Calibration message after battery change

[Jonathan Miranda]

so, I flew my solo for the first time (finally a good non-windy day in early fall) and after I test a couple of fly modes with my first battery, I tell the drone to return home and did as I expected. Went ahead power off the solo, put a fresh battery from my backpack to keep getting comfortable with the bird and then........ Calibration screen!! Did the manual level calibration as I did before started earlier in the session and this time, the message just keeps coming up, no manual calibration is successful and I waste 25-30 minutes of my life and no more flying time for the day!! I'm a little frustrated because the answers I find in past posts are to basically open a ticket with 3dr and maybe after a couple of test's they will tell me to do, I probably have to send the bird to them.....the most recent post I find is from 2015, my question is, have you guys have been experiencing the same and have a fix that might prevent me to send the bird for repair and wait 3-6 weeks for my next flight? (Makes me think I'm done for the season since winter will be here before the bird comes back from 3dr)

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

What is the error saying exactly?

 

[Jonathan Miranda]

It is asking me to do level calibration and doesn't matter how many times I did, it failed. I restarted solo, the remote, the app (iOS) and nothing seems to cycle out the calibration message on the remote or app. It just stays on the wait until solo calibrates screen (or something like that)......needless to say after 20 mins staring at the solo do nothing, I left the park and went home

 

[Mountain Flyer]

I do not use IOS but in the android app you have to place solo on it's nose, both sides, back, and upside down at various times and push next on the tablet. It isn't something you just start and wait for solo to do on it's own. If it needs level it probably needs compass calibration too and that definitely isn't something it does on it's own. There should be instructions in the app that describe what you need to do throughout the process but again, I use android and cannot tell you how things work on IOS.

I do know that if I turn mine on someplace that is not perfectly level it will re calibrate for a moment before it will take off. That it does on it's own but I have done a level calibration using the app before and it knows what level actually is so it can correct for slightly off level ground. Find settings in your app and do the level and compass calibrations as described there and try again.

 

[Jonathan Miranda]

It's the same on iOS. But my solo keeps cycling. Doesn't matter how many times I did put the bird leveled, left, right, nose up, nose down, upside down, it never got past that. I spent easy 20 minutes doing this and powering down everything, powering everything back, switching to a third battery, Change location (walked about 300 ft of my original location) and the result was the same. As I said before, it got to the point that I had to leave frustrated and couldn't use the 4 batteries I have to have fun out there....

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

So after you do all the steps, does it say calibration failed or does it say it's complete and go fly? Or something else?

 

[Jonathan Miranda]

Calibration fails time after time.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Probably a hardware failure, and probably going to get replaced under warranty. You should open a ticket with 3DR using the app. It will send them logs and indicate this. They may have you try a factory reset first, which probably won't help.

 

[Jonathan Miranda]

Thank you Pedals2Paddles, I was hoping not to have to do that, but I suppose that's the route to take. Oh well, it is what it is.....

 

[Jonathan Miranda]

went out again today. Turn on the solo, asked for level calibration. Did that....succesful! Went ahead and fly for 14-16 minutes. The 25% message showed....landed (kind of (had a 3 ft to ground crash) (My mistake, not the bird). Cleaned up the props a little (no damage to anything ) and placed a fresh battery. Turn on the solo, controller and app....Aaaannnndddddd!!!!!! It went back to cycling the level calibration and no matter how many times I did it (this time only 3 times) never get the solo to do anything for me. Logged the info and sent it to 3dr and we'll see how much time it will take for them to answer me back....... ticket was sent @ 10:45 am cst.........to be continued.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Did you get an automated response to the ticket? Either way, you should go to Support | 3DR - Drone & UAV Technology and use the live chat. You can get an immediate response with that. They will look it up and provide faster support than just waiting in the email line.

 

[Jonathan Miranda]

I'll do that now. Once again, I appreciate your help Pedals2Paddles!!

 

[Mountain Flyer]

It comes to mind that this most recent FW update was supposed to be a fix for some people having calibration errors. I am not saying this is the case here but it would be helpful to know what version of Solo FW you are trying to fly. I would try to uninstall and reinstall the app and do a factory reset. Pair the controller to the drone again and update to the newest version of the firmware for both. Then do the level calibration in the app before even leaving the house. If it works, go to where you want to fly and do a compass calibration as well. If it needs level it most likely needs compass as well. At the very least see if there are updates available and do them, then see if the problem remains.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

The FW update 2.4.2 addressed a problem where it would need a stick calibration out of the box. Unrelated to the IMU calibration. That said, what you suggest doing is probably what 3DR will tell him to do unless they see immediately that an IMU is totally flat in the logs.

 

[Mountain Flyer]

I'm aware. I have dealt with customer support before and will try and avoid that headache and the time involved in an RMA anyway possible. With any amount of useful searching and reading here, it is fairly easy to determine what they will request you to do before they will do an RMA. Since they will have him do it anyway there is nothing to lose by doing it before wasting time waiting for responses from 3DR.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

I always do a factory reset myself before contacting them too for that reason. But I also usually download the logs myself first just in case something goes sideways.

 

[Jonathan Miranda]

So I contacted 3dr support using the chat and they instruct me to do the following;

For Mission Planner:
- Connect to the SoloLink WiFi network
- Open Mission Planner
- Select UDP on the top right dropdown menu
- Click on Connect
- Go to Config/Tuning
- Full Parameter List
- Look and change SYSID_SW_MREV to 0
- Click on Write Parameters (on the right side)
- Disconnect and reboot Solo

For Tower
- Connect to the SoloLink WiFi network
- Open Tower
- Go to Menu >> Setting >> Telemetry Connection Type >> UDP
- Go back to the main screen >> Click on Connect
- Go to Menu >> Parameters
- Look and change SYSID_SW_MREV to 0
- From option on the top, select Upload (folder with Up arrow)
- Disconnect and reboot Solo

So, basically, use another app to reset their own copter......well, did that exactly what they said and now I cannot get a fix and cannot calibrate. So instead of reading 9-13 satellites, I maxed out at 9 with 1.0 hdop and the solo doesn't want to get gps fix.
I did the compass calibration and went well, then when it was the time to do the level calibration it went back to the vicious cycle.

I am going to try to do the factory reset, but also I will try to get more help from support to see what they say as well..
Thanks for the tips Mountain Flyer and Pedals2Paddles

 

[Mountain Flyer]

A factory reset isn't really as big a challenge as some people say. Just follow the instructions and take your time. Remember that when you finish you need to pair the controller to solo again. My first Solo was a pain to get going at first so I did the factory reset and then level and compass went smoothly with no issues. I had a different problem but a reset fixes any number of potential issues with Solo. Hopefully the same will work for you

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

The GPS thing you're experiencing is nothing to do with the factory reset or the Pixhawk parameter reset. That's just GPS conditions at the time, pure coincidence. I agree with their troubleshooting steps, however experience tells me it's not going to help.

 

[RAHAlpha]

I had the same problem and, after trying a couple factory resets, I did the ticket. They told me to do the same thing with Mission and Tower. I wrote back that it was ridiculous to load and learn those apps to try to fix it. They wrote back that it was just a suggestion and I didn't have to. They then sent the RMA and the day after mine arrived there, a replacement was on the way. Hopefully they will do the same for you. Just remember to follow the directions about what to send back. I had re-packaged mine exactly as it came with everything I had received.