My scariest moment so far with my Solo

[DattaGroover]

Was flying yesterday (In Colorado, elevation about 5300 ft) and my Solo as maybe 150 feet up and 300 feet away when it lost GPS and started flying fast in random direction. Very low wind, so that was not it.
I still (mostly) had control, and manually started bringing it back home, but it kept darting wildly and at random moments. The GPS would come back, and then get lost again. I kept it in manual mode and brought it down safely after some wild zig zags.

I have momentarily lost GPS only once before, and not like this. That was before I replaced my GPS shield.

Any idea what could have caused this?

 

[Maddog]

Not sure. After GPS is lost, Solo is supposed to automatically switch to FLY: MANUAL. Did this happen?

Maybe the GPS shield installation?

Post the logs and maybe one of the smart guys can figure it out.

 

[User Name]

Just to clarify, it announced that it lost GPS and then started heading off in a random direction? And you switched it to manual and it still kept darting off?

It's suppose to drop to manual automatically, in which case, you should have full control. If it didn't announce a loss of GPS, it could have been a poor/glitching GPS fix, which would explain it fighting you as it would constantly think it's supposed to be here, or there or somewhere else.

But if it explicitly was in manual and still darting off... that would be concerning.

 

[DattaGroover]

Not sure. After GPS is lost, Solo is supposed to automatically switch to FLY: MANUAL. Did this happen?

Yep!

Maybe the GPS shield installation?

Been on at least a hundred flights with zero issues with the new shield- and I installed it very carefully.

Post the logs and maybe one of the smart guys can figure it out.

Okay. What's the best way to do that? I know how to send the logs to 3DR, but not download them.

Today, I flew 3 batteries worth, and it was all flawless.

 

[DattaGroover]

Just to clarify, it announced that it lost GPS and then started heading off in a random direction? And you switched it to manual and it still kept darting off?

Lamost- it automatically switched to manual (like it is supposed to) then immediately took off. Fortunately I was able to battle the invisible demon and won, and landed ASAP.

It's suppose to drop to manual automatically, in which case, you should have full control.

That's what happened except I only had partial control.

If it didn't announce a loss of GPS, it could have been a poor/glitching GPS fix, which would explain it fighting you as it would constantly think it's supposed to be here, or there or somewhere else.

It DID announce the GPS loss, and the GPS kept coming and going, fairly rapidly. Here in Colorado, the satellite coverage is plentiful. I believe it was showing 14 Sats.

But if it explicitly was in manual and still darting off... that would be concerning.

Yes, exactly why I am concerned. I went out today and flew 3 batteries worth, and it was totally flawless. Go figure! Maybe a loose internal connection to the GPS module?

This happened a few times with my Phantom 2 a couple of years back, but never with my Solos.

 

[User Name]

It DID announce the GPS loss, and the GPS kept coming and going, fairly rapidly. Here in Colorado, the satellite coverage is plentiful. I believe it was showing 14 Sats.

Yea, that's really strange. When the GPS would come back, would it automatically switch back to Fly? Or once it switched to Manual, did it stay there? If it kept trying to switch back to Fly with an on again/off again GPS fix, that could explain the darting off.

 

[BigTulsa]

I'm fairly new to the forum here but not to multicopters ( I have two DIY hexacopters running Pixhawks as well as the Solo).

Do we know if the K-Index was high today? It doesn't appear that it was...

Planetary K-index | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

 

[User Name]

I'm fairly new to the forum here but not to multicopters ( I have two DIY hexacopters running Pixhawks as well as the Solo).

Do we know if the K-Index was high today? It doesn't appear that it was...

Planetary K-index | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

That's the first thing I checked. Doesn't seem like it was an issue.

 

[DattaGroover]

Just to clarify, it announced that it lost GPS and then started heading off in a random direction? And you switched it to manual and it still kept darting off?

It's suppose to drop to manual automatically, in which case, you should have full control. If it didn't announce a loss of GPS, it could have been a poor/glitching GPS fix, which would explain it fighting you as it would constantly think it's supposed to be here, or there or somewhere else.

But if it explicitly was in manual and still darting off... that would be concerning.

That's the first thing I checked. Doesn't seem like it was an issue.

I checked too. Doesn't seem like it was.

 

[DattaGroover]

Yea, that's really strange. When the GPS would come back, would it automatically switch back to Fly? Or once it switched to Manual, did it stay there? If it kept trying to switch back to Fly with an on again/off again GPS fix, that could explain the darting off.

Hard to say, as I was in panic mode (gotta get this back and land it now), but it might have been going back to fly. It's not SUPPOSED to do that as far as I know. Once it's in Manual it should stay in Manual until you hit fly, no?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

It sounds more like an EKF error initiated the switch to manual. If the GPS position and movement data disagrees with the IMU data, it will failover to manual and ignore the GPS. This most often happens due to a bad power-up calibration. Which usually happens when you power up next to buildings, towers, cars, or while moving around. Given that it behaved normally thereafter, I think that supports the theory.

 

[DattaGroover]

It sounds more like an EKF error initiated the switch to manual. If the GPS position and movement data disagrees with the IMU data, it will failover to manual and ignore the GPS. This most often happens due to a bad power-up calibration. Which usually happens when you power up next to buildings, towers, cars, or while moving around. Given that it behaved normally thereafter, I think that supports the theory.

That sounds logical. I powered it up in the middle of a large field, away from things, but still, sometimes these flying machines suddenly get a wild hair.

 

[User Name]

That sounds logical. I powered it up in the middle of a large field, away from things, but still, sometimes these flying machines suddenly get a wild hair.

Can you post the logs (both telemetry and dataflash) from the flight?

 

[Maddog]

Yep!

Been on at least a hundred flights with zero issues with the new shield- and I installed it very carefully.

Okay. What's the best way to do that? I know how to send the logs to 3DR, but not download them.

Today, I flew 3 batteries worth, and it was all flawless.

Heres a start:
Downloading and Analyzing Data Logs in Mission Planner — Copter documentation

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[DattaGroover]

Heres a start:
Downloading and Analyzing Data Logs in Mission Planner — Copter documentation

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Thanks!

 

[STM]

What firmware version are you using?