First Crash - now gimbal failure

[Cyberblitz]

My power reached 20% so decided best to descend and land. I was 400meters high and 50 meters away, and despite my best efforts to descend Solo as fast as I could, power failed about 2 meters of the ground and Solo hit the ground hard, knocking it over and the Gopro out if it's grip.

Only damage is the gimbal; nothing I can see visibly on it but it whines and can't stabilise itself. It fails recalibration every time. I have checked all wire connections too and its still broken.

Considering the price of this thing, you would think it more robust, that it could take a little knock. I've sent a ticket off to 3DR to see if they have any suggestions.

The thing is, the decent was so frustratingly slow, and power seemed to rapidly decrease once 20% was reached. I thought I had time to land.

In hindsight, i should have caught in my hand but reacted too slowly.

What is it in the gimble that is so fragile? Which of its parts are commonly affected by a crash?

I know this subject has already been discussed, but wondered if any one can provide any thoughts/advice anyway.

 

[hackbard23]

first of all: do you know, that flying 400m high is illegal ???

solo´s descending speed is normally 1-2m / sec. and this would take you to roundabout 5min. descending time from 400m....

for your gimbal, try to turn your gopro (of course in the gimbal) in all 3 axis with no battery in the solo, or at least turn it off.
is there any resistance when you turn the axis of the gimbal ? or are they just turning smooth around ?

for your battery, i hope that it survived that deep decharging which is not very healthy for a LiPo Battery....

 

[SARDG]

...I was 400meters high and 50 meters away, and despite my best efforts to descend Solo as fast as I could, power failed about 2 meters of the ground and Solo hit the ground hard, knocking it over and the Gopro out if it's grip.

Only damage is the gimbal...

I've sent a ticket off to 3DR to see if they have any suggestions.

The thing is, the decent was so frustratingly slow, and power seemed to rapidly decrease once 20% was reached. I thought I had time to land. .

Reading about, and seeing results of several crashes, I can see that the gimbal is the first thing to go - long before the Solo itself suffers any damage (except props). There are no user replaceable parts in the gimbal. You can wait for 3DR to respond to the ticket, but they'll probably see it as something like pilot-error. You may just want to get a spare gimbal for $99 at Amazon right away. If 3DR replaces your original gimbal, you'll have a spare at hand for any gimbal eventuality.

400 meters with 20% battery may be nip and tuck getting her down - if you are in Fly mode - which is excruciatingly slow in response. It's this way on purpose but general 'speed' can be adjusted in the Solo app. (Turtle/Hare)

Regardless, what you need to do before flying again, is to assign the A or B button to Fly: Manual in the advanced settings. This will allow you to get the bird down faster or generally take control of any situation where the drone is trying to outsmart the pilot.

 

[RichWest]

My power reached 20% so decided best to descend and land. I was 400meters high and 50 meters away, and despite my best efforts to descend Solo as fast as I could, power failed about 2 meters of the ground and Solo hit the ground hard, knocking it over and the Gopro out if it's grip.

Seems the human body is prone to injury or death as well when we fall from a 2M elevations. Thank you natural selection!

 

[Mountain Flyer]

Was the drone powered for long without the camera in it? The gimbal should always have a camera in it if it is powered. With no camera the weight is all wrong and the motors work constantly until they overheat and shut off usually resulting in damage to the gimbal.(The foam stabilizer should be removed when powered for the same reason) 20% is when you should be landing and running a battery below 20% is rough on the battery and will decrease the useful life of the battery. That is the point where you want to be on the ground, not thinking about returning. It is also the point where the remaining power will get sucked up faster than at a full charge so you definitely do not want to be at a high altitude or far away from your landing location. You most likely need a new gimbal since it is doubtful 3DR will replace damage caused by pilot error. Assuming you are flying in the USA your legal height is limited to 400 feet or 121.92 meters. If you were at 400 meters you were way too high to be legal.

 

[SteveReno]

My power reached 20% so decided best to descend and land. I was 400meters high and 50 meters away, and despite my best efforts to descend Solo as fast as I could, power failed about 2 meters of the ground and Solo hit the ground hard, knocking it over and the Gopro out if it's grip.

Only damage is the gimbal; nothing I can see visibly on it but it whines and can't stabilise itself. It fails recalibration every time. I have checked all wire connections too and its still broken.

