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Disabling VPS?

SJLPHI

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Hello,
I'm a bit old fashioned in a way... I am used to flying RC helicopters from 15 years ago with only digital gyroscope stabilizers. I have my drone and I love it, but it takes the fun from challenge to fly. My tello is way too stable and refuses to fly lower than 40cm above ground.

So far, I taped the 2 LEDs next to the photosensor at the bottom side of my tello. This allows me to fly as low as 10cm above ground but the VPS still kicks in/and/out here and there.

Has anyone figured out how to completely disable VPS?

I read some request from this forum a long time ago and DJI never got back.
 
That does not actually disable the VPS.

It only confuses it.

If you tape the photosensor, the drone keeps going up, and if you tape the LEDs it doesn't know how far it is from the ground.

If you tape all 3, it's a guaranteed crash VPS will keep forcing the drone to fly higher. Not disable the VPS.

If you tape 2 LEDs, it will let you fly low but not disable the VPS. Blocking the sensors do NOT disable VPS.
 
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I do not believe this is a DJI drone, so they probably will not answer you. They and Intel did work on then i believe under contract with another company. I would recommend you try them.
 
I do not believe this is a DJI drone, so they probably will not answer you. They and Intel did work on then i believe under contract with another company. I would recommend you try them.

Dan, are you saying a DJI Tello is not a DJI drone? I heard that it was partly made by Ryze/DJI but in case if I wans't clear. I have two "DJI/Ryze" Tellos.
 
No, it's not a DJI product, although DJI do sell it in their online shop. If you check the DJI website it does not list the Tello as a DJI product. The packaging on mine said "Powered by DJI" who I understand supplied the guidance. The packaging also says "Manufactured by Shenhzen RYZE Tech Co. Ltd."
 
Well, that's a bit complicated. I just got off online chat with Ryze customer service (Tello). They gave me an e-mail address to contact their SDK team. Hopefully they may have a better suggestion.

For the future reference, don't tell people to blindly put adhesive in the photosensor below the drone, unless if you've tried it. I did, and I barely managed the drone to land when the battery finally ran out.
 
I have never tried this system to cover the sensors, but I have heard this to disable VPS.:unsure:
I apologize if I said something that I have not personally tested.
 
I have never tried this system to cover the sensors, but I have heard this to disable VPS.:unsure:
I apologize if I said something that I have not personally tested.
No problem, but this is one of the worst advice that I would recommend anyone.

I did try it myself once indoors and once outdoors. Neither ended too well. Indoors, I had to catch it before the tello flew into a lightbulb in the ceiling. Outdoors, it went higher than 30m and eventually landed itself when the battery went out and thankfully it landed near me.

If you cover up the middle "camera" or the photo sensor at the bottom side of Tello, the VPS will go into an overdrive and force your drone to go up indefinitely. Instead of disabling the VPS, it will actually take the control out of your hands.
 
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Also, if you cover up the two LEDs but not the camera on the underside of Tello, it will allow the drone to fly as low as 10cm from ground, but will "Act up" when you try to land. Meaning at some point the photosensor will decide it's too close to ground and make the tello go up. Really a bad feature when you are about to land under a table or a chair.

When outside, even with the LEDs covered, the VPS works 100% on video mode above 0.5m above ground.

In sports mode VPS fails. Not disengaged but fails fantastically. It will not give you the control of the drone because the VPS is trying to adjust the drone above something shiney, usually a glass surface, car or body of water.
 
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surely your tests will be useful to someone not to do damage to the drone.?
 
I did try it myself once indoors and once outdoors. Neither ended too well. Indoors, I had to catch it before the tello flew into a lightbulb in the ceiling. Outdoors, it went higher than 30m and eventually landed itself when the battery went out and thankfully it landed near me.

If you cover up the middle "camera" or the photo sensor at the bottom side of Tello, the VPS will go into an overdrive and force your drone to go up indefinitely. Instead of disabling the VPS, it will actually take the control out of your hands.

For funsies, I'm trying to figure out a way to Take Off with VPS off, get to 30m, then reenable VPS.
Probably with a piece of dark paper mounted over the middle sensor, that auto-dismounts when going fast forward.

