Controller Signal-Strength

[Adimuzio513]

No altitude limit. Again, the solo never tried to return to home. I just saw that the icon was red, and scooted backward several feet. I went forward again, lost signal again, and brought the helicopter back toward me so it WOULDN'T RTH and hit something.

I thinks it's just a shortcoming in the solo's hardware. I'm gonna get better antennae like Adimuzio suggested. If the solo has poor connectivity, the antennae seem like an apt solution.

By comparison, my ancient Phantom 2 Vision--non +--has been in cities, sprawling suburbs, and all kinds of other high wi-fi areas. I've lost GPS plenty of times, but the controller/helicopter connection has always been terrific.

I think my p2 has a sort of bug or something too I've had no gps issues myself but have had two instances where my connection to it dropped and it headed off on its own and these weren't at longer distance than I've had solo, I ran toward it and got it back but it wasn't headed home. It's only been twice and I've had better than a hundred flights on it but these issues played a part in me buying solo so I could fly without worry as long as I did everything right on my end with the warranty.

I've also not had to survey areas for wifi or be worried so much about flying near just about anything so I totally agree something is odd with solo and it's likely hardware related, but you'll really enjoy the antenna upgrade at least I have in the areas I've been so far.

 

[Adimuzio513]

OK. Found out a few things. First of All this is thanks to you Rich! @rrmccabe

When I wanted to try my other tablet to see if it was brighter, I first had to update the app to 1.01. When I did I did not reset the Alt limit. Dummy me. But I still felt there was something else involved. There is! For many of you that are flying and hitting RTH but are flying below your Alt Limit Be Aware of the following..

Using Tower and MP I found that the Alt limit also sets a horizontal Fence Flag. Meaning it will trigger RTH when it hits the pre-set distance regardless of height! There is a setting in the Pixhawk for 'Fence Enable' and if it is set to '1' then there is a circular fence around home point. There is also a field below that for setting the distance. On mine it was 150m. So to test it I set my Alt limit in the Solo App to 400'. I went back in to Tower and the Flag was still set to '1' and the fence was still 150m! I then set my RTL to unlimited and went back in to Tower and found that this sets the 'Enable' flag to 0, which disables the fence completely regardless of the horizontal setting. The way that the Pixhawk works, this flag must be enabled in order to have a altitude limit. Only by removing the altitude limit will the fence be torn down.

So this begs the question of the setting in the horizontal fence for those that are trying to be responsible and set their Alt limit to 400' per FAA regs. What did you set the Alt limit to? If it is unlimited then you still have signal issues. But if you have anything other than unlimited, you could be hitting the fence, so to speak!

Sarah.. Did you have an alt limit?

Maybe I misunderstood but I have a 300 ft alt limit and haven't had Rth triggered at all beside when I hit my alt limit, I'll have to go into mp and check out exactly what mine says. I'm sure I'll better understand things then as well. This is a good catch though seems like a good thing for 3dr to mention with so many issues relating to this kinda thing.
Thanks

 

[DodgeP]

I have to be completely honest. My remote signal icon sucks and my RSSI is rarely below -50 which sucks most of the time. I always find that prior to take off, I'm lucky if I'm hovering in the range of -40 thru -50. Once I leave the earth I'm almost immediately above -50 and things just get worse from there. I haven't had the controller lose connection and RTH trigger since the sticks calibration any closer than say 800-100ft. That is not a great distance but I will take it; for now.

 

[Adimuzio513]

I have to be completely honest. My remote signal icon sucks and my RSSI is rarely below -50 which sucks most of the time. I always find that prior to take off, I'm lucking if I'm hovering in the range of -40 thru -50. Once I leave the earth I'm almost immediately about -50 and things just get worse from there. I haven't had the controller lose connection and RTH trigger since the sticks calibration any closer than say 800-100ft. That is not a great distance but I will take it; for now.

Yea seems like beside the obvious range limitations the apps very inaccurate which adds even more hesitation to try to go farther. Controller at least seems like it has a reliable strength meter but it gives no info but the bars.

