No Video Feed - Out of Ideas`

[Ed Beck]

I took my gimbal off to add a weight into the plastic cover (for balance) and when putting the gimbal back together a screw fell into the solo. I retrieved it and I only mention it because it's the only different thing that's happened.

Yesterday, before the gimbal thing, it was fine. This morning I did the above and now I have no video to my iPhone 3DR App, Tower or Solex.

What I've done:

1. Removed gimbal to take it out of the equation. Solo video connection is properly seated in the Hero 4 Silver.
2. Factory reset Solo. This included the usual updating and pairing, which besides being a pain is all done. Solo and controller have latest software and are paired.
3. I took it apart to check the video connection. Yup - still soldered in place on the board.
4. Multiple reboots of everything, including my favorite - pulling the battery from the GoPro.
5. Oh yeah - since I took the gimbal out I've made sure to turn the GP on .

So I'm out of ideas, anyone have another suggestion?

 

[just_bruce]

Did you check the video connection at both ends?

 

[Ed Beck]

Did you check the video connection at both ends?

Yes

 

[andrew.baker.142]

On my Solo the HDMI plug is kinda hard to fully seat into the GoPro. Might want to consider removing and reseating that connection.

 

[hackbard23]

1. remove the gimbal
2. unplug the HDMI Cable from gimbal and plug it into your gopro
3. try video on your phone

if there is still no video, try another HDMI cable from gopro to your TV

 

[Ed Beck]

1. remove the gimbal
2. unplug the HDMI Cable from gimbal and plug it into your gopro
3. try video on your phone

if there is still no video, try another HDMI cable from gopro to your TV

Removing the gimbal was my first step but I haven't tried going from the gopro straight to a TV. Thanks.

 

[june03dr]

I'm on my second 3DR Solo now. Bought it on release (before gimbal was available). First firmware was perfect, and everything worked exactly as described and promoted, really well. Crashed the first a year after owning it due to misjudging flight as there was no video feed after a buggy firmware update. Bought a second gimbal and a heap of new blades also. Like an idiot I reinvested due to having the backpack.

But yeah. 3 years later. What a joke of a drone system overall. More and more bugs introduced with every firmware update. Most of those bugs being related to video feed. I could stream any video setting including 4K S on my GoPro 4 Black (the specific model Solo was designed around since I don't need to use the weights with it), no problems at all. Every firmware update (since gimbal release) has since made the GoPro/Solo cohesion increasingly non-existent. Then throw in a GoPro firmware update after GoPro release their own drone system. Ha. The video feed issues are consistent across Apple ipad/ipod/iphone devices and Android mobiles/tablets.

Then there's the 4 "Smart Batteries" I bought that have actually killed themselves by discharging so much, with their "smart discharge" feature. When they were brand new I would also have to work out the *exact* time to charge them before a job so they didn't "smart discharge" on the drive there...but these issues are nothing compared to the ailing video feed. Batteries were 4 x 35min brand new, are now 4 x 15min. Combined with video feed problems all the time is wasted troubleshooting.

I know 2 other Solo owners and they have the exact same video-feed issues, and now we increasingly have GPS-lock issues too (Australia). Most likely due to 3DR skimping on using the GLONASS system as well. Other brands use it.

Compared to other drone system's ease of use and completely functional video feed whilst recording/photographing I really feel like 3DR have ripped a lot of people off reading the sheer amount with these exact same issues online. The main selling point, automation, is useless without the video feed.

Thanks 3DR.

Hmm interesting. I have two solos i purchased about 8 months ago one has stock firmware and the other has an updated firmware called open solo and both of my solos have been fine. I use a gopro hero 4 silver. Both have gimbals. I have 5 batteries i get like 17 minute flight times. I have taken my solo to farmland and sent it on a 5 mile round trip autonomous mission no problem. Sorry to hear your not happy with yours but you might want to look up open solo. Might help you. Also I'd like to add today was my second time sending my dji mavic pro drone in for repairs due to signal/ distance issues. I think they sold me a dud haha. Since day one nothing but problems with it But im not giving up on the mavic hopefully they will fix it right this time around.

 

[David Boulanger]

I'm wondering if the video feed problem is because of your smart device. I have five Solo's with no issues. GPS is stock? Have you thought about upgrading the GPS. Do you have a flight log to look at.

 

[june03dr]

Now that issue in Australia is something I’ve never heard about not saying it’s not true. If 3dr was selling them there and it’s still an issue over there yea that’s pretty messed up on them. One guy who knows way more than me on the solo software and hardware is pedals2paddles. I’m just going off my experience with my two birds.

Yeah you should try 3DR's Solo system in Australia. A lot of GPS coverage has been lost. Most of the underlying issues on the Solo such as video feed are made worse due to the CPU spending so much time focusing on GPS lock (which is lost during flight a lot). Firmware 1.0 was the only one that worked perfectly with all the automation and GoPro video feed. Firmware 2.0 onwards has been tragic and I cringed every time I saw one as I knew it would make the drone worse. Open Solo 3.0 is a lot more stable but is full of issues, and if you read the GitHub page all those issues are from 3DR.

This is consistent across multiple Solo owners in Australia. The system does not operate properly here as it was advertised...full automation. Follow mode is the biggest joke, can't even keep up with me riding a push-bike 20km/h without GPS d/c and video-feed d/c.

DJI have sporadic issues here and there but at least attempt to fix. 3DR Solo literally admitted to their system's failure and have now shut shop for their consumer division. I have contacted support endless times via a range of different methods and been ignored every time. I spent $10,000aud on 2 drones and the endless accessories, not including the GoPro.

Everything about the Solo is too buggy to operate it outside of manual flight, which I could have gotten any other drone for. I bought Solo for automation, and it fails at that hard. I bought a $50 drone off aliexpress a few months ago and the 2 limited automotive functions it comes with put the Solo to shame.

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