My Solo failure today - am excited -why

[Burkeam]

I was flying a auto mission today @ 140' when I saw my Solo doing some assume aerobatics- not programmed. After doing a flip or two at recovered at about 45 feet. I decided to take control to get here down and a few moments later she flips again but this time experienced a allergic reaction with gravity. There she laid silent and broken. I recalled hearing my wife gasp as it was falling and I was just smiling. It was at this point when the true value of the 3DR Solo came to mind. I smiled because if this was a DJI I would be at a loss. Told my wife no worries. I'll have a replacement before this weekend. Let see.
Now for you guys whom like to pinch pennies and think the Solo is too much $. You would have to buy two DJIs if you had my experience today.

Thank you 3dr. OK let wait till the final verdict but this was a equipment failure and thank you for the 3DR warranty,

What a tuff bird- still broke but impressed

 

[Rusty Jones]

Would love to see the logs once you send them to 3DR. Any idea what failed??

What's the red wire for on the bottom??

 

[Burkeam]

hook/lifting strap. originally designed to fish my P2V+. I use the yellow rod recovery system. It''s a bobber with 100' thread that releases after 10 minutes under water. Here are all controller logs for the flight

 

[Burkeam]

What unusual about this shot is the gimbal is facing down for surveying. a nose dive/flip caught in the act.

 

[Jubalr]

Sorry to hear of this B. First glance at logs looks like a motor failure. You were running a normal 15-18a current draw thorough the mission. Just before it started acting up it went to 24-28a, indicating a possible motor starting to seize. When you went to Manual to bring it in, it went as high as 38a. Looks like you were real close to having it back home too.

 

[Burkeam]

Interesting observation. The 1st drop was high current. All four motors still run and feel the same? As I mentioned here before it would be great to see individual motor current.

 

[SPP]

B,
A bit off topic...

Just curious, is your GPS replaced to a neo8 ?
I see you can get up to 22 Sats, 50% of the flight.

I am not good with error finding on logs, I am wanting to learn

Thanks

 

[Burkeam]

Yes - last summer and had discussion with 3DR about doing so. A lot has evolved since.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

There's a saying in the aviation world that applies to emergency landings. When your engine dies or the landing gear won't come down, stop worrying about minimizing damage to the plane. It's not yours anymore. The insurance company bought it the moment it failed. Concentrate on keeping the humans inside it safe, and let the plane take the lumps.

Told my wife no worries. I'll have a replacement before this weekend

I think "before the weekend" might be a stretch. When you begin the communication with 3DR, insist on 2 day shipping both ways rather than the usual 5-7 day ground. Also, you will find the live chat on their website to be far more productive and quick than the email method.

 

[SPP]

Yes - last summer and had discussion with 3DR about doing so. A lot has evolved since.

Awesome B, thanks.

 

[Burkeam]

There's a saying in the aviation world that applies to emergency landings. When your engine dies or the landing gear won't come down, stop worrying about minimizing damage to the plane. It's not yours anymore. The insurance company bought it the moment it failed. Concentrate on keeping the humans inside it safe, and let the plane take the lumps.


I think "before the weekend" might be a stretch. When you begin the communication with 3DR, insist on 2 day shipping both ways rather than the usual 5-7 day ground. Also, you will find the live chat on their website to be far more productive and quick than the email method.

Plan on chatting now. Was waiting for the west coast to wake up. I also had drop and liquid damage insurance - wht the hell would they sell this for drones? No the serial number changes so that policy is no good. I will also have to transfer the registration of my N#. I was ready to buy another spare just for this scenario so I can also Best Buy the spare 1st. It's raining for the next four days and then on a road trip so I really wanted to hack the Qx1 this week anyways - in the spare time- yea right....

 

[Rusty Jones]

If you have the dataflash logs, look at RCOUT1, 2, 3,4 (it may be RCOU1, 2, 3,4) It will tell you mow much throttle the flight controller is giving to each ESC. It might show which motor had more drag on it.

 

[Burkeam]

If you have the dataflash logs, look at RCOUT1, 2, 3,4 (it may be RCOU1, 2, 3,4) It will tell you mow much throttle the flight controller is giving to each ESC. It might show which motor had more drag on it.

sweet. thanks - will do

 

[Burkeam]

From what I can tell the motors were with reason. It started to drop at 13:56:29/30. attached is the bin - zipped. Still learning how to read them but what is the direct AGL/altitude. Feet or meters?

