you need to dip throttle to zero to initialize the transmitter?

[@Zbip57]

Eek! Turning off the transmitter or otherwise losing tx signal will cause the Phantom to go into FailSafe mode. It will try to climb to 20m higher than its home location, then head home to land. Never turn the transmitter off if you're standing over the Phantom while its motors are still running!! Someone else posted a video describing how this happened to him while the Phantom was sitting in his living room. It went nuts on him slicing his thumb open while he chased it around the room.

[@YourTechGuide.]

how you liking the phantom so far?

[@RodrigoBoosBR]

Awesome, thx for posting these instructions!

[@AnySub]

to sum up the video... when you lose control and want to regain control other the quad turn the transmitter to GPS mode while it's off. than turn on the TX, move the throttle to about 20% and change back to ATTI mode to regain full control other the quad?

[@Leahrose1199]

Great vid mate What happens once you have re gained control when you put back into gps mode?

[@hentiecockeran]

Thanks for this great Video

[@Miami1001]

Great instructions!!!! Just lost my phantom in the ocean Too close to a cruise ship. Lost control fail safe did not work! I think there was a radar interference from the ship

[@Zbip57]

Bummer. Sorry to hear that.

[@aerialphoto]

so with the remote off can you turn on in attitude mode and mid throttle?

[@DotoRossi]

Thank you! Excellent vídeo!

[@JoelsonMelo]

Can you help me? when i turn on my DJI PHANTOM the led flashing red all time

[@Zbip57]

That sounds like an antenna problem. Your transmitter is not connecting with the Phantom?

[@teamscreem]

Is this an old transmitter with old firmware? Mine is spring loaded throttle to auto center and boots up with all sticks in center.

[@drtubbygooberman]

(cont...) I had to unplug the battery, while simultaneously keeping the blades at bay... Now it seems to be stuck in failsafe and won't come out. Any ideas?

[@bobbfwed]

Once you take control after a fail safe, can you switch back to GPS mode? Or is that no longer an option?

[@dpatonunderdog]

great video!

[@jonathansherman961]

Yes we installed 4.00 and we get error 27 which we were told would resolve itself once you go outside an calibrate but we can never get the remote to connect with the aircraft

[@Q80vaper]

Thank you thank you thaaaaaaaaaaank youuuuuuuu!!!

[@ghosttjr2]

which firmware are u talking about?

[@JustinPonto]

What's cl forward direction and how does that help me. I can't figure this out @zbip57

[@ronaldvanuden]

Thank you for sharing!

[@JustinPonto]

And why does it hover then climb. Y doesn't it come back home like it is supposed to

[@aihome100]

P2 with H3-2D, latest firmare, had been working perfect until today... Accidentally hit the fail-safe stick on my Futaba 8FG while at around 10 feet hover, started to climb while I tried to regain control flipping back to ATTI or GPS and no response... just kept climbing snd moved back 20 or so feet to "home position". Unfortunatelly there are trees all over the place so when it tried to land got cought in them then plummeted down, a $400 + loss since the gimbal got bent and useless now. the reason I arrived at here after a search. Now I keep trying to thing why it would not recover back to control.... any ideas?

[@Zbip57]

Someday I might upgrade to a Futaba transmitter. In the meantime I'm still using the stock transmitter that came with my Phantom-1. I can't say why yours wouldn't come out of Failsafe. Switching to ATTI mode should cancel Failsafe. Maybe it has something to do with the way your Futaba is configured. I can only suggest doing some experiments of your own out in an open field with no trees.

[@35mmMovieTrailersScans]

Nice demo, thx

[@ricardopr54]

I own a Phantom 2 not vision. I haven't ever connected my Phantom to my computer to mess with its software. Do I really need to mess with its software in order to make it response like yours in case of a failsafe activation?. Can I recover control after having turn my radio off and back on by just doing what you did?, or do I need to program that switch 1st in order to get it to work?

[@Zbip57]

Mine is a Phantom 1. I have no personal experience with the Phantom2. My understanding is that the Phantom 2 ships in "Phantom Mode", in which all the switches are disabled and the Phantom is stuck in GPS mode. If Failsafe is activated by turning off the transmitter, and then the transmitter is turned back on, the Phantom will still remain in GPS mode which means you cannot cancel Failsafe to resume control. The Phantom will continue in Failsafe until it has auto-landed (or crashed into a tree along the way). Go to the DJI website, www.dji.com/products, download the latest drivers and Assistant Software for your product. That will also permit you to update to the latest firmware version if you choose. Then enable "NAZA mode" for your Phantom2, which activates the various transmitter switches giving you full control of the settings. You can still choose to fly only in GPS mode if you prefer. But at least you'll have the option of being able to briefly switch to ATTI mode to cancel Failsafe and resume control whenever you choose.

[@ricardopr54]

Zbip57 Thank you very much for your answer.

[@416gully]

Zbip57 so it needs to be in naza? and can i still use waypoint feature in naza?

[@Zbip57]

Have you downloaded and studied the Manuals, installed and run the DJI Drivers and NAZA Assistant Software? dji.com/download/phantom-downloads/

[@DOJIELDIENVE]

learned a lot thanks!

[@nikosnikoy6661]

THATS VERY VERY GOOND MAI FREEND

[@tryskel44]

Very helpful, thanks.

[@rucker69]

This would have been great to know... yesterday.

[@FUNnSUNinFLA]

RhetoricalQuestion LOL! Been there done that!

[@cesaralmazan7313]

flashing yellow lights in my DJI Phantom 2 vision and my transmitter does not work

[@Zbip57]

Naza-M Assistant Software v2.12, and @Naza-M Firmware* v3.12. You can find it here: dji-innovations==com==download==phantom-downloads

[@Zbip57]

See my other video: CL-and-HL-mode

[@ShannonBell]

My drone went into failsafe last night, landed fine, I unplugged battery and went in for the night, came back today and it won't calibrate to compass, and I get error code 29, does anyone have a correct fix for this?

[@Zbip57]

Merci!

[@mushtaqalrkebaue5942]

Thank you

[@NormanHirsch]

good job explaining things. could work well w/Bill Clinton

[@primarespro]

No Words. Don´t want my drone in some roof... in china.

[@marsleiden]

Verry nice explaining for me to late my phantom its chrassing in to a tree. My lites for gps was still green when im take off 3 meters above the ground then my lights was flashing yellow. and im bring myn phantom quick down. when my phantom was down he try to go forward and bouncing on the street with his props. I want take him from the ground and then the lights are going green and going verry quick straight up in the sky. im dont have anny control of the machine with my controller anny more. and he's going in the tree and falling down on the ground. now its my main board broken battery pack its broken from my pantom 2 vision. and camera holder its broken. total crash money 300 euro's. really i was sitting on the ground on my knees and still crying. im never going fly by buildings anny more and trees. im think its going in fail safe and my transmitter was stil standing in gps thats why i dont have anny connection with the phantom. Thats why i want to thank you for this realy good explaining in this video. p.s. sorry for my bet englisch im just a dutch guy 10000x thnx.

[@Zbip57]

Ouch. Unexpected emergencies can lead to panic resulting in tears. That's why it's important to understand how the various flight modes behave, and to practise using them in controlled situations, to minimize the chance of confusion when eventually something unexpected happens.

[@stephen1991]

Zbip57 So true. I just lost my FC40 after one day of flying because I didn't take the time to set up all the functions on the transmitter (IOC) and trusting the quad would return if I switched the power off. It didn't and continued on it's merry way. Live and learn, my next one is getting set up before leaving the house and I'm dedicating my first several flights to practicing what you are talking about in your very informative videos.