Just had signal loss and crash with my new Solo

[SCO19]

Does it not come with any spare props?

 

[Miken]

Does it not come with any spare props?

Yes. One of each, but it looked like he damaged at least three.

 

[GoodnNuff]

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.

They will take care of you.
First, they have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee.
Then they have the flight data. If this proves to be the fault of the Solo, it will be repaired or replaced. If they flight data shows that the fault was yours, you could still get your money back within the 30 day window of the satisfaction guarantee.

I had a crash of my Iris+ on my second flight, total failure of the ESC. 3DR quickly replaced it once they reviewed the flight data.

 

[Phil Hover]

What did you do to try and get the controller to reconnect?

Moved my position and tried to hit the sticks. Not sure if the controller said anything on screen - I was two focused on trying to spot what the solo was doing. I only had about 10 seconds.

 

[Phil Hover]

My question is how did you "try to regain control"?

Stick input?

Yes stick input and moving myself.

 

[Phil Hover]

It would be cool to see our first log file. I would like to see what the data looks like.

Currently the app is not transferring the log file - it just sits there trying to download.

 

[Phil Hover]

Whooe, thanks for heads up...did you record the crash with on board GoPro? If so would you mind sharing a little video here. Please keep us informed on your experience with tech support...are you going to generate a ticket?

Trying to generate a ticket but the app is not working for me.

 

[Phil Hover]

Anything in the app or controller that mentions the number of satellites that are connected to the quad? Like with my P2 and an iOSD? I keep a steady eye on that number as I have had it drop below the 7 sats flying in valleys, etc

When I took off I remember seeing 9 or more.

 

[Phil Hover]

Seems weird, was the battery charged? I don't think it did a RTH but just landed. Wonder if it is set to land if something is wrong? Did you have a cell phone on maybe? Not saying it's your fault just wondering why it did that.

Was using my iPhone for GoPro view. I had already done the same for 4 other flights. Battery was about 60% on the Solo and 90+ % on controller.

 

[Phil Hover]

I occasionally lose satellite connection with my P2 but it has never caused it to crash or fly-away, it just slowly drifts and won't hover in place, requires a bit more piloting skill is all. I have also intentionally flown without satellite so as to give me a smooth floating transition when ending a shot and not a hard stop. This is also why I always fly line of site. Nothing I've needed to video or photograph in the past three years required me to fly out of site. Once you reach an altitude of above 200-250 feet there isn't a whole lot of detail of people objects on the ground, at least that's my experience in well over 100 hours of flight I hope in the future when folks experience a problem with their Solo they will post 3DR's support findings here.

Solo was about 90-100ft up maybe less and I was almost directly under it total line of sight. Possible issues being in urban environment or signal loss due to other unknown issue?

 

[Phil Hover]

Yes. One of each, but it looked like he damaged at least three.

All 4 are damaged - 3 completely and 1 very badly scratched. I already ordered spares from 3DR but I am hoping they give me some replacements and diagnose the issue so I am sure it doesn't happen again. I also have some scuffs on the metal housing on one of the motors and I want to be sure that won't cause any issues.

 

[Phil Hover]

Without gps lock, the drone will go to fly:manual mode and drift but maintained altitude. The operator would need to control it until lock is re-established. It is not designed to auto land on gps loss.

The op stated red flashing lights. The manual says this is an indication of radio signal loss. In that case, the drone will RTH and land unless you press the fly button again on signal reconnect. It sounds like the first flight was by a house and trees. This is not an optimal location to learn, resulting in a damaged drone when it did what was expected, and the operator did not know how to or could not regain control.

Hard learned lesson. I hope the drone did not sustain any significant damage and you can get her back in the air soon. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get new props.

This was my 5th flight - first couple were in a open field. 2 others were in the same environment. I have a lot of flying experience with RC planes and am very confident in my flying skills. In this case, when I can't control the drone, I can't use any skill.

It may be that it could have reconnected by pressing fly but I didn't have time to react (roughly about 6 seconds to identify the issue before it was too late). I did not look at the screen to press fly again. Wish it had hovered for a little bit before RTH over the wrong spot.

 

[rrmccabe]

I don't have my Solo yet but isnt there a CSV file or something you can export out of your logs?

Surely you don't have to rely on 3DR to decipher your flight.

 

[GoodnNuff]

Solo was about 90-100ft up maybe less and I was almost directly under it total line of sight. Possible issues being in urban environment or signal loss due to other unknown issue?

I own a Phantom 1 and a Phantom 2, I remember on the forums there were several discussions about losing signal when directly under the Phantom. Apparently being directly under the receiver puts you in a blind spot where signal is difficult to maintain. Perhaps this phenomenon is the same for the Solo?

Edit: And FWIW, I just lost my lil' Blade 200QX this morning flying from my Cul du Sac. My own fault, a bright sunny Pacific Northwest day and I flew the little quad too far up and out and without sunglasses, quickly lost sight of it. $200 lesson on not knowing my limits...

 

[rrmccabe]

Apparently being directly under the receiver puts you in a blind spot where signal is difficult to maintain. ..

Basically the weakest point of a dipole antenna (the antenna on the controller) is off the tip. Strongest signal comes off the side.

So if you are directly above and have the antenna pointing straight up then its the worst possible location. Need to lay antenna flat if you are above.

I dont know what the Solo does for aircraft antennas but the Phantom 2 has the best gain forward and backward. Not down.

 

[SCO19]

Moved my position and tried to hit the sticks. Not sure if the controller said anything on screen - I was two focused on trying to spot what the solo was doing. I only had about 10 seconds.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, forget the sticks and run around like a headless chicken tapping the pause button like your drone depends on it!

 

[Phil Hover]

I was finally able to log the info via my iPad instead of iPhone - will report back once I find out from 3DR.

 

[Toby]

I was finally able to log the info via my iPad instead of iPhone - will report back once I find out from 3DR.

I would be surprised if 3DR would cover this.
The aircraft did everything it was supposed to do as advertised. They can't guarantee your signal connection, all they can do is guarantee that in the event you lose a connection, it will come back home.
It seems like you were flying in a less than suitable location. Will be very interesting to see what happens but if I were you I would chalk this one up to "lucky it wasn't much worse".

As a future owner of a solo, I don't want the price hiking by 20% to cover the cost of all the people who do stupid stuff and crash. I only want them to cover genuine machine faults.

 

[SCO19]

So, what was the outcome?

 

[Raybro]

Hello everyone,
New here on this forum and like most, I am waiting for my Solo and gimbal. I just ordered mine beginning of June from DSLRPros so I don't expect it very soon. Currently fly the P2 with my GoPro and hoping I don't trash it (the camera mostly) before I get the Solo.
Was reading through this thread and wondering if there is a way of telling where Home is on the maps within the app prior to takeoff? Also, in the circumstance of the communication loss, if you were in GPS mode, how do you switch to manual mode to attempt to regain control. I know it states by hitting pause or fly you can reconnect but you would still be in GPS. If you have no satellites for some reason that wouldn't work.