My Journey Getting the 3dr Solo Back in the Air

chrowe · Sep 21, 2023

I am going to try and record everything I am doing as I try to get my old Solo flying again.
This is meant to just be a place to record and share my experience. I will try to find answers in this forum or ask questions in Solo Help I may also try to put together a guide to help others.

1. Battery
The main issue had been the drone battery not taking a charge and the drone just beeping when powered on. I did a bunch of Googling and Youtube watching and ended up at this video.

Parts
- XT60H connectors Amazon.com
- JST-XH 4S Amazon.com
- Velcro straps Amazon.com
- Battery Amazon.com
- Soldering iron Amazon.com

Over all this seems to have worked. I can now charge the battery with the original charger and it holds a charge for a few minutes. I am hoping that calibrating the battery will give it more flight time.

2. App
I no longer have the original app. I have an Android and based on what I read online it seemed like Solex is the only option so I bought it. Solex - Apps on Google Play

It seems like people have been having issues with it recently though. I wanted to use it to install the latest firmware but got scared by a recent comment in the Play store. Also, it seems like everyone points to Install via Solex App for the instructions on how to do this but this was last updated in 2019. Is this still the process? The whole "green cube" thing confused me for a while but I think What is Green Cube? cleared that up.

3. Camera
I also lost my old GoPro so I bought a used GoPro HERO 4 Silver for $39 off mpb.com
The camera itself works but I can't get it to stream to Solex. There was a message when I first connected the app to the drone about it only working with Open Solo (maybe it said a version) but there was a workaround which I tried that didn't work.

TODO:
1. photos and a video of the battery setup
2. Calibrate battery

chrowe · Sep 21, 2023

I also considered BMSOne V2 Plug and Play but it was out of stock at the time and I decided to go with the cheaper option. I figure I can always switch to that in the future.

chrowe · Sep 22, 2023

Working on battery calibration now.

Battery Calibration questions

Hi guys, I have 2 battery packs with the well-known issue of rapid discharge. I tested both with the Solex "run motors" function and the result is that both have still a lot of power but obviously the battery chip is getting wrong information. When starting the motors with Solex the battery...

3drpilots.com

jonbrotherton · Sep 23, 2023

Yes those are still the current instructions and they work fine if you follow them carefully.

If you haven't seen this about the battery mod check it out. There is info about calibrating it also. Solo Battery Mod for Dummies (Rev).pdf

chrowe · Sep 23, 2023

Thanks, I emailed Kelly about Solex and he pointed me to JB's 3DR Solo Owners Group | Facebook which seems to have a lot of great guides including this one. It seems like the guide expect that you have installed Open Solo before doing the battery calibration, so I may try that first.

jonbrotherton · Sep 23, 2023

chrowe said:
Thanks, I emailed Kelly about Solex and he pointed me to JB's 3DR Solo Owners Group | Facebook which seems to have a lot of great guides including this one. It seems like the guide expect that you have installed Open Solo before doing the battery calibration, so I may try that first.

Open Solo 4 vs Stock firmware shouldn't matter regarding battery calibration. But updating it first wouldn't hurt. I see you joined the group. I can answer questions quicker there.

chrowe · Sep 23, 2023

Firmware update
Following Install via Solex App

I have Solex v2.2.7

Had an issue where the Firmware Updates menu option was not showing up. Stopping the app and restarting seemed to fix that.

The next issue was not seeing the download options: The fix is setting the default vehicle type to Solo. With that set I can basically always see the firmware update menu option and as long as I am connected to the internet I get the list of downloads.

From there the instructions worked. Just note that the versions have changed. It is now 4.0.0, not dev.
I installed the Copter 4.3.2 version.

Now that I have Open Solo installed the GoPro camera is working!

Dave Folts · Sep 23, 2023

I need to get my 2 Solos back in the air so I'm glad you are on-line and doing this - haven't flown these birds since April of 2017 - and my old drone controller tablet is shot, so maybe if I can get that running (busted screen) I can see what the WiFi password is for my two birds....that's where I'm stuck now

chrowe · Sep 23, 2023

Level and Compass Calibration
The firmware update instructions point to Post Install Instructions

I went through the Level Calibration first and that worked fine.
There was a message on the controller about needing compass calibration which I ignored as I was going to do that next.

After restarting I had a hard time getting the drone connected to Solex.

I then started the Compass Calibration step but couldn't get it to complete, it just kept failing.
I did basically what this guy does and I tried 4 or 5 times.

Also tried resetting the parameters from the Solex Firmware Updates page. no luck

Then someone in JB's 3DR Solo Owners Group | Facebook said to check these params
COMPASS_ORIENT = 38
COMPASS_AUTO_ROT = 0

My COMPASS_AUTO_ROT was 1 so I changed COMPASS_AUTO_ROT to 0 and it calibrated the compass first try!

Dave Folts · Sep 25, 2023

Dave Folts said:
I need to get my 2 Solos back in the air so I'm glad you are on-line and doing this - haven't flown these birds since April of 2017 - and my old drone controller tablet is shot, so maybe if I can get that running (busted screen) I can see what the WiFi password is for my two birds....that's where I'm stuck now

FOLLOWUP - I was able to get my old, damaged tablet to work with my two Solo's and here was the result: FoltsBurg Elevation Video - 4K-24Sept23

Now I need to find either an older Android 5 tablet, or take the plunge and upgrade to the currrent Solex ver - The Old version of Solex that I had been using on my old Samsung tablet no longer works