Boat Mode

[Captain J.D.]

As to the suggestion above I am probably going to give this a try today and/or tomorrow, but I'm dang sure going to experiment with it out back in a nice open fairway first. So if I understand this all correctly I can change those parameters and get around the pre-checks, take off in manual just to be safe, then go back to normal flight mode once it's safely away from the boat etc.

 

[Captain J.D.]

Oh and also guys, yes I fully realize the risks of doing ANY of this stuff. And although I'm new to all of this and very much an idiot as to the tech talk, I can actually fly this thing pretty good now in terms of what I refer to as "stick and rudder". So yeah if and when it does anything thing weird I can get control of it pretty dang quick, been there done that already, lol.

 

[Jubalr]

Hey JD, Yes the change is just for the Pre checks. Once in the air, you can go back to Fly mode and smart shots. Great idea about flying and checking it out first on good ol' terra firma

 

[Maddog]

Hell yes. Matter of fact I've been kicking around some ideas on how to make one myself, strictly mechanical, not much luck on anything I think would really work though.

I was wondering if one of the hand-held (1 hand) steady cans could be modified:

Attach the part you hold in your hand to a stand somehow.
Attach the stabilized part to a platform.

First problem I can think of- the motors probably won't be powerful enough to "stabilize- level" a platform with Solo on top of it..hmm..

Just thinkin' out loud. (I know, it's dangerous).

 

[Captain J.D.]

Well yesterday I tried again with the pre-arm check turned off using the MAV Pilot app I put on my phone. No luck. Everything seemed to work fine here on land but when I have it on the boat all I get is 4 green lights, "waiting for solo", then eventually a low voltage warning. The low voltage part I've seen a lot in the past, seems to be common even with fully charged and/or changing batteries.
Also of note, and even when I try it on land, just simply trying to hold the thing as steady as possible in my hand, that doesn't work either. In a nutshell so far, the ONLY time this thing will initialize is when I've got it sitting perfectly still, on the ground. Damn annoying.
I got back to the dock and wanted a few sunset shots, the thing booted up just fine in the parking lot sitting on the pavement. Ugh.

 

[Jubalr]

Well yesterday I tried again with the pre-arm check turned off using the MAV Pilot app I put on my phone. No luck. Everything seemed to work fine here on land but when I have it on the boat all I get is 4 green lights, "waiting for solo", then eventually a low voltage warning. The low voltage part I've seen a lot in the past, seems to be common even with fully charged and/or changing batteries.
Also of note, and even when I try it on land, just simply trying to hold the thing as steady as possible in my hand, that doesn't work either. In a nutshell so far, the ONLY time this thing will initialize is when I've got it sitting perfectly still, on the ground. Damn annoying.
I got back to the dock and wanted a few sunset shots, the thing booted up just fine in the parking lot sitting on the pavement. Ugh.

Not familiar with that iOs app, sorry. But it sounds like the change did not save. On Tower I just changed to a 0 then uploaded the new configuration to Solo. After you changed it, there should be an option to save it to Solo. Then after you change it you should turn everything off and back on again and go back in to verify it is still 0 in Solo. You only have to do it once and it will save until you change it again. It sounds like it did not save the change. The 'waiting for Solo' message would be unrelated to the change anyway though. That has more to do with Solo and the controller establishing a link with each other.

 

[Captain J.D.]

Well, tell ya what fellas. I'm gonna have to have some help to sort this out, and I'm talking about somebody walking me through this over the phone. I've got a program downloaded to the mac that may do the trick but I don't have the technical savvy to know how to use it, nor can I find specific instructions for the initial set up, so far everything I've read is completely alien to me. If anyone is willing to send me a private message with a phone number I'd sure like somebody to just walk me through the steps. I "thought" I did everything correctly using this app on the phone and I have the pre arm check set to "0", thought I saved that setting to the drone but on the boat it still freaks out. Need some help here guys. I can fly the piss outa this thing but also this tech talk in fixing the programming, I'm clueless.

 

[Jubalr]

If there is someone on here that is familiar with loading/changing/saving parameters to the Solo using an Apple device, maybe you could help him out. I don't own anything with an Apple logo so I am unable to assist in this. But based on his description, it sounds like the change did not save correctly.

