Crash #2

This has been reported before by another user. All 4 motors stopped because of a power failure on the main board.

There was a thread here on it at one time.
 
This has been reported before by another user. All 4 motors stopped because of a power failure on the main board.

There was a thread here on it at one time.

Yes that was mine. Video is on page 2 if the OP would like to compare the sound All power lost mid flight
3DR confirmed that it was a full loss of power. My suspicion is that it was a faulty battery as the same battery failed at exactly the same level (70%) when I subsequently discharged it (from full) prior to traveling on a plane. The Solo and the battery were sent to 3DR and I received a new replacement.

ZDroneZ, were your props still on the crashed Solo? One clear indication of a full power loss is that the props will typically spin off - the motor effectively ends up being a very abrupt brake. I had half a prop left on the craft, another full prop was found 75 meters away a couple days later, the other 2 props were never found.
 
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2 of the 4 were missing, the other 2 severely damaged from falling through tree limbs.
On a side note, does anyone out there cable tie or otherwise secure their GoPro to the gimbal? If it had not been for that miracle gust of wind that blew my camera out of that 60 foot tree this failure would have cost me a couple of hundred dollars more.
 
Just the total silence before it rolled over.
What total silence are you hearing? The motors were running, making perfectly normal sounds. It then rapidly flipped and lost attitude control. The motors did not just power down in mid flight causing it to fall. It would not do power-flip if that was case either. The video screams motor or ESC failure (aka motor pod). And the logs show the same.
 
What total silence are you hearing? The motors were running, making perfectly normal sounds. It then rapidly flipped and lost attitude control. The motors did not just power down in mid flight causing it to fall. It would not do power-flip if that was case either. The video screams motor or ESC failure (aka motor pod). And the logs show the same.

I had thought all the motors stopped as well, but while listening to the video with headphones, you can definitely hear at least another motor running as it started flipping. But given how drastically the motor noise reduced, it seems like more than just 1 motor stopped working.

As to the logs, I'm still unsure how people are drawing such specific conclusions despite the logs not containing any objective data about individual motors. Here's the graph of the roll, pitch and yaw (bottom) and the motor outputs on channels 1, 2, 3 and 4 (top). The event happened just before time index 54. Roll, pitch and yaw quickly registers the start of the tumbling, and the motor outputs are still being commanded to counter as best they can... as futile as that it. There just doesn't seem to be anything here one can definitively point to and say "look, right there, motor pod X failure"

graph.jpg

I'm not saying it wasn't a motor/ESC failure, but two things lead me to suspect it could be more - 1, in the few seconds before "the event", you can hear the motors sagging and surging a bit. Almost sounds like it was starting to run out of battery. And 2 - with the proximity of the camera to the front motors, if one was still running, I just don't see it being that quiet. If you accept this, than you have to conclude BOTH front motors cut out at the same time. Now the chances of two motor pods failing at the exact same time is nill. On the other hand, if the battery was sagging, Solo should have been RTL'ing and beeping away, which it clearly wasn't.

To the OP, have you taken the battery cover off and inspected the main board for any possible clues?
 
I've disassembled the entire unit but have not had the time to check any circuits. As far as the battery I'm pretty sure that ~30% was remaining, I was bringing her back home at the time of the crash.
 
I had thought all the motors stopped as well, but while listening to the video with headphones, you can definitely hear at least another motor running as it started flipping. But given how drastically the motor noise reduced, it seems like more than just 1 motor stopped working.

As to the logs, I'm still unsure how people are drawing such specific conclusions despite the logs not containing any objective data about individual motors. Here's the graph of the roll, pitch and yaw (bottom) and the motor outputs on channels 1, 2, 3 and 4 (top). The event happened just before time index 54. Roll, pitch and yaw quickly registers the start of the tumbling, and the motor outputs are still being commanded to counter as best they can... as futile as that it. There just doesn't seem to be anything here one can definitively point to and say "look, right there, motor pod X failure"

That is exactly what is interpreted as a motor failure. The ESCs do not provide feedback which can be logged. So there is no log that will show "motor #2 stopped turning" or anything of that sort. You look at the pixhawk's desired pitch/roll vs actual pitch/roll vs PWM output to each motor. The only way they get drastically out of agreement is when a motor stops turning. You'll see the output for that failed motor shoot way up, and actual pitch/roll go out of alignment vs desired pitch/roll.

It can't tell why the motor stopped turning.
 
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You look at the pixhawk's desired pitch/roll vs actual pitch/roll vs PWM output to each motor.

So I looked at pitch, yaw and roll, and output channels 1, 2, 3 and 4. Under what parameter do you find "desired pitch and roll", and how would these readings differ from a fault somewhere else that caused a motor to stop? And compare the output channels from 54 to 36, they look very much similar.

As I mentioned, judging by the level of the decrease in motor/prop noise, it seems at minimum, both front motors might have stopped.
 
Just one guy's humble opinion here but 3DR's offering this warranty was ill-advised. There are just too many environmental variables - a vehicle can be only flown in pristine conditions and well taken care of or mistreated, flown in bad dust/salt/rain/etc, crashed & improperly repaired & crash again, etc. There's really no way for 3DR to know what a vehicle has been though in order to be fair to customers who deserve coverage and not.

I'm not saying this is the case here, but at $399 + this incredible insurance-level warranty, this will encourage people to put the vehicle at risk and/or mistreat them and then seek warranty coverage. This contingent liability might be one of the final nails in the coffin of 3DR, especially if 50K units are sold at a loss and then a significant fraction of those seek free replacements.

