All power lost mid flight

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Mar 8, 2016
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Perth, Australia
After 4 months of great flying I sadly experienced my 1st crash with the Solo today :-(

I was filming a family event in our large garden and was using a Multipoint Cable Cam at the time of the crash. I had setup the cable cam the previous day and did a test flight which worked without any issues.

Today I first loaded another saved cable cam which appeared to complete ok. I then loaded the 2nd cable cam which ran fine until 26 seconds where it sounds like all power to the motors is abruptly cut, with the only sound in the next few seconds being the gushing wind as it plummets about 25 meters to the ground.

It was well above and out of the way of trees or any other obstacles. My initial stunned reaction was that it was taken out by a bird, as I just couldn’t believe that it was falling from the sky. While it became clear that it definitely wasn’t a bird, I am still completely mystified as to the cause.

Some points to mention:
  • Solo battery was good and probably around 70%
  • Solo was flying a multipoint cable cam at the time (26 seconds completed of 1 min 21 sec), so no direct input from myself.
  • Height was around 25 meters and I was probably about the same distance away horizontally.
  • There were no obstructions in the flight path (I had flown the path twice the day before)
  • The saved video file on my iPhone is only up to the 26 seconds of regular flight and does not include the crash. This correlates with the fact that the Solo lost all power and connectivity at that point.
  • The GoPro did carry on recording and included the crash which was completely absent of any motor noise.
  • I’m on the latest versions of all software/firmware (2.4)
The crash was quite a thud with bits flying everywhere and I was sure I was going to be picking up a completely ripped apart Solo. However the grass was fortunately thick and soft at the point of impact – which I at least have to be thankful for as other parts of the intended flight would not have been as forgiving.

Known damage at this point is:
  1. 1 prop located (broken at the securing nut). Other 3 props not found!
  2. Gimbal is badly twisted and damaged :-(
  3. GoPro front screen no longer works (black smudge), and the silver casing has a split in the top right. The rear screen appears undamaged though and initial tests is that the camera does at least record, playback etc.
  4. The battery was ejected on impact and was subsequently difficult to insert again as the metal connections on the Solo were a bit bent. I have managed to realign them sufficiently to insert the battery again although it’s not as smooth an insertion as previously.
  5. 3 of the LED casings came off, but they slotted back in fine.
  6. Remarkably there doesn’t appear to be any other structural damage to the Solo. On power up I get 4 green lights and then the usual 2 sets of red and white so I’m optimistic that it might just be ok – well apart from the smashed gimbal and the original problem of why it fell out of the sky.
I have not used Mission Planner yet so I will be downloading that and looking at extracting the logs which I believe I should send on to 3DR. If anyone knows of a step-by-step guide of doing this I’d appreciate the link.

I would also appreciate any input as to what could cause the complete loss of power to the Solo?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Use the app to submit a support ticket. It will send the most recent logs automatically....just to get the ball rolling.
 
I don't have any idea what caused your crash but it sounds like Solo & your GoPro are total losses.

In order to send your logs to 3DR you don't need MP- you can send them by going to the "support" icon in the Solo app and following the prompts to contact support. The logs will automatically be sent.
 
PDXSteve,
I'm curious about the app on the controller for submitting a case/logs. I have a nexus 7 no active cellular on it. How does it send the case and logs? I've submitted a couple of cases that way but they never get it.
Does it connect when in wifi range and send it? Do I have to have an email client set up on the tablet?
Just curious cause mine never worked.

Don.
 
That's a good question that I'm not sure of. I believe I sent mine when I had a data/wifi connection when I got back home.
 
the support requests is stored in the app and next time it is on wifi or cell it sends it on its way
 
Thanks very much for the quick replies guys. I've logged a ticket via the app which appears to have downloaded the necessary logs etc.

With regards to Don's question of only having a wifi connection when sending a ticket - I'm in the UK at the moment and not in my home country of Australia and I don't have a cellular connection on my iPhone. I connected via wifi to download the logs to the app, when I reconnected to the internet via wifi then my saved ticket was sent.

I have received a reply from 3DR with a ticket number requesting further info, photos etc. It's quite late at night here so I will set about collating the necessary details in the morning and send on to them.
 
Thanks very much for the quick replies guys. I've logged a ticket via the app which appears to have downloaded the necessary logs etc.

With regards to Don's question of only having a wifi connection when sending a ticket - I'm in the UK at the moment and not in my home country of Australia and I don't have a cellular connection on my iPhone. I connected via wifi to download the logs to the app, when I reconnected to the internet via wifi then my saved ticket was sent.

I have received a reply from 3DR with a ticket number requesting further info, photos etc. It's quite late at night here so I will set about collating the necessary details in the morning and send on to them.
I've never heard of this happening before..or maybe I did and forgot.:confused: Anyway, will be very interested to find out what happened.
 
me too firstime heard lost power during flight not like dji very common
 
usually when it loses power abruptly the props spin off

Very interesting and timely info :)

I've only been able to locate 1 prop so far (broken just before the secure point) and have been out scouring the area for the others and still can't find them.

I've sent all my info including photos (but not videos yet) to 3DR.
 
The attached photos are screenshots from the GoPro footage as it was picked up immediately after the crash. The only prop that remained on the Solo was motor 01 – the other 3 are missing and have still not been located.

