- Joined
- Feb 24, 2017
- Messages
- 2,997
- Reaction score
- 3,185
- Location
- Central Florida
- Website
- copperdawg.com
PSA or just an observation. 
Okay, so over the past three months on a few occasions, after booting up I have noticed the distance figure on the ST-16s screen takes a while to get a proper fix and display the correct distance - even after getting good satellite connection. My typical procedure when flying is; as soon as I get the case out of the car, open it and turn on the ST-16s, as it takes longer for it to acquire satellites than does the AC.
Early on I spent a lot of time watching the screen and noticing how everything came on. For those who have a 480 or a Plus, we know that due to the slight GPS inaccuracy of the controller and aircraft units - the distance shown can be off a little. We have all seen times when it has us at 30 feet away when we're right next to the AC or; in the case of the 480, the green arrow pointing in the wrong direction when we are too close - this of course is corrected as we increase distance - the direction get more accurate.
On a few occasions I have seen numbers in the distance field that are - well impossible. This has only happened a hand full of times and it goes away as quickly as it started. Also this phenomenon usually occurs just after the RC link is established and the finals connections are being made. In one case I saw a distance of over 12 million feet! Seriously. I grabbed my cell phone to take a pic and within 10 seconds the number plummeted to the correct number.
Now this has happened maybe three or four times in 114 flights. When I first saw it I was shocked and then after it corrected I sat for another three or four minutes and found that everything was fine as have been every single flight I have taken (Knock on wood). I have also found that at this point in the boot-up, there are times when if I switch between flight modes - there is no indication of it doing so.
I get a sense that there are times when we see all of the good indicators for flight but the FC is still in that last bit of startup. Bottom line, this is why I never rush into a flight, and we're not talking minutes but maybe 30 to 45 extra seconds to make sure everything is in order.
I recently had this happen in my own back yard as I was preparing to drain a full battery I did not use on a shoot. As soon as I saw it I pressed the ScreenShot button on the ST-16s and in the three seconds it took to snap the picture; it had dropped from over 20,000 feet down to 1252.6! I was three feet behind it. Three seconds later all was well and the flight went off without a hitch.
Okay, so over the past three months on a few occasions, after booting up I have noticed the distance figure on the ST-16s screen takes a while to get a proper fix and display the correct distance - even after getting good satellite connection. My typical procedure when flying is; as soon as I get the case out of the car, open it and turn on the ST-16s, as it takes longer for it to acquire satellites than does the AC.
Early on I spent a lot of time watching the screen and noticing how everything came on. For those who have a 480 or a Plus, we know that due to the slight GPS inaccuracy of the controller and aircraft units - the distance shown can be off a little. We have all seen times when it has us at 30 feet away when we're right next to the AC or; in the case of the 480, the green arrow pointing in the wrong direction when we are too close - this of course is corrected as we increase distance - the direction get more accurate.
On a few occasions I have seen numbers in the distance field that are - well impossible. This has only happened a hand full of times and it goes away as quickly as it started. Also this phenomenon usually occurs just after the RC link is established and the finals connections are being made. In one case I saw a distance of over 12 million feet! Seriously. I grabbed my cell phone to take a pic and within 10 seconds the number plummeted to the correct number.
Now this has happened maybe three or four times in 114 flights. When I first saw it I was shocked and then after it corrected I sat for another three or four minutes and found that everything was fine as have been every single flight I have taken (Knock on wood). I have also found that at this point in the boot-up, there are times when if I switch between flight modes - there is no indication of it doing so.
I get a sense that there are times when we see all of the good indicators for flight but the FC is still in that last bit of startup. Bottom line, this is why I never rush into a flight, and we're not talking minutes but maybe 30 to 45 extra seconds to make sure everything is in order.
I recently had this happen in my own back yard as I was preparing to drain a full battery I did not use on a shoot. As soon as I saw it I pressed the ScreenShot button on the ST-16s and in the three seconds it took to snap the picture; it had dropped from over 20,000 feet down to 1252.6! I was three feet behind it. Three seconds later all was well and the flight went off without a hitch.
