Fly away on Cable Cam.

[George Kenner]

Yesterday I was shooting a condo (Real Estate) and was trying to get a smooth direct flight pattern. I set points A and B and went back and forth on the cable a few times, Until I got to point A and it shot about 15 feet into a wall.

The Battery flew off and the props were all destroyed, there was a minor separation of the battery box from the housing. I took the 4 screws off and with just a very gentle touch everything aligned again. I got to say the body is rugged. But the Fly away on cable cam is sorta disheartening.

I did a ticket and got on the phone with them within a few minutes. They are looking at the log now and will let me know. I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem. Did they replace your props? I am also looking for props. I order them in the 3 d store but they did not ship in 24 hours. Seems like props would be an easy order. Also the LED shield flew off not to be found and I could not find a place to order that piece.

Gimbal..... WHERE ARE THEY..... 3 D is really flirting with danger here.

 

[rrmccabe]

Was you running the updated firmware?

This really is not a fly away by the normal standards. Sounds more like a GPS glitch. You can post your logs. There are some smart guys on here that can look at them too.

As far as props. All parts are not easily available but getting better. 3DR is not well stocked in this area.

 

[DodgeP]

It does sound like a GPS error. I'm not sure how you're doing jobs without any spare parts, especially props. Not that we expect to crash but ....... how do you explain to your client that you can't finish the job when something like this happens? (Rhetorical Question).

 

[Adimuzio513]

Did it come with two or four spares I bought a couple boxes with mine but I thought we got 4 extras anyway didn't we.

 

[nacjr]

Did it come with two or four spares I bought a couple boxes with mine but I thought we got 4 extras anyway didn't we.

Solo only came with 2 spare props.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Guess I bought more than I thought I know I got a couple full sets and I think another box of 2 left thanks.

 

[CanadianSolo]

Yup sometimes its known as GPS Drift, it even happens with my Garmin handheld device. Gps can error calculating its location then all of a sudden auto correct itself, and that's what it sounds like it was doing! Crossed my fingers hasn't happen to me yet. Ensure you didn't have any buildings shadowing you? That could cause a brief gps drop as well...?

 

[VideoArch]

Flying around condos or apartment buildings is really risky in my past experience. The 2.4 frequency floor is just jammed. Having a GPS flat spot is almost guaranteed. In those situations where I suspect a noise floor problem I always fly in manual mode. It reduces the risk.

 

[CanadianSolo]

Agreed @VideoArch
Does the solo auto enter Manual mode when gps is dropped during flight? It hasn't happened to me yet but i'm curious?

 

[VideoArch]

My past experience with a loss of GPS/Compass always put me in manual mode with other platforms. It should be the case with 3DR as well but I have no experience to date.

Loss of GPS near obstacles like buildings is a real heart pounder. As others have said, practice flying in manual. It could be important some day.

 

[Rajaholic]

Agreed @VideoArch
Does the solo auto enter Manual mode when gps is dropped during flight? It hasn't happened to me yet but i'm curious?

Yes.. I think that was included in the latest firmware. It's happened to me several times... usually with tree cover nearby.

 

[rrmccabe]

I does. The problem some of the time is it would take off for a split second before going to manual. I had mine freak out and mI've 2 or 3 feet really fast when landing. Logs showed it moved 50'. Support said gps glitch. This was new firmware.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Agreed @VideoArch
Does the solo auto enter Manual mode when gps is dropped during flight? It hasn't happened to me yet but i'm curious?

Yea kinda, in theory it does but when it happened to mine it did quite a few other alarming things and was kinda out of control before it finally did alarm and switch by that time I was heading down for a kinda tough landing. So please don't assume it will or count on it I only fly in manual now going up or down until 20 or 30 feet unless it's a very open area. It took 10 seconds of crazy before it even said gps loss and switched it went nuts in the meantime.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Like to add also this was with the latest firmware too, I had other gps issues with the first update firmware but this was the only time I've had issues since. Seems like since this last update gps is harder to lock and easier to lose that lock so just be cautious and fly safe.

As much as I like filming my kids and fun stuff people are doing I stay a good ways back from any people especially until I'm confident the bugs are gone but even after, you just never know when something like this will decide to fail. Even at a distance I've tried to be in manual it just seems more predictable once you get used to the drift wind causes it seems to do exactly hat you want.

My advice to any new guys like I've been for a bit over a year is manual, manual, manual, best advice I've got here is look up and understand and than practice other flight modes like manual or stabilize. Jubalr has a great video posted describing different flight modes and showing them in action, it helped me be confident trying stabilize. To a newb like me the flight mode names don't really sound like what they actually are so research first. It also makes it feel like 3 or 4 different quads in one package each mode is like trying a new bird.

 

[Craig]

Where is the video you mentioned?