 

[erikgraham]

If there is someone on here that is familiar with loading/changing/saving parameters to the Solo using an Apple device, maybe you could help him out. I don't own anything with an Apple logo so I am unable to assist in this. But based on his description, it sounds like the change did not save correctly.

Well I own plenty of Apple gear, but I don't use APM on the Mac. Only Mission Planner on Windows. Perhaps he could borrow or buy a cheap Android to run Tower. If he's going to be making changes to params and wants to be able to tweak them in the field he should probably start using Tower anyway.

 

[Captain J.D.]

Well I'm out traveling for the week but I found a program called QGroundControl, so I'm going to try that when I get home next week. There is a version for Mac and it seems to have more complete instructions etc for idiots like myself. We shall see.

 

[Rich]

Hi all, as some of you know, I try to be vocal about being able to fly from a boat.

I purchased the Solo for many reasons, but one was to be able to fly from my 38 ft boat. Many of the 3DR promo videos highlight shots from a boat from time to time.

They don't tell you that there is no way to arm the Solo from a boat! When you start asking questions as to why it won't work, you are promptly told that you need 'boat mode' which doesn't exist yet. LOL

As others have said in this thread, telling someone to arm the Solo from land (or the dock) before using it on a boat is not an option that can be used for everyone. I could be an hour or more away from land or a dock while on my boat.

So to me, we need a few things to be successful when flying from a boat. Many of these things can also help in other situations, so they are not only useful for when flying from a boat.

1. We need "Boat Mode" or whatever is required to be able to arm from a boat that is rocking, and/or possibly gently drifting in water. Keep in mind that sometimes a boat will drift due to currents or wind, it's not something you can easily control, even if you were on an anchor, your boat may drift around. Some may want to arm the Solo from a moving boat that was underway (not just drifting), this would be nice if possible, but having a limitation of a mostly non-moving boat would be acceptable, but don't require 'no motion other than rocking' as you can't force yourself to have no motion when on a boat.
2. We need a "Return To Me" (or what I have previously named a "Dynamic Home Point" mode, so that if a RTL was triggered, the Solo would not try to return to a place where the Solo launched from 10, 15 or almost 20 minutes ago, if you were on a boat, the boat could be a far distance away from the launch point! This would be useful for any standard "Follow Me" situations. Perhaps you are operating alone, place the controller in a backpack (as is demonstrated in many 3DR promo videos) and then ride your bicycle, car, ATV (or boat) to a distant location. If something occurs which would trigger a RTL, you are no longer near your launch point, so you don't know if it's still safe for the Solo to return there. By now a group of children could be sitting on top of your launch point and having a picnic! This will help a lot and should be an option for use on boats, but can also be very useful for many situations, such as when you are using "Follow Me". It should be an option, not a requirement.
3. We need the ability to tell the Solo to "Hover And Wait" during a RTH/RTL instead of fully landing to the ground. This would allow the Solo to fly to the Home point, but instead of automatically landing, it would hover a set distance above the ground (which can be a tunable value) and wait for you to either initiate a landing sequence, or manually take over and land it, or if the battery gets critical, it can then attempt to land (as we know that it can't hover forever). This will help any time you are using Follow Me, not only on a boat. When flying from a boat, it may give you time to get the boat in a position to safely land the Solo. When using Follow Me, if you were using the backpack, it could give you time to get the controller out of the backpack and take over the landing operation, as perhaps the Solo was going to try to land in an unsafe place that was full of rocks or other uneven terrain. Of course, this option (as well as Return To Me) could be hidden from most menus, unless "Advanced Features" were enabled so as to not confuse beginning users.

Some have said there is no need for #2 or #3, just press Pause, or put the Solo in manual mode. But what if the controller lost contact for some reason (with Return To Me, the Solo would return to the last RTM position, which would probably be a lot closer to you than the original launch point) Or what if the controller was buried inside of your backpack, and you need time to stop your vehical, get out of your vehical, get the backpack off, open the backpack, get the controller out of the backpack, and then gain control of the Solo.

So please, give us #1, #2 and #3! This will make the Solo much more useful and safer to use in many situations, not only for use with boats!

 

[IceFyre13th]

So to me, we need a few things to be successful when flying from a boat. Many of these things can also help in other situations, so they are not only useful for when flying from a boat.

