The fact that many DJI Mavic Air users started getting the main controller data error suddenly is shocking. Once the Mavic Air got the main controller, the user can’t calibrate the Mavic Air IMU and the aircraft can’t take off anymore. So this error is so painful and needs to be fixed ASAP.
Therefore, as a responsible member of the drone community, we are writing this article explaining to you why your Mavic Air has the main controller data error and how to fix the main controller data error and recover the drone. I hope this article would help you to fix your issue definitely.
Why your Mavic Air has the main controller data error?
Usually, DJI Mavic Air gets the main controller data error, because of IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) issue. That could be a faulty IMU or miscalibrated IMU. Some firmware issues also could cause the main controller data error.
1. Miscalibrated IMU.
IMU (Inertial measurement unit) is an important unit of Mavic Air. In order to function the drone properly, it needs to be calibrated well. So if your IMU is miscalibrated, you could get the main controller data error.
2. Faulty IMU.
As I mentioned above, there is no surprise you could have the main controller error because of a faulty IMU. If you are getting the main controller data error and you can’t calibrate the IMU, your Mavic Air’s IMU is faulty and needs to be replaced.
3. Firmware issues.
Some firmware update glitches also could cause the main controller data error. If you start getting the main controller error just after updating the firmware, consider the firmware update more than other causes.
4. Aircraft start-up glitches.
Sometimes, you could get some errors (including the main controller data error) just because of temporary glitches at the start-up of the aircraft.
How to fix DJI Mavic Air main controller data error.
Now we are done talking about the causes of the main controller data error. It’s time to walk you through step by step to troubleshoot the error.
Step 1: Restart the Mavic Air.
Before going through complex troubleshooting, let’s start with a simple step. As I mentioned before, you could get some errors just because of temporary glitches at the start-up of the drone.
- First, power off the whole DJI Mavic Air unit and restart the unit. Then check whether the error is gone. If it didn’t solve the main controller data error, move to the next step.
Step 2: Calibrate Mavic Air IMU.
Next, we would try calibrating the IMU. Visit Main Controller Settings > Advanced Settings > Sensors > IMU. If you see all the statuses of the Accelerometer and Gyroscope showing “disconnected”, you won’t be able to calibrate the drone. So you would have to skip this step and move to step 3 which is replacing the IMU.
If you see all the statuses of the Accelerometer and Gyroscope are fine, you are able to calibrate the IMU. So follow the below steps and calibrate the IMU.
Before Calibrating DJI IMU.
- Don’t bring metal, electronics, or other ferromagnetic devices near the drone.
- Remove Propellers Before calibrating IMU.
- Charge the aircraft’s battery for at least 50%.
How to calibrate DJI Mavic Air IMU.
- Place the DJI Mavic Air on a flat surface.
- Open the DJI GO app and connect to the aircraft.
- Then click on the three dots at the top right corner. Then click on the drone icon go to Main Controller Settings > Advanced Settings > Sensors > IMU and hit the “Calibrate IMU” button.
- Then you should place the drone in different poses to calibrate IMU.
- Start with the Mavic Air on its belly and wait until the IMU is calibrated in that pose.
- Next, move the aircraft onto its left side and wait until the IMU is calibrated in that position.
- Then flip the Mavic Air to the right side and wait until the IMU is calibrated in that position.
- Then stand the Mavic Air on its back ends and wait until the IMU is calibrated in that position.
- Then place the drone camera is pointing upwards and wait until the calibration process goes to 100%.
- Then turn the drone upside down and wait until the calibration process goes to 100%.
Step 3: Replace Mavic Air’s IMU.
If you are unable to calibrate the IMU, your Mavic Air IMU is faulty and needs to be replaced. Also if the IMU calibration didn’t solve the issue, try this step. Because I found that many users were able to fix the DJI main controller data error after replacing the IMU. So you can have big hope about this step.
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- Remove Mavic Air propellers.
- Unscrew two screws behind the gimbal camera.
- Then use a credit card or plastic card and bring it under the Mavic Air top front cover and pry off clips.
- Then remove the top front cover.
- Next, we should take off the back cover. As you removed the front cover run the card under the back cover. The back cover is taped to the drone, so you would have to use double-sided tape later to tape it back to the drone.
- Then unscrew the frame body and remove it.
- The IMU is located behind the bottom of the circuit. So disconnect the ribbons connected to the circuit and unscrew the circuit from the drone.
- Once you turned the circuit back, you find the black box at the bottom of the circuit, which is the IMU module.
- Then unscrew the IMU from the board and disconnect its ribbon from the circuit.
- Then connect the new IMU module’s ribbon cable to the board and screw it to the place where the old IMU was.
- Install the circuit board back to the drone and connect disconnected ribbons.
- Now the main controller error should be fixed. Power on the drone and connect the DJI Go app to the aircraft. Then check whether the error is gone.
- Then, install the back and front covers back to the Mavic Air.
- After installing a new IMU module, you should calibrate it. So follow step 2 and calibrate the IMU.
- After calibrating the IMU you won’t get the main controller data error anymore and you’ll be able to take off the aircraft.
Step 4: Get DJIs or professionals help to repair the drone.
At this stage, I’m sure have fixed the issue. But for some reason, if the main controller data error still exists, this would be the time to meet professionals or request repair from DJI. If you decide to request a repair online from DJI, check out the below article, which would walk you through step by step.
Read the Detailed Article: How to get DJI support to repair your DJI unit’s issue.
