[URGENT] VPS Red light on the bottom.

[Alkish]

Hello, got my tello today morning.
My question is:
There are two infrared sensors on the bottom of the device, when i turn it on and look from downward i can see onky one red light from the left infrared sensor, does your tello also have only one light or both the sensors emit that red light?

I am bothered because my tello is a bit twitchy indoors with no ac or ceiling fan...

 

[Londroner]

Same as mine. Don't worry about it.

 

[Alkish]

Same as mine. Don't worry about it.

Thanks. Another quotation, when i fly it, sometimes it keeps on drifting toward a direction. I understand the VPS causing it but anything to correct it?
Also, grainy video feed and recordings. Any way to counter that as well?

 

[SnoopCat]

Thanks. Another quotation, when i fly it, sometimes it keeps on drifting toward a direction. I understand the VPS causing it but anything to correct it?
Also, grainy video feed and recordings. Any way to counter that as well?

mine does that too somethimes

 

[faudanke]

It's the infrared 3d profiler
Basically it's the obstacle avoidance similar to other dji drones, but it's infrared not ultrasonic
If you take a cellphone camera you can see the infrared light coming out
The second hole is the reciever, don't worry about it it's normal. The only thing you will be worrying on is when that light doesnt appear and you're in the mode everyone hates, the Attitude Mode

 

[Yo-dude]

Try to shoot video in better light. Should help with drift anf often video. But video us the Tello's weak point. Still shots are great though.

 

[Londroner]

Also, grainy video feed and recordings. Any way to counter that as well?

As @Yo-dude says, move to places where the light is brighter. I've found the Tello is notoriously sensitive to low ambient light. Even indoors with bright sunlight coming through the window, if the drone it is the wrong place the ambient light warning pops up in the app. Don't forget you're dealing with low resolution (720p) video recording with the Tello. This will not give you a great picture to start with. However, if you shoot photos the results are very good, even with the 5MP camera.

 

[Jdbye]

Thanks. Another quotation, when i fly it, sometimes it keeps on drifting toward a direction. I understand the VPS causing it but anything to correct it?
Also, grainy video feed and recordings. Any way to counter that as well?

My drone has been very stable as long as VPS is working, in other words when it's not very dark. The warning message about low light that comes up can be safely ignored as long as it doesn't get any darker, in my experience the VPS will only stop working completely when it's so dark that you can barely see anything on the video feed, but can start drifting a little on and off right before it gets to that point. Also in medium heavy wind it can start drifting as it struggles to stay in the same place, so I have to be careful not to fly close to any objects when that happens.
So if it drifts, low light and wind are the two possible culprits.

Low light is the Tello's greatest enemy, even greater than wind, which it actually handles surprisingly well and it has still been able to fly (with obvious great effort) when it was rather windy outside, the battery was drained twice as quickly as a result though. If the camera did a better job in low light, and the framedrops (even with BT off and within 10m of the drone they still happen) were fixed, it would be a near perfect little drone. Of course I don't expect it to be perfect for the price, but would gladly have paid $50 more just to have a better camera and wifi transmitter in it.

In short, there's not much you can do about the low light performance, though I suppose you could get some kind of LED keychain light and stick it onto the Tello which would help alleviate the issue a little at least when near enough to an object/surface to illuminate it.

 

[Londroner]

Low light is the Tello's greatest enemy, even greater than wind, which it actually handles surprisingly well and it has still been able to fly (with obvious great effort) when it was rather windy outside,

Hmm, this poor guy didn't seem to find his Tello handled too well in the wind.

 

[Jdbye]

Hmm, this poor guy didn't seem to find his Tello handled too well in the wind.

That looks like a bit more wind than I'd be willing to try the Tello in. I have had it drift off in wind though, but that only seems to be a problem when it's hovering.

 

[HarleyW72]

So this is normal to see?

 

[Ralph Aldous Mellish]

Yes. The posts above should clarify this for you.

 

[DameEdnaBrown]

Hello, got my tello today morning.
My question is:
There are two infrared sensors on the bottom of the device, when i turn it on and look from downward i can see onky one red light from the left infrared sensor, does your tello also have only one light or both the sensors emit that red light?

I am bothered because my tello is a bit twitchy indoors with no ac or ceiling fan...

One is a transmitter and the other is a re receiver