Considering the price of this thing, you would think it more robust, that it could take a little knock. I've sent a ticket off to 3DR to see if they have any suggestions.

The thing is, the decent was so frustratingly slow, and power seemed to rapidly decrease once 20% was reached. I thought I had time to land.

In hindsight, i should have caught in my hand but reacted too slowly.

What is it in the gimble that is so fragile? Which of its parts are commonly affected by a crash?

I know this subject has already been discussed, but wondered if any one can provide any thoughts/advice anyway.

"What is it in the gimbal that is so fragile?"
Nothing, drop anything from 2 to 3 meters that weighs as much as a fully loaded Solo.
Same thing happened to me yesterday, battery @ 20% started discharging FAST.
Alt.120 ft. Dis. 140 ft., Got down to 1 % when landed.

 

[PdxSteve]

If you want/need to descend quickly, learn manual mode and map it to one of your A/B buttons.

 

[Cyberblitz]

Reading about, and seeing results of several crashes, I can see that the gimbal is the first thing to go - long before the Solo itself suffers any damage (except props). There are no user replaceable parts in the gimbal. You can wait for 3DR to respond to the ticket, but they'll probably see it as something like pilot-error. You may just want to get a spare gimbal for $99 at Amazon right away. If 3DR replaces your original gimbal, you'll have a spare at hand for any gimbal eventuality.

400 meters with 20% battery may be nip and tuck getting her down - if you are in Fly mode - which is excruciatingly slow in response. It's this way on purpose but general 'speed' can be adjusted in the Solo app. (Turtle/Hare)

Regardless, what you need to do before flying again, is to assign the A or B button to Fly: Manual in the advanced settings. This will allow you to get the bird down faster or generally take control of any situation where the drone is trying to outsmart the pilot.

"You may just want to get a spare gimbal for $99 at Amazon right away."

Would love to exploit prices of solo and solo accessories from US, but nowhere in US with these fantastic prices will send to Oz (this includes Amazon and BB). The typical price for a Gimbal in Oz is $299 AUD (229 USD). However, I manged to get one off eBay for $126 USD. It's very expensive in Oz for electrical stuff made outside of Oz.

Im usually pretty careful when it comes to power and landing, and never leave % of power that low. I was so close to a softer landing

 

[Cyberblitz]

Was the drone powered for long without the camera in it? The gimbal should always have a camera in it if it is powered. With no camera the weight is all wrong and the motors work constantly until they overheat and shut off usually resulting in damage to the gimbal.(The foam stabilizer should be removed when powered for the same reason) 20% is when you should be landing and running a battery below 20% is rough on the battery and will decrease the useful life of the battery. That is the point where you want to be on the ground, not thinking about returning. It is also the point where the remaining power will get sucked up faster than at a full charge so you definitely do not want to be at a high altitude or far away from your landing location. You most likely need a new gimbal since it is doubtful 3DR will replace damage caused by pilot error. Assuming you are flying in the USA your legal height is limited to 400 feet or 121.92 meters. If you were at 400 meters you were way too high to be legal.

No I'm in Oz. The legal height is 400ft (now that I've checked it properly) , I got confused between meters and ft oops. Meters is used for driving and distance (metric system) here in Oz, but strangely uses imperial for height. Easy to get confused.


I never power on the gimbal without the camera and foam in place. Yet it still screams

 

[Cyberblitz]

first of all: do you know, that flying 400m high is illegal ???

solo´s descending speed is normally 1-2m / sec. and this would take you to roundabout 5min. descending time from 400m....

for your gimbal, try to turn your gopro (of course in the gimbal) in all 3 axis with no battery in the solo, or at least turn it off.
is there any resistance when you turn the axis of the gimbal ? or are they just turning smooth around ?

for your battery, i hope that it survived that deep decharging which is not very healthy for a LiPo Battery....

The only resistance I get from the gimbal is from the motor inside solo, but the screeches come from the motor next to the camera.

Yep, the battery survive and charged ok

 

[Jubalr]

I program Stabilize and Manual to my A&B buttons. Manual will bring it down a little quicker than Fly mode, but for rapid descents I use Stabilize, which is much faster than Manual. Stabilize will bring it down as fast as your abilities to fly it. And very handy when needed.