 

[Burkeam]

Chat said a engineer will be getting back to me with in 24 hour to resolve.

Log analyzer says.
Log File C:/Users/Burke/AppData/Local/Temp/tmpC08F.tmp.log
Size (kb) 12724.3720703125
No of lines 191368
Duration 0:07:14
Vehicletype ArduCopter
Firmware Version solo-1.2.23
Firmware Hash 73e08529
Hardware Type
Free Mem 0
Skipped Lines 0

Test: Autotune = NA -
Test: Balance/Twist = NA -
Test: Brownout = FAIL - Truncated Log? Ends while armed at altitude 11.15m
Test: Compass = GOOD - mag_field interference within limits (9.05%)
Max mag field length (564.16) > recommended (550.00)

Test: Dupe Log Data = GOOD -
Test: Empty = GOOD -
Test: Event/Failsafe = FAIL - ERR found: FLT_MODE
Test: GPS = GOOD -
Test: IMU Mismatch = WARN - Check vibration or accelerometer calibration. (Mismatch: 0.79, WARN: 0.75, FAIL: 1.50)
Test: Parameters = GOOD -
Test: PM = NA -
Test: Pitch/Roll = NA -
Test: Thrust = NA -
Test: VCC = GOOD -

 

[Rusty Jones]

From what I can tell the motors were with reason. It started to drop at 13:56:29/30. attached is the bin - zipped. Still learning how to read them but what is the direct AGL/altitude. Feet or meters?

I can't read until late tonight, but I believe mission planner default is in meters


On edit:

I see your log was truncated as well. Yours at the 7:14 minute mark. I have been having that same problem. 3DR support thinks it is how I D/L the logs. How are you D/Ling the logs?

Now if the log only goes 7+/- minutes, and you say the fall started at the 13:56 mark, then the motor issue will not be in those logs. The TLogs should also have the RCOU1, 2, 3, 4 data. Will be interesting to see what 3DR says.

 

[Burkeam]

it is in meters

 

[Norval]

I have a Solo and a DJI phantom. I have experimented the good american company service. and while I did took a bit of time, they did things the correct way. Well done 3DR!!!
At night, I wake up in shock when I dream that I have a problem with the phantom...and the little Chinese voice on the phone tells me: sorry, your fault, buy a new one!

 

[Burkeam]

Update. I am very sorry to say DJI customers cannot brag about their customer service as much as I can about 3dr's.
Jubair - bad motor. #3 was failing - I didn't see that much of a current spike between the four motor. I'm going to ask them to screenshot the log for education purposes- will share if so.

About my bird. I will have a replacement on delivered on Friday. They are replacing the Solo and gimbal - some discussions on the GP4. Agreed to 2 day ship after receiving my complete package. As to escalate I offer to give my CC# to hold the replacement cost until the returns are complete. They kindly agreed.

3DR is absolutely the Fing best in customer service. Every interaction with them have left me feeling great. My god why can others learn from them. By the way this level of excellence in customer service and warranty is easily worth 25% of the cost. Why do people compare it to DJI? - no I really don't care for your answer. lol. I'm stubborn on this opinion and right now feeling great about it.

Holding true to the title of this post

Burke

 

[Bigskyflyer]

Update. I am very sorry to say DJI customers cannot brag about their customer service as much as I can about 3dr's.
Jubair - bad motor. #3 was failing - I didn't see that much of a current spike between the four motor. I'm going to ask them to screenshot the log for education purposes- will share if so.

About my bird. I will have a replacement on delivered on Friday. They are replacing the Solo and gimbal - some discussions on the GP4. Agreed to 2 day ship after receiving my complete package. As to escalate I offer to give my CC# to hold the replacement cost until the returns are complete. They kindly agreed.

3DR is absolutely the Fing best in customer service. Every interaction with them have left me feeling great. My god why can others learn from them. By the way this level of excellence in customer service and warranty is easily worth 25% of the cost. Why do people compare it to DJI? - no I really don't care for your answer. lol. I'm stubborn on this opinion and right now feeling great about it.

Holding true to the title of this post

Burke

Burke, just curious, has 3dr upgraded the motors on the solo? They seem to fail at an alarming rate. Some of the people out there must be getting close to being out of warranty and I am sure 3dr won't keep replacing equipment due to obviously weak motors that they continue to put in the solo. Just thinking that it will hurt to watch your investment smack the ground from 200 ft a week after the warranty expires.