HDMI Feed problem located.

[Nick Wollman]

Okay I found out why the HDMI feed goes black. It is directly related by how many amps are being pulled by the motors. I was wondering why my feed continually went black shortly after I took off. I thought it was just range issues because the feed returned once every ten or twenty seconds for a half a second. So I went and slapped on my Alfa antennas, gained about 20 db of signal, and took off again. Absoluty fills bars of signal(-20db) and the feed went black. So I landed and just tried to start the motors. Sure enough, the feed started to go bad. So I held down the copter and told it to take off. Instantly and consistently above 20 amps, the feed went totally black. So I contacted 0DR and sure enough, I'm out of warranty even though I got mine replaced in November. They only wanted to send me a new HDMI cable. I went and tried to wrap steel tape around my cable and I worked perfectly even out to half a mile but then it went black again. That didn't make any sense to me.

So my question is what should I be looking for, a new HDMI cable? Shielding mine? New wifi card? I tried to route motor wires away from it but it's pretty tough.

 

[SPP]

Nick,
01. Is your GoPro fully charged when used on Solo ?
02. Do u have any accesories like extra Lights on Solo ?
.

 

[Nick Wollman]

yeah it's fully charged. Or it was today when it did it again. Why do you ask? I have lights but they're not installed. And polar pro lights better not draw that much amperage.

 

[SPP]

There is a technical writing from ardicopter which mentioned maximum amps drawn allowed by gimbal ( camera too ). If it is exceeeded, some back up system may not work.

If you think voltage drop is the culprit, you need to use the log to check voltages during take off.
So far I never had any voltage drop which impacted video feed. The Solo battery is a good rating for high discharge.
Maybe check any loose connections first ?

 

[Nick Wollman]

I've tore apart the solo and tightened every connection. I know I'm not the only one with this issue. I've got a friend with a solo that's doing the exact same thing.

 

[Bamboozled!]

Nick,

You are absolutely correct, I reported the problem to 3DR around the 2.0 -1 timeframe. I felt like I did something wrong after talking to them. I have the Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED glasses, they don't work anymore, I spent about $1000.00 at the time with accessories.
Solo just doesn't recognize the glasses any more, they worked great before the update. I handle all my gear with kid gloves.

I also have the GoPro Hero 4 Black blacking out problem that started with 2.0

 

[Nick Wollman]

Well boys whoever has warranty get this darn thing replaced! And don't just take a new HDMI cable from them! A brand new solo or nothing! This is ridiculous that they don't fix this stuff.

 

[Nick Wollman]

And I just tried it without the gimbal. Worked fine during regular flying. Still buggy a little, but at least I could fly. But the holding down the bird and gunning the motors, the feed still went unreliable and eventually black. Now I was pulling anywhere from 25 to 50 amps. I'm sure any feed would go black then. But even if I do find a problem with the voltage from the logs, what exactly should/can I do about it? Will a new/better wifi card help? I've got a relishrc HDMI cable on the way. I hope that works.

 

[SARDG]

...I've got a relishrc HDMI cable on the way. I hope that works.

There have been a few problems with the Relish 3d HDMI cables...

 

[Nick Wollman]

Well then they're getting it back or a refund. What problems?

 

[RichWest]

Based on your symptoms and what you've tried to date, I'd suspect your HDMI cable connection to the main board is not properly secured.

Look at this thread as possible solution...Check this out, if your having video feed problems.

 

[SARDG]

Well then they're getting it back or a refund. What problems?

If you SEARCH these forums for "Relish" you'll find many threads to read through. One immediately popped up and said "rolling video". Who knows if the user had a valid complaint or not - you'll need to do the research.

You might try the other fixes first - like the SteveReno fix in RIchWest's post above.

 

[Nick Wollman]

I looked at that two weeks ago and did the fix took a apart the whole solo and it helped for on flight. I even tightened the connection so I think that's good.

 

[SPP]

Nick, your Solo is still using Solo standard wifi board ..right ?
I am just looking at angles where power loss may happen.

 

[Nick Wollman]

Yeah it is

 

[Nick Wollman]

Boys something weird is going on. I thought you all said the GoPro wouldn't power on with the drone in the new GoPro firmware? And I specifically remember reading that one of the update removed the gopro charging feature from the solo. Well I'm fully updated and my gp is charging right now and it powered on with the drone. And I've got no feed. What the world.....

 

[5r49cfu]

I had the same problem--video feed cuts out when motors were at full.

replacing the HDMI cable fixed the issue, surprisingly.

 

[PdxSteve]

When motors are at full is also when it's vibrating the most if your props/motors aren't balanced. It might actually be the vibrations at those levels causing an issue and not the high amp draw. Are your props/motors balanced?

 

[emilio mendoza]

Okay I found out why the HDMI feed goes black. It is directly related by how many amps are being pulled by the motors. I was wondering why my feed continually went black shortly after I took off. I thought it was just range issues because the feed returned once every ten or twenty seconds for a half a second. So I went and slapped on my Alfa antennas, gained about 20 db of signal, and took off again. Absoluty fills bars of signal(-20db) and the feed went black. So I landed and just tried to start the motors. Sure enough, the feed started to go bad. So I held down the copter and told it to take off. Instantly and consistently above 20 amps, the feed went totally black. So I contacted 0DR and sure enough, I'm out of warranty even though I got mine replaced in November. They only wanted to send me a new HDMI cable. I went and tried to wrap steel tape around my cable and I worked perfectly even out to half a mile but then it went black again. That didn't make any sense to me.

So my question is what should I be looking for, a new HDMI cable? Shielding mine? New wifi card? I tried to route motor wires away from it but it's pretty tough.

It's not because of the apps check out my YouTube video where it says solo HDMI problem. If this is similar to the issue or it just actually goes completely black after a while that is actually the HDMI cable becoming loose and you can either get it replaced which I did get it replaced about 3 times and then they offered to give me a new solo and instead I just pinched the connection on the actual pixhawk board and the problem went away the only reason you think it's because of and it's because when the motors are actually spending at a high enough RPM it is causing so much vibration that is causing that to go black that is my theory and that is from my experience I have replaced so many solos with 3D are and I just had a fly away the day before yesterday they are not on good terms with me and my company

 

[Nick Wollman]

I have a prop balancer but how about the motors?