1. We need to be able to arm from a boat that is rocking, and/or possibly gently drifting in water. Keep in mind that sometimes a boat will drift due to currents or wind, it's not something you can easily control, even if you were on an anchor, your boat may drift around. Some may want to arm the Solo from a moving boat that was underway (not just drifting), this would be nice if possible, but having a limitation of a mostly non-moving boat would be acceptable, but don't require 'no motion other than rocking' as you can't force yourself to have no motion when on a boat.
2. We need a 'Return To Me" (or what I have previously named a "Dynamic Home Point" mode, so that if a RTL was triggered, the Solo would not try to return to a place where the Solo launched from 10, 15 or almost 20 minutes ago, if you were on a boat, the boat could be a far distance away from the launch point! This would be useful for any standard "Follow Me" situations. Perhaps you are operating alone, place the controller in a backpack (as is demonstrated in many 3DR promo videos) and then ride your bicycle, car, ATV (or boat) to a distant location. If something occurs which would trigger a RTL, you are no longer near your launch point, so you don't know if it's still safe for the Solo to return there. By now a group of children could be sitting on top of your launch point and having a picnic! This will help a lot and should be an option for use on boats, but can also be very useful for many situations, such as when you are using "Follow Me". It should be an option, not a requirement.
3. We need the ability to tell the Solo to "Hover And Wait" during a RTH/RTL. This would allow the Solo to fly to the Home point, but instead of automatically landing, it would hover a set distance above the ground (which can be a tunable value) and wait for you to either initiate a landing sequence, or manually take over and land it, or, if the battery gets critical, it can then attempt to land (as we know that it can't hover forever). This will help any time you are using Follow Me, not only on a boat. When flying from a boat, it may give you time to get the boat in a position to safely land the Solo. When using Follow Me, if you were using the backpack, it could give you time to get the controller out of the backpack and take over the landing operation, as perhaps the Solo was going to try to land in an unsafe place that was full of rocks or other uneven terrain. Of course, this option (as well as Return To Me) could be hidden from most menus, unless "Advanced Features" were enabled so as to not confuse beginning users.

So please, give us #1, #2 and #3! This will make the Solo much more useful and safer to use in many situations, not only for use with boats!

I agree with you, and all would be more than useful for other than boat use too.

For 1, How about a stabilized landing pad with something similar to what a ships compass has inside to keep it level? Just bigger......a gimbal table top.....

 

[Rich]

I agree with you, and all would be more than useful for other than boat use too.

For 1, How about a stabilized landing pad with something similar to what a ships compass has inside to keep it level? Just bigger......a gimbal table top.....

Now you are using additional software and hardware to try to compensate for other software and hardware. A simple solution will simply be to 'fix' or make an option on the Solo to not require the Solo to be perfectly still during initialization. Heck, the other quads can do this with no problems, so we just need an ability to have this option.

Why complicate things and spend more money, just give us some options in the software.

 

[Jubalr]

Hi all, as some of you know, I try to be vocal about being able to fly from a boat.

I purchased the Solo for many reasons, but one was to be able to fly from my 38 ft boat. Many of the 3DR promo videos highlight shots from a boat from time to time.

They don't tell you that there is no way to arm the Solo from a boat! When you start asking questions as to why it won't work, you are promptly told that you need 'boat mode' which doesn't exist yet. LOL

As others have said in this thread, telling someone to arm the Solo from land (or the dock) before using it on a boat is not an option that can be used for everyone. I could be an hour or more away from land or a dock while on my boat.

So to me, we need a few things to be successful when flying from a boat. Many of these things can also help in other situations, so they are not only useful for when flying from a boat.

