First time 3dr solo owner

Anthony How · Jun 30, 2020

Hi all wanted to say hi [emoji112]
And see what I should be doing straight away with my newly purchased solo.
Very happy so far with how I managed to update and get my first flight using the 3dr app. But now on reading and researching further I've come to think i should be doing something different, I.e. using a different app and making a couple of mods before I end up watching my solo crash and burn!
Can anyone point me in the right direction of what they believe is the best route to take with the solo? Making it reliable enough to enjoy and not be worried something about to happen.
Maybe i'm just worrying for nothing! And can just run stock with the 3dr app.

Please if anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it. Just don't want to do things wrong and ruin a lovely engineered product

brushhippie · Jun 30, 2020

I would buy Solex run Open Solo and move the GPS out of the body. Have fun!..never hurts to have one for parts.

makatanav · Jul 1, 2020

+ test in how good condition the batteries are

brushhippie · Jul 1, 2020

YEP..forgot the batteries. Do the battery mod or have it done is really the only way you will have fresh batteries.

Wetstone · Jul 3, 2020

Find out which GPS board is in your solo. If you have a green (revA) GPS board you will need to replace that straight away. If yours is black (rev B) that is actually useable.

Not necessary to move GPS out of the solo body. There is a plug and play replacement from MRO that works great.

mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade

store.mrobotics.io

Flyinglawnmower · Jul 4, 2020

Other than upgrading to the mRo GPs u-Blox Neo-M8n as Wetstone noted above my Solo is stock stock and have been flying it for a number of years now. My other Solo is upgraded to Open Solo but to be honest, I like the original Solo app better than Sidepilot. I find smart shots are smoother and more accurate with the Solo app. Others will probably disagree. I have an iphone 6s that I run the app on and am unable to allow iphone upgrades since later iphone versions cause issues running the app. Minor inconvenience for me.

Anthony How · Jul 5, 2020

Thank you for all your advice so far much appreciated. I have flown with all three batteries I have and am getting about 15mins of flight time out of each, taking your advice though I have ordered the battery tool from madhacker to get a true sense of their condition.
I have flown the solo on stock app and firmware so far but the last flight I did have it fly away on me, a scary moment. I got it back under control luckily. Would this have been a gps issue or firmware issue? I haven't flown it since.
I would add that I haven't had any problems with getting satellite signal were I am in the uk and quite quickly picks them up, is it still worth the gps upgrade for other reasons?

brushhippie · Jul 5, 2020

Wetstone said:
Find out which GPS board is in your solo. If you have a green (revA) GPS board you will need to replace that straight away. If yours is black (rev B) that is actually useable.

Not necessary to move GPS out of the solo body. There is a plug and play replacement from MRO that works great.

mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade

store.mrobotics.io

My opinion.

Wetstone · Jul 6, 2020

If you have a Rev A GPS, it was likely a GPS error.

DJMc · Jul 7, 2020

When you say 'flyaway' what exactly do you mean? If you lost GPS you would get a voice prompt 'GPS signal lost' and would revert to FLY Manual mode, ie altitude held but no positional hold, purely response to stick inputs. Is that what you mean by getting it 'back under control'?

If you lost WiFi and GPS the aircraft would then land in position - albeit it drifting with the wind.

If you lost WiFi and had GPS, a Return to Land would be initiated - battery dependent.

A true 'flyaway' is not losing GPS and / or WiFi - it's some sort of other fault, whether a sensor or control fault or hardware/mechanical , which cause the aircraft to do something un-commanded based on failed or erroneous data. Losing GPS and and even Wi-Fi aren't those things.

Do you recall any of the voice prompts and GPS/WiFi status - it is scary the first time it happens so can be a bit disorientating. Understanding what you're seeing/hearing is key to making the right decision in response - which can feel counterintuitive and takes some practice.

Apologies if you know this - as I say true flyaways are rare so I though some reassurance was helpful. It's safe to fly again!