Level calibration failure

lyk2fly · Jul 16, 2017

Hi all,
First I would like to thank everyone for all the information that is on this forum. I've been reading thru threads for quite awhile now and have gleaned a lot of knowledge. I've had many successful flights with my Solo...never crashed it (you all can take credit for this)...and had a blast. Until yesterday when I got the level calibration warning. Since then I've tried to calibrate it using the 3DR app...smacking its bottom...power cycling...all unsuccessful.

I understand that I probably have a pixhawk failure and my question is this: will a reset be worth trying before replacing the pixhawk? or could a reset make matters worse?

I appreciate any advice

lyk2fly · Jul 16, 2017

Ok...so after many attempted level calibrations and several Solo "beatings" it appears the belly area impact has worked

...butt smacks just aren't as effective on my misbehaving drone.
I guess Pixhawk replacement is in my future.

RichWest · Jul 16, 2017

Buddy had the same issue, I went through the entire bird checking all the connection. Final rapped the belly and it worked, strangest thing ever.... Glad it worked for you, here's to no more issues.....

lyk2fly · Jul 16, 2017

Test flight was good after the calibration. I've given some thought to the issue and came to a possible cause.
I keep the Solo in its case upright...so the Solo is in a vertical position over 90% of the time...sometimes in a hot car.
If there is a way for the gyros to "stick" I could see them failing in that situation.
It may not have anything to do with the failure...the Pixhawk may just be prone to this but I'm going to lay the case horizontal in the future...and not leave the drone in a vehicle in hot weather.
Just my 2 cents.

RichWest · Jul 16, 2017

I think I did the trick to mine back in 2015, never was a problem again. I leave my bird in all kinds of positions, the legs are fairly sturdy. But when traveling I normally flip it on its back.

lyk2fly · Jul 16, 2017

RichWest said:
I think I did the trick to mine back in 2015, never was a problem again. I leave my bird in all kinds of positions, the legs are fairly sturdy. But when traveling I normally flip it on its back.

Good to here about the longevity of the "smack"... I did pick up one of the eBay parts Solos so I should have a spare Pixhawk if needed.
I hope my repair lasts as long as yours.

Lon Denard · Jul 16, 2017

lyk2fly said:
Good to here about the longevity of the "smack"... I did pick up one of the eBay parts Solos so I should have a spare Pixhawk if needed.
I hope my repair lasts as long as yours.

Yea I rediscovered the smack a few months ago and my unit kept working afterwards. No further problems of that type anyway.

just_bruce · Jul 17, 2017

Stiction is a real thing folks. A real, real thing.

Doringtoon · Jul 22, 2017

I can't be certain but I noticed that I was unable to calibrate sensors (the controller seemed to hang). I then noticed that my android device still had Tower running even though I had shut the app down. My thinking is there is some conflict when solo is rebooting, say, after a battery swap between it and Tower (or its ether remnant). Anyway I properly canned Tower, restarted Solo and she connected immediately and without the need for recalibration.

Pedals2Paddles · Jul 23, 2017

If you don't actually press disconnect in the Tower menu, the app will stay running and stay connected.

Doringtoon · Jul 23, 2017

Thanks Pedals, makes sense. Do you think having Tower partially open in the background when Solo comes back to life creates a conflict with something (solo app, Solo itself) and screws around with calibration?