Update:
OK... Now I am getting angry again, and scared all at the same time...
I got a response from 3DR late today. The good news is that I am getting two new motors....
The bad news is that the email I got was from the same tech that I exchanged with originally. I had asked for a second set of eyes on the log files. What I got was "Ruben" asking his coleagues (somehow) if he was right, and Ruben writing me back, and telling me they say he was....
To recap a bit, Ruben indicated that my craft tumbling out of the sky (falling 18 ft in 1 second while tumbling) was caused by me pushing pause and being "disoriented". I was 20ish feet away from the Solo and it was 20 ft high in open space.... I had just taken off, and had forgotten to hit record on the GoPro. I wanted to look and see if OSD would show that. I didn't hit pause, and got ZERO errors.
I pointed that out to him and asked if there was an input to look at for that button, and I then got back that the Solo spontaneously went into ALT HOLD (Altitude hold) due to "GPS degridation". I pointed out that the Solo had 10 satellites and an hdop of 1.6 when I took off. It had the same when it went into ALT HOLD, and also when it crashed. It did get up to 12 sats and an hdop of 1.4, but only briefly.
I also pointed out that there was only slight stick inputs from me, mostly rotating and also tweaking the position of the bird, moving it less than a foot each way, and then POW... down it went, end over end, in one second, with virtually no stick input....
Luckily it landed above ground in ivy. But now it has two bad motors.... One was bad immediately and wouldn't let the unit start. I worked through that with one of the 3DR techs, removing the offending motor pod, and it booted. The other motor went out when I booted it up the next time. It started running normally, but then smoked. I didn't reset the Solo before or after...
So...Other than defend his original determination, Ruben did answer one question... He determined it wasn't a bad motor because there was no motor errors in the logs...
I had asked several questions in my email to Ruben (some pointed, some not) and none except "have you considered a bad motor as the culprit?" were answered. This was the second time I had asked some of them...
Ruben's second response just says the same thing as the first. The craft went in to ALT HOLD due to "GPS degredation" and I "lost orientation" and crashed the Solo.. That did NOT happen. I don't know whether to be more mad or scared....
Given that this back and forth is now running on, and that others might be seeing similar issues, I thought I would start to share my communications (good or bad) here, both for transparency (and it is easier than typing).
Keep in mind, I waited over a month, this happened on the first day (second flight) in granny mode, in open space, at close range. I have since spent hours on the phone, gotten automatically hung up on 3 times, and am getting angry at not getting straight answers to very direct questions, after asking twice already at this point.
"Hello Ruben,
I appreciate your response, but your response is also very dissapointing. Not only because of the repeated conclusion, but because it is just reiteration of what was relayed before. It lacks specifcs, and rather mostly adds anecdotal justification (my peers agree with me). I am a scientist. That really does not help me understand.
I do understand your determination. We got there several emails ago. Repeating that conclusion does not add clarity to it, or the conversation. I would still like specific answers to my questions. To date, you have not provided answers to the majority of them...
What I am asking for is very specific answers to very specific questions. To add context to the questions, I had placed them in the narrative, but took the effort to add "Question:" in front of each one. Did you miss them? Again, for me this is about getting to the bottom of a problem, not about being "right". FYI, It appears though that several people are having nearly the identical issue, as I am having after 1.0.5.
In any case, I will seperate the questions out here, so that they cannot be missed. Can you please answer these questions with specific answers?
Question: No stick movements that I made would have caused the Solo to tumble straight down. So what did? Please don't answer "operator lost orientation" ALT HOLD should hold altitude, not tumble down.. Correct?
Question: I understand no errors regarding the motors showed in the logs. Nonetheless, there are TWO bad motors, and one of them showed itself after Cyntia and I went through the system. Is it possible a motor can fail without anything showing in the logs?
Question: Ignoring the cause of the tumble for a moment, Is it normal for motor(s) to fail as a result of this scenario? They didn't hit anything except ivy...
Question: I understand their are two different pod types with different rotations. Is it possible though you have a run of bad physical motors?
Question: You keep mentioning the operator (me) "loosing orientation". What specifically do you mean by this?
Question: The Solo fell approximately 18 feet in about one second while tumbling. Nothing in the stick inputs would cause this. What specifically caused the Solo to tumble straight down quickly and violently? Please don't answer "disorientation" Assuming I was disoriented, that would not specifically cause a crash. Something I DID would. What was it?
Question: There were never less than 10 locked sats, nor an hdop above 1.6. Can you explain to me very specifically what GPS values caused the craft to go into ALT HOLD in this specific scenario? Please do not answer "GPS degredation" I understand GPS very well, including hdop, vdop and gdop. Be as specific as possible.
Question: Please explain to me specifically what the associated "horiz variance error" is, what (specifically) caused it? and what the system response is to it? Please don't answer "GPS degredation". I am looking for something much more specific than that (see above).
Question: Can you explain why I recieved no notifications of the errors at the controller or application? FYI: I am not the only one that is seeing this... I can point you others in the forums that experience the same thing if you like.
Again... I appreciate the motors. I really do. If I install them and they fry though it does me no good. If I install them and the craft does as I say again (tumbles out of the sky) they will do me no good. Especially since they are available only in limited supply.
I understand you are the expert here, but I am also an experienced pilot, with degrees in electronics, computer science, and 30 years experience in the controls industry from tech, to engineer, to programmer, to system architect.
I don't know this system that well, but I know systems VERY well, as well as the concepts behind this system. I can assure you, there is nothing you can tell me that is fundamentally not understandable by me. I don't expect you to teach me this system, but I do expect answers to direct and specific questions.
Respectfully
Earl Gray"
If interested... I will keep you posted...
