Manual mode scare

[nuggetz]

First time Solo owner. Just picked up my bird yesterday. Watched all the videos and read the manual and I had a little scare. I decided that I just wanted to get the bird off the ground a bit as a test of the controls so I took her out and switched on advanced mode and bound the stabilize mode to the A button. Controller said to turn thrust all the way down and hit A to confirm. Awkward combination since it requires one hand to hit those buttons but I pulled it off and started up the motors.

I slowly began to release the throttle until we got the midway point and the bird was airborne about 3 feet. I practiced some left and right moves with the control and then brought her back down.

I can't quite remember the sequence of things but at one point while it was on the ground the motors started to speed up - equivalent to about halfway mode and the craft came of the ground a few inches. I kept pressing the "pause solo" button as I was in a panic and she finally turned off. What the heck happened? Did I loose my signal for a brief moment? All I know is that I was in the process of trying to get the motors to shutdown so I assume I was pressing the pause button when it happened. But since my heart was beating 1000 times a minute, its possible that I was still on the ground with the left stick pointed all the way down. What would happen if the solo to controller signal is interrupted? In this mode GPS is off so I really want to know what caused this before I attempt another flight. Plan was to fly it manually and under my control before I hand things over to the software. Did I perhaps give the bird some left or right input on the left stick? Still, with very low throttle it shouldn't come off the ground doing that.

Also, my gopro hero 4 seems to lock up on occasion and I'm trying to figure out why. I think it might be related to HDMI or the auto setting for the screen flip. Go pro support had no clue and never heard of it.

 

[Ian [P13]]

You should have used fly:manual that is alt-hold, stabilize is full manual, with the even half throttle is going to set of the motors as with stabilze anything other than all the way down is outputting some power, at least that's how it works with normal Arducopter. Also stabilize can let you take off without any GPS so can leave you without a valid home location.

 

[nuggetz]

You should have used fly:manual that is alt-hold, stabilize is full manual, with the even half throttle is going to set of the motors as with stabilze anything other than all the way down is outputting some power, at least that's how it works with normal Arducopter. Also stabilize can let you take off without any GPS so can leave you without a valid home location.

I didn't see anything about flight hold in the FLY:manual description. See below: I chose stabilize as I wanted the Solo to take care of pitch and roll. In any event, the thing was on the ground when the motors started speeding up. Trying to figure out why that happened. Perhaps I'll log a support case and see what the problem is or if I'm just a bonehead

Fly:Manual
Fly:Manual mode is a version of standard flight without GPS lock. In Fly:Manual, the throttle stick controls altitude the same way as standard flight (Fly mode). However, Fly:Manual includes no GPS positioning so that, when you release the right stick, Solo will not hold its position; it will drift according to wind conditions and existing momentum. When flying in Fly:Manual, make constant adjustment to the right stick to control Solo’s position and use the left stick to maintain Solo’s orientation.

Stabilize
Stabilize mode provides full manual control without autopilot assistance. In stabilize, the autopilot regulates Solo’s roll and pitch angles so that Solo returns to level when you release the right stick. The throttle stick controls power and acceleration directly; it does not correspond to altitude. Stabilize requires fine-tuned control of both the left and right sticks to fly Solo. Stabilize does not require GPS lock.

 

[Retired2Fly]

nuggetz, Lan is right. If you are new to Arducopter flight modes the names and their true flight mode functions can be confusing especially with 3DR deviating from the Arducopter name standards with solo . Fly Manual is Altitude hold also known as pressure hold for some of us old timers. . It does not require GPS and uses solo's Baros to hold altitude

 

[nuggetz]

nuggetz, Lan is right. If you are new to Arducopter flight modes the names and their true flight mode functions can be confusing especially with 3DR deviating from the Arducopter name standards with solo . Fly Manual is Altitude hold also known as pressure hold for some of us old timers. . It does not require GPS and uses solo's Baros to hold altitude

Thats fine. Just going by the descriptions I read. But thats besides the point. I'm trying to explain the unexpected onset of throttle.

 

[Ian [P13]]

I've done this graphic which shows what each flight mode does, it's done representing cars as an analogy.

 

[Burkeam]

I've done this graphic which shows what each flight mode does, it's done representing cars as an analogy.

Thanks Ian. I'm a visual learner. Now I get it.

 

[Adimuzio513]

You lost it bro good stuff. For sure favorite pics acro mode which is why I've not got the courage to try it just yet.

I've done this graphic which shows what each flight mode does, it's done representing cars as an analogy.

Not sure what it did on the ground first I've heard of this one but your best bet for sure is manual mode if you want to fly on your own but don't want to worry if this your first multi. Unless I'm doing smart shots I'm almost always in manual, at first it was because the gps glitch issues I'd had near trees, then I realized I get much smoother video and enjoy it more than fly mode. I can't think of one issue or crash anybodies had because of solo in manual mode, far as I'm concerned it's the safe bet until I'm totally confident all the bugs are gone. Seems like we're pretty much in the clear now but I'm still being cautious just in case, I had two times where I lost gps long before the controller said I did in a pretty clear spot. Both times it veered hard left and was like a tug of war to get it back until I got to manual mode.

