A question about Orbit

[cameraguy]

I am looking at a number of videos I want to shoot that include an Orbit shot in it. My issues is the building I want to do that with is very large, and where I will be able to stand may infact block my line of sight from the controller to the Solo.

Can I plan an Orbit that will allow the Solo to not be seen, or may even fly out of range of the WiFi?

Thanks

 

[EyeWingsuit]

I have done this, and it worked fine, around a building that was 80' wide (not so big).
It was a nerve-wracking 15 seconds from corner to corner.
Full-disclosure; I use amplified antennas, but I'm not so sure that was why this worked.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

If it loses radio connection to the controller, it will stop and initiate RTH. And remember, it will climb to the RTH altitude (if not already above it), then fly a straight line home, then land straight down. So you better make damn sure your RTH altitude is set higher than the highest obstacle (like that building). Otherwise it will not climb high enough to clear the building, and will blindly plow straight into the side of the structure.

To avoid losing signal, I suggest running around the building with the Solo to stay in radio range.

 

[Thresher]

I am looking at a number of videos I want to shoot that include an Orbit shot in it. My issues is the building I want to do that with is very large, and where I will be able to stand may infact block my line of sight from the controller to the Solo.

Can I plan an Orbit that will allow the Solo to not be seen, or may even fly out of range of the WiFi?

Thanks

I have done this by flying from the roof of the building.

 

[Jubalr]

I am looking at a number of videos I want to shoot that include an Orbit shot in it. My issues is the building I want to do that with is very large, and where I will be able to stand may infact block my line of sight from the controller to the Solo.

Can I plan an Orbit that will allow the Solo to not be seen, or may even fly out of range of the WiFi?

Thanks

Yes.
I had a very large building to shoot (WalMart), brand new and wasn't on any sat images, so I hand flew it. But I have done large buildings in the past and used Tower. I centered the WP in tower on the center of the building, then used 'Structure Scan' to do 2 circles of the building with a 20' climb between orbits. This gave me a couple of shots to choose from in post. Structure allows you to tell Solo how many orbits to make and what (if any) altitude changes you want between orbits. Totally hands off and works excellent. If you are worried you may briefly lose controller contact, you can change the FS parameters in Tower to complete the mission anyway. When uploading the mission to Solo, I also recommend letting Tower append the mission with home for the last WP, just in case...

 

[pyrate]

Tower is the way to go

 

[cameraguy]

Thanks everyone.

The building is a retired prison, so crashing into a tower, or inside the walls building would be the end of my Solo for sure.

The prison was closed in 2014 and was home to criminals dating back to the war of 1812 between Canada and the US. In case your not up on your history, Canada won. Sorry. Wouldn't happen now. It would be a telephone call. No blood would be shed, we get to buy property in Hawaii easily

I might try it this weekend early in the morning, like 6:00am

 

[LarryF]

I've seen too many videos of Solo crashing into buildings because of doing an Orbit with the Solo app, then loosing the WiFi signal. RTH kicks in and Solo slams into the building trying to take a direct route back home.

If there's any chance you'll loose WiFi signal, and you can't set RTH high enough to clear any potential obstacles, don't use the Orbit Smart Shot in the Solo App. This is actually a "Guided" mode, not a "Mission". As stated above, use Tower, plan a "Mission" (you can use the Circle waypoint (same as Orbit) in a mission), and change the following parameters:
FS_GCS_ENABLE to = 2 (Enabled, but continue with Mission when in Auto Mode)
FS_THR_ENABLE to = 2 (Enabled, but continue with Mission when in Auto Mode)

"If" you do loose WiFi during your mission, Solo will just continue with your planned mission without RTH. Once the obstruction (building) is cleared, you'll have full signal and control again. Also as mentioned above, be sure to let Tower append your mission with the RTH at the end (just to be safe it comes home when the mission is completed). You can still pres FLY to land yourself, once Solo is back in WiFi range.

