I have had a Mavic Air (which will use CrystalSky (CS) usually or a Sony Xperia L1) for some months now but it has yet to fly for weather and other reasons. I attempted to set it up Thursday charged all batteries and had major issues in getting GO 4 to see the craft. A very long story later I eventually got everything seeing everything else albeit not without a hack of stop starting GO 4, checked all firmware on craft, CS and controller. Charged everything I could stick a cable in and packed up for Friday.
Beautiful hot day with a little wind but fine for maiden flight. Had 2 batteries worth with the Mavic 2 Pro no issues whatsoever. Set the Air up with CS and switched everything on and immediate connection no hack needed. Result! Not the problems I had at home setting it up. GO Fly then? Well err no. First claimed the compass needed calibrating and please take it away somewhere else. Did so. No difference whatever. Then I noticed the red ! indicating a software update was required. Would neither let me ignore the update or calibrate the compass. The message advising taking it further away - from what? me? persisted wherever I roamed. Any further and I would be in the river so not an option. Any way couldn’t be bothered messing at this point so put toys in boot and went home.
Setup in my living room Friday evening. Switched everything on, immediate connection, no hack, no sign of compass or update requests. Indeed checked all kit for updates and all were current.
No idea why all the previous hassles with getting this Air in the air but will try again in a different location this afternoon Saturday. On the other hand the Mavic 2 Pro which I haven’t also flown for a few months performed perfectly no hint of compass issues or any other issues.
Qn: How does the controller/CS know there is an update needed when Wifi is off and airplane mode on? Does the controller not need to be in contact with DJI servers? My knowledge of such technicalities are limited so would appreciate an explanation of whta is best (other than to preserve battery life) of switching off Wifi/internet. Cheers.
Ok. Thanks. But still can’t get my head round it. Sorry!
So there must be in the app a check on time of last update as it couldn’t know what the latest version is if no Wifi connection as nothing to compare against? I’m guessing there must be an algorithm that advises time of last update. Since I updated everything just hours before I still don’t see how it knows?
How does DJI get your flight data if Wifi off. It surely must use its own wifi?
When the Go4 app connects, tt just checks the firmware version numbers of what’s on the drone/RC/batteries and flysafe compared to what it knows are the most recent from the last time it was updated or connected to the internet.
On the Mavic Pilots Forum there are plenty of people who advocate not updating anything at all. Some say they have never updated anything since purchase and activation 2+ years ago and never connect to internet and allow phoning home to DJI.
Whether this is advisable or not presumably they get reminders to update which they then ignore?
My situation seemed to me to be that GO 4 wouldn’t allow me to avoid calibrating compass and updating - lots of red writing and red ! marks. Could be wrong as I was a bit annoyed and the sun was very bright for a lot of fiddling about at that time.
Could I have avoided both of those warnings and proceeded at my own risk? I wouldn’t personally but it is possible I assume? Perhaps couldn’t see how to do it?
I’m one that hasn’t updated anything for a long time.
Since my drone-phone is never connected to the internet, it is blissfully unaware of any subsequent updates.
Internet connection and updates have nothing to do with a compass recalibration warning … that’s only as a result of the on-board sensors not being totally happy with things.
Often it relates to something in the vicinity, and moving a few meters can resolve without bothering.
This too is something I’ve never needed to do on my MP in almost three years … those few metres always resolving far quicker.
As the owner of but one drone - a Mavic Air, I almost always get the calibrate compass warning. I don’t know if it is more sensitive or not to environmental issues but it takes only a few seconds to do so it doesn’t worry me.
I do find I can have issues ‘connecting’. I used to use an old Wileyfox Spark, then a basic tablet and now my newer Honor 10. All android based and once connected worked just fine. What I have found is a sequence that works for me… Turn on drone. Turn on controller and allow the two to sync. Plug in the phone, cancel the charging options and then pick either Go4 or Litchi depending on my desired use.