Far as your pause button that only works in gps mode if I have an oh $hit moment I usually hit fly and it stops pretty quickly but under twenty feet I try to avoid gps fly mode all together now as I had a couple gps loss issues that nearly caused me to crash.

A lot of guys here are as good as 3dr at reading into your logs and finding what happened and it's a lot quicker than support. I'd post my logs here if your worried about flying again.

Know this isn't a ton of help but just thought I'd weigh in and try to help you avoid the issues I had. Welcome to the site and congrats on the solo, fly safe.

 

[Wahapainan]

The GoPro's are sometimes picky with the memory card as well. If you have another laying around I'd swap it out and see if it still locks up.

 

[Rich]

I also agree and strongly advise that if you are a beginner that you should use Fly:Manual mode to fly without GPS.

Don't try to use Fly:Stabilize. In this mode the left stick is a throttle stick and the spring centering function of the stick works against you. You will probably have to hold constant pressure to hold the stick in just the right position in this mode. The Solo may also not sit on the ground and as you found out, it may want to pop up with the stick centered with the spring return.

After you are very experienced you can try Fly:Stabilize. Honestly it's not a natural feeling to flying this way unless you have experience flying RC Helicopters.

 

[nuggetz]

I also agree and strongly advise that if you are a beginner that you should use Fly:Manual mode to fly without GPS.

Don't try to use Fly:Stabilize. In this mode the left stick is a throttle stick and the spring centering function of the stick works against you. You will probably have to hold constant pressure to hold the stick in just the right position in this mode. The Solo may also not sit on the ground and as you found out, it may want to pop up with the stick centered with the spring return.

After you are very experienced you can try Fly:Stabilize. Honestly it's not a natural feeling to flying this way unless you have experience flying RC Helicopters.

Yeah, I hear ya. Only reason I went for that mode is that it seemed to be the best bet. I only wanted to go up and down really. Just wanted to say I got it off the ground . I'll keep manual mode in mind and probably give that a go tomorrow. I doubt that I let go of the stick as I was attempting to stop the motors so I had the stick down. In all honesty everything happened so fast that I dont know what ultimatly stopped the motors. Perhaps I powered off the controller since the pause button should not work in non-GPS mode like you said but I swear I hit it one time and the motors stopped.

I tried looking at the logs myself thru mission planner but I dont really know what to look for. I'll post them here and maybe someone can give me a play by play and see if the control inputs match what the solo was doing. What files should I post?

 

[Adimuzio513]

I think the newer updates made it to where the motors shut down once it realizes it's back on the ground after a sec maybe that was it. A+b+ pause is meant to shut down motors but hasn't always worked for me, seems if you keep holding down your left stick after landing in manual or fly they shut down easier.

They may have even changed some things in updates the past week where pause could have shut em down on the ground. The first gps glitch I had resulted in a bit of a rough landing and a tip over where the motors stopped, others had the same and they kept going so things have varied a bit. I've only flown a p2 before solo for about a year and I thought stabilize would be easier than manual by the name alone, there's definitley a bit of confusion in which modes do what at first. Think it was Dirby, may have been Jublar did a video he posted explaining and demoing the 3 main modes that helped me more than the manual itself did a while back too. I know it's on Vimeo may be easier to google than search here if they don't chime in with a link.

 

[Erich Springinsguth]

If we change our A button to manual flight can it switch back to fly mode mid flight? Just hit the A button again our change it to fly on the app?

 

[Adimuzio513]

Just push the fly button to swap back from manual to gps.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Yea your fly button always stays mapped to fly gps mode but you can always map any advanced flight mode or any smart shot to a or b. You can also go into settings mid flight and change your a and b buttons or performance setting mid flight without any issues. Just be sure your up a decent ways and clear of objects cause even in gps solo still drifts, even more so when closer to the ground but most anything you can change on the ground you can change in the air too which is nice, can't wait till the gopro settings are the same way.

 

[brunoferreiro]

pause option works in manual mode?

 

[Adimuzio513]

pause option works in manual mode?

I don't think so at least I'm pretty sure it didn't a couple updates ago, also found out last night that mine won't switch from follow me to manual mode which seems odd. It's mapped to my A button and I hit it a few times and got nothing, I had to switch to fly gps first then go into manual mode cause it was making me nervous in follow.

 

[Raybro]

pause option works in manual mode?

According to the manual, it says hit Fly to exit manual mode. I don't know about anyone else but pause takes mine out of manual mode. I can hit fly til the cows come home and it's staying in manual mode.

 

[Adimuzio513]

That's strange I've only touched pause once or twice mine when I hit manual it's manual and I hit fly to go back to gps fly mode. The bar starts to go up when I hit fly like it's going to land but it goes away and enters gps mode. It's so strange that there are these type of differences in individual solos, Its not just here but I've seen it a bunch since release, almost like these computers have a mind of their own.

Uh oh attack of the solos they're evolving I knew there was something to this fear of the "drone." Run for your lives. Soon they'll be controlling us.

 

[Adimuzio513]

And dji customer service will have to save us all. Uh oh