3DR Solo lost !!! Gutted !!

EZL · Feb 12, 2018

c33fax said:
So today I lost my 3DR Solo, had it for about 2 years and never had a problem. But today it had a mind of its own, and didn't return home. Only used it about 20 times as well!

Started off with acquiring its GPS position, then took off, and straight away it said GPS lost and switched to manual and started drifting slightly. tried to control it, but seem to have a mind of its own. I kept trying to hit the FLY Button, and Home, but it just didn't want to come back and started to fly all over and disappeared from site.

I was only trying to take some aerial roof shots of a friends house, it was a built up area too! but I had no intention of flying it around. It was meant to be a quick couple of minutes flight to look at his roof tiles. And to my horror it started flying all over the place and lost it.

I've download the logs from the controller and ran it through mission planner but cant find the drone at its last location.

I've uploaded the log file here:-
solo.tlog

Can some tell me what went wrong?

Thanks

I don't know if this image would help or if it is the right one?

DJMc · Feb 12, 2018

Given where you undertook the flight, as you say in a built up area, might be tricky to find.

Were you able to satisfy yourself that you could undertake the flight safely iaw the ANO - looks a pretty risky spot, especially for a recreational flight (I guess you weren't charging your friend for this).

This is worth a look if you haven't seen it yet...

Drone code | Dronesafe

c33fax · Feb 12, 2018

What I really need to know is this, when I play the telemetry logs through mission planner, the drone looks like it had a gps lock the whole time in flight. So why didn't it attempt to come back to the last known GPS lock when it lost communication with controller?

On the last data log entry It had 60% battery , it was up 61 meters up in the air with nothing locally it could fly into - What happened, something just doesnt add up here.

Also when you play the logs back slowly, I noticed in pre-flight tab (in mission planner )the "mode" says "land" three times during the flight. Was it tryng to land? How? And Why?

One last question... it's last known GPS location is pretty much correct to where I saw it last.. I need to know if it would've held that GPS position whilst the controller was out of range. And how can I tell in the logs if it was in manual mode at that point?

David Boulanger · Feb 12, 2018

It was trying to come back I believe. You were getting constant EKF horizontal position errors. I don't think the Solo was believing the GPS because of the gyro and accel errors you were getting before the flight. Personally, I don't fly in any GPS assisted modes if the HDOP is over 1. If the Solo doesn't believe the GPS and loses connection with the controller it will land I think. My 2 cents.

carpy · Feb 12, 2018

I believe it was a compass issue. I've seen this first hand--basically even if Solo has a good GPS, it doesn't know which way is which...and can't get there. Can you remember where you took off?

The newer firmware has a fix in it that tries to sort this out in flight. This Solo looks like it was running a pretty old version of firmware--back in Feb 25, 2016.

c33fax · Feb 13, 2018

Who's fault is this, me or solo?

skyhax · Feb 13, 2018

Had you flown in manual mode you would still have the Solo.

DJMc · Feb 13, 2018

On the balance of probabilities;

You failed to understand the control and level of autonomy in each flight mode and the implications of loss of GPS fix (the RTL comments and pressing FLY).

You failed to consider or didn't understand the very low HDOP and it's implications.

You undertook a flight which was in all likely hood contravening the Air Navigation Order (apllicable to all drones over 250 grams) i.e. illegal, but also one where highly likely you would lose Line-of-Sight and spatial awareness, especially when loaded with an unexpected flight mode.

You've been very honest with us and I fully respect that. But I am offering honest feedback and things to consider.

You're flight was illegal if you weren't able to undertake it safely - the principal ANO requirement - as well as all the above reasons.

People have been prosecuted in the UK, frequently. Fortunately no injuries as yet.

