My solo is gone!

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 20, 2017

Jose969 said:
I thought it was by how high a swan flies. If you've ever seen a swan. [emoji12]

LOL! That reminds me, I was meaning to take this yesterday.

Photo taken from the deck in my backyard 5 minutes ago. The swan's name is Harvey. He's from Canada. He's lived here for almost 3 years now, and has socialized himself among the geese for some reason.

MPRamsey · Feb 21, 2017

MPRamsey said:
P2P...Are you sure that GPS has nothing to do with altitude of the drone? How else does the drone report altitude (AGL)? I was also thinking how else would the drone know the vertical distance from the ground at the Home position so a RTH would safely land. Perhaps I'm wrong but would then love to better understand how the drone reports altitude. Thanks in advance.

Are you implying that the drone has a barometer? I don't think it does. If I am correct, how does it report its altitude back to the controller? Has to be GPS...correct?

BigTulsa · Feb 21, 2017

MPRamsey said:
Are you implying that the drone has a barometer? I don't think it does. If I am correct, how does it report its altitude back to the controller? Has to be GPS...correct?

No. It has a Pixhawk FC in it. I have a DIY Pixhawk build and know the 2.0 does have a barometer in it. As has been alluded to, GPS altitude is just not reliable enough to use as altitude reference for landing procedures.

Even DJI flight controllers have barometers.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 21, 2017

No I am not implying the Solo has a barometer. I am telling you for an absolute fact that it has a barometer. In fact, it has two. No drone, in fact no aircraft at all, uses GPS for altitude control. They use barometers and/or barometric pressure. Pressure altitude is very precise and consistent. This is nothing new or earth shattering. GPS altitude is tracked in the solo's dataflash log, but is not used or reported for any purpose at all. The altitude tracking and reporting for all functions, including the altitude reported to the controller and solo app, is the altitude as calculated by the barometric pressure. Remember, the app is not showing you the altitude above sea level. It is telling you the altitude above ground relative to the takeoff location.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 21, 2017

In case you still don't believe me, here is a dataflash log from my Solo, graphing the data from the two redundant barometers. If you look inside the yellow barometer bar, which is Barometer #1, there is a line. That line is the GPS relative altitude, which again is logged but not actually used.

Ralph E. Johnson · Feb 22, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
Not losing the GPS. The GPS has nothing to do with vertical control or altitude. And, according to you, it didn't say it lost the GPS either. So I don't think it has anything to do with that. It sounds like a motor failure. If you opened a ticket to 3DR already, good. Talk to them on the chat Monday to speed the process up. TBH, I wouldn't offer up that you were using Tower. Don't lie, just don't mention it unless they ask. Presuming the logs show it was a failure of the solo, then they'll be shipping you a new one. You're SOL on the GoPro though.

Hi Paddles. Have you ever had a problem getting your battery off the Solo? Mine seems to be stuck when I push down the release it slides back just a little and then won't go far enough to release.

Ralph E. Johnson · Feb 22, 2017

Ralph E. Johnson said:
Hi Paddles. Have you ever had a problem getting your battery off the Solo? Mine seems to be stuck when I push down the release it slides back just a little and then won't go far enough to release.

Don't want to force it but might have to. Crazy

BigTulsa · Feb 22, 2017

This happened to me with every battery I had. I solved it once off by taking a Dremel with a smooth stone and taking just a little off the lip that was binding it. Doesn't need to be a lot.

Ralph E. Johnson · Feb 22, 2017

BigTulsa said:
This happened to me with every battery I had. I solved it once off by taking a Dremel with a smooth stone and taking just a little off the lip that was binding it. Doesn't need to be a lot.

Thanks I didn't realize it was the lip on the back of the Solo. I pushed down firmly and the battery popped right out. thanks my friend.

Bloodlover · Feb 27, 2017

Wow what have I been missing? I'm going to put to rest the giant swan thing! Swans can't just get up and fly. They need a really long running start. Anyway it wasn't like the nightmare on the Hudson!

Bloodlover · Feb 27, 2017

Well I still haven't heard anything yet. I'll keep updating.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 27, 2017

Lol yep. Harvey takes a long ways to get airborne. And that's on the rare occasion he cares to depart. Usually he's content just to paddle on over to where he heard about some food.

Bloodlover · Feb 28, 2017

Lol you are so right......

Maddog · Feb 28, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
LOL! That reminds me, I was meaning to take this yesterday.

Photo taken from the deck in my backyard 5 minutes ago. The swan's name is Harvey. He's from Canada. He's lived here for almost 3 years now, and has socialized himself among the geese for some reason.

You are fortunate to live in such a beautiful place, my friend!

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 28, 2017

It is definitely nice to wake up to in the morning! The only downside is April and May is mating season for the honkers. There's usually 50-100 out there, and they do not shut the F up for two months.

Maddog · Feb 28, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
It is definitely nice to wake up to in the morning! The only downside is April and May is mating season for the honkers. There's usually 50-100 out there, and they do not shut the F up for two months.

Funny you mention that- we have a couple small flocks of honkers that fly over our house right now at about 4;00 PM every day. They are really loud but they aren't around long. They are flying back and forth between lakes at 2 nearby golf courses.