Just had signal loss and crash with my new Solo

Phil Hover · Jun 6, 2015

I had done 4 flights with my solo in the last two days and decided to take it up to capture the sunset over my neighborhood. I was about 100ft up when they controller lost signal with the Solo. Lights started flashing red on the drone and it started to descend (assuming it was returning to home). But, the home spot had drifted or something because it was trying to land over my house instead of the street. Tried to get the controller to reconnect but was not able to and the Solo crashed into the side of my roof ripping the propellers and ending up in a tree. A few scrapes on the sides of the solo and the battery popped off thankfully landing in the tree mostly and not the cement. Hopefully tech support will have an answer. I tried to download the flight data with the app but it appears to not work at this moment. Be careful where you fly not sure if the system might be buggy.

McSlevin · Jun 6, 2015

That sucks... Curious what data will come off of the controller. do you need anything fixed? Covered under the warranty??

DodgeP · Jun 6, 2015

Photos of the crashed drone please.... I find it interesting that you joined today/yesterday and have 1 post and that post is about a SOLO crash ... As much as everyone who pre-ordered has been anticipating the arrival of their SOLO, you actually have yours in hand and managed to crash it, all without ever participating in any pre-arrival conversation about the SOLO, 3DR or whatever. I'm leaning towards not believing you right now.

Yourviewfromabove · Jun 6, 2015

DodgeP said:
Photos of the crashed drone please.... I find it interesting that you joined today/yesterday and have 1 post and that post is about a SOLO crash ... As much as everyone who pre-ordered has been anticipating the arrival of their SOLO, you actually have yours in hand and managed to crash it, all without ever participating in any pre-arrival conversation about the SOLO, 3DR or whatever. I'm leaning towards not believing you right now.

Relax Francis.......you only have 15 post

rrmccabe · Jun 6, 2015

Yourviewfromabove said:
Relax Francis.......you only have 15 post

LOL, exactly.

DodgeP · Jun 6, 2015

Yourviewfromabove said:
Relax Francis.......you only have 15 post

For the simple fact that I'm chit chatting back and forth on every single post. It's easy enough to run that 15 to 315 in an hr or less if; I was interested in having a high post count however; that's not what I'm interested in.

rrmccabe · Jun 6, 2015

Well basically you come on here and called the guy a lier for no reason. So if that's how you roll then I personally would prefer it if you keep your post count low.

Phil Hover · Jun 6, 2015

McSlevin said:
That sucks... Curious what data will come off of the controller. do you need anything fixed? Covered under the warranty??

I won't have any answers until Monday since they are closed until then - curious how they will treat this and if they will take care of me. I am hopeful that just replacing the props will fix it.

Kmd1984 · Jun 6, 2015

I can see where "DodgeP" is coming from, and I agree. Weirdly enough, people overlook the most obvious "flaws" in the OP's story...

1. The poster makes sure that he mentions the phrase "fly-away" in the title, so everyone gets to see it. Nothing wrong with that, IF you indeed had a "fly-away", but he didn't. He doesn't even describe one in his post. So why mention it in the title??? He simply states that the Solo "lost" signal and landed??? Why would you even call this a "fly-away" other than wanting to make the Solo look bad??? Sure, maybe the poster is 12 years old and doesn't know better?

2. Speaking of not knowing better. He says, "But, the home spot had drifted or something" OR SOMETHING??? Yes, your home location can "drift". With every system out there. This is not military grade GPS. You should not take off a few feet away from any obstacles, in case the Home location does "drift".

I suggest you change the title and take the "fly-away" part out, because this was not a fly-away.

Phil Hover · Jun 6, 2015

DodgeP said:
For the simple fact that I'm chit chatting back and forth on every single post. It's easy enough to run that 15 to 315 in an hr or less if; I was interested in having a high post count however; that's not what I'm interested in.

Yes, I can understand the feeling since I am a new user. I mainly hang out on other camera forums not drone specific ones. But, this is relevant to other Solo users.

Phil Hover · Jun 6, 2015

Pics. Some cosmetic damage on the Solo hoping prop replacement will be enough. If it hadn't landed in the tree it would be much worse. Intact prop has lots of deep scratches and I don't think it should be used.

Phil Hover · Jun 6, 2015

Kmd1984 said:
I can see where "DodgeP" is coming from, and I agree. Weirdly enough, people overlook the most obvious "flaws" in the OP's story...

