Loss of signal, flyaway, crash

[JonW]

Dang..me more worried now to fly my Solo which already has 2.4.0 updated .
Are u on iOS or Android JonW ?

Android

 

[rassalas]

The real issue as I see it is the rewind function. Since the last update, if signal is lost, instead of RTH it goes into some automatic Cablecam captured from last 60 feet of flight, and gets stuck in cablecam mode. How the heck is that helpful? I haven't had the time to safely experiment with it, but the KISS rule would argue if it ain't broke don't fix it. There should be a way to disable this bug introduced as a feature in latest update.

 

[PdxSteve]

Steve, I really don't see how your comment is helpful. Did 3DR pay you to post that? go get a haircut next time you want to list your twinkies.

I'm pretty bald but thanks. I really don't see how your comment, or how making fun of me personally, is helpful

 

[Maddog]

I don't know lol. Why is it some brand new model of car is perfect while the exact same model from the same factory and manufactured the same day right next to it might have a defect in the transmission that doesn't show up for 6 months (or the day after your warranty expires lol)? These uavs have thousands of variables that pretty much need to be working flawlessly and in tandem if you add everything together that is required for what these things do. One motor pod might be slightly out of spec. A faulty soldering job to a gps cable... lots of little things can go wrong in production, as well as during normal wear and tear.

Steve, has anybody over on FB mentioned if 3DR is working on the "post 2.4" problems? Do they intend to send out a "fix"?

 

[PdxSteve]

Not officially but Jason mentioned a few things were fixed just before he got fired. I assume those fixes will be coming out at some point.

 

[Maddog]

Not officially but Jason mentioned a few things were fixed just before he got fired. I assume those fixes will be coming out at some point.

I am concerned the folks who were let go might have been working on this issue.

 

[PdxSteve]

Nothing lol. I don't work for them and never have. I just have 2 working solos. As I said, not everybody is having issues. Is there anything actually pertinent you would like to add to the discussion or are you just going to waste posts here for people to have to wade through?

 

[rassalas]

Nothing lol. I don't work for them and never have. I just have 2 working solos. As I said, not everybody is having issues. Is there anything actually pertinent you would like to add to the discussion or are you just going to waste posts here for people to have to wade through?

I'm following your example, now exactly how does you owning two solos have anything to do with the topic?

 

[PdxSteve]

Oh, you're one of those... Have fun man lol.

 

[kakemann]

Is there a way to downgrade to the previous version?
I'm planning my first flight, but must admit that this this makes me a bit worried.

 

[Craig L. Johnson - USMC]

Still on my original 9 month old solo. Been flying 2.4 FW on android (Galaxy Tab 4 8") since it came out along w/2.3 version of app - probably about 30 batteries worth now. Many 15+ point MPCC flights over 5k feet distance. New MPCC, recalled/repeated MPCC, Orbits, etc. Stock GPS w/original copper foil shield, original motors, etc. Only an FPVLR antenna as an upgrade (besides gopro lens). My gimbal works solid and doesn't limp. Solo hovers in place with minimal drifting (maybe 6"-1'). I never did any calibrations after updates. I think the only time I've actually calibrated it was when I got it and another time after a factory reset. Not everybody is having issues and I'm not trying to discount them. I'm really sorry for those that are.

My solo is setup as the same as yours. I also have one of the first solos, and I have not had any issues either.

 

[nuggetz]

Figured I'd add my experience to this thread. I own an original solo. Never had any major issues other than Android app issues that were addressed with software updates. Recently I tried a tower mission after upgrading to 2.4. I used tower to arm and takeoff instead of the controller. I didn't even put Solo into Auto mode yet as the plan was to simply take off and then enter Auto mode. I never arm or takeoff via tower. This time I decided to use the arm icon in tower and then use the lift off button that appeared after I armed it and then Solo went nuts. I also lost GPS too while it was in the middle of doing whatever it was doing. I finally managed to get rth to register and it came back. Almost shit myself. Something like that never happened to me ever. I checked the logs and Solo showed that it was is Guided mode. Problem is I never told tower to use guided mode. logs also showed numerous ekf variance errors as well. 3DR has yet to get back to me.

