Landing problem?

[Isaak Bustard]

Okay so, just got my spare props in the mail so i took SOLO out for a flight, and everything was working fine, responding well. but my battery life drained SUPER fast (thought it was just because it was cold out) anyways i hit home button and solo comes back to where i told it too, and i told it to land... it comes down at its normal pace but about 10 feet of the ground it starts dropping rapidly and it hits the ground fairly hard and bounces a little bit but i recovered and turned off the control to get the props to shutoff because they didnt shutoff like normal once landing. so my question is, did SOLO just land like that because it was low on battery or is their something internally wrong?

 

[Maddog]

How low was the battery when you got on the ground? Maybe it didn't have enough juice to keep it in the air.

 

[Isaak Bustard]

it was around 2% i'd say, but if it was so low on battery life why did the props keep spinning for about 10-20 seconds after actually landing?

 

[Raybro]

Okay so, just got my spare props in the mail so i took SOLO out for a flight, and everything was working fine, responding well. but my battery life drained SUPER fast (thought it was just because it was cold out) anyways i hit home button and solo comes back to where i told it too, and i told it to land... it comes down at its normal pace but about 10 feet of the ground it starts dropping rapidly and it hits the ground fairly hard and bounces a little bit but i recovered and turned off the control to get the props to shutoff because they didnt shutoff like normal once landing. so my question is, did SOLO just land like that because it was low on battery or is their something internally wrong?

Land it manually. Just ease the throttle down, let the Solo come down slowly. Once it's on the ground hold the throttle all the way down and the motors will disarm.

 

[Raybro]

it was around 2% i'd say, but if it was so low on battery life why did the props keep spinning for about 10-20 seconds after actually landing?

That's pretty low! I never go below 10% and I am usually around 30%
Probably not enough to keep it in the air.....did that with a Phantom once on a ground station mission. Barely made it back to my property as the battery level was draining. At full throttle it kept coming down and landed in some water.

 

[Maddog]

That's pretty low! I never go below 10% and I am usually around 30%
Probably not enough to keep it in the air.....did that with a Phantom once on a ground station mission. Barely made it back to my property as the battery level was draining. At full throttle it kept coming down and landed in some water.

Low battery would be my best guess at this point.

 

[User Name]

That's pretty low! I never go below 10% and I am usually around 30%

It's probably been asked before, but I've never heard anyone say they draw the line at 10%... what's a good rule of thumb for minimum power. I've been trying to be on the way back at 30% and try to land with 25% if possible. A few times I've gotten down to 22% and have worried if it's hurting the battery. I know I toasted one of my batteries for my 250 by flying it until it literally landed from a lack of power.

To the OP, if you're really low, it's probably best to take it out of RTL and bring it down manually. It can descend painfully slowly in RTL, and when you're really sucking fumes, you need to get on the ground ASAP.

 

[Jubalr]

It's probably been asked before, but I've never heard anyone say they draw the line at 10%... what's a good rule of thumb for minimum power. I've been trying to be on the way back at 30% and try to land with 25% if possible. A few times I've gotten down to 22% and have worried if it's hurting the battery. I know I toasted one of my batteries for my 250 by flying it until it literally landed from a lack of power.

To the OP, if you're really low, it's probably best to take it out of RTL and bring it down manually. It can descend painfully slowly in RTL, and when you're really sucking fumes, you need to get on the ground ASAP.

The general rule with LiPo batteries is trying to stay above 20% for optimal life and condition of the batteries, with 10% being the absolute minimum. I remember a couple of years ago reading a quote by a top competitor in RC helis that said he routinely goes to 10%. He knew it shortened the life of the battery some, but said that was just a cost he figured in his hobby. And that as long as he was flying having fun, he wanted to enjoy it to the max. Of course, they generally fly pretty close and can autorotate in as needed.

 

[User Name]

The general rule with LiPo batteries is trying to stay above 20% for optimal life and condition of the batteries, with 10% being the absolute minimum. I remember a couple of years ago reading a quote by a top competitor in RC helis that said he routinely goes to 10%. He knew it shortened the life of the battery some, but said that was just a cost he figured in his hobby. And that as long as he was flying having fun, he wanted to enjoy it to the max. Of course, they generally fly pretty close and can autorotate in as needed.

And their batteries probably aren't $150 apiece! Well, I suppose they could be!

 

[Jubalr]

And their batteries probably aren't $150 apiece! Well, I suppose they could be!

LoL... They wish they were! More like $300-500 a piece 6&7s batteries....MaxAmps Store: LiPo Battery Packs, XL Series Packs Products

 

[ahdsr]

My guess is you drained the battery beyond being able to keep it in the air, plus the cold temperature will drain the battery at a much faster rate giving you a skewed readout. Luckily you were 10 feet in the air, and not 50.