Lost GPS and CRASHED

olegred · Oct 1, 2017

rcflyingaddict said:
I would not fly your Solo in urban environments... for that matter I would not fly my Solo's ( I have 2) there either since it's probably the least reliable footage drone in my fleet.

So, which one do you find to be the most reliable and stable. With autonomous capabilities.

olegred · Oct 1, 2017

Update. I installed new GPS board and new gimbal. Flies perfectly. I am putting in a lot of manual mode time.

olegred · Oct 1, 2017

why is it making this sound, btw?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/m12wuuO7KSUczMlp2

Raptor · Oct 2, 2017

olegred said:
So, I fly Solo to get an aerial view of the buildings for my job. Normally I would use Tower to draw the path and send it out automatically. However, a couple of days ago the drone lost GPS almost immediately after takeoff. It went into manual as it should have, and I was able to bring it home and land.

I was a bit nervous to flight since then. Today I decided to test the drone on the beach. Probably was not a very good idea as I had sand and water on one side and quite a busy street on the other. Anyway, I made one run without a camera and the Solo flew perfectly. I put on the camera and decided to do another one. The drone lost GPS again almost immediately, went into the manual mode, and with the wind and a bit of panic I lost control. All I was able to do was to direct Solo away from the buildings and the water. It landed in the sand broke one propeller and totaled the gimbal. Here's the video of the crash.

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So I was wondering.

1. What causes it to lose GPS?
2. Can anything be done to prevent this?
3. When you go into manual mode and the drone is some distance from you what is the best strategy to bring it back? I was thinking about pushing both levers somewhat to the right, so that it flies in circle and can figure out which way it is directed. BTW, anyone selling gimbal?

Thanks

The lose of GPS is caused by a defect in production. I insulation cover for the GPS board is not properly insulatiting. You could buy a new board but I did a cardboard mod and it has worked terrific since then. I haven't lost a GPS lock in flight since I installed it and I get GPS lock much sooner.
As for the best way to bring it back, I would suggest always keeping to back of the drone facing you. This is rather impractical some times but if you can achieve it will come in handy.
Also from the video I saw that the weather you were flying in was rather inclement. You should avoid any strong winds especially if your just learning how to fly this particular drone. Hope this helps, and good luck.

User Name · Oct 2, 2017

olegred said:
First off, who told you that I did not fly A LOT in the easy environment. I did. My problem was that I lacked recovery skills. Although to be honest, not sure how well any of you would have done, the drone was wild. Otherwise, yeah, I need more manual flight hours, in the wind as well. I am doing it currently. I am also not flying above people anymore.

Didn't mean to presume, I can only go on what you've said, which included that you didn't read the manual, that
you're not that experienced, that you didn't fly much in manual, and that you only fly in urban environments - period.

Be careful discounting a lack of recovery skill by questioning whether anyone else could have done better. Doing so is to let yourself off the hook to a degree. I know exactly the type of loss of control you experienced, the wind catches it, it starts drifting, you don't intuitively know the inputs necessary to get it under control, or worse still, the inputs you think you need to make send it more out of control. Been there, done that. But I did it, many times, in an empty field because I didn't want to injure anyone/damage anything.

It just takes time. Once it clicks, you can determine the quad's orientation just by giving it an input - forward, for example, seeing which direction it goes, and then you reorient your mind and know which inputs will do what.

Like I said, I wasn't meaning to dump on you, I was just taken aback a bit by your comment that you only fly in urban environments, period. It just came across that you were ruling out gaining skills in a more suitable environment.

User Name · Oct 2, 2017

Raptor said:
The lose of GPS is caused by a defect in production. I insulation cover for the GPS board is not properly insulatiting.

Just to caution, the stock GPS suffered from a poor design, not a production defect. While I know people have reported improvements from the "cardboard mod", I'm not sure that's really supported objectively. I believe the original claim was that the bare copper back of the foil shield could short out components on the GPS. But the back of the foil is not bare copper, there's a pretty strong clear film on it, so shorting was never really an issue. I believe that the thin copper foil just wasn't enough to shield the GPS from interference, something a piece of cardboard isn't really going to help.

I believe you can still get the 3DR V2 shields, which is made of a material that shields the specific frequency ranges needed. But the best option is to install one of the newer GPS boards which are designed correctly and use the newer ublox components which pick up many more satellites than the original.

Pedals2Paddles · Oct 2, 2017

There were some old Rev A GPS units that had a problem with the shield contacting the components, and was rectified with cardboard. But that was only some, and probably a production flaw. So anyone that claims the cardboard thing is something everyone should do and has some generic benefit is certainly misinformed. It has some application for some people for specific problems. Not generically for any rev A GPS. The rev A GPS in general is a poorly designed piece of junk. So those few people that actually NEEDED the cardboard just brought them up to the same level of junk as everyone else with a rev A GPS. No amount of cardboard can fix the design flaws that 3DR management forced through production.

The Rev B GPS is an improvement, but still a flawed and weak product. The shorting problem that necessitated the cardboard for some people doesn't happen on the rev Bs either.

The $15 v2 shield available on Amazon from 3DR is by far the cheapest and most effective way to improve your stock GPS, whether it's an A or B.

olegred · Oct 2, 2017

User Name said:
Didn't mean to presume, I can only go on what you've said, which included that you didn't read the manual, that
you're not that experienced, that you didn't fly much in manual, and that you only fly in urban environments - period.

Be careful discounting a lack of recovery skill by questioning whether anyone else could have done better. Doing so is to let yourself off the hook to a degree. I know exactly the type of loss of control you experienced, the wind catches it, it starts drifting, you don't intuitively know the inputs necessary to get it under control, or worse still, the inputs you think you need to make send it more out of control. Been there, done that. But I did it, many times, in an empty field because I didn't want to injure anyone/damage anything.

It just takes time. Once it clicks, you can determine the quad's orientation just by giving it an input - forward, for example, seeing which direction it goes, and then you reorient your mind and know which inputs will do what.

Like I said, I wasn't meaning to dump on you, I was just taken aback a bit by your comment that you only fly in urban environments, period. It just came across that you were ruling out gaining skills in a more suitable environment.

Yeah, you are right.

AussiePilot · Oct 3, 2017

olegred said:
3. When you go into manual mode and the drone is some distance from you what is the best strategy to bring it back? I was thinking about pushing both levers somewhat to the right, so that it flies in circle and can figure out which way it is directed. BTW, anyone selling gimbal?

Feel sorry for you. My first hexactopter that I built had GPS issues. One of the worst days of my life was when it lost GPS over the ocean and I couldn't work out which way it was oriented and pushed it further out to sea. It eventually died in the ocean, along with a GoPro, and a DYS Gimbal.

In answer to your question, the only answer I have is practice flying in manual mode until you get use to piloting it in any orientation. The Solo's lights are awesome for telling which orientation it's in... something I didn't have on my ill-fated hex.

@Maddog is right, altitude is your friend, but in this case it would've been bad for you since your lack of manual flying experience would have caused the wind to push it further away with altitude.

My best advice is to master at least flying it with it pointing away from you. Then no matter how far away it is, if you align the read (rear) lights to you, then you can confidently pilot it back, left, or right, and then down. Then once you master that, get better at flying it in any orientation. It's possible - it just takes time and focus. Good luck - everybody crashes. Just learn from it, improve, and always fly safely when other people are around.