- Joined
- Dec 19, 2019
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 4
I'm wondering if anyone else has lost their Anafi drone in the water and, if they know why. I recently lost mine under mysterious circumstances. I was flying at a local marina and came down slowly while moving forward slowly for some video at deck height of the docked boats. The drone got too low for comfort (I estimate 8 ft) and so I released both joysticks. However, the drone did not stop and hover, as it usually does, it kept on the previous trajectory (forward and down) and splashed into the water (they sink!).
The Anafi user's guide v2.6.2 mentions water in 2 places. On p24 where it warns "do not fly over water" without any specifics and on p48 in the section on panorama shots where it says "do not take a panorama less than 30 ft (10m) above water".
I called Parrot to ask if I could buy just a replacement drone to pair with my controller. The answer was no. But when I told them my story they allowed me to file a warranty claim. 1 month later, after several exchanges of paperwork and the return of my Skycontroller 3, they sent me a whole new kit. Very nice of them, but I still want to know what happened so I can avoid it in the future. After all, 71% of earth's surface is water!
I have a hypothesis and wonder if there are any engineers out there who might shed some light on the situation. I read that the Anafi uses dual-band Wifi at 2.4 and 5.8GHz. I also know that water absorbs 2.4GHz like crazy. The frequency of your home microwave is 2.45GHz. I imagine that when the Anafi is flying low over the ground, the transmitted WiFI from the controller reflects off the ground to hit the Anafi's antennas which are embedded in the 4 arms. Perhaps when the Anafi is low over water there isn't enough reflection of WiFi off the water to maintain the control link and the Anafi continues on it's previous trajectory during this "blackout". Perhaps a way to test my hypothesis is to turn off the controller (fold it closed) while flying low over the ground and see if I can repeat what happened (less the splashdown). I'd appreciate hearing from those who also lost an Anafi in the water. Or from Parrot themselves! I asked customer support TWICE if they could describe the failure mode. But received no response.
The Anafi user's guide v2.6.2 mentions water in 2 places. On p24 where it warns "do not fly over water" without any specifics and on p48 in the section on panorama shots where it says "do not take a panorama less than 30 ft (10m) above water".
I called Parrot to ask if I could buy just a replacement drone to pair with my controller. The answer was no. But when I told them my story they allowed me to file a warranty claim. 1 month later, after several exchanges of paperwork and the return of my Skycontroller 3, they sent me a whole new kit. Very nice of them, but I still want to know what happened so I can avoid it in the future. After all, 71% of earth's surface is water!
I have a hypothesis and wonder if there are any engineers out there who might shed some light on the situation. I read that the Anafi uses dual-band Wifi at 2.4 and 5.8GHz. I also know that water absorbs 2.4GHz like crazy. The frequency of your home microwave is 2.45GHz. I imagine that when the Anafi is flying low over the ground, the transmitted WiFI from the controller reflects off the ground to hit the Anafi's antennas which are embedded in the 4 arms. Perhaps when the Anafi is low over water there isn't enough reflection of WiFi off the water to maintain the control link and the Anafi continues on it's previous trajectory during this "blackout". Perhaps a way to test my hypothesis is to turn off the controller (fold it closed) while flying low over the ground and see if I can repeat what happened (less the splashdown). I'd appreciate hearing from those who also lost an Anafi in the water. Or from Parrot themselves! I asked customer support TWICE if they could describe the failure mode. But received no response.