Ok so I started it and it connected to 10 satellites and came off the ground about 15 feet up. I was able to fly it around a bit. Then it kinda tweaked out and went up about 20 feet. I panicked and hit the home button and it came down and landed right by me. So what does that tell you?
Just received a 3DR Solo for free from a friend and need some help
- Thread starter MrRags
- Start date
- Status
Also I did happen to notice that when it all started up the battery was full but then when it landed and the motors stopped, the battery showed half. All in about 2 minutes 
That tells me that it flies!(LOL) OK, when it boots up does the screen say OpenSolo anywhere? At this point, you may want to fly a bit, (keep it low!) and get a feel. The A and B buttons set the various modes, probably for now stay in "FLY" which is the loiter mode. Right now, stay away from modes like "Drift", "Position Hold", and "Stabalize" untill you're really comfortable with the controller.
Keep an eye on the battery percentage display. Until you know what's doing, I'd think about landing at around 40% - reason being is that some old batteries fall off a cliff and can go to 10% or less in 30 seconds from looking solid.
So when you power up, immediately after the Waiting For Solo display transitions to something else,
what does it say? If it says OpenSolo xx at any point you're golden.
Keep me posted. So far, good...the fact that it didn't try to update or say something requires calibration is really good news.
Fly in "FLY" for now, get a feel! All good.
Keep an eye on the battery percentage display. Until you know what's doing, I'd think about landing at around 40% - reason being is that some old batteries fall off a cliff and can go to 10% or less in 30 seconds from looking solid.
So when you power up, immediately after the Waiting For Solo display transitions to something else,
what does it say? If it says OpenSolo xx at any point you're golden.
Keep me posted. So far, good...the fact that it didn't try to update or say something requires calibration is really good news.
Fly in "FLY" for now, get a feel! All good.
Yeah, full to half in 2 minutes = tired out battery. What can happen is the battery will start to fail, and if the voltage drops too much too fast the flight controller will "brown out" and reset - fatal if in the air as the firmware requires no movement and fairly level to calibrate, and the drone will 100% crash. I wouldn't fly that battery, try the other one from full charge. Just to be safe, land at 50%.
Back here in an hour - gotta fly before it rains...
LOL yep it definitely fly’s. I put another charged up battery on it and went and flew it around in the field for about 10 minutes. Everything worked great. The ink gliche I saw this time was the fact that I have no idea how to land it. It doesn’t want to stay on the ground. I figured out to hit the home button but then it went straight up about 50 feet and hovered. I hit the home button again and it eventually came down and shut itself off 
. Man I love this. Now I wish I could view through the camera but I don’t have an android to download the solex app 
. Man I love this. Now I wish I could view through the camera but I don’t have an android to download the solex app Also no I did not see anything on the screen other than hit the “fly” button to start and then hit the “fly” button to take off. The display then showed altitude, speed, etc. right now my controller just says SOLO and I see a spinning circle on it and I can’t shut it off. Not sure what’s going on there but the drone itself is all shut offLOL yep it definitely fly’s. I put another charged up battery on it and went and flew it around in the field for about 10 minutes. Everything worked great. The ink gliche I saw this time was the fact that I have no idea how to land it. It doesn’t want to stay on the ground. I figured out to hit the home button but then it went straight up about 50 feet and hovered. I hit the home button again and it eventually came down and shut itself off
Hey, OK! It sounds likes it is flying on 3DR firmware now. When you power up the controller and shut down it will say OPENSOLO right on the screen, can't miss it.
The controller delays shutting down after the long push on power. About a minute delay, normal.
To land, press and HOLD the fly/land button.
What you experienced was the RTH (Return To Home) - it shoots up, then works it's way home - great in a wide open area-but iffy if there are lots of trees, etc.
All that action, how high it shoots up, what to do on a RTH (land, hover in place, RTL), and other setup actions (parameters) can be customized using Mission Planner.
Just for grins, when you're done flying tonight, install Mission Planner on your PC. Accept the defaults. Inside, props off, power up and let them connect. After it advances past Waiting For Solo,
open your PC WiFi list and you should see the Solo access point. The catch phrase for that access point is "sololink", all lower case. Then, in Mission Planner, upper right boxes, select "UDP". If solo doesn't connect in about 15 seconds, hit "Connect" with UDP as the source.
