Landing in Manual Mode and Stopping Motors

[Jack Braden]

I have searched around in the discussion threads, and I haven't been able to find a definitive answer as to how to land and stop the motors (quickly and easily) when flying in manual mode. Sometimes when telling the Solo to Return to Home when it has GPS lock, it will lose GPS lock and switch over to manual mode when it is a few feet off the ground. In fact, this happens to me quite a but. When this happens, I want to be able to land the solo and turn off the motors as safely and as quickly as possible. Right now, I am having to hit the AB+Pause buttons after it touches down in manual mode to turn off the motors, but this results in the Solo crashing since it takes a second or 2 to turn off the motors after touching down. Surely, there must be a way to turn off the engines smoothly, easily and quickly when landing in the manual mode? I can't seem to find anything in the User's Manual that discusses this other than the Emergency motor shutdown procedure which is AB+Pause, but you can't control the position of the Solo when doing this and it takes a few seconds for the motors to cut off, so it wanders all over the place and ends up crashing. I did find some discussions about holding down the elevation control after touching down and then pushing it to the left, but most people seemed unsure of this. Surely, someone who is an expert in flying Solo around in Manual mode would know how to do this? Thanks!

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

You're trying too hard. Just land and keep the throttle stick down. It will detect it has landed automatically and shut down. I can't tell what you're doing instead, but that's how you land manually. You do not need to manually shut down the motors.

 

[Jubalr]

I have searched around in the discussion threads, and I haven't been able to find a definitive answer as to how to land and stop the motors (quickly and easily) when flying in manual mode. Sometimes when telling the Solo to Return to Home when it has GPS lock, it will lose GPS lock and switch over to manual mode when it is a few feet off the ground. In fact, this happens to me quite a but. When this happens, I want to be able to land the solo and turn off the motors as safely and as quickly as possible. Right now, I am having to hit the AB+Pause buttons after it touches down in manual mode to turn off the motors, but this results in the Solo crashing since it takes a second or 2 to turn off the motors after touching down. Surely, there must be a way to turn off the engines smoothly, easily and quickly when landing in the manual mode? I can't seem to find anything in the User's Manual that discusses this other than the Emergency motor shutdown procedure which is AB+Pause, but you can't control the position of the Solo when doing this and it takes a few seconds for the motors to cut off, so it wanders all over the place and ends up crashing. I did find some discussions about holding down the elevation control after touching down and then pushing it to the left, but most people seemed unsure of this. Surely, someone who is an expert in flying Solo around in Manual mode would know how to do this? Thanks!

Unless in a smart shot, I am always in either Manual or Stabilize modes. As such, I always take off and land in Manual. When landing, after touch down I hold the left stick down and left to turn off the motors. This takes approximately 2 seconds after touch down. When ready to fly, I switch to manual mode and hold the left stick down and to the right to arm the motors. I then raise the left stick over half to take off and fly.

 

[Jack Braden]

Seems I have gotten 2 different (but similar) responses. One that says to simply hold the left stick in the down position, and Solo will detect that it has landed and turn off the motors. The other response says to hold the left stick in the down position and then push it to the left to turn off the motors but that it takes approximately 2 seconds. How are these 2 methods for landing and turning off the motors different? Does pushing the left stick down and then to the left turn off the motors faster than just holding it down? Thanks!

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Down and left is the disarm command in Arducopter. It will disarm automatically without it upon landing anyway, but it won't hurt to do it anyway. The only time I recall needing the down/left disarm is to disarm it before taking off after you've already started the motors.

Wait, I could be wrong. Maybe the down/left is needed when in manual, stabilize, etc, but is definitely not needed when landing in FLY mode.

 

[Jack Braden]

This is good information. I appreciate your responses. I will try this later today and post the results of the following experiment:

• To land Solo in manual mode, hold the left stick in the down position and continue to hold it in the down position after Solo has landed on the ground. See how long it takes the motor to turn off while holding the stick in the down position. If the motors have not turned off after approximately 2 seconds, push the left stick to the left position while continuing to hold it in the down position, and note how long it takes to turn off the motors after pushing the stick to the left.

 

[SPP]

Left joystick DOWN , straight down for me = motor kill.