 

[franknitty69]

you can also disable both failsafes and use the orbit smart shot in the solo app. i've done this for an orbit of a large cathedral where my only take off point was the parking lot.

 

[Joe Horn]

... the war of 1812 between Canada and the US. In case your not up on your history, Canada won.

Warning: OFF TOPIC

It's amusing how the same historical events are taught so differently in different countries! "The War of 1812" was primarily between England and the USA, and the USA won, despite England invading Washington DC and burning down much of it, and the USA making some failed invasions into Canada. That's why "The War of 1812" is taught in Canada as a Canadian victory over the USA (which it was... but only in Canada), and it's taught in the USA as a USA victory over England (which it was, as commemorated in the USA's national anthem which is about that war and doesn't mention Canada), and "The war is scarcely remembered in Britain". Wikipedia article here: War of 1812 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

I hesitate to mention disabling these failsafes without knowing more of the person who will be doing it, which is why I left that little detail out of my reply. But yes, that would be the thing to do as long as you remember to re-enable it once you're done an fully comprehend the consequences. If you lose the radio connection to Solo while it's out of range during the orbit shot, the solo will keep going. You will have no way to intervene if it starts getting too close to a building, or otherwise in danger. You will have no way to alter or aim the orbiting. And if you decide you need to stop and bring it home, too bad.

 

[Jubalr]

I hesitate to mention disabling these failsafes without knowing more of the person who will be doing it, which is why I left that little detail out of my reply.

Everything you said in your post is correct. But I believe that the purpose of this forum is to share information that we know, and all of this information is available not only elsewhere, but on this very forum. Leaving out 'little details' until you 'know more of a person' seems a little judgmental.

But your warnings about consequences was still spot on and should always be considered.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

If this was DIYD, I wouldn't think anything of it. However, the OP in this case is brand new to the solo, and it appears his only past experience is with other non DIY products such as Phantoms. Just recently, he crashed his 1 week old solo into tree, mostly destroying it. Knowing all that, this didn't seem like a good time reveal a procedure to disable safety features.

I know it sounds judgmental, but I swear I'm not trying to be a presumptive jerk here. We all live and learn, starting new and working our way up to being better and safer operators. And we all for the most part break stuff. Myself included. As a comparison, I didn't disable all the safety features on my lawn mower until I was confident in how it worked and responded to different things

 

[cameraguy]

I appreciate all the concern, and I think you are all correct. I need way more flight time, which I'm getting every day now to improve before I try a risky maneuver.

In the future, please share what you know, but then tell me why I should not do it, and I'll listen.

I am working on orbit right now in my practice, but don't have it perfect yet. I'm not sure if I'll do tower, but I did experiment with cable the other day.

 

[Aerial-Pixel]

I am looking at a number of videos I want to shoot that include an Orbit shot in it. My issues is the building I want to do that with is very large, and where I will be able to stand may infact block my line of sight from the controller to the Solo.

Can I plan an Orbit that will allow the Solo to not be seen, or may even fly out of range of the WiFi?

Thanks

I'm a Phantom 3 guy now but was able to do this entire mall for the building owner, took about 3 minutes for the entire orbit, it didn't lose connection but I made sure the RTH height was higher than any other building in the area just in case.

.

 

[cameraguy]

Thanks Aerial-

 

[Lastduik]

Is it true that when you use tower you void the warranty on the solo if it crashes

 

[Jubalr]

Is it true that when you use tower you void the warranty on the solo if it crashes

No at all. 3DR OK'd and promoted the use of Tower with Solo. But if you use Solo to change any parameters that are determined to be THE Cause of a crash, you would likely void to warranty. But not just by using Tower.

 

[Lastduik]

Thanks bud is it hard to connect to tower

 

[Jubalr]

Thanks bud is it hard to connect to tower

No, same as the 3DR app. The first time you use it, go into settings and select UDP. Be sure you are logged into the Solo WiFi and start the app or press 'connect'.