Imagine you have nice weather and you are ready to fly your drone. You get your drone out and turn on it. Suddenly, your drone or controller keeps beeping and you have no clue why it’s beeping. I can relate to this issue cause I faced this issue recently. I researched through the whole internet and I was able to find out why the drone keeps beeping and how to fix it. Today in thedronestop let’s talk about this issue.
Why drone or controller keeps beeping?
In most cases, Drone keeps beeping to alert you about drone issues. Drone keeps beeping because of firmware failures, obstacle avoidance feature glitches , when the drone battery is low or when the drone disconnected from the controller.
Common DJI drones beeping codes.
| Beeping Rhythm | Indicator LED | Alert / Meaning |
| BBBBB…… | None | Throttle stick is not at the bottom |
| B——B——B… | None | Input signal is abnormal |
| BB—BB—BB—BB… | Solid Red | Input voltage is abnormal power indicator |
| B-B-B… | Quick red flashing | Critical Low Voltage indicator |
| B–B–B… | Slow green flashing | 15 minutes of inactivity indicator |
Reason 1: Controller sticks misalignment.
This is the most common reason why drone’s controller keeps beeping. When joysticks are miscalibrated, the controller detects left or right joystick is out of alignment or not centered even though they are in the right positions. You can fix the issue by recalibrating the controller. This process is a big success for this issue. So definitely try this.
How to calibrate drone’s controller.
- Turn on the drone and controller.
- Launch the drone app and connect the aircraft.
- Turn off the drone.
- Go to the controller settings of the app.
- Tap remote calibration. Once you tap it the controller would stop beeping, but we are not done yet.
- Then you will notice virtual joysticks on the screen are not centered.
- Tap calibration and move virtual joysticks 100% to every direction.
- Then click finish and turn off the controller.
Reason 2: Firmware update failure.
This is another most common reason why drone keeps beeping. If your DJI Phantom or DJI Mavic drone keeps beeping when you turn on the drone after updating the firmware, you may haven’t waited until the drone’s firmware is fully updated. So next time you update firmware wait patiently until it’s done.
Usually, you can check the firmware update status by opening the txt file in the SD card. If the status is successful and still keeps beeping there might be another issue.
Reason 3: Object avoidance system malfunction.
Obstacle avoidance noise is a feature that informs you whether the drone is near to obstacle and stops you from moving close to the obstacle. So when the drone is near an obstacle the drone keeps beeping fast. But because of sensors calibration glitches, this system would malfunction and the drone keeps beeping even though there is no obstacle.
So you can fix the issue by calibrating sensors. If you have DJI drone,
- Download and Install DJI Assistant 2 to Mac or Windows.
- Open the DJI Assistant 2.
- Connect your drone to the PC and the application will recognize the drone automatically.
- Select the drone.
- Go to the calibration tab.
- Follow recommended steps until the calibration is successful.
- Turn off the drone.
- Turn on the drone again to check the problem is fixed.
Reason 4: Faulty or low battery.
Sufficiently charged and a healthy battery is essential for receiving signals from the controller successfully and flying safely in the sky. So modern drones have been programmed to notify the user when the drone has a low battery level. Also if your drone has a low battery level it won’t even take off.
Reason 5: Outdated firmware or firmware glitches.
If you haven’t updated your drone’s firmware it might be the reason why the drone or controller keeps beeping. So update both drone and controller’s firmware to the latest version. If you have already updated, Just try reverting or refreshing the firmware to the recent version cause the current firmware might have the issue.
Reason 6: Drone disconnecting from the controller.
Usually, the controller keeps beeping when the drone is disconnected from the controller. If you are flying in an electromagnetic environment like near power lines or communication towers, the drone would be unable to receive signals and it disconnects from the controller. That’s why the controller is beeping. Read more about drones that keeps disconnecting. So try flying in an open wide area and check whether the issue is fixed.
Reason 7: IMU & Compass Calibration fail.
IMU and Compass are helpful to the drone for understanding the environment and to safety features like a return home. If any compass or IMU calibration is required or calibration is failed, the drone would keep beeping. Also, you would be able to see a notification in the app. Also, you can easily calibrate those things through the app.
Reason 8: Return to home activated.
Another reason why the drone controller keeps beeping is the return to home feature is active. If you used drones for a while you may have used the feature and know what it sounds like.
Reason 9: Stuck button.
Your controller would keep beeping if one of the buttons of the controller is in the pressed position or stuck in that position. Check whether a button is pressed.
If the drone or controller keeps beeping still after doing all the actions, reset the drone and controller, relink them again and check whether the problem is solved.
DJI Phantom 3 / DJI Phantom 4 keeps beeping after firmware update.
DJI Phantom drones keep beeping because of firmware update failure. In most cases, you may have stopped the process before it’s done.
- GO to DJI’s official website and download phantom 3 / phantom 4 firmware.
- Then copy the downloaded bin file to phantom’s SD card.
- Insert the SD card into the phantom.
- Then turn on the drone.
- Wait a little bit while beeping, and the drone will change the rhythm and start updating firmware.
- Don’t turn off the process until the LED indicator flashes solid green.
- Once LED indicator flashes green, the updating firmware is completed.
- Turn off the drone.
- Insert the SD card back to the PC and open the txt file in the SD card.
- If the firmware status field shows successful, you are ok.
- Turn on the drone again, and check whether it’s beeping.
DJI Mavic Mini / DJI Mavic air keeps beeping.
In most cases, the DJI Mavic drones controller keeps beeping because of the miscalibration of joysticks.
- Turn on the Mavic drone and the DJI controller.
- Open the DJI GO app and connect the aircraft.
- Then Turn off the drone.
- Go to the controller settings of the DJI GO app.
- Tap remote calibration. Once you tap it the controller would stop beeping, but we are not done yet.
- Then you will notice virtual joysticks on the screen are not centered.
- Tap calibration and move virtual joysticks 100% to every direction.
- Then click finish and turn off the controller.
DJI Mavic Mini/ DJI Mavic Air keeps obstacle avoidance beeping.
DJI Mavic drones keep obstacle avoidance beeping even though there is no obstacle because of the miscalibration of the sensors of the drone. Let’s see how to fix it.
- Download and Install DJI Assistant 2 to your PC.
- Open the DJI Assistant 2.
- Then Connect the Mavic to the PC using type-c usb cable. DJI Assistant 2 will recognize the aircraft.
- Then select the aircraft.
- If any firmware is available, update them.
- Then go to the Calibration tab.
- Then you will be direct to calibrate sensors step by step. Follow those steps.
- Once all steps are done successfully, calibration would complete.
- Then turn off the drone.
- Turn on the drone again and try taking off and flying. It won’t beep.
Yuneec ST16 drone keeps beeping
Yuneec ST16 also keeps beeping because of the misalignment of the controller. Connect the controller to the phone and open the app. Then go to remote settings and remote calibration. Calibrate both joysticks by moving virtual joysticks in every direction. Once you did that turn off the controller and turn on it again. It won’t beep again.