HOWEVER, do remember when your muscle memory is from Phantom ( which occured to me once ), I accidentally make that Phantom engine kill both joysticks down and nearly flipped my Solo because it took off again, tilted. Lucky I woke up from that mistake in time and full throttle up the Solo and all was OK.

 

[Jubalr]

Seems I have gotten 2 different (but similar) responses. One that says to simply hold the left stick in the down position, and Solo will detect that it has landed and turn off the motors. The other response says to hold the left stick in the down position and then push it to the left to turn off the motors but that it takes approximately 2 seconds. How are these 2 methods for landing and turning off the motors different? Does pushing the left stick down and then to the left turn off the motors faster than just holding it down? Thanks!

Down and left for me is left over from previous 3DR controllers, Pixhawk and APM, and is still in the code for Solo. If landing in Manual mode, it is the same amount of time to kill as stick down. However, in stabilize mode down and left is required to kill the motors since in stabilize mode the left stick is controlling power to the motors directly (unlike fly and manual modes). So for me it is muscle memory to kill the motors. It also works in a flip or crash if the Solo crash detection is not working.

 

[hobo solo]

Left stick, Down and left. Don't forget down and right = Motors start in manual mode.....so make sure you know your left from right!

 

[SPP]

If landing in Manual mode, it is the same amount of time to kill as stick down. However, in stabilize mode down and left is required to kill the motors since in stabilize mode the left stick is controlling power to the motors directly (unlike fly and manual modes).

Thank u J ....

 

[Jack Braden]

Here is a summary of the results of my experiment with the latest firmware update as of 5/15/2016.

• When I landed the Solo manually (no GPS lock), I pushed the left stick down slightly (not all the way down), so the Solo approached the ground slowly. After it touched down, the motors slowed down (idling speed) almost immediately but were still on and only turned all the way off if I pushed the left stick all the way down. If I did not push the left stick all the way down, the motors remained on but at idling speed. I did not need to push the left stick to the left to turn off the motors. Once I pushed the left stick all the way down, the motors turned off immediately.

 

[Dmitry]

I have the right stick is responsible for landing

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

I have the right stick is responsible for landing

I guess the more universal way of wording this is throttle sick, not necessarily the left stick.

 

[Jubalr]

I have the right stick is responsible for landing

Outside the US, mode 1 is very popular. That is probably what you are using.

 

[SPP]

When I landed the Solo manually (no GPS lock), I pushed the left stick down slightly (not all the way down), so the Solo approached the ground slowly. After it touched down, the motors slowed down (idling speed) almost immediately but were still on and only turned all the way off if I pushed the left stick all the way down. If I did not push the left stick all the way down, the motors remained on but at idling speed. I did not need to push the left stick to the left to turn off the motors. Once I pushed the left stick all the way down, the motors turned off immediately.

Yep that is what I get. If you do nothing on left stick after landing , motor will ALSO turn off itself in like 10 or so seconds.

EDIT, my left stick is my throttle stick

 

[Griffin Umbrella Co]

In manual mode holding the throttle stick down and to the left will disarm your motors even during flight.
We often "catch" land our Solo by gently grabbing the airframe and moving the throttle stick down and to the left to kill the props mid-hover.
This way Solo just settles right into our hands with the propellers off.

 

[SPP]

will disarm your motors even during flight.

This I have to remember and avoid .... thanks Grif

 

[Nick Wollman]

Yep that is what I get. If you do nothing on left stick after landing , motor will ALSO turn off itself in like 10 or so seconds.

EDIT, my left stick is my throttle stick

Are you sure about that? What condition is this under? If I'm in fly mode and I land the copter and let the throttle return to mid position it will just take back off again to ten feet altitude.

 

[SPP]

When I land it, there will be some seconds where I actually keep throttle stick to max DOWN upon touch down , I think that makes my Solo kill the motor. I must time it to see how many seconds I did that Max Down stick, next time I will do that yah.

 

[overdriver999]

You're trying too hard. Just land and keep the throttle stick down. It will detect it has landed automatically and shut down. I can't tell what you're doing instead, but that's how you land manually. You do not need to manually shut down the motors.

I know this is an old thread but I may have overlooked this answer in the manual..my question is...if I hold the throttle stick all the way down,will it kill the motors in mid flight?..right now I make the solo descend very slowly by pulling down slightly on the throttle stick when bringing it down because I fear that it may kill the motors if I pull the throttle all the way down..is that correct?