As recent as yesterday I tried hovering solo to test and see if Solo throws any errors and I had a minor crash. I didn't even use fly mode. I took off in manual mode and after about 5 seconds of hovering I was fighting to keep solo under control and tried wrestling it down. Luckily I was only about 10 feet up over my yard and a flipped on the grass after getting it down. Not sure what happened but I fly manual and stabilize for that matter all the time and solo was definitely trying to do its own thing. I know how to fly and it wasn't pilot error. I now have 0 confidence in Solo and cannot risk taking it up until 3DR gets back to me. It's looking bleak since the case has been open for like a week now and no response. Contacting them via chat always gets me the same answer: "your case is with engineering and they will contact you later today".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rassalas]

I had a similar experience with my old solo Preorder May 2015. I must have known something was about to go wrong because I had already ordered a new one with the cheap solo + Gimbal offer. After sending logs, They told me to ground that one because Motor #4 was throwing errors. Since the chasis had some issues with the board screw mounts being broken I decided to put it on the bench dis-assemble and rebuild with new motors, and chasis, upon inspection during dis-assembly I found the ribbon cable to the auxiliarry connector had broken. I'm not sure if that happened during my dis-assembly or prior due to the issue with the failed screw mounts for the main board allowing relative movement between boards. In any case, I've stripped the ends and re-soldered them, still have yet to do the full re-assembly, Not sure how important that aux connector is, but still to have loose leads bouncing around in there, may have been a cause of some intermittant errors. Will report after rebuilt and tested.

 

[Maddog]

Figured I'd add my experience to this thread. I own an original solo. Never had any major issues other than Android app issues that were addressed with software updates. Recently I tried a tower mission after upgrading to 2.4. I used tower to arm and takeoff instead of the controller. I didn't even put Solo into Auto mode yet as the plan was to simply take off and then enter Auto mode. I never arm or takeoff via tower. This time I decided to use the arm icon in tower and then use the lift off button that appeared after I armed it and then Solo went nuts. I also lost GPS too while it was in the middle of doing whatever it was doing. I finally managed to get rth to register and it came back. Almost shit myself. Something like that never happened to me ever. I checked the logs and Solo showed that it was is Guided mode. Problem is I never told tower to use guided mode. logs also showed numerous ekf variance errors as well. 3DR has yet to get back to me.

As recent as yesterday I tried hovering solo to test and see if Solo throws any errors and I had a minor crash. I didn't even use fly mode. I took off in manual mode and after about 5 seconds of hovering I was fighting to keep solo under control and tried wrestling it down. Luckily I was only about 10 feet up over my yard and a flipped on the grass after getting it down. Not sure what happened but I fly manual and stabilize for that matter all the time and solo was definitely trying to do its own thing. I know how to fly and it wasn't pilot error. I now have 0 confidence in Solo and cannot risk taking it up until 3DR gets back to me. It's looking bleak since the case has been open for like a week now and no response. Contacting them via chat always gets me the same answer: "your case is with engineering and they will contact you later today".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Joey, could you tell those of us who don't know much about reading logs, what parameter were you looking at in Mission Planner that showed the "ekf variance"? Also what would "normal" numbers be? Thanks!
P.S.- how did you know it was in "guided" mode?

 

[nuggetz]

If you load a bin file log in mission planner and graph it the ekf errors show up right in the chart as does the mode solo was in. Just select one of the presets from the drop down to look at different things like GPS glitch etc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Paul Irish]

You all act like for a 1000 bucks you are going to get perfection in every situation in every part of the world....wake up
It's a thing with flaws and is still being developed. When you fly, fly cautiously until you know if it is behaving correctly. There have been multiple times I had flown and it wasn't right and I had to land and re start everything.

Protect your investment and fly cautious at first, it was made to be a filming platform "to get the shot" for my money it does exactly that! Stop complaining ITS BECOMING A REAL BORE.

 

[Bigskyflyer]

You all act like for a 1000 bucks you are going to get perfection in every situation in every part of the world....wake up
It's a thing with flaws and is still being developed. When you fly, fly cautiously until you know if it is behaving correctly. There have been multiple times I had flown and it wasn't right and I had to land and re start everything.

Protect your investment and fly cautious at first, it was made to be a filming platform "to get the shot" for my money it does exactly that! Stop complaining ITS BECOMING A REAL BORE.

My, aren't we a ray of sunshine. It doesn't sound like anybody is complaining, more like decent people trying to help each other. So I guess we can count you out?

 

[Jbmanning5]

Still on my original 9 month old solo. Been flying 2.4 FW on android (Galaxy Tab 4 8") since it came out along w/2.3 version of app - probably about 30 batteries worth now. Many 15+ point MPCC flights over 5k feet distance. New MPCC, recalled/repeated MPCC, Orbits, etc. Stock GPS w/original copper foil shield, original motors, etc. Only an FPVLR antenna as an upgrade (besides gopro lens). My gimbal works solid and doesn't limp. Solo hovers in place with minimal drifting (maybe 6"-1'). I never did any calibrations after updates. I think the only time I've actually calibrated it was when I got it and another time after a factory reset. Not everybody is having issues and I'm not trying to discount them. I'm really sorry for those that are.

Ditto. I picked one up on the first Best Buy $599 Solo/gimbal deal and flown through numerous batteries with basically zero issues. Upgraded to 2.4.0 out of the box, did a single compass and level calibration.

I've lost connection pushing limits in wifi congested area and Solo came back home perfectly. Gimbal works beautifully. I'm extremely happy with this thing so far.