My Air 3 finally arrived and I created a couple of waypoint flights by flying the course and pressing the button to mark each successive waypoint. That worked out well and I was able to save each waypoint mission and rename them later before powering off the drone and controller. I then launched the Air 3 to fly one of the waypoint missions and all seemed well initially.
My question concerns the later EDITING of previously saved waypoint missions in DJI Fly. I’d hoped to make alterations to the camera directions on a saved waypoint mission but I was dismayed and baffled to discover that I would not even access the DJI Fly waypoint planning feature UNLESS the Air3’s controller is powered ON, and connected by the usual cable to the iPad I use for all my drone flying. Furthermore, I found that the drone must ALSO be powered ON before I can access saved DJI Fly waypoint missions to edit them.
As a long-time user of Litcfhi in all my waypoint planning for DJI Go drones, I realize now how spoiled I have been in that Litchi does NOT require a drone or its controller to be powered up and connected before waypoint missions can be created or edited using the Litchi Mission Hub on my desktop computer. In the short time that I spent tinkering with a saved DJI waypoint mission flight plan, the drone began to get quite hot sitting there powered up, so I stopped the experiment and shut off the drone and controller for fear of damaging them by overheating while I hurriedly edited saved waypoint missions in a race against time.
I am writing this account in the hopes that other more experienced Air3 operators might be able to point out an obvious error that I might be making here, which if corrected would enable me to edit DJI Fly waypoint missions WITHOUT that bizarre requirement in DJI Fly for BOTH the drone and controller to be powered on before the DJI Fly waypoint menu will even appear, after which the drone and controller must be left switched on and getting hotter by the minute during the entire editing process. I want to believe that I am mistaken in my presumption that DJI Fly waypoint missions can only be retrieved and edited if both the drone and controller are powered up and connected as though for an actual flight, so news that I misunderstand this process would be most welcome as I sit here scratching my head over the sheer absurdity of this predicament.
Any thoughts on this subject that can be shared would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I’ve reverted to flying waypoint missions with my trusty old Mavic 2 Pro whose fully autonomous Litchi missions are created and edited with the drone and controller sitting on a shelf switched OFF and staying cool for as many hours as it takes while I tinker with highly detailed waypoint flight plans using the versatile and intuitive Litchi Mission Hub on my old desktop computer.
I posted this inquiry in a couple of other drone forums as well, to cast a wider net in my search for salvation
I have a Mini 4 Pro and can create and edit waypoint missions on the RC2 controller and on my Android phone without turning on the drone or the RC-N2 controller.
On my phone I start DJI Fly, then click “Connection Guide”, then choose the Mini 4 Pro, Then Click on “Camera View”, then I can see and click the Waypoint Symbol on the left side of the screen.
All WITHOUT connecting to the RC-N2 and without powering on the RC-N2 and the drone.
You can convert DJI Fly missions to Litchi missions using the “DJI Fly Waypoints to Litchi Missions” utility:
Then convert this Litchi mission back to a DJI Fly waypoint mission using the “Litchi Mission to DJI Fly or Pilot 2 Waypoints” utility:
Much gratitude as always from me, TriBar, for this series of steps that I have now found to work. I could have sworn that the waypoint icon did not appear on the left side of the camera view’s screen at the time I posted my initial question on this subject here as well as in a couple of other drone forums, yet I cannot explain why the waypoint icon I failed to spot previously was there on the left side of the camera view screen when I retried these steps this time around.
Anyway, with that minor distraction eliminated, I can now focus on learning the use of Wes Barris’ Litchi to DJI waypoint converter so that I can translate my numerous meandering Litchi waypoint missions into DJI Fly’s format whereby my Air 3 can take to the skies on those fully autonomous waypoint missions that are pretty much the only type of drone operations that fascinate me.
Once again I tip my hat with respect for your drone knowledge and your willingness to take a moment now and then to enlighten ignoramuses like yours truly, whenever we take yet another wrong turn as we bumble along haha.
A contributor at the DJI forum explained that the very first time a new or factory reset Air 3 is used to create and save a sequence of waypoints, that saved waypoint flight plan can only be accessed for editing IF the drone and controller are both connected and powered on.
It is only with subsequent edits of the Air 3’s saved waypoint flights that the controller and drone need not be powered up. This little gem of insider knowledge is something I don’t remember reading in the Air 3 user manual, so it would have remained a mystery were it not for helpful pointers gleaned from online drone discussion forums like this one and the DJI forum.
That’s not true.
You only need the complete setup to CREATE the very first waypoint mission on a particular smart device.
Smart devices include phones, tablets, the DJI RC and the DJI RC2.
After that, you can create and edit waypoint missions without the use off the drone or RC-N1, you can even edit this first mission.
If you would use another smart device or factory reset your iPad and delete all data on it, you will again need the complete and powered up setup to create this first waypoint mission again.
Also
Just copying DJI Fly waypoint missions from one device to another does not work, DJI Fly will NOT recognize them.
DJY Fly has NO “Synchronize Missions” functionality like Litchi has with it’s Hub.
Well, I’ll be dipped. Your breadth of working experience with Litchi and DJI Fly means I give more credence to your mention of there being NO requirement for the drone and controller to be powered up before editing of previously saved DJI waypoint missions can be possible.
The mystery deepens, though, because I am certain there was NO waypoint icon visible on the DJI Fly camera view screen when I first tried to edit an existing waypoint mission UNTIL the drone and controller were both powered up. Yet on my second attempt to edit the same waypoint mission, that waypoint icon appeared on the left side of the DJI Fly screen even though the drone and controller were disconnected and switched off.
Regardless, I am glad to see confirmation that I can now make edits to DJI Fly waypoint flight plans without subjecting the drone to heat stress due to being left switched indoors for extended periods while I am busy fine-tuning waypoint missions.
The final point you made about DJI Fly missions being impossible to transfer from the smart device used for drone flying to a regular desktop computer is the depressing answer to a question I was about to ask because I don’t particularly appreciate editing waypoint flights on ANY touch screen device, due to that exasperating manner in which random waypoints are created each time my clumsy old fingers accidentally touch my iPad screen.
Ranting aside, I have no regrets about my purchase of an Air 3 whose flight plans I can create in Litchi, thanks to the ingenious waypoint translator created by Wes Barris, that facilitates the preparation of flight plans using Litchi, which sports the most intuitive user interface in comparison to any other products in this genre.
The learning curve is steep, but I always welcome a new chapter of discovery in my drone adventures that is now possible with the enhanced range, excellent wind resistance, true autonomous flight, and greater camera magnification of the DJI Air 3.
Once again I thank you kindly, sir, for helping to dispel the misconceptions I have encountered in my sometimes erratic quest for knowledge about DJI Fly’s relationship with Ltichi.
To be clear, you can copy a DJI Fly waypoint mission (KMZ file) from one DJI Fly device to another DJI Fly device. However, to make the second DJI Fly device recognize the copied mission, the copied KMZ file must be renamed using an existing KMZ file on the receiving device.