Problems/Fly awaw crash with new Solo

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Hello all, I bought my Solo a few weeks ago and seem to be running into some issues. First of after unboxing I updated the app, Solo, controller, and GoPro. They should all be on the latest firm/software I know Solo and controller is 2.4.

Now for the issues:
1. Hovering- My Solo does not hover very well it will either fly in a circle or just be generally all over the place. It is really bad when close to the ground about 3 feet or less off the ground it gets really bad which makes landing a pain because it does not stop moving, mostly back and forth, and a lot of vertical movement, not side to side. I have done both the compass and level calibrations and they didn't help at all. Some people seem to be saying the stick calibration haven't tried yet anybody know if this works?

2. Gimbal- I have a lot of vibration in my videos, not sure what is causing this. I have opened a ticket with 3dr but they are the slowest I have ever seen. I have checked my wiring and install twice and all looks good. Green light on the gimbal. I have tried new props that the Solo came with and didn't seem to help. Would balancing props help this issue at all?

3. Hot motors- My buddy has a Solo as well we bought them at the same time. After he gets done flying his motors are just warm not big deal I expect that. What I don't expect is what mine does which is hot to the touch almost scolding. What could be causing this issue? Is it linked to the hovering issue (my buddy's has 0 issues hovering while in the air or close to the ground)?

Thanks in advance.
 
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first Id do a level and magnetic cal that should help with the circular drifting.
for the gimbal did you check the vibration dampener balls? is the vibrations constant? do you have the lens hood on the camera? its poddible you are seeing shadows from the prop. can you post a video
for the hot motors its hard to say are you flying very aggressive? when I have my performance settings on slow the motors get warm but If I go to fast and fly aggressive they will get hot.
 
I have already done both the level and compass calibrations with no change at all. Yes I have checked for proper installation of the gimbal twice already. Video of shaky video here. Photo of gimbal here. No I do not fly aggressive I have it on the lowest setting, what I am wondering is if the motors are overcompensating for the poor hovering, but I really can't say. I have yet to turn the speed above the slowest setting.

Edit: Video was taken on a fairly calm day, only about 5mph.

Edit2: Reuploaded video for higher res
 
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OP- I think it's interesting that you are having Solo problems - either real or perceived - and are flying over water. Your video looks like Orbit - is it not?

Vibration mitigation is addressed in many, many threads on this forum and fixes are all over the place for procedures - including prop and motor balancing... and so much more.

Motor temp (taken with a handheld I/R thermometer) has been 110-120 degrees for folks flying in low-mid 90s ambient temps. Seemingly hot, but seemingly normal.

I did, and would do a stick cal - after a careful, slow, and deliberate compass then level cal.
 
Yes I was flying over water, the vibration does not seem to effect flight characteristics at all just video quality. Yes I was setting up an orbit around the lighthouse. I will try the stick calibration as well when I get a chance to do so. As for the motor temps I don't have anything to actually get real numbers from just that when my friend flies his and I fly mine my motors are hotter than his by what in my opinion if a fair amount. I also just got my prop balancer and balanced all my props, there were two that were pretty unbalanced so hopefully that helps some of the issue. Does anybody have any idea about the issues wile low over ground though?
 
So just thought I would update. Flew it after I balanced the props to see if it would help the video at all. I got about 5 minutes into the flight and had a fly away into a tree. Sent in the flight logs to 3dr and we will see what happens.
 
So just thought I would update. Flew it after I balanced the props to see if it would help the video at all. I got about 5 minutes into the flight and had a fly away into a tree. Sent in the flight logs to 3dr and we will see what happens.
Hmmm... that's why I was questioning the decision to fly over water with either 'real or perceived' Solo problems. At least it didn't fly away out to sea...

Keep us posted.
 
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You know I didn't perry I didn't notice but, I know shortly before I had about 8-10. Last I knew when solo lost gps it was supposed to go into manual mode not freak out like it did.
 
W/o seeing the logs it's hard to tell what happened. Just note that If Solo went into manual mode due to GPS or compass glitches it will drift with the wind and react pretty sensitive to stick movements.

