Finally.The Ability To Change The Colors of Solo's Lights. Solex!

[Jubalr]

They talked about it as an upcoming feature shortly after Solo was released, but it never materialized. Now Kelly is adding it to Solex tomorrow morning! For those that still have not purchased Solex, this is another example of how Kelly is moving fast at squashing bugs and adding features. I encourage any remaining holdouts to support Kelly in his amazing work! Coming tomorrow in new build...
From the FB page:
Ryan Murphy I remember when they talked about you can change to color of lights so you can fly with a friend and keep track of who is who.


Kelly Schrock I remember that too, and there was even a video with Colin showing a setting in the app for changing them. But it was apparently just something made-up for the video. As it turns out, there's a MAVlink message that can be sent to get *some* control over the lights. They could have gone just a bit farther and offered *full* control, but they didn't. It wouldn't be hard to change it so it works that way, but putting it in place on the Solo would require a new build of the firmware. So for now, there's about 8 presets that work, and you can now hit them from Solex.
Kelly Schrock I'm going to do a release build tomorrow first thing, give it a final shakedown (there's other stuff in there too), and ship it.

Edit: And in case you weren't aware, Kelly has also added the ability to follow any internet enable device with GPS (cell, tablet,) by using his companion Target App..

 

[ZdroneZ]

I'm with Jubalr, buy this app and support Kellys in developing this awesome Android alternative for your Solo. The features are great, especially the remote follow.

 

[hackbard23]

if he implements a customizable stick/paddle steering layout for the controller, i´m definitely in !!!

 

[SteveReno]

He "Kelly Schrock" is the "light" at the end of the tunnel for new feature & fixes for Solo.

 

[six7kid]

Are all the features advertised on solex working properly? Before I invest in it I want to make sure I'm gonna get all the functionality that is advertised

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[Dave Folts]

Awesome...now I can get FAA-approved Position Light colors on my Solo for night work. Red left front, green right front, white for back lights...or white blinking left rear and solid White right rear

 

[algojo]

Here the video

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[Dave Folts]

So, basically any color combo looks like to me...thanks for sharing.

I'll need left red, right green...just that. I'll think about other color combos, such as a landing scheme. For night work, I'm fairly certain I need a strobing "anti-collision" light somewhere...might as well use a stern light. A blinking red beacon is another consideration for a rear light. So, left rear blinking red and right rear strobing white. Does the software enable a short pulse "strobe" duration blink?

 

[Dronie]

Excellent!! I will be be buying this in support of Kelly's work for sure. Nice Job man.

 

[Mike Davis]

I would like to support anyone working actively to keep the Solo humming. Is Kelly a regular here?

 

[SARDG]

I would like to support anyone working actively to keep the Solo humming. Is Kelly a regular here?

He is a member of this motley crew, but doesn't post often. Too busy writing code, I suppose.

 

[Rex Barlow]

Awesome...now I can get FAA-approved Position Light colors on my Solo for night work. Red left front, green right front, white for back lights...or white blinking left rear and solid White right rear

I want it too. Cuz I love night work. How can I do change light color

 

[twitchyzero]

does it offer double strobe flashes like a phantom/manned aircraft?

Anyways I'm also going to put in the support for Kelly me thinks...this guy singlehandedly destroyed 3DR. $30 is not cheap for a mobile app but the pace at the features that keep coming in...wow.

 

[PdxSteve]

He is a member of this motley crew, but doesn't post often. Too busy writing code, I suppose.

He just lives on FB a lot more than here. He posts all the time there.

 

[SARDG]

He just lives on FB a lot more than here. He posts all the time there.

I see his posts when I happen to check there - I just really can' t stand FB so avoid it, more often than not. But Kelly's email address come's in every package of Solex and one could PM him here.

 

[SteveReno]

Usually, I Repost his more important post from FB to 3DRPilots, "with his permission"

 

[DJ Dannis]

Here the video

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First off, great forum. Just picked up my 3DR solo and love it. So much that Im contemplating buying another...

Huge thank you to Solex for all of his hard work. Hoping the 3DR does not die an early death despite what its creator has done... Thank you also to algojo for the video post.

In the video with the aviation nav light mode, I noticed the red and green position lights are on the wrong sides of the vehicle. Can someone pass that along to Solex to resolve? Red is supposed to be on left and green on right when considering camera pov.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[SARDG]

...In the video with the aviation nav light mode, I noticed the red and green position light are on the wrong sides of the vehicle. Can someone pass that along to Solex to resolve? Red is supposed to be on left and green on right when considering camera pov.

Thanks,
Dan

Good catch and great first post. I just emailed Kelly Schrock, the developer. He's very responsive.

Here's another video with it clear that they are backwards.:

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[DJ Dannis]

Good catch and great first post. I just emailed Kelly Schrock, the developer. He's very responsive.

Awesome thanks much SARDG! Great to have such a responsive developer. Looking forward to supporting him through the app and using this aviation lighting mode.

Im an airplane pilot/owner as well so naturally this caught my attention I've seen guys go through accidentally wiring their airplane like this and have to redo their install... It is an easy mistake to make. Fortunately this is just a software change for solo ;-) Definitely a cool feature!

Best, Dan

 

[SARDG]

...Im an airplane pilot/owner as well so naturally this caught my attention I've seen guys go through accidentally wiring their airplane like this and have to redo their install... It is an easy mistake to make. Fortunately this is just a software change for solo ;-) Definitely a cool feature!

Best, Dan

...and I'm former Navy and now Coast Guard Aux and still must have glossed over that... We see quite a few vessels wired backwards. Can't explain it as no manufacturer would do that - must be re-wires and nav light replacements. But apparently, the problem on Solo goes a little deeper. And apparently a non-boater, non-pilot programmer is responsible for the initial error.

Kelly's response which I don't think he'd mind me posting:

Haha, yes I know they're reversed. The issue is that I can't control that part of it. There is an "Aviation" macro in the API for setting the LEDs that way, and the macro has it backwards. I can either use the macro, or not, from the app.

There is a small change that could be made to the LED controls in the APM code base that would be easy to implement and fix not only this, but also allow full control of individual LEDs. However, getting that change into place on a Solo would require an entire new build of the firmware.

Thanks,

Kelly