The point is to fly above 30m, then land and see the height reading, can it go below -30m ? Because in TelloFPV the altitude reading stays unchanged if VPS is off.

Base on your feedback I suspect the barometer limit might be ignored by the drone when VPs off.
 
For funsies, I'm trying to figure out a way to Take Off with VPS off, get to 30m, then reenable VPS.
Probably with a piece of dark paper mounted over the middle sensor, that auto-dismounts when going fast forward.

The point is to fly above 30m, then land and see the height reading, can it go below -30m ? Because in TelloFPV the altitude reading stays unchanged if VPS is off.

Base on your feedback I suspect the barometer limit might be ignored by the drone when VPs off.

That might work, but mind you, this doesn't mean the Tello will go straight up. It will steer left/right back/forth depending on how confused the VPS is. I've tested covering the photosensor with a piece of yellow sticky note and opaque Kapton tape.

I wish you luck but I would set aside money for a new Tello before trying what you are planning to do.
 
I wish you luck but I would set aside money for a new Tello before trying what you are planning to do.

Warning heeded. I'll do some planning beforehand, still need to find a way to reenable VPS remotely.

Theoretically with VPS off the Tello can now have unlimited altitude (within props and radio limits), sounds exciting innit ? :)
 
Ryze SDK responds:

I asked them to add a feature that allows the ability to disable VPS.

=======================================

Thanks for reaching Ryze!

Unfortunately.
At present, we have no plans to turn it off due to the safety nature of the flight.

Thanks and have a nice day!

=======================================

Well... that sucks.
 
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Warning heeded. I'll do some planning beforehand, still need to find a way to reenable VPS remotely.

Theoretically with VPS off the Tello can now have unlimited altitude (within props and radio limits), sounds exciting innit ? :)

Honestly, I dread the VPS... so even if you get the first part done, I'll be happy and excited.

Literally 100% of my crashes happen at ~40cm above ground, VPS fails (without the LEDs or the photosensor covered) above grass or sloped asphalt and decides to drag my tello into one corner. I can't fight it with the controls. The best I can hope for is go high enough so that the VPS becomes sane.

Today, My tello flew ~200m into a grass field away from paved path I was about to land on. I searched for it for 2 hours! I was lucky to find it just when I was about to give up on the search.

I dread the VPS because it overrides user control and usually does something stupid.
 
..My tello flew ~200m into a grass field away from paved path I was about to land on...
Just for the record what firmware are you on ? Was it windy when it happened ?

Mine is 1.04.91.01 (updated via app). It drifts a bit (XYZ axis) when VPS disabled in low light indoors, but still controllable and responds via onscreen controls.
 
Just for the record what firmware are you on ? Was it windy when it happened ?

Mine is 1.04.91.01 (updated via app). It drifts a bit (XYZ axis) when VPS disabled in low light indoors, but still controllable and responds via onscreen controls.

I have the latest firmware onboard. Same for me when VPS is disabled by low light conditions indoors, it drifts/rocks as expected.

When outdoors, when I say the VPS fails, it isn't "disabled". This almost exclusively happens on a sloped pavement-grass border. Also in a sloped parking lot. Mind you, I live in Switzerland and slopes are very regular, but I do get to take some awesome pictures with Tello.

When the VPS fails, it's time for a crash or landing. Basically if I can fly upwards quickly enough, VPS becomes "sane" and stabilizes the drone properly but otherwise, it stays ~30cm above "ground" and It's almost as if someone is grabbing a corner of Tello and pulls it towards to a grass field.
 
When outdoors, when I say the VPS fails, it isn't "disabled". This almost exclusively happens on a sloped pavement-grass border. Also in a sloped parking lot.
Sounds like you might need a big orange helipad to help the VPS. It doesn't like patternless grass fields, and will drift until it finds a distinct pattern on the ground to lock onto.
 
Sounds like you might need a big orange helipad to help the VPS. It doesn't like patternless grass fields, and will drift until it finds a distinct pattern on the ground to lock onto.

Well, that's the problem. I am not always intending to land when the VPS fails. I could be just flying back to my bench or in middle of a loop-to-loop or taking a picture. It just randomly fails when it is close to a sloped pavement or pavement/grass border.
 

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