Manual mode questions

[h3045]

Hello,

Thanks to the help from fellow forum members, I have gained a lot of confidence in flying manual and it is now my preferred mode of flight.

Some questions for the seasoned manual mode pilots here:

1. Often, the neo toggles back into normal mode mid-flight with a "UAV too far/too high" warning even though it's neither too far, nor too high. Best case scenario this is a nuisance and I just toggle back into manual mid-flight. But worse-case scenario (which luckily hasn't happened yet) is if the neo toggles into normal mode in low-light conditions. In this case normal mode works poorly so there is significant risk of losing the drone.
Q: What do you guys do to "handle" such false positives.

2. The scarier scenario, which I don't want to test, is: what if the drone actually accidentally goes out of range? In normal mode, it does an RTH.
Q: Does the drone do an RTH if it goes out of range in manual mode?

3. Propeller purchase: Official dji neo propellers cost about $50 where I live. But I have found much cheaper alternatives on amazon (about 1/10th price);
Q: What are the factors to consider when buying new, non-dji props?

Thanks again for the swift responses and helpful advice guys. Flying drones has quickly become one of my favorite hobbies.

Here's another snap from my recent flight.

 

[GFields]

Great shot!

 

[Christian]

Hello,

Thanks to the help from fellow forum members, I have gained a lot of confidence in flying manual and it is now my preferred mode of flight.

Some questions for the seasoned manual mode pilots here:

1. Often, the neo toggles back into normal mode mid-flight with a "UAV too far/too high" warning even though it's neither too far, nor too high. Best case scenario this is a nuisance and I just toggle back into manual mid-flight. But worse-case scenario (which luckily hasn't happened yet) is if the neo toggles into normal mode in low-light conditions. In this case normal mode works poorly so there is significant risk of losing the drone.
Q: What do you guys do to "handle" such false positives.

2. The scarier scenario, which I don't want to test, is: what if the drone actually accidentally goes out of range? In normal mode, it does an RTH.
Q: Does the drone do an RTH if it goes out of range in manual mode?

3. Propeller purchase: Official dji neo propellers cost about $50 where I live. But I have found much cheaper alternatives on amazon (about 1/10th price);
Q: What are the factors to consider when buying new, non-dji props?

Thanks again for the swift responses and helpful advice guys. Flying drones has quickly become one of my favorite hobbies.

Here's another snap from my recent flight.
View attachment 1476

1: I don´t know what´s too far, to high is 10m in manual mode, when the Neo switches back to normal mode. I descend beiow 10m, turn it back to sport mode and again to manual and fly on.

2: Not always RTH, it depends on your security settings RTH, hover or land. Never happened to me, that I flew out of range. Regarding YT videos the drone will fly away. There are however values to watch: the bitrate of the video transmission and the signal bars. This is max 50Mbps.

The less the Mbps, the weaker the signal. At some point the bottom of the feed turns to orange, then red. In this case turn back or ascend.
I use the ham file on the goggles, that turns on FCC/HAM mode, which has strong transmission power and there are 2 options: auto or manual. I always use manual 2,4Ghz, because it has much better penetration and range, than the 5.8Ghz.

3. I opened the propeller topic a year ago, since then I try out new propellers. The Neo is a average 2 inch ducted whoop, with 1,5mm shaft. It means that, almost all 2 inch T mount propellers can be put on. Some open propellers won´t work, because the arms block the tip of the propeller. Other things to watch: the original propeller has a 1,6 inch pitch. Not recommended putting on props with much higher (overprop) or lower values. I personally use the GemFan hurricane, this has a 2,3" pitch or the HQ Tr2022 4 blades, this has 2,2" pitch, but 2030, 2035 or above are not recommended. You can use the infamous D51 GemFan props, but I can´t recommend the 5 blade, because it has a big drag -> battery drain. The 4 blade version is fine. If you decide to put on 3rd party props you´ll need M1,2 x 6/7mm metric screws and 1,2mm x 3mm or so washers. What I can recommend is the HQ2016-Neo props. This is a Neo spec prop, original screws can be used. Similar performance and sound to the OEM.