Bad head winds, landed with 0% battery

[cameraguy]

So yesterday, I was shooting a farm for my Brother and Sister in Law. They have about 750 acres. My first flight was uneventful. I typically turn around and fly home at about 30%, usually landing between 20 and 25%.

A rain storm came up, so we called a rain delay.

Later in the afternoon, it had stopped raining. Headed out side to,find a stiff wind. It wasn't too,bad (I thought). So I launched and started to capture footage. Things,we're going well. At 30%, I was about 1800 feet away. Typically no problem. I hit return to home. Then started to watch my progress, what little there was.

I was at 328 feet, and the progress while steady was slow. I watched as the battery drained. 25%-1500 feet out, 20% 1200 feet out, 15%-800 feet out. 10% 500 feet out. It occurred to me at that point there was no spare Fruit of the Loom in the car. 5%- 100 feet out, but 328 feet high. 3% 0 feet out, starting to land. Basically at 15 feet up, I'm at 0%. Battery is still running things. In finally landed, and shut itself down.

Moral of the story, be aware the head winds will be stronger at altitude. Leave more time and power to get home.

I,will be posting the video later today, but I was amazed at how stable it remained in that wind. There is a section I wouldn't call useable commercially, but my Brother and Sister in Law will be more than happy.

Will my battery, which I am about to recharge , be OK after an almost near complete dump?

Thanks for reading

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

What was the voltage at? You probably reduced the lifespan of the battery at best.

 

[franknitty69]

yeah return to home is not best way to get solo home if speed is a factor. you should definitely do it yourself or even switch to a mode with faster rates such as stabilize, fly manual or sport. you'll have to assign a button for those modes but solo will fly faster and the battery will last longer because its not correcting in the wind for gps.

also bringing the aircraft down in a 'stair step' manner instead of an 'L' will also aid in landing faster.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

You can also increase the RTH speed parameter using Tower or Mission Planner. I have mine cranked up to 30mph. If it needs to come home, I want it home immediately.

 

[PdxSteve]

Battery will be fine. The solo designer routinely lands at 10% and said the percentages of the battery are calibrated for useful flight time. 0% is not really 0% (or motors would have stopped and it would have just fallen). I wouldn't worry about it unless you were flying below 0% for awhile.

 

[cameraguy]

What was the voltage at? You probably reduced the lifespan of the battery at best.

I should have looked at the voltage, but I didn't. I suspect I did some damage to the battery, as you suggest reducing it's useful life span. It did charge up right away today. I'll see what happens on my next opportunity to fly.

Thanks for the help

 

[cameraguy]

yeah return to home is not best way to get solo home if speed is a factor. you should definitely do it yourself or even switch to a mode with faster rates such as stabilize, fly manual or sport. you'll have to assign a button for those modes but solo will fly faster and the battery will last longer because its not correcting in the wind for gps.

also bringing the aircraft down in a 'stair step' manner instead of an 'L' will also aid in landing faster.

I just bought an Android tablet, flying with an Ipad mini up to this point. I will take your suggestion of increasing the RTH speed to heart. I also would like to program one of the buttons to allow me to switch to a higher speed. Sometimes I want to capture things in the distance and just fly to them, go back to slow mode for the cinematic glory of it, then beat it back to my starting point. This would be a great way to achieve that.

 

[cameraguy]

You can also increase the RTH speed parameter using Tower or Mission Planner. I have mine cranked up to 30mph. If it needs to come home, I want it home immediately.

Agreed. Thanks.

 

[cameraguy]

Battery will be fine. The solo designer routinely lands at 10% and said the percentages of the battery are calibrated for useful flight time. 0% is not really 0% (or motors would have stopped and it would have just fallen). I wouldn't worry about it unless you were flying below 0% for awhile.

Your words to the Drone God's ears. I was at 1% until I hit about 6 feet from the ground.

It also would have been smarter to bring the Solo down from 328 to about 125, just over the treetops for the return home. I suspect I would have had a head wind of about 15 mph then, so an easier flight. If I had been flying my Phantom 2, it would have been a total loss. First, it didn't have that distance, second the head winds would have been too much for it and last, RTH on a Phantom can't be trusted.

So loving this Solo.

The video is online, all 18 minutes, which was requested by my Brother and Sister in Law. it's the second video, which starts at about 9 minutes that is the risky one if anyone is interested in seeing it. It's processing right now, so I'd give it until 6:00pm Eastern Time, May 15 before I would check it out.

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Thanks again Steve and Frank and Pedals for your comments and suggestions!

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

I usually land at 5-8% remaining. And in all my flights, that is always 13.5 to 13.8 volts. The voltage falls off really fast after 13.8 volts in my experience. If I land at around that point, the battery recovers to about 3.7 volts per cell, which is ideal, so that's what I aim for. I'm extrapolating here, but 0% would probably put it somewhere around 12.5 to 13 volts. Lower than I would want to go unless it's an emergency.