I mean no offence, but these things should be part of the feedback you asked for in your post.

jerryn · Feb 13, 2018

I believe you lost it when you hit the return home button. Last month I had a flight where I got got a similar lost GPS message.
I believe there could have been active radar around the cove I was.flying in. Luckily I wasn't flying out of radio range and manually flew the Solo home and landed manually. If I would of hit the home.button I would of lost the bird. If I was out of range I would of lost the bird.
You need to keep an eye on signal.strenghth. If you loose GPS you need to drop to manual mode as fast as.you can.

I am considering upgrading my GPS.

Never hit return home after you loose GPS lock. Any drone using GPS would fly away.

ryanolivas · Apr 11, 2018

Sorry to hear that my friend. It just had a bad GPS data. But it really sounds bad with you having to lose it. You should've attach a GPS tracking device into the drone itself for you to track where it really went.

ashleygray · Apr 11, 2018

jerryn said:
I believe you lost it when you hit the return home button. Last month I had a flight where I got got a similar lost GPS message.
I believe there could have been active radar around the cove I was.flying in. Luckily I wasn't flying out of radio range and manually flew the Solo home and landed manually. If I would of hit the home.button I would of lost the bird. If I was out of range I would of lost the bird.
You need to keep an eye on signal.strenghth. If you loose GPS you need to drop to manual mode as fast as.you can.

I am considering upgrading my GPS.

Never hit return home after you loose GPS lock. Any drone using GPS would fly away.

why don't you attach a different gps tracking device just in case

And to the main topic of the thread, i suggest also having different gps tracking device, in case the GPS of the drone gets buggy

jerryn · Apr 11, 2018

The mRo GPS update is a must!
Works great! Three constellations of navigation satellites at the same time. Real low HDOP. It's incredible .

I have my Solo setup to drop to manual mode if GPS lock is ever lost,just in case.

I am hoping to perform a similar upgrade on my Parrot Disco soon.

daniel s · Apr 11, 2018

[QU. E="c33fax, post: 131478, member: 5614"]So today I lost my 3DR Solo, had it for about 2 years and never had a problem. But today it had a mind of its own, and didn't return home. Only used it about 20 times as well!

Started off with acquiring its GPS position, then took off, and straight away it said GPS lost and switched to manual and started drifting slightly. tried to control it, but seem to have a mind of its own. I kept trying to hit the FLY Button, and Home, but it just didn't want to come back and started to fly all over and disappeared from site.

I was only trying to take some aerial roof shots of a friends house, it was a built up area too! but I had no intention of flying it around. It was meant to be a quick couple of minutes flight to look at his roof tiles. And to my horror it started flying all over the place and lost it.

I've download the logs from the controller and ran it through mission planner but cant find the drone at its last location.

I've uploaded the log file here:-
solo.tlog

Can some tell me what went wrong?

Thanks[/QUOTE]
Sorry to hear that my friend. I know how much people love their solos. I'm one of them

pyrate · Apr 11, 2018

sounds like a lot of things went wrong
but if you had switched to manual, and have manual flying skills, it was saveable

ryanolivas · Apr 11, 2018

ashleygray said:
why don't you attach a different gps tracking device just in case

And to the main topic of the thread, i suggest also having different gps tracking device, in case the GPS of the drone gets buggy

If you want to attach a gps tracking device into a drone. I suggest you use trackimo. I've been using it for a month now and it's really working great for me.

donnaeastman · Apr 11, 2018

ryanolivas said:
If you want to attach a gps tracking device into a drone. I suggest you use trackimo. I've been using it for a month now and it's really working great for me.

what is this Trackimo you say?

ryanolivas · Apr 12, 2018

donnaeastman said:
what is this Trackimo you say?

Its the leading gps drone tracker my friend. You can easily attach it into your drone without any hassle. I suggest you visit their site for more information Best 3G GPS Tracker Devices - Trackimo

ashleygray · Apr 16, 2018

ryanolivas said:
Its the leading gps drone tracker my friend. You can easily attach it into your drone without any hassle. I suggest you visit their site for more information Best 3G GPS Tracker Devices - Trackimo

yeah, it works great with me too. i use this trackimo for my drone and i never failed to lose my drone again