 

[Stal]

My first crash I could see my bird, backed off the throttle for it to fly into some branches and land on the ground. Broke 3 propellers and that is it. Then I came home and my "gimbal couldn't be found" did everything that everyone suggested. Broke down and bought a new gimbal. All is good now.

 

[Cyberblitz]

I've reviewed the logs from both controller and solo and I have to admit it was pilot error. It appears when 20% hit, I didn't immediately descend. I thought I had. There was plenty of open field to set down but I moved solo toward where I was rather than just setting down. Thought I had the time.

I've ordered a new gimbal. Not herd anything from 3DR but I'm don't expect much from them in this case.

Anyone interested, Ive attached the logs.

 

[SteveReno]

Honesty is always the best policy.

 

[Solo Keith]

Same thing happened to me yesterday, battery @ 20% started discharging FAST.

I've noticed if I'm not topping off my batts, if I let them sit idle a couple or few days, even taking off @ 90% they seem to dive @ a faster rate. If I take straight off charger to flight, the battery life seems not as rapid of decent. I've got a couple batteries even w/a full charge that will nose dive from 25% to like 6% a couple of times. In a couple seconds! I've been lucky

 

[SteveReno]

I've noticed if I'm not topping off my batts, if I let them sit idle a couple or few days, even taking off @ 90% they seem to dive @ a faster rate. If I take straight off charger to flight, the battery life seems not as rapid of decent. I've got a couple batteries even w/a full charge that will nose dive from 25% to like 6% a couple of times. In a couple seconds! I've been lucky

Doesn't happen often, 1 out of 12 or 15 flights, but it does happen. I marked batteries X5 & paying more attention.
Nature of Lipo or something going bad?

 

[smicklesmockle]

Hi Cyberblitz. I am in Brisbane Australia. Yesterday I dropped my solo from about 5 metres. For some reason it drifted sideways, was back to front, I knew it was heading for the tree. I knew I would stuff it. Argh slow mo crass I knew was coming and if I had better skills could have easily avoided. Anyway gimble moved freely on all axis but the upright was bent. I straightened it but it the camera was all over the place. I have read on this forum that they are non user repairable. So I simply got on to Amazon and bought a new one for with shipping and 2 sets of spare blades for usd 138 or aud 188. Without the blades it was half the aud price even with shipping. Local price is aud 299 plus shipping. I did buy a spare drone after my "submerged" post in the 4th of July sale from 3dr direct using reship. That became a total drama with batteries and aeroplanes so query whether that was cost effective. Transport meant the cost was probably the same as buying locally, but if there are no batteries dont be afraid to buy from the US direct.

 

[hackbard23]

i can recommend leg extensions, as i hit a tree and solo crashed from about 5 meters onto the street, fortunately on its legs - all leg extensions were broken but solo and gimbal had no problems after that

 

[Cyberblitz]

Hi Cyberblitz. I am in Brisbane Australia. Yesterday I dropped my solo from about 5 metres. For some reason it drifted sideways, was back to front, I knew it was heading for the tree. I knew I would stuff it. Argh slow mo crass I knew was coming and if I had better skills could have easily avoided. Anyway gimble moved freely on all axis but the upright was bent. I straightened it but it the camera was all over the place. I have read on this forum that they are non user repairable. So I simply got on to Amazon and bought a new one for with shipping and 2 sets of spare blades for usd 138 or aud 188. Without the blades it was half the aud price even with shipping. Local price is aud 299 plus shipping. I did buy a spare drone after my "submerged" post in the 4th of July sale from 3dr direct using reship. That became a total drama with batteries and aeroplanes so query whether that was cost effective. Transport meant the cost was probably the same as buying locally, but if there are no batteries dont be afraid to buy from the US direct.

Yea, I thought of Amazon, even BB but whenever I tried they won't send to Oz. Apparently you can use a service called MYUS who create a US address then they send it to you. I found this out too late but found one on ebay for $160.

 

[Cyberblitz]

Well, in the interest of science, or more likely to fill my innate feeling to distroy things, I decided to take apart the gimbal.

At least I found out the problem, I think. The top motor had shifted position, forced inwards by the crash. Consequently, the plastic housing of the motor was rubbing against the gimbal plate. Also, the
metal motor housing itself seemed a little out of alignment causing scrapping within.

Anyway, I plan to make a new thread of the teardown soon. But for interest, the motors are created by Namiki and they could be replaced.