Fool around with it. Under the big HUD display on the left, there is a row of action tabs. Hit "Messages" - among other things the firmware revision will show up...
Careful with the old batteries!
Mission Planner: Mission Planner Overview — Mission Planner documentation
John
The controller delays shutting down after the long push on power. About a minute delay, normal.
To land, press and HOLD the fly/land button.
What you experienced was the RTH (Return To Home) - it shoots up, then works it's way home - great in a wide open area-but iffy if there are lots of trees, etc.
All that action, how high it shoots up, what to do on a RTH (land, hover in place, RTL), and other setup actions (parameters) can be customized using Mission Planner.
Just for grins, when you're done flying tonight, install Mission Planner on your PC. Accept the defaults. Inside, props off, power up and let them connect. After it advances past Waiting For Solo,
open your PC WiFi list and you should see the Solo access point. The catch phrase for that access point is "sololink", all lower case. Then, in Mission Planner, upper right boxes, select "UDP". If solo doesn't connect in about 15 seconds, hit "Connect" with UDP as the source.
Fool around with it. Under the big HUD display on the left, there is a row of action tabs. Hit "Messages" - among other things the firmware revision will show up...
Careful with the old batteries!
Mission Planner: Mission Planner Overview — Mission Planner documentation
John
That’s awesome info John thank you. I will give that a try in a few minutes. I did finally find the solex app on an older android galaxy 4 I had at work but it said my device wouldn’t work with that the app unfortunately. I have yet to see anything on the screen that says opensolo though so that’s kinda weird. Lastly do you know where I can purchase some new batteries for the solo?
Attachments
Hey I saw the wifi access point bud it says solo_his name so he most likely changed the password because sololink did not work. Is there a way to reset that back to factory easily?
I think you have to do hard resets (factory reset), at least the controller side as that's the access point. Not recommended - don't factory reset. Is there any way your B.I.L. (the money man!) has that password? Gonna need sololink to the PC going forward.
Clearly the firmware is still working. Yeah, you're on something else than OpenSolo 4 - probably the original and this presents a choice - update or fly as it sits.
The business with SOLEX is that Google in their finest money-gouging mode has forced one to upgrade their platform to run SOLEX. As they update the Android versions, older apps get left in their wake of $100 bills after several updates.
Batteries: Unless you really want to undertake a science project in rebuilding a stock battery with new cells, deal with JB's Solo Parts, link below. He can rebuild a pack for you or provide a completely alternative pack...the existing packs have a pretty high-end "BMS- Battery Mgmt. System" logic board inside which can be repurposed to support new cells.
Or, JB also provided an external BMS that mates the power/sensor plug on Solo. This allows one to use commonly available LiPo packs that are multi-sourced...I run one here.
If you send one of your spent packs, he'll extract that BMS unit and re-use it in a new pack. Check it out here: 3DR Solo Battery Mod
More later! See if you can squeeze B.I.L. for the password...that will save some serious hassle!
OH -the battery data reader module is about $30 from "The Mad Hacker"...extremely useful if you run the original Solo battery BMS ... but it doesn't work with the external non-3DR BMS...another reason to get a stock pack rebuilt. Connect with JB...
OH- to land, it's a long push on FLY, it'll delay for a second or so, then autoland. You have limited control in the landing phase, but you can jockey her around while it's descending.
Did you download the full manual?
Clearly the firmware is still working. Yeah, you're on something else than OpenSolo 4 - probably the original and this presents a choice - update or fly as it sits.
The business with SOLEX is that Google in their finest money-gouging mode has forced one to upgrade their platform to run SOLEX. As they update the Android versions, older apps get left in their wake of $100 bills after several updates.
Batteries: Unless you really want to undertake a science project in rebuilding a stock battery with new cells, deal with JB's Solo Parts, link below. He can rebuild a pack for you or provide a completely alternative pack...the existing packs have a pretty high-end "BMS- Battery Mgmt. System" logic board inside which can be repurposed to support new cells.
