GPS Question

[Gecarey]

Hi All,
I just received a SOLO today to set up for a friend of mine. So far everything has gone very well. What is the typical time for one of these to acquire enough satellites to enable motor start ? I am a high time Phantom2 pilot, and familiar with the flight controls and whatnot. The initial cold start for the GPS out of the box was about 5 minutes to lock, which correct me if I am wrong seems to require a lot more than 7 satellites to enable motor start.
I am trudging around the iPhone app because my supported iPad, isn't. Annoying, but anyway.
Is there any decent documentation on the app itself anywhere ? I have not been able to get any deeper on the app than the first level stuff, no advanced settings or anything like that. Can someone point me in the correct direction?

Overall, I have to say I am impressed with this thing. So far seems to fly well, granted I am just doing hover testing right now, We will see how the distance does. Oh yea, where do I turn off the height and distance limits? I know, I know but I want to fully test this thing out before I hand it over to its owner.

Thanks

 

[SteveMyers75]

Turning off the "height" and distance limits would not be a recommended move.

You can adjust the default relative ceiling altitude from 150' so long as you understand that depending on your location, doing so might put the Solo in harm's way.
Setting it any higher than 400' could cause the Solo to be confiscated for violating controlled airspace.
I can't understand any reason for doing so.
(Note that these altitudes are relative to your launch altitude, not absolute altitudes.)

I'm not sure what you mean by turning off the distance limit.
Turning off the distance fence would allow the Solo to fly out of its controller's range.
You would need to use some other APP than Solo's App to get it to do this, and unless you are extremely experienced flying a RCV via IFR, it would most likely crash and be lost forever with no chance of getting a refund because you changed critical flight control parameters.

Why not test it with its default settings?
You can test its range safely and if something went wrong, it would still be covered by the warranty. (Provided you don't command it to fly into something...)

 

[Toiletbowl]

yeah im confuse too does 3dr need calibration like dji stuff do?

 

[Raybro]

yeah im confuse too does 3dr need calibration like dji stuff do?

Yes but not as complicated. Also no need for the compass dance before flight. The app tells you if you need to calibrate compass or IMU.
http://3drobotics.com/kb/solo-calibrations/

 

[rrmccabe]

Hi All

Hi ! Welcome to the site. No offense, but I find it hard to answer your questions when you are attempting to fly a UAV that does not belong to you without reading the manual. The questions you are asking are very basic and covered in the manual. It seems irresponsible for you to fly it in such a manner. It's not a Phantom. Not saying its better, but it definitely acts different.

Now regarding the GPS extended time. That is not covered in manual. Yes it can be slow and hopefully 3DR will get that worked out. It appears they are being overly cautious with GPS usage right now.

 

[DodgeP]

One of the most prominent stickers on the controller and when you first download the app is that you need to perform an update. I still experience longer than optimal satellite lock times but I've found other ways to use the wait time so I'm not just sitting there looking at the bird and controller.

 

[Gecarey]

I guess I knew this would be opening a can of worms.....

Steve, I am fully aware of the restrictions her within the US. I am setting this solo up for my buddy that will be traveling overseas with it, thus the removal of the restriction cylinder. The area I am flying is VERY remote, no air traffic or anything that would be a concern for flying the solo. He wants to know the outer limits of the controller and the only way to verify that, of course with terrain and all the other factors included, is to remove the limits, albeit temporary. But I digress, thanks for the input.

McCabe, Not my first rodeo here, I have read through the manual a few times even before the solo was delivered. I don't see responsibility being a factor here, but thanks for your input. I find it hard for people to judge that based on not even knowing the individual or the flying style. The reason I have this Solo is because my buddy has seen me fly and knows that I am very responsible. He prefers that I get it set up for him and flight test it for him. Then I can show him how to fly it, and practice with it before he goes overseas. As it turns out, the Basic questions you mention were actually a problem within the app. Again, thanks for the input.

Dodge, The update was done as soon as the controller came out of the box. Thanks

 

[DodgeP]

Might the area you're in be a contributing factor to the time it's taking for you to acquire GPS Lock. It's very hard to say why it's taking you so long however historically, Solo is known for taking a while to obtain GPS lock. I think I may have waiting somewhere in the neighborhood of about 3 or 4 minutes this morning when I was out.

Honestly, it's what I've come to expect and have adjusted my pre-flight ritual accordingly.

 

[SteveMyers75]

Sorry, I still don't get it. (maybe I'm a bit dense here)

As far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as a remote location where I might not be flying a real aircraft and where there's zero chance of someone putting a Solo in my flight path by setting it to go to such an attitude that it enters my flight planned airspace.
(unless you will be filing a FAA flight plan for the Solo..)

Also, setting it to go outside of it's horizontal "flight cylinder" would do nothing different than leaving it setup as it is.
It will fly in any direction until it loses connection with the Artoo Controller, when it will execute a RTH using the Launch Point Home GPS coordinates.
There's no need to change anything here.

Maybe what you are referring to here is something that a DJI system has restrictions on?

 

[Gecarey]

Might the area you're in be a contributing factor to the time it's taking for you to acquire GPS Lock. It's very hard to say why it's taking you so long however historically, Solo is known for taking a while to obtain GPS lock. I think I may have waiting somewhere in the neighborhood of about 3 or 4 minutes this morning when I was out.

Honestly, it's what I've come to expect and have adjusted my pre-flight ritual accordingly.

The area I fly usually has no less than 12 satellites visible at most times. I figured the cold start with the solo out of the box would take a bit of time. It sounds like, from other posts, there are known gps issues with the solo. I agree that 3DR is erring on the side of caution with the GPS, which is fine. Yes it takes some time, but better safe than no gps lock. I do carry a handheld GPS receiver, and when I am having issues with any of my multi-copters(I have 4) I fire it up to verify there is a good signal, if not the trouble shooting begins.... Thanks