1. The poster makes sure that he mentions the phrase "fly-away" in the title, so everyone gets to see it. Nothing wrong with that, IF you indeed had a "fly-away", but he didn't. He doesn't even describe one in his post. So why mention it in the title??? He simply states that the Solo "lost" signal and landed??? Why would you even call this a "fly-away" other than wanting to make the Solo look bad??? Sure, maybe the poster is 12 years old and doesn't know better?

2. Speaking of not knowing better. He says, "But, the home spot had drifted or something" OR SOMETHING??? Yes, your home location can "drift". With every system out there. This is not military grade GPS. You should not take off a few feet away from any obstacles, in case the Home location does "drift".

I suggest you change the title and take the "fly-away" part out, because this was not a fly-away.

What makes me disappointed in the situation other then it might be a while to get replacement parts since the Solo just launched is that I lost signal about 100ft way from the controller. This is ridiculous. I can understand that in certain situations signal can be lost. But the solo is supposed to have a half-mile of range and I can't keep it under control 100ft away?

Sorry if I don't understand the terminology yet (differences between flyaway and something else). If the Solo was operating properly, it would have never lost signal, never have landed away from home and the app would function properly. Since it is such a new product, I have a tiny bit of concern about bugs in the system but I want to talk to 3DR first and see what they say and report back once I get answers from them. At the end of the day, I want to have a functioning Solo after the repairs and with little hassle.

Kmd1984 · Jun 6, 2015

Phil, I never had any doubts that you did crash, but like I mentioned before,

THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WOULD CONSIDER A FLY-AWAY!

The Solo did exactly what it is supposed to do. It loses signal and lands. The fact that you took off to close to your house, not realizing that the Home position can "drift", is not the Solo's fault.
Why you would lose signal only being 100 feet up, I have no idea??? And I don't care. Let the 3DR people figure it out. But this is not a Fly-away.

kmd

EDIT: You posted right before me and I did not get to see your post until after I posted mine... Anyhow, I agree. It shouldn't have happened. The lost signal part. Everything else went according to "plan", including the drift. Sometimes my MR lands right where it took off from, and sometimes it lands a few feet away... That is normal. Keep that in mind...

Phil Hover · Jun 6, 2015

Kmd1984 said:
Phil, I never had any doubts that you did crash, but like I mentioned before,

THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WOULD CONSIDER A FLY-AWAY!

The Solo did exactly what it is supposed to do. It loses signal and lands. The fact that you took off to close to your house, not realizing that the Home position can "drift", is not the Solo's fault.
Why you would lose signal only being 100 feet up, I have no idea??? And I don't care. Let the 3DR people figure it out. But this is not a Fly-away.

kmd

Yeah I already changed the title.

Phil Hover · Jun 6, 2015

Kmd1984 said:
Phil, I never had any doubts that you did crash, but like I mentioned before,

EDIT: You posted right before me and I did not get to see your post until after I posted mine... Anyhow, I agree. It shouldn't have happened. The lost signal part. Everything else went according to "plan", including the drift. Sometimes my MR lands right where it took off from, and sometimes it lands a few feet away... That is normal. Keep that in mind...

The drift in this case was about 30ft.

Kmd1984 · Jun 6, 2015

Much appreciated....

SCO19 · Jun 6, 2015

Troy's RTH activated at 1400ft.

Got a feeling range is going to be an issue if reports like this keep coming in.

Phil Hover · Jun 6, 2015

SCO19 said:
Troy's RTH activated at 1400ft.

Got a feeling range is going to be an issue if reports like this keep coming in.

This is why I posted my experience so that if there is a issue it will get resolved quickly.

SCO19 · Jun 6, 2015

You might also want to post your photo's here

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2391450&page=249

&

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DRSOLO/

There are 3DR staff on the latter.

Kmd1984 · Jun 6, 2015

Phil Hover said:
The drift in this case was about 30ft.

I never had a drift off 30 feet, but I believe in rare occasions it's possible. Do you check the solar activities before you fly? I have two apps installed, and I always check for solar storms and strong magnetic field "disturbances". Not sure what else to call it. LOL.

Anyhow, what could also have caused the 30 foot "drift" is that your home location wasn't registered until you were already in the air, and further away from where you took off. I don't have my solo yet, and I am not sure if this is actually a possibility with the solo, but it is foot sure with the Pixhawk. Is there an indication in the Solo app that tells you that your home location is set???

Kmd