Finally.The Ability To Change The Colors of Solo's Lights. Solex!

Rex Barlow · Sep 28, 2016

Can Solex work on apple? Like iPad Air 2

SARDG · Sep 28, 2016

Rex Barlow said:
Can Solex work on apple? Like iPad Air 2

No.

Rex Barlow · Sep 28, 2016

SARDG said:
No.

aw big time!

Pedals2Paddles · Sep 29, 2016

Guys, while it looks cute and all, the lights on the solo do not and cannot possibly meet any FAA lighting standards. Not even close. Not for position or anti-collision, although I don't think sUAS are required to have position lights anyway. There are plenty of useful things you can do with this feature. But meeting lighting requirements for night flight is not one of them.

DJ Dannis · Sep 29, 2016

SARDG said:
...and I'm former Navy and now Coast Guard Aux and still must have glossed over that... We see quite a few vessels wired backwards. Can't explain it as no manufacturer would do that - must be re-wires and nav light replacements. But apparently, the problem on Solo goes a little deeper. And apparently a non-boater, non-pilot programmer is responsible for the initial error.

Kelly's response which I don't think he'd mind me posting:

Haha, yes I know they're reversed. The issue is that I can't control that part of it. There is an "Aviation" macro in the API for setting the LEDs that way, and the macro has it backwards. I can either use the macro, or not, from the app.

There is a small change that could be made to the LED controls in the APM code base that would be easy to implement and fix not only this, but also allow full control of individual LEDs. However, getting that change into place on a Solo would require an entire new build of the firmware.

Thanks,

Kelly

SARDG, thanks for checking into this and reaching out to Kelly. Very much appreciated. Bummer to hear the issue is in the root firmware...

P.S. Thank you for your service.

SARDG · Sep 29, 2016

DJ Dannis said:
SARDG, thanks for checking into this and reaching out to Kelly. Very much appreciated. Bummer to hear the issue is in the root firmware...

P.S. Thank you for your service.

Thanks, and you're welcome. What else would I have done with a combined 21 years of my life.

Even though the lights are backwards, I think I'll use this for a general default as it helps a bit with orientation.

DJ Dannis · Sep 29, 2016

Hear you there! I come from a Naval family - Dad served Navy for 22 years as well so I was on the other side of the sacrifices made.

Yeah, agreed on the config, still pretty neat.

TheBlueDog · Sep 30, 2016

This looks quite interesting. Might just tempt me to switch to an android tablet for my Solo.

Toby Lankford · Oct 1, 2016

I have purchased the app and just starting to use it now.

Rex Barlow · Oct 2, 2016

Toby Lankford said:
I have purchased the app and just starting to use it now.

do u like it? any problem?

Toby Lankford · Oct 2, 2016

Rex Barlow said:
do u like it? any problem?

I will let you know after a few flights. literally just started working with it yesterday. It seems to a great app though.

mudman · Oct 2, 2016

Rex Barlow said:
do u like it? any problem?

I'm using solex now no problems..it's way better than the 3DR app. Simple to do orbit it does things the Solo app cant

Mike Davis · Oct 2, 2016

I think anyone who is using the Solo should get the Solex app. Its great and the developer is really helpful and responsive.

Dmitry · Oct 3, 2016

I by the program SOLEX But PAL mode can not put 25 FPS resets to 60 the basics.

In 25 PAL mode does not want to work

I put 1080p at 25 FPS, but the program resets the 60 FPS

wn0x · Nov 29, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
Guys, while it looks cute and all, the lights on the solo do not and cannot possibly meet any FAA lighting standards. Not even close. Not for position or anti-collision, although I don't think sUAS are required to have position lights anyway. There are plenty of useful things you can do with this feature. But meeting lighting requirements for night flight is not one of them.

I agree that it might not meet aviation requirements, however... still be very useful. Almost every aircraft I have built includes "aviation lighting", but primarily so I maintain orientation of the aircraft in flight. At even short distances, the orientation of a 250mm quad can be extremely difficult to determine. I recently flew a daytime search mission with a larger aircraft, and it was very helpful for maintaining LOS requirements and maintaining orientation of the aircraft.

Under part 107, remote pilots are meeting the requirement for daytime waivers (night operations) with anti-collision lighting that consists of a single strobe on top of the aircraft. Evidently, even the color is not a specific requirement as long as it is visible from three statute miles.

With that said, I would love to have this issues addressed in the copter firmware, as I routinely use the Red/Left/Port Green/rRight/Starboard standard when in flight so that I know the direction of the vehicle, or weather it is moving towards me are away.

SARDG · Nov 30, 2016

I suppose the original code was written by a non-aviator/boater.

wn0x · Nov 30, 2016

SARDG said:
I suppose the original code was written by a non-aviator/boater.

I grew up on Lake of the Ozarks. One of the first lessons my dad taught me as a kid was determining the direction of other watercraft and the proper procedures for yielding right of way. I still remember him teaching me with red/left/port (short words), green/right/starboard (long words) to help me remember.

Pedals2Paddles · Nov 30, 2016

wn0x said:
Under part 107, remote pilots are meeting the requirement for daytime waivers (night operations) with anti-collision lighting that consists of a single strobe on top of the aircraft. Evidently, even the color is not a specific requirement as long as it is visible from three statute miles.

Elsewhere in FAA regulation, color of lights is defined. Anti-collision beacons can be red or white. There are also requirements for visibility from various directions. A single beacon on the top or bottom of a solo would not likely meet the visibility requirements as it would not be seen from below it's horizontal plane. One on top and one on bottom, or one on each side would do it. That said, I don't think anyone has ever actually perused this level if detail with the FAA as it applies to UAS. And it probably won't be brought up until someone gets in trouble for something else. But if the FAA were pressed for an answer, they would probably tell you it needs to meet those requirements.

wn0x said:
With that said, I would love to have this issues addressed in the copter firmware, as I routinely use the Red/Left/Port Green/rRight/Starboard standard when in flight so that I know the direction of the vehicle, or weather it is moving towards me are away.

You mean red/green on just the front arms, and white on the back? I agree. That would be the only way to distinguish front/back and direction.

SARDG · Nov 30, 2016

wn0x said:
I grew up on Lake of the Ozarks. One of the first lessons my dad taught me as a kid was determining the direction of other watercraft and the proper procedures for yielding right of way. I still remember him teaching me with red/left/port (short words), green/right/starboard (long words) to help me remember.

The coder should have had your dad.

Pedals2Paddles · Nov 30, 2016

Remember the Solo was designed to be a mass produced consumer and prosumer drone to be used primarily during the day by probably 98% of it's users. So it's not surprising that 3DR didn't put effort into it's night time capabilities.

With the companion computer code having just been opened up, and the Solex app for a UI, things like the lighting arrangements can now be endlessly customized by our resident nerds.