Near miss! Orbit hovering and no shut off!

Snowmonkey · Aug 12, 2015

Hey Guys

Hoping you can assist.

I had a near miss this evening that has left me puzzled. I have sent logs to 3DR along with accompanying description but wanted to post here in case you have any suggestions.

Flying solo in fly mode. Solo seemed good but performance seemed a little less accurate than usual and felt as though it was drifting a little. Generally ok until tried to land.

As I came down to low altitude to set up for landing I noted that solo was hovering in a mini orbit pattern approx 3-4 ft diameter. I changed positions, adjusted altitude but every time I tried to hover the same would occur. Eventually I got solo onto the ground and pulled left stick completely down and held down to shut off motors. Motors would not shut off.

Solo started to look as though it was going to roll over on its back so I took off again. Not knowing what to do I managed to grab one of the landing legs and pretty much kept hold of it until battery ran out. During time that I had hold I tried various things to force a shut down including powering controller completely off, throttle down full and holding, holding fly button. Nothing would shut solo off.

Not sure if the the two issues are connected (orbit hovering and failure to shut off). Reluctant to fly again until I know what is going on as I was lucky this evening.

I just replaced all props as had a crash over the weekend but no signs of damage other than all props broken (had been flying in manual and landed but could not get solo to shut off so rolled on its back).

I have looked at Solo carefully this evening especially the motors and the only thing that I have noted is that motor 01 will lift a very slight amount (really slight) versus other motors when I pull on it. Wondering if this could be part of orbit hovering?? Is there a way I can re-seat the motor?

Sorry for all of the questions guys just hoping you can help. Loving flying the drone so far and definitely something I am serious about sticking with.

Cheers.

Adimuzio513 · Aug 12, 2015

That is scary I'd bet your correct about pod 1 causing the issues if it's raising it probably is trying to compensate to level out. Maybe try to level and compass calibration but I'd still be cautious, you'll probably need a new motor pod but it's worth trying this. I'm not sure about reseating the motor but you could tear it down and attempt a rebuild to find out, that's if your comfortable with brushless motors there's really not much to em and if it does this again it's unusable anyway. I've not done aerial motors but have torn down a few brushless surface rc or tool motors and it's easy and should be obvious what's wrong, maybe just a bearing slipped out of place or broke down a bit should be noticable if it's still turning but moving a bit.

Did you try the a+b+pause button to shut down motors, I usually do the same as you tried with stick down but I've had a time or two during issues I've had to use those three buttons to shut it down.
Hope you get it worked out soon good luck seems parts are becoming somewhat available now so that's a plus.

Snowmonkey · Aug 12, 2015

Cheers Adimuzio

First time to the drone RC world so taking things cautiously. I am actually just looking at the motor now and have removed it from Solo. Movement is slight and is only the top section of the motor unit I.e. Th piece that sits above the flush mount to the solo unit. It will lift slightly by either pulling on the prop spindle or the outer housing. Just noted two small hex nuts that go into the spindle so going to try to loosen those off and see if I can re-seat that piece and tighten. Worth a try I guess. Will keep you and others posted on reply from 3DR in case this becomes an issue. Thanks also for the tip on shut off. Time for me to spend more time reading the manual I think as did not try that!!!

Adimuzio513 · Aug 13, 2015

Yea there's some helpful stuff in it, I'm not one to read them usually but did since it was out a while before solo itself and iuand kinda glad I did. This is just my second uav but I've had plenty other rcs mostly surface. It'll walk ya through the calibrations if they don't do it you could try posting your logs here as well there's plenty of guys here with more experience than me or you that could likley help ya diagnose your problem through them just as well as 3dr support. Welcome to 3dr pilots hope you get things figured out soon.

Jubalr · Aug 13, 2015

Small orbit while hovering in Fly mode is generally an indication of the need for compass calibration. Do you have Manual assigned to A or B? Switching to manual and lowering the left stick would have landed then hold left stick down and to the left to shut down. What % of batteries did you have when you had trouble landing?

