DJI Avata – How to Connect to (Motion) Controller & Goggles

It’s time to fly! You’ve waited for this moment. Through the agonizing period of charging those new batteries and you’ve glanced at the manual for at least a whole minute. Waiting, watching, as those four little lights finally stop blinking in succession.

OK, there’s the controller, done! Tick tock, tick tock, there’s the goggles battery, yes, alright, almost there. Tick Tock, Tick Tock, there it is. Oh yeah! The DJI Avata and its assorted gear are ready.

You grab it all up and head outside. You’re nearly shaking with happy anticipation. You’ve read all the reviews, and you’ve probably watched a hundred hours of YouTube videos. Just for this moment.

You don your goggles, and after a moment of fumbling, you realize: you’re not to the goggle-wearing part just yet. No, you need to power everything on while you’re still able to see. Innocent mistake. OK, now we’re cooking.

All three units are juiced up, and you can now put those glorious goggles over your eyes. The view in the screen is just fantastic. Such a clear image. The app is loaded up, and WAIT! What’s going on?!

You need to connect the controller and the goggles to the Avata. No big deal, we got this.

Linking/Binding the Avata and the Controller #

Now that everything is on and ready to go, we will have to go through the steps of linking or binding the three together. Once you’ve done this a couple of times, it will become a quicker and easier process.

So, one last check of the surroundings and a quick confab with your Visual Observer, and let’s go.

For the goggles #

1. With everything powered on, press the link button on the goggles. (The link button is located between the eye ports on the Goggles 2. If using the Goggles V2, there is a very small button located under the power cord slot.)
2. The goggles will start beeping continually as it seeks to pair with the DJI Avata.
3. Press and hold the power button on the DJI Avata until the aircraft’s battery LED lights blink in sequence. (This will place the Avata into its linking mode.)
4. Once linking/binding has been completed, the battery LEDs will turn solid and show the battery level as normal.
5. You will also now see the camera view in the goggles.

For the controller #

For the controller, the process is similar (it is the same steps for both the Motion Controller and the FPV Controller 2):

1. Press and hold the power button on the aircraft until the aircraft’s battery LED lights blink in sequence. (Same button as for the linking of the goggles. Don’t worry, the goggles you already linked will stay linked.)
2. Press and hold the power button on the controller.
3. Hold the power button until the controller starts beeping and the battery level LEDs blink in sequence.
4. Once linking/binding is successful, the controller will stop beeping, and the Battery LEDs on both devices will remain solid and show the current battery level as normal.

Now that the goggles and the controller are linked, you are ready to fly.

If it’s the first time you’re flying your DJI Avata, you will be presented with a short tutorial on how to fly the DJI Avata.

Although you can skip through this, if it’s your first use of the DJI Avata, I would recommend taking the few moments it takes to go through.

What if everything doesn’t link? #

Alright, so you’ve followed the process above, and yet you’re not getting the results mentioned in the last paragraph. Nope! Something’s wrong in Denmark, alright. Don’t Panic!

This can happen due to a couple of reasons. One of the most common reasons is…

Outdated DJI FPV controller firmware #

The DJI Avata is one of the latest drones to be released by DJI in 2022. The FPV Controller 2 was created for the DJI FPV system when it came out.

This was well before the DJI Avata, and most likely, it does not have the most current firmware. The original FPV firmware is what is most likely what is currently installed.

That firmware doesn’t support the DJI Avata.

So, the DJI FPV Controller 2’s latest firmware, which does support the DJI Avata, is needed, and updating the FPV Controller 2’s firmware to the latest firmware could help troubleshoot the linking issue.

Here’s how to do that. You have one of two options here. You can either use the DJI Assistant 2 App or go through the DJI Fly app. We’ll cover both below.

How to update DJI FPV Controller 2’s firmware using DJI Assistant 2 app #

To update the DJI Controller 2, follow these steps:

1. Download and install the DJI Assistant 2 (DJI FPV Series) application to the PC.
2. Launch the DJI Assistant 2 on the PC.
3. Power on the DJI FPV remote controller and connect it to the PC using a USB-C cable.
4. Once it is connected, the DJI Assistant 2 app will detect the controller and show it on the application as an option.
5. Click on the icon that appears once the Controller 2 has been detected.
6. By default, the DJI Assistant 2 app will open the “Firmware Update” tab of the remote controller. Here you’ll find all the latest and previous firmware versions of the controller.
7. You’ll will also see an “Upgrade” button with the new firmware version. This version supports the DJI Avata.If you do already have the latest firmware version, you will see a “Refresh” button with the new firmware. This is because it’s already updated to the latest firmware.If you haven’t updated the firmware to the latest, you would see the “Upgrade” blue button with the new firmware. Click that button.If you also see the “Refresh” option with the latest firmware, click on the “Refresh” button. Even if you do indeed have the latest firmware version, there is no harm in refreshing it, and it could still be a solution to your linking issue.
8. Click “Start Update” or “Refresh,” whichever option presents itself, and wait until the firmware is downloaded and installed.
9. Once the firmware is updated, you can move to the next step, which is binding and connecting the DJI Avata to the DJI FPV controller. To do that, see the above steps.

How to update the DJI FPV controller firmware using DJI Fly app #

If you are using the FPV remote controller 2 from your DJI FPV drone, you can always update the FPV controller’s firmware by using DJI Fly app:

1. Power on the goggles and connect the phone to the goggles using the OTG cable.
2. Power on the DJI FPV aircraft and remote controller.
3. Launch the DJI Fly app and connect to the DJI Fly app.
4. Once the DJI FPV is connected to the DJI Fly app, it will prompt a message on the top left side of the screen informing you of “New DJI FPV firmware available.”
5. Select this option, and the latest firmware will download and install.

Due to the amount of time it may take to download and install firmware, which depends on your location and connection, whenever doing firmware updates, it is recommended that you have a good solid and steady internet connection.

Low battery power #

Another common reason for the linking process to fail is a low battery. If the DJI Avata or the Controller 2 has low battery power, they won’t be able to pair or connect to each other.

So, make sure to charge them to at least above 50% before trying to connect.

I know it seems unlikely that you wouldn’t be using a full battery when linking the devices. I would just point out that you’d be surprised at some of the situations you might find yourself in.

It would also be prudent to mention here that the fault might not even be a low battery. Make sure you have the battery pushed well into the slot so the connection is good.

It does take a bit of effort to get the battery fully plugged into the power slot on the DJI Avata.

Distance #

In our wireless world today, we’ve become accustomed to having our devices able to be some distance apart and still have complete functionality. It’s very true for the DJI Avata.

Once connected to the Controller and the Goggles, it has an amazingly good range.

When looking to link the three together, though, being in close proximity will allow the devices to link better, and the cause of your liking issue could be as simple as not being close enough together for that process.

Lift off and Enjoy! #

Once you have everything linked, you will most likely not need to repeat the process if you continue to use the same setup.

Since there are multiple ways for the Avata to be viewed or operated, you may find yourself having to go through the linking process more than others may find themselves doing.

If, say, you are switching between the two types of controllers or the two different goggle types, you will need to relink every time you plan on switching between the Motion Controller and the FPV Controller 2 or when switching from the Goggles 2 or the V2 Goggles.

Just keep in mind the steps above, and you’ll be fine. Now get out there and learn how to fly that little wonder.

Fly Safe, Fly Always, Always Fly Safe!

Image Credit:Photo by Zac Gudakov on Unsplash