Your video looks not too bad to me. You can improve video stability by prop balancing and give it a final touch in post processing.

A little drifting by a couple of feet during landing can happen especially under windy conditions. Practicing to land helps. :)

Motor temperature can easily be in the 130s in hot weather conditions.
As long as temperatures on the motor housing do not exceed 170 F (that could permanently destroy them) you are ok.
 
W/o seeing the logs it's hard to tell what happened. Just note that If Solo went into manual mode due to GPS or compass glitches it will drift with the wind and react pretty sensitive to stick movements.

Your video looks not too bad to me. You can improve video stability by prop balancing and give it a final touch in post processing.

A little drifting by a couple of feet during landing can happen especially under windy conditions. Practicing to land helps. :)

Motor temperature can easily be in the 130s in hot weather conditions.
As long as temperatures on the motor housing do not exceed 170 F (that could permanently destroy them) you are ok.

I am hopping to figure out where to get the flight logs so I can post them here, need to browse for forums and see find a how to. I know that in manual mode it would be a bit touchy and difficult to control but the controller did not vibrate with a warning and it seemed like the flight controls locked up as no stick on the controller was doing anything. It was also fairly calm out as well and with it going as fast as it was there would have to have been a lot of wind. With the landing its not so much drifting that is the issue but a lot of vertical movement as well as back and forth. Thank you for the information about how hot the motors can get I don't think they are near 170 F at all.
 
Ok so I finally got the logs off the controller and into Mission Planner, now what I want to know is what information would be best to be shown inside the graph? What check boxes do you guys want me to check in order to get a good sense of what may have happened?
 
Ok so I finally got the logs off the controller and into Mission Planner, now what I want to know is what information would be best to be shown inside the graph? What check boxes do you guys want me to check in order to get a good sense of what may have happened?
Diagnosing problems using Logs — Copter documentation
Check for any error messages during the flight in question. Of particular interest, Flight mode, GPS and EKF at the point when the incident happened.
 
Hard to tell. Your number of gps satellites is ok but very low, so HDOP would be interesting to see.

Also, Just replay the tlog of the flight in question in MP.
At the exact point the issue started and in the following seconds, check if there are any error messages displayed in the HUD window of MP. They are printed in bold red letters so hard to oversee.
Take note of the messages, and the EKF status by clicking in the EKF letters in the HUD.
 
Ok so I did not know that I could click on the EKF in the HUD. It show a DISARMED throught the whole video. At time 14:13:14 is when the flyaway begins, it begins to hard bank and at 14:3:17 the error ARM:LEANING appears and in the EKF window the compass shoot all the way up past both red lines to the max 1.0. At 14:13:18 the Error Compass Variance shows up, then switches back to ARM:LEANING. At 14:13:25 it shows Waiting for Nav Checks and then immediately switches to BAD AHRS.

HDOP I'm assuming is in the bottom left corner on the map. It starts at 1.2 for the flight and then briefly goes up to 1.5 and then back to 1.2.

I am currently uploading the video to google drive for you guys to review.
If it shows 'Disarmed' the whole time, then that is likely not the right log. It is very easy to do that. That is probably a log where you turned the Solo on to do something else. Leaning would be when you picked it up and set it back down. You will notice in your video that the Solo never left the ground.
 
Almost all of my log files show the disarmed on them.
For obvious reasons, only a limited # of logs are kept depending on where you are retrieving them from. If you have turned your Solo on several times since the crash, you may not have the logs on your controller anymore. Where are you getting the logs from? You may have to SSH into the Solo to see if they are still on there. If you are using an Android device, you can check to see if the logs are still in the Data directory.
 
For obvious reasons, only a limited # of logs are kept depending on where you are retrieving them from. If you have turned your Solo on several times since the crash, you may not have the logs on your controller anymore. Where are you getting the logs from? You may have to SSH into the Solo to see if they are still on there. If you are using an Android device, you can check to see if the logs are still in the Data directory.
I am using WinSCP to pull the logs off of there, I have found the logs from that day and have only powered on solo twice since the incident. I am going to upload the complete log files so as that more experienced people may be able to find the right ones.
 

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