Lost radio signal (or not ?), after RTL Solo landed on the roof.

[pete]

they must be doing some GEO blocking, I get 12 items on this page 1 and further 2 items on page 2, none of which is the extended battery.

but when I click on the battery link you provided above then it shows up

 

[Rich]

Read this, it may help your loss signal issue:

How to: Avoid loss of controller connection

 

[pete]

Read this, it may help your loss signal issue:

How to: Avoid loss of controller connection

thanks, that helps. going to find that Nexus One and see how far I get with it...

 

[Rich]

I'd look into issues with WiFi before thinking about battery issues.

 

[pete]

I'd look into issues with WiFi before thinking about battery issues.

definitely yes, I want the extended battery for other reasons

 

[locutus]

I had a similar issue last august. I lost comms and the pods were flashing red front to back.it landed in a shallow lake. I launched without a home location due to past GPS issues.

 

[pete]

Read this, it may help your loss signal issue:

How to: Avoid loss of controller connection

so I fired up that old Android phone, can't believe it's still working after all these years. installed the Wi-fi analyzer. I get 2 routers on channel 1, 1 router on channel 6, another router on channel 11 and also found Samsung wireless printer on channel 11 (I forgot about that one).
Solo controller is on channel 8.

the strength of the signals varies as I walk through the house, being 5m away from the router or controller gives me -60db to -50db each and then it gets weaker as I walk away.
I'll try it around the house tomorrow, it's past midnight now.

 

[SPP]

U know, radio interference is not something new or uncommon. We get bad cell phone connection often in certain areas.

GoPro wifi Apps cutting off once in a while , or GSM cell phone when placed to close to something with audio amplifiers may get that famous GSM inteference sound. Or even our laptop/PC on wifi will experience slow response upon pressing a link or needing to click twice the link.

However with Solo having many safety parameters programmed into it, example where it will RTH the drone if X or Y or Z happen simply due to data or signal loss of 2 seconds, that made us more visually aware of the implication or the existence of the actual inteference itself

I see west of your place has a marina. Marine radar if S band works on 3Ghz, if say there is a coast guard station in that region, maybe it can interfere when you fly high enough to get their radar sweep ?. Or your neighbour's wifi router could have strayed signal, who knows.

My 2nd internet provider uses radio link from their place to mine. I use two internet providers as back-up, the other one uses cable modem. I wonder if I fly to within the path of that radio link line of sight transmission, what would happen to my Solo

 

[pete]

1 marina is west, another east of me (I thing that's the closest one) and another south/west, not sure where the coast guard is stationed.

I have 2 of those Mikrotik R11e cards, not installed yet because I think these are illegal in Australia but I'm planning to put them in when I travel to the remote outback, would these help with interference and can actually any law enforcement body find out if I start using them ?

 

[Juniormelgoza]

I had the exact same thing happen to me. I was flying over the ocean and I lost signal to Solo. It RTH back the the pier and I had no control over it. The controller's battery was at about 75%. I flew Solo again in my backyard and it once again RTH without being able to regain control. It was over my roof, but somehow managed to swerve away from it at the last second and I grabbed its landing gear while it was still descending. I have no idea what's causing this issue.

 

[rassalas]

I think the controller low battery is a bunch of Houey. Where's your flight log? Seems like Jubair is so desperate to believe in 3DR he''ll go to any lengths to make up some sort of excuse for them.
Lets have some data, do a flight log dump.

 

[pete]

I think the controller low battery is a bunch of Houey. Where's your flight log? Seems like Jubair is so desperate to believe in 3DR he''ll go to any lengths to make up some sort of excuse for them.
Lets have some data, do a flight log dump.

flight log is attached to the original post when I started this thread :
Lost radio signal (or not ?), after RTL Solo landed on the roof.

if you can make some sense of that log, you are welcome, I don't know how to read for example controller battery level from the log.

that day I believe the low controller battery might have been the cause, I was really running at low level (controller battery).

in today's flight this was not the case, it was fully charged.

 

[Jubalr]

I think the controller low battery is a bunch of Houey. Where's your flight log? Seems like Jubair is so desperate to believe in 3DR he''ll go to any lengths to make up some sort of excuse for them.
Lets have some data, do a flight log dump.

The low battery on the controller was what the OP originally posted, not what I offered. And yes, a low or dead battery will initiate an RTH, that is a fact. The discussion was at what actual voltage reading would trigger it. Where is the desperation in that? And IF you had read the whole thread you would know that he posted his log already.

 

[PdxSteve]

Here is the extended battery for the controller. It makes quite a difference in time between charges.

So much so I go weeks in between charges, and forget to charge sometimes because of that.

 

[Jubalr]

So much so I go weeks in between charges, and forget to charge sometimes because of that.

Same here Steve, I have to remember to check it every now and then. Still don't think it has ever been below 50% even after a month. Flew 4 batteries today after charging the controller last weekend and it shows one notch below full. Well worth the money.

 

[rassalas]

The low battery on the controller was what the OP originally posted, not what I offered. And yes, a low or dead battery will initiate an RTH, that is a fact. The discussion was at what actual voltage reading would trigger it. Where is the desperation in that? And IF you had read the whole thread you would know that he posted his log already.

Suggesting the controller would lock the operator out as a failsafe is total houey. If the Controllor actually behaved that way it would be a bug, not a feature.

Sorry If I don't waste time reading all the ridiculous assumptions and suppositions. Still as long as that's what you seem to feed on did anyone suggest that the solar panels might be creating a lot of EM interference?

 

[J R]

A little testy today, Huh, Ras? Ease up a bit, nobody else here seems to be in a tizzy over anything. Just discussing various scenarios, no biggie. Jubalr provides a lot of useful info here, perhaps you'll do the same. You've certainly been here long enough to do so. I look forward to absorbing some of your knowledge and expertise!

Respectfully,

Jerry

 

[SPP]

Ras,
Assuming Pete's solar panel uses the "noisiest" kind of inverter, the micro ones, he would probably had more problem with his Solo during majority of the entire flight and not on some short seconds.

I said noisiest a micro invreter is, because a micro one will be installed behind each and every solar panel.
.

 

[Maddog]

I had the exact same thing happen to me. I was flying over the ocean and I lost signal to Solo. It RTH back the the pier and I had no control over it. The controller's battery was at about 75%. I flew Solo again in my backyard and it once again RTH without being able to regain control. It was over my roof, but somehow managed to swerve away from it at the last second and I grabbed its landing gear while it was still descending. I have no idea what's causing this issue.

Hi Junior- welcome to the forum!

Are you using an iOS or Android device?

 

[Rich]

so I fired up that old Android phone, can't believe it's still working after all these years. installed the Wi-fi analyzer. I get 2 routers on channel 1, 1 router on channel 6, another router on channel 11 and also found Samsung wireless printer on channel 11 (I forgot about that one).
Solo controller is on channel 8.

the strength of the signals varies as I walk through the house, being 5m away from the router or controller gives me -60db to -50db each and then it gets weaker as I walk away.
I'll try it around the house tomorrow, it's past midnight now.

Remember, the WiFi channels overlap. So if your home has WiFi signals on channels 1, 6 and 11, pretty much any of these may interfere with the Solo even if it's on one of the 'in-between' channels.

So it's not so easy to know if you are getting interference at all, and the Solo will see different conditions flying around vs you standing on the ground with your controller.