3rd Fall from the Sky

[hardhat068]

I was testing out a new battery for flight time. Set up a Cable Cam just to go back and forth to use up battery.

At about 63% or so, Solo fell from the sky. 3rd time this has happened, 2nd time with this vehicle.

Gimbal arm bent severely to one side. Two esc's on the left side impacted with the ground and broke from the shell (bottom side of the shell where the esc's attached snapped off). Lost the leg extenders somewhere in the dirt, along with two of the LED covers. Battery popped off.

Brought it back, wiped it off, plugged in the battery, and it powered up. Motor #3 LED's were out. Took it apart, and red wire detached from the esc at motor #3. Same thing as the last two falls from the sky, but a different motor this time.

Here is the flight log. Can anyone look and tell me what they see? I wonder if the wire detached in flight or from the impact.

Very frustrating.

RECENT.BIN

 

[David Boulanger]

is this the proper log?

 

[hardhat068]

is this the proper log?

Maybe it is this one?

RECENT-1.BIN

I had to power up the Solo to retrieve the logs.

 

[David Boulanger]

Marginal advice here for sure. You have a huge amps spike at the very end and the RC OUT goes crazy. RC OUT #3 is very different however. lost a prop or the wire came unhooked maybe.

 

[RichWest]

Man sorry to hear. Curious, was the solder button still on the motor pod and just pull out the wire? Pictures?

I'll be happy to give the gimbal a look over and repair if possible, just ship it to me...I'll return it either way.

You have a huge amps spike at the very end and the RC OUT goes crazy

It amazing to me that the spike occurrence can be captured in the logs. What an invaluable tool the logs have been.

 

[David Boulanger]

I'm bummed for Hardhat. I enjoy his videos in my neck of the woods sort of. seems like motors 1, 2 and 4 were working hard and 3 just maxed out with no result. Again I really am not good at logs except for things that look obvious.

 

[RichWest]

I'm bummed for Hardhat. I enjoy his videos

I agree.

Me too. (That sounded like a weird reply in today's world.)

 

[hardhat068]

Thanks guys,

David - you confirmed my suspicion. The red wire on motor #3 came loose from the esc, and it ended up detached, most likely from final impact (or it completely detached in flight, which caused the tumble and crash). This is the 3rd time it has happened, second time to this particular unit, only the other 2 times it was at motor #4. The solder pod is still attached on the back side of the esc (just like the other times) and the wire separated on the front side of the esc. Here is a short video.

The gimbal can be salvaged, I think. I just need to heat up the arm and twist it back to be relatively straight.

I will probably put Solo on the shelf for a while until I feel better about rebuilding it. The body is intact, except for the two motor pod connection locations. They broke apart when the motors were pushed upward by the impact. I will have to find another body, or another vehicle.

You may want to consider beefing up the solder on the top side of your esc's on both the red and black wires. I thought about doing this to all of my esc's, and I am regretting not doing it now.

Oh well. Just got a Yuneec Typhoon H Pro, and I already have a Mavic. Good thing I still have toys to play with.

VID_20171214_130915492.mp4

 

[RichWest]

The gimbal can be salvaged, I think. I just need to heat up the arm and twist it back to be relatively straight.

No heat required, it's aluminum and seems reasonably malleable. I highly recommend removing the arm to straighten, you'll thank me later. I'm happy to help if needed.

 

[David Boulanger]

I have five Solo's and you are starting to make me think I need to check all the connection bullets.

 

[hardhat068]

No heat required, it's aluminum and seems reasonably malleable. I highly recommend removing the arm to straighten, you'll thank me later. I'm happy to help if needed.

Rich - I sent you a pm.

 

[hardhat068]

Here is my self pity video.

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[jimloss]

I notice that there is no propeller or propeller hub on motor 3. Was it removed after the fall or is it possible that it fell off in flight and caused the crash? Other explanation for missing propeller?

 

[hardhat068]

I notice that there is no propeller or propeller hub on motor 3. Was it removed after the fall or is it possible that it fell off in flight and caused the crash? Other explanation for missing propeller?

I think she crashed landed on #3, and the propeller remnants spun off the motor on the ground. I looked all around, and none of the propellers were intact. All in pieces.

 

[David Boulanger]

After seeing the crash site and noticing the total absence of prop #3 I looked at the log again. It seems after the Solo started losing altitude rapidly it disarmed at about 17 meters AGL. This would turn the motors off so when it hit ground they should not have been under power. You may want to go back to the area today and search around for prop #3. It may flown off in flight. Impact could have caused the wire problem. Just a thought. Seems strange it is missing at the point of impact.

 

[hardhat068]

After seeing the crash site and noticing the total absence of prop #3 I looked at the log again. It seems after the Solo started losing altitude rapidly it disarmed at about 17 meters AGL. This would turn the motors off so when it hit ground they should not have been under power. You may want to go back to the area today and search around for prop #3. It may flown off in flight. Impact could have caused the wire problem. Just a thought. Seems strange it is missing at the point of impact.

I just went on a scavenger hunt!

I did not see any intact props. I saw plenty of prop remains. I actually found the two LED covers, which is nice, and one piece of a leg extension.

i looked all around for that prop from motor #3. I don't think it flew off. It is easy to spot, being orange. All I found were pieces of props.

Thanks for looking at the logs. I am really grateful for this community and everyone's effort to keep Solo going.

 

[dougputt]

Sorry to hear about your incident.
I recently upgraded to the green cube and open solo as well. I had a CFIT accident (controlled flight into terrain) myself a few weeks ago and I'm not convinced it isn't a software issue. I was returning to land after about a 10 minute flight and descending from 150' or so, tried to level off at around 75' but it just kept on the same shallow decent I was previously on. I tried several things but there was absolutely no response to the controls. Hit the top of a tree and trimmed some of the branches on the way down.
Sure sucks when that happens, when it had been very reliable prior to upgrades.