Or, JB also provided an external BMS that mates the power/sensor plug on Solo. This allows one to use commonly available LiPo packs that are multi-sourced...I run one here.
If you send one of your spent packs, he'll extract that BMS unit and re-use it in a new pack. Check it out here: 3DR Solo Battery Mod
More later! See if you can squeeze B.I.L. for the password...that will save some serious hassle!
OH -the battery data reader module is about $30 from "The Mad Hacker"...extremely useful if you run the original Solo battery BMS ... but it doesn't work with the external non-3DR BMS...another reason to get a stock pack rebuilt. Connect with JB...
OH- to land, it's a long push on FLY, it'll delay for a second or so, then autoland. You have limited control in the landing phase, but you can jockey her around while it's descending.
Did you download the full manual?
Last edited:
Ok give me your honest opinion. Since it fly’s fine now should I just leave it alone and get a couple of new batteries or should I update it and still get new batteries? What exactly will the opensolo 4 do for me? Will the solex app NOT work unless I have opensolo 4? I will get that password one way or another.
Honest answer - I'd get a good battery built, and fly as it sits right now. Any factory resetting will instantly screw you, as it will likely want to do some upgrade from the now defunct 3DR site. At least you can get a feel for the bird.
I don't know if current SOLEX can deal with the original 3DR stuff - someone here will have that answer.
OpenSolo 4 allows the use of maintained open source firmware going forward, and cleans up issues with the old, now totally unsupported codebase. You really want it going forward, at some point.
Doing the direct SD card reflash is mostly painless - the tedious part is getting the old cards out due to the hotglue. I have three Solos. On the first two, I used brand new 16 GB cards, and just reflashed the originals on the third, no issues. The worst part of the job, in my experience, is the controller card access...it's on the companion computer subassembly, which is held by four screws. It's tedious the 1st time, but not difficult. I've done six in the past four months, for locals.
But yeah, right now you have a flyable bird - get used to it and have fun, but please don't push those old batteries, keep it low and close, as a battery RTH event could happen at any time.
If you do e-mail JB about a battery, ask about SOLEX. I'm predicting you'll be encouraged to update - hey, if you want to send me two SD cards (16 GB) I would be happy to program and test them, but you get to put 'em in! Plus, you get to see what's under the hood...also the password will be set back to 'sololink'.
Go fly, enjoy! You actually kind of lucked out with a Solo actually flying with no issues regarding the 3DR codebase.
Last edited:
Thank you and I would like to update it eventually myself so I know how to do it. Just might need some hand holding LOL. I just now finally got logged in as he gave me the password. I guess I will play around in this mission planner just not exactly sure what I’m looking for or what to do now
Sweet on the password.
OK, in Mission Planner (MP), under the big HUD on the left side, are action boxes. Once MP is connected to sololink (after the parameters have loaded), select MESSAGES, which updates in real time. Among the first few, the firmware version will be called out. Lemme know.
No worries on hand-holding! Much fun to be had.
Here is the link to the MadHacker battery tool. Just works!
So I just launched mission planner and connected and it now says on mission planner “new firmware available copter 4.4.3 please upgrade. Is that good or bad?
Also under messages at the top it just says
“PreArm:Need 3D fix”. No idea what that means but I’m betting you know
Ok, MP always flashes the latest Arducopter version if it sees that your firmware is older. Ignore for now.
3D Fix msg is from the GPS subsystem. Translated, not enough sats visible or poor sat configuration, high hdop. Guessing you're indoors.
Good on getting MP cooking. What does the Messages scroll say for Copter version?
BTW: I just did an SSH only update on a Solo - no popping SD cards in/out. That was the first time I've done it that way; just works.
I'll be lurking here in an hour or so: Saturday Honey Do List awaits, plus gotta test fly this guys Solo that just got updated and calibrated.
Attached is what it says for version. Also I would love to not have to pull the chips and do the upgrade via SSH however I have no idea how to do that exactly. And yes I am indoors. To cold outside today.
Attachments
- Status
Similar threads
New Posts
-
-
-
Free Music / SFX Resource for Your Videos - Over 2000 Tracks- Latest: Eric Matyas
-
-
Members online
No members online now.