I wish I had the thought at the time to take specific photos of the crash site before anything was moved, but unfortunately it was the last thing on my mind then. I was more thankful that no-one was directly under it when it fell.

I’ve kept 3DR updated with all info and offered to upload the GoPro footage, but no reply as yet other than the automated ticket number.

227545 Solo post crash 1.JPG 227545 Solo post crash 2.JPG
 
Here's some pics of the main (known) damage. However, more than the gimbal being replaced, I'm more concerned of the inner workings that caused the power failure.

227545 Solo Gimbal.JPG 227545 Solo Side and Gimbal.JPG
 
poor gimbal...not because twisted but because stock feet. 3DR gave out feet with mroe clearance...check if that' sstill available.
 
poor gimbal...not because twisted but because stock feet. 3DR gave out feet with mroe clearance...check if that' sstill available.

The free leg extender offer wasn't around when I got my Solo and actually weren't even directly available in the Australian shop that it was purchased from.

I was thinking about getting some just to give a better clearance when not on a solid surface. I'm not sure that they would have completely saved the gimbal with the Solo falling from this height, but probably a good idea if my Solo ever gets off the ground again.
 
Thanks to the help from a few of you on another thread, I’ve just managed to connect successfully to the Solo and Controller and download the logs via WinSCP.

The bad news is that the last 10 tlogs only reflect each time I’ve switched the Solo on today in trying to get the data off it, and don’t include my crash flight a few days ago.

However, as my crash seems to be unusual in that the Solo lost all power, I’m wondering if the controller would have even received a tlog that covered the time of the crash (example being that my iPhone only received video up to the point that the Solo still had power)? And if that’s the case, then the last 3 tlogs that were automatically sent to 3DR possibly won’t be too helpful to them either?
  1. Should I rather email 3DR the Dataflash log file (.bin) that was recorded at the time of the crash?

  2. Any ideas on how I can interpret the Dataflash file? I don’t suppose this can be done with Mission Planner? Alternatively if anyone is experienced with understanding these files I can upload it here if they are willing to have a look.

  3. And finally, how long does 3DR normally take to respond to a ticket raised for a crash? Their email indicated that they strive to respond within 72 hours (just past that now).
Thanks,
Pete
 
Thanks to the help from a few of you on another thread, I’ve just managed to connect successfully to the Solo and Controller and download the logs via WinSCP.

The bad news is that the last 10 tlogs only reflect each time I’ve switched the Solo on today in trying to get the data off it, and don’t include my crash flight a few days ago.

However, as my crash seems to be unusual in that the Solo lost all power, I’m wondering if the controller would have even received a tlog that covered the time of the crash (example being that my iPhone only received video up to the point that the Solo still had power)? And if that’s the case, then the last 3 tlogs that were automatically sent to 3DR possibly won’t be too helpful to them either?
  1. Should I rather email 3DR the Dataflash log file (.bin) that was recorded at the time of the crash?

  2. Any ideas on how I can interpret the Dataflash file? I don’t suppose this can be done with Mission Planner? Alternatively if anyone is experienced with understanding these files I can upload it here if they are willing to have a look.

  3. And finally, how long does 3DR normally take to respond to a ticket raised for a crash? Their email indicated that they strive to respond within 72 hours (just past that now).
Thanks,
Pete
Hi,

Yes it would have generated a tlog the controller was still on at the time solo died. Wont have much in it after it died.

Yes the dataflash log can be viewed in MP. Look at the dataflash tab in MP (just below the hud). Have a look at the ardupilot site for details. You can post it here too, but i suspect it will stop dead at the time of the accident.

Only used their chat. Cant comment on emailing them.

Chris

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
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Thanks to the help from a few of you on another thread, I’ve just managed to connect successfully to the Solo and Controller and download the logs via WinSCP.

The bad news is that the last 10 tlogs only reflect each time I’ve switched the Solo on today in trying to get the data off it, and don’t include my crash flight a few days ago.

However, as my crash seems to be unusual in that the Solo lost all power, I’m wondering if the controller would have even received a tlog that covered the time of the crash (example being that my iPhone only received video up to the point that the Solo still had power)? And if that’s the case, then the last 3 tlogs that were automatically sent to 3DR possibly won’t be too helpful to them either?
  1. Should I rather email 3DR the Dataflash log file (.bin) that was recorded at the time of the crash?

  2. Any ideas on how I can interpret the Dataflash file? I don’t suppose this can be done with Mission Planner? Alternatively if anyone is experienced with understanding these files I can upload it here if they are willing to have a look.

  3. And finally, how long does 3DR normally take to respond to a ticket raised for a crash? Their email indicated that they strive to respond within 72 hours (just past that now).
Thanks,
Pete
Pete, yes you absolutely should email the dataflash log to 3DR. Since it directly contains the Pixhawk data before transmission to the controller, and not like tlogs in a significantly reduced format, it will provide much better evidence than the tlogs.
The interpretation is actually straight forward, tutorials see here.
Downloading and Analyzing Data Logs in Mission Planner — Copter documentation
You may post the dataflash log of the crash also here. I can have a look over the weekend.
I would assume you experienced a brownout of the Pixhawk or battery failure. Logs will tell.
 
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