 

[Jubalr]

Maybe I misunderstood but I have a 300 ft alt limit and haven't had Rth triggered at all beside when I hit my alt limit, I'll have to go into mp and check out exactly what mine says. I'm sure I'll better understand things then as well. This is a good catch though seems like a good thing for 3dr to mention with so many issues relating to this kinda thing.
Thanks

It's easier to see in the Tower Parameters page.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Cool thanks, sorry I'm trying to look over this and getting the kids lunch at the same time I meant tower.

 

[blackbandit]

@Sarah B, can you upload the log from the flight?

 

[Sarah B]

You joined yesterday, you have only one post in which you mention me specifically, and you ask for a log that I presume includes location information.

That's just a little too creepy for me, dude.

 

[rrmccabe]

LOL

 

[blackbandit]

Haha ok, I've been lurking in these forums for a while. I'm very active on the 3DR solo owners page and 3DR solo mod pages on Facebook. Get over yourself girl, I'm happily married with a kid, haha.

If you haven't caught on yet, there are bounds of information in the logs recorded to the controller, one of them which would explain why you are getting a RTL prematurely. But, since I'm creeping I'll help elsewhere. Good luck.

Ninja edit: I mentioned you because this is your thread right?! Do you know how forums work?

 

[Sarah B]

And then a follow-up with two insults.

Awesome.

 

[Raybro]

My first real issue today involved a stupid app I wanted to play around with to see if I could record my screen while flying the Solo. I didn't try it but decided to uninstall it. Afterward when I went to fly, everything was ready so I went into the Solo app and had video feed, no telemetry except it showed my battery at -1. It said in RED disconnected from Solo. The controller said it was connected to the app And was ready to fly with Sats.

Is this possibly related?

The only way I could get connected was to power down the device and boot back up.


Finally I decided to reset my device and installed the Solo app and Tower, as it was before and it's back to normal. And, BTW, have never had a disconnect and have been out to over 2000'.

 

[Sarah B]

Maybe I should reset mine. Still in an urban area, but a different location, today I was losing connectivity at about five hundred feet out. The app icon turned red, the controller displayed one bar, and RSSI got to 72. It's an equipment issue. Hopefully, better antennae will do the trick.

 

[rrmccabe]

Antennas up or down? Ms "get over yourself". LOL

 

[Sarah B]

Antennas up or down? Ms "get over yourself". LOL

Down. I've read the manuals and paid attention to all the good info here.

 

[rrmccabe]

Yea I think the manual shows them up. Might be an older version on my desktop.

It seems like they could interfere with the tablet up.

 

[Sarah B]

You posted a photo, and I learned what a "dipole antenna" is.

See, I actually pay attention when you speak.

 

[rrmccabe]

You posted a photo, and I learned what a "dipole antenna" is.
See, I actually pay attention when you speak.

I have no doubt you pay attention. I have been impressed by your abilities.

More impressed than I am with my memory. I know I saw antennas up somewhere ! I just looked at the old manual and they are down too.

 

[erikgraham]

OK. Found out a few things. First of All this is thanks to you Rich! @rrmccabe

So this begs the question of the setting in the horizontal fence for those that are trying to be responsible and set their Alt limit to 400' per FAA regs.

Set FENCE_TYPE to 1

That only limits your altitude.

More info here: http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/configuration/arducopter-parameters/#fence_type_fence_type

It would be too off topic to go into here, but it's worth reading up on what happens when you breach (nutshell: a secondary fence is erected, and then another if you keep breaching, then a forced landing.) Actually, I still need to confirm the Solo follows the same rules as other 3DR/PixHawk1 multi copters. Personally I just disable all geo fences and watch my altitude.

@ OP: sorry this is off topic. As to your issue, I'm a bit baffled. I'd call/email 3DR. But you've covered that. Good luck.

 

[Dirby]

I have no doubt you pay attention. I have been impressed by your abilities.

More impressed than I am with my memory. I know I saw antennas up somewhere ! I just looked at the old manual and they are down too.

you are right.
somewhere there was a drawing with the antennas pointed up.
i saw it too.