FYI.. turning off the controller will put the Solo in to RTH, at which point it would want to climb first to pre set altitude. Can you post your logs here for a look? May help someone else.

Fly Safe..
Jubal

Snowmonkey · Aug 13, 2015

Jubalr said:
Small orbit while hovering in Fly mode is generally an indication of the need for compass calibration. Do you have Manual assigned to A or B? Switching to manual and lowering the left stick would have landed then hold left stick down and to the left to shut down. What % of batteries did you have when you had trouble landing?

FYI.. turning off the controller will put the Solo in to RTH, at which point it would want to climb first to pre set altitude. Can you post your logs here for a look? May help someone else.

Fly Safe.

Snowmonkey · Aug 13, 2015

Thanks Jubal

I have manual assigned to A. The crash I had at the weekend before this one was in manual mode and again caused by inability to shut down (held stick down them also).

Thanks for the comments on powering off controller. I have to admit to doing this a little out of desperation having tried a few other things first.

Battery life was probably 30-40% when issues occurred.

Will re-calibrate compass tonight and let you know how that goes. Would be good if that solved the hover issues. I checked the motor out last night and despite the slight ability for it to move, seems perfect and did not note any other issues while in flight. Started the motors up again last night and cannot note any issues so may actually not be a problem??

Will definitely post logs and 3DR response here in case it helps others.

Thanks Jubal.

Rich · Aug 13, 2015

As others have said, there are a few ways to turn off the motors.

The Solo will try to turn off the motors if it automatically detects a landing.

If the auto detect works, if the Solo is on the ground (and the software thinks its on the ground) you can kill the motors by holding the throttle (left) stick all the way down and all the way to the left. You need to hold this position for a couple of seconds.

The 'emergency stop', which will work even if the Solo is flying, is to simultaneously hold the A+B+Pause buttons for a few seconds (watch the green bar on the controller).

I suggest that everyone should try each of these methods a few times to become familiar with them before you need it.

Of course, try it when the Solo is on the ground!

Here are some things to try:

With the Solo on the ground, REMOVE THE PROPELLERS.

Press Fly to arm the motors. they will spin, but no worries, as there are no propellers.
Then hold the throttle down and to the left until the motors stop.
As an alternate way to start the motors, hold the throttle stick down and to the RIGHT for a few seconds, the motors will arm (start to spin), this is similar to the Fly button to start the motors.
This time to kill the motors try the emergency stop: hold the A+B+Pause button. Be sure to hold all of these buttons at the same time (you don't press A, then B, then Pause, but hold all three at the same time).

Practice these a few times until you are comfortable with how each method works.

Remember A+B+Pause will kill the motors anytime, and the Solo will fall out of the sky if it was flying. Throttle Down and to the Left will kill the motors only if the Solo thinks it is not flying.

Sometimes it's easier to start the motors with using the throttle stick down and to the right than it is to hold the Fly button, as this way your fingers are already on the control sticks.

Snowmonkey · Aug 13, 2015

Thanks Rich. Appreciate the tips. I have completed approx 40 flight so famiar with using the throttle as you describe and have done this no probs unt these issues started. Forgot about the AB Pause combo when I had these issues hence I grabbed the bird to avoid damage. That said, practice is always good.

3DR contacted today and indicated that the logs were broken up as I had powered down the controller during the issue occurring so good for folks to know this happens. They have sent a retrieval process for me to use but must be on a windows machine and I am a Mac user. Will keep you folks posted.

Snowmonkey · Aug 14, 2015

Ok.....so I could not resist trying things out again with solo to see if I got the same issues occurring. The only things that I did was to re-calibrate compass and level as well as take out check and re-install the motor that I thought might be damaged. Weird but solo was back to itself and worked perfectly. I performed approx 15 landings and shut downs using a variety of methods and not a single issue. Puzzled to say the least but happy my bird is back up and running.

I will continue to try and retrieve the logs per instructions from 3DR and if successful will let you know what they come up with in case this happens to anybody else.