1. We need "Boat Mode" or whatever is required to be able to arm from a boat that is rocking, and/or possibly gently drifting in water. Keep in mind that sometimes a boat will drift due to currents or wind, it's not something you can easily control, even if you were on an anchor, your boat may drift around. Some may want to arm the Solo from a moving boat that was underway (not just drifting), this would be nice if possible, but having a limitation of a mostly non-moving boat would be acceptable, but don't require 'no motion other than rocking' as you can't force yourself to have no motion when on a boat.
2. We need a "Return To Me" (or what I have previously named a "Dynamic Home Point" mode, so that if a RTL was triggered, the Solo would not try to return to a place where the Solo launched from 10, 15 or almost 20 minutes ago, if you were on a boat, the boat could be a far distance away from the launch point! This would be useful for any standard "Follow Me" situations. Perhaps you are operating alone, place the controller in a backpack (as is demonstrated in many 3DR promo videos) and then ride your bicycle, car, ATV (or boat) to a distant location. If something occurs which would trigger a RTL, you are no longer near your launch point, so you don't know if it's still safe for the Solo to return there. By now a group of children could be sitting on top of your launch point and having a picnic! This will help a lot and should be an option for use on boats, but can also be very useful for many situations, such as when you are using "Follow Me". It should be an option, not a requirement.
3. We need the ability to tell the Solo to "Hover And Wait" during a RTH/RTL instead of fully landing to the ground. This would allow the Solo to fly to the Home point, but instead of automatically landing, it would hover a set distance above the ground (which can be a tunable value) and wait for you to either initiate a landing sequence, or manually take over and land it, or if the battery gets critical, it can then attempt to land (as we know that it can't hover forever). This will help any time you are using Follow Me, not only on a boat. When flying from a boat, it may give you time to get the boat in a position to safely land the Solo. When using Follow Me, if you were using the backpack, it could give you time to get the controller out of the backpack and take over the landing operation, as perhaps the Solo was going to try to land in an unsafe place that was full of rocks or other uneven terrain. Of course, this option (as well as Return To Me) could be hidden from most menus, unless "Advanced Features" were enabled so as to not confuse beginning users.

Some have said there is no need for #2 or #3, just press Pause, or put the Solo in manual mode. But what if the controller lost contact for some reason (with Return To Me, the Solo would return to the last RTM position, which would probably be a lot closer to you than the original launch point) Or what if the controller was buried inside of your backpack, and you need time to stop your vehical, get out of your vehical, get the backpack off, open the backpack, get the controller out of the backpack, and then gain control of the Solo.

So please, give us #1, #2 and #3! This will make the Solo much more useful and safer to use in many situations, not only for use with boats!

Have you tried turning off the arming checks I posted above? And if you use Tower, Return to Me is already available. With it set to RTM, it would bring it back to where you are and when it gets above you, you could press 'Fly' and let it hover as long as you want.

 

[Maddog]

I agree with you, and all would be more than useful for other than boat use too.

For 1, How about a stabilized landing pad with something similar to what a ships compass has inside to keep it level? Just bigger......a gimbal table top.....

See post #12- I was thinking the same thing. This won't solve the "boat drifting, under way" issue though.

 

[Maddog]

Have you tried turning off the arming checks I posted above? And if you use Tower, Return to Me is already available. With it set to RTM, it would bring it back to where you are and when it gets above you, you could press 'Fly' and let it hover as long as you want.

So, @Rich, it looks like a solution is available for now, but not exactly as requested. You would need an Android device with Tower.

 

[Captain J.D.]

So, @Rich, it looks like a solution is available for now, but not exactly as requested. You would need an Android device with Tower.

Exactly, which I don't have.

 

[Captain J.D.]

See post #12- I was thinking the same thing. This won't solve the "boat drifting, under way" issue though.

One thing I've noticed as far as "drift" goes, when I could at least get the thing to arm in the bay (no rocking, just drifting), just backing-down and making the boat "hover" as best I could will work, eventually, just takes a few minutes to get a GPS lock. An occasional "motion detected" on the controller, but just hit "ignore" and then it would start and takeoff just fine.

 

[Maddog]

One thing I've noticed as far as "drift" goes, when I could at least get the thing to arm in the bay (no rocking, just drifting), just backing-down and making the boat "hover" as best I could will work, eventually, just takes a few minutes to get a GPS lock. An occasional "motion detected" on the controller, but just hit "ignore" and then it would start and takeoff just fine.

Hmm- not an optimal situation to be sure.

 

[Maddog]

Exactly, which I don't have.

Believe me, I know money doesn't grow on trees. (Retired) But if you're interested you can still get a Nexus 7 (2013) version for $139- $145 on Amazon- that's what I bought to use Tower.

Just trying to throw some options your way.