If I forget and plug the phone in first or jiggle the connecting cable then I find it doesn’t connect and the answer there is unplug phone, force kill the app, re-conenct and go fly.
Oh and BTW. If you do update the firmware then make sure to also update all of your batteries. This is something I wasn’t aware of. Eequally, I don’t know what would happen if you don’t and get a mismash of battery firmware levels - will the app eventually refuse to fly if there’s to big a gap in versions for example? Presumably I’d got into this state but it never seemed to restrict my flying.
I agree totally with your sequence of actions stubbyd to connect. As pointed in the OP out I found out that even when following that sequence it could still need to kill the app on the phone or CS and re-estart.
My issue with the compass was strange in that I didn’t move a few metres - more like 100m! I was in complete isolation in the middle of an RC landing strip with nearest metal probably 200m away. Mind you it is an old ship’s container which is a fair old wodge of metal. Maybe it could be that the Mavic 2 is less sensitive.
Yes comment on batteries agreed. I am paranoid about charging and checking levels on everything.
Presumably following OzonVibe’s advice you wouldn’t need to do other than charge batteries if no wifi connection.
I will probably in future ensure I have wifi off and airplane mode on and then perhaps keep an eye on what updates are available on the forums and then decide whether to phone in and update then. Maybe the best compromise.
Only needed if the update includes a battery firmware update. Most updates don’t have a battery update since they’re not really all that complicated.
Usually, Go4 will tell you if the battery needs updating.
If so - the most important thing is …. all your batteries will need the same update.
In other words - after each battery update, power down, swap battery, power up, apply battery update …. repeat for each battery.
Also - if you buy a new battery, you may need to check that it’s up-to-date as well.
Adding to stubbyd’s sequence for Mavic Air with CrystalSky and presumably with phones as well:
Controller on, Air on, CS or phone on but DO NOT have the USB connection in at this point. When CS/phone starts insert USB cable into CS.phone.
If you start the CS/phonewith cable attached too early GO 4 will run but will not connect with the Air. There is no way I can connect to the Air if I forget this.
I think after a steep learning setup curve I have sorted getting a guaranteed connection.
Thanks to all for info and advice. Just need a few rain free days to check it all out.
I had another go with the Mavic Air today while there was a weather window.
Again the clincher for a connection which I didn’t get before was to NOT plug the USB cable in the CrystalSky until drone and controller were connected and the CS had booted up showing the GO 4 loader screen. Inserting the cable before that at least in my case guarantees GO 4 will not connect or find the Air. So success then?
Not quite I had the same issue with compass calibration. I had three goes at various parts of the field before honour was satisfied and the Air + CS were satisfied. Kept saying there was interference which the M2 Pro didn’t so the Air must be a sensitive little soul.
Off we went on the Air’s maiden flight and even in a decent breeze the performance at least for stability and manoeuvrability was outstanding. Not checked video quality yet. Every bit as good IMO as my Mavic 2 Pro for flying.
Now the ironic news and proof of Sod’s Law. I recently posted on the Mavic Pilots site re advice on best mount for a CS. I voted for Polar Sky mount which I have. I advised great care with loosening the knurled knob which tightens the base plate of the CS to the mount as there are 2 tiny little springs which if you loosen too much will drop out and almost guaranteed to be lost. Being well aware of that I had a little difficulty in attaching the CS to the mount so loosened the knob. The design is such that the screw part of the knob is sort of retractable making the screw of variable length if you will. In this case too short, so the backstop (no nothing to do with Brexit) fell off and of course with it’s 2 liitle friends. I was lucky to find the knob otherwise the mount would be unusable but no chance of locating the springs even in short landing strip grass. The mount is OK without the springs but they do improve matters so I will see if Polar Pro can provide replacements.
Apart from the springs loss not a bad day. I did get the *spurious" update message which I ignored as it has been updated to the hilt and up to today never flown.