I'd suggest 3DR somehow try to amend the warranty and perhaps offer some sort of product insurance for an additional cost like Apple does. I'd probably buy it so I don't have to stock spare parts. I've been wondering whether I should buy another whole kit or some replacement motor pods, etc. Personally, I'd never make a claim unless I felt it was truly at completely no-fault of my own, but I'm probably in the minority when considering Solo is targeted as a consumer drone.

Just sayin'.
 
Hello guys, I have had a crash last night where all four motors stopped and the Solo fell about 40 feet. I lost three of the props, my Gopro 4 is shattered, the front housing came off, my gamble is bent. This happened with full battery power on both the controller and Solo. Can someone please read the logs and tell me whats going on please. I have sent the logs to 3dr support and they are looking at them also,but it never hurts to have a second or third person read the files. Any help is appreciated.

Log files are here:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlqSdiiRmTLfgYhl_ugWZabRrkDpqQ
 
Hello guys, I have had a crash last night where all four motors stopped and the Solo fell about 40 feet. I lost three of the props, my Gopro 4 is shattered, the front housing came off, my gamble is bent. This happened with full battery power on both the controller and Solo. Can someone please read the logs and tell me whats going on please. I have sent the logs to 3dr support and they are looking at them also,but it never hurts to have a second or third person read the files. Any help is appreciated.

Log files are here:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlqSdiiRmTLfgYhl_ugWZabRrkDpqQ


Not really sure what happened. Are these the correct files?

However, looking at one of the files, there seems to be a complete power failure; the logs stop dead whilst you were still in the air. Other than that there's not much else; no explanation why..
 
Yes they are the correct files, and that is what happened, the controller reported that it lost connection and none of the drones props were turning. The Solo just stopped and fell 50 feet, as I watched it go down to fast for me to react, it fell like a rock.
 
Yes they are the correct files, and that is what happened, the controller reported that it lost connection and none of the drones props were turning. The Solo just stopped and fell 50 feet, as I watched it go down to fast for me to react, it fell like a rock.
Well, I have been told by 3DR support that they will be replacing everything but not the GoPro, even though my warranty says that they will replace the GoPro. They say that they can no longer get the GoPro, so I will be contacting the fair trades ominbudsman to see what I need to do to make 3DR stand by the warranty. I bought the solo because of that warranty, so if any of you guys are considering buying the solo it's a case of buyer beware. I never thought 3DR would treat there customers this way.
 
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By the way, Cyberblitz was correct, 3DR came too the same conclusion, it was one motor that failed so all motors stopped. It seems that all the motors are connected so if one dies they all die. I have been told they will be replacing it with a factory refurbished unit, so that means I will be flying someone else's problem.
 
Well, I have been told by 3DR support that they will be replacing everything but not the GoPro, even though my warranty says that they will replace the GoPro. They say that they can no longer get the GoPro, so I will be contacting the fair trades ominbudsman to see what I need to do to make 3DR stand by the warranty. I bought the solo because of that warranty, so if any of you guys are considering buying the solo it's a case of buyer beware. I never thought 3DR would treat there customers this way.
sigh
how do you expect 3DR to source a camera that is no longer made?
good luck in court on that one.

Your best approach would have been to ask for something they could control like extra batteries or something
there have been reports of that being successful
 
By the way, Cyberblitz was correct, 3DR came too the same conclusion, it was one motor that failed so all motors stopped. It seems that all the motors are connected so if one dies they all die. I have been told they will be replacing it with a factory refurbished unit, so that means I will be flying someone else's problem.
Refurbishes is not a bad thing necessarily
I quit buying new electronics and camera equipment about 5 years ago.
All the TVs in my house, all my big cameras and several computing devices have all been purchased refurbished
Got them for a steal and they have all been fantastic
 
sigh
how do you expect 3DR to source a camera that is no longer made?
good luck in court on that one.

Your best approach would have been to ask for something they could control like extra batteries or something
there have been reports of that being successful
I did ask about getting extra batteries but 3DR is taking a hard stand and not giving anything, I think they are in serious trouble. I think 3DR cannot compete and are not financially secure.
 
Refurbishes is not a bad thing necessarily
I quit buying new electronics and camera equipment about 5 years ago.
All the TVs in my house, all my big cameras and several computing devices have all been purchased refurbished
Got them for a steal and they have all been fantastic
i know that some times refurbished equipment is as good or better then the original, but this drone is less than 6 months old, and only been flown about 30 times, so it should be replaced with new equipment. Are in australia you have more rights than in USA and we take getting full warranty seriously, I don't have to go to court, all I have to do is report the problem to fair trades ominbudsman and let the government solve the problem. They charge the company $5,000.00 for the first request and it gets more expensive as time goes on. So unless 3DR replaces the GoPro or does something to satisfy the warranty it will cost them a lot more.
 
Well, I have been told by 3DR support that they will be replacing everything but not the GoPro, even though my warranty says that they will replace the GoPro. They say that they can no longer get the GoPro, so I will be contacting the fair trades ominbudsman to see what I need to do to make 3DR stand by the warranty. I bought the solo because of that warranty, so if any of you guys are considering buying the solo it's a case of buyer beware. I never thought 3DR would treat there customers this way.
This has been discussed to death. Read here: 3DR will not replace GoPros any more, its official
 
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