Return Home and range

[Duncan Johnston]

Probably a silly question, but a search didn't immediately turn up the answer I was looking for, so....

If Solo is FAR from the controller ( I managed over a mile distance with the Alfa antenna) will it take into consideration it's distance for an automatic Return Home initiation?

Or, is it up to us as pilots to recognize that we need to bring it back before "bingo fuel" as they say in the flying world?

When I was WAY OUT with my Solo in the desert yesterday, I did a manual Return Home, fearing the less than 50% charge remaining wouldn't be sufficient, just wondering if I hadn't, would it have gone down somewhere before it could make it back.

 

[PdxSteve]

No, the failsafes have to do with the battery level and nothing to do with distance. If you're 2 miles out and the 15% low battery RTH kicks in, it will start to head home, but when it doesn't have enough juice to keep flying it will land where it is, wherever that is. Same if it loses contact with the controller, except you may be able to regain contact as it starts to head home after signal loss.

 

[SteveReno]

Solex has this feature, if checked, will give you a warning or RTM will kick in "Distance & battery level" used to calculate
I don;t have the App, but this was said to be a exclusive feature of Solex App

 

[Mountain Flyer]

Solex also has a find drone option so if you don't quite make it back at least you know where it was last.

 

[Number 5 Solo]

That's a very good question Duncan Johnston. I've always been a Dji drone guy but I have recently switched to 3DR solo because of their future proof platform and smart shots plus not to mention my inspire 1 dropped out out the sky recently with no apparent reason after updating my Dji go app so I'm done with Dji. Dji is just a money hungry company who does not backup their own products. One thing I like about Dji inspire or phantom 3 is that it calculates your distance and battery level and gives you a warning to go home because it may not have enough power to go home because of it's distance. So I guess 3DR solo doesn't have that feature yet but I'm sure in the future updates they will include that.

 

[SARDG]

...One thing I like about Dji inspire or phantom 3 is that it calculates your distance and battery level and gives you a warning to go home because it may not have enough power to go home because of it's distance. So I guess 3DR solo doesn't have that feature yet but I'm sure in the future updates they will include that.

Only significant updates you'll likely ever see are on Solex, and Solex has that feature.

 

[Number 5 Solo]

Is solex available in iOS?

 

[SARDG]

Is solex available in iOS?

Negative!

 

[Maddog]

Probably a silly question, but a search didn't immediately turn up the answer I was looking for, so....

If Solo is FAR from the controller ( I managed over a mile distance with the Alfa antenna) will it take into consideration it's distance for an automatic Return Home initiation?

Or, is it up to us as pilots to recognize that we need to bring it back before "bingo fuel" as they say in the flying world?

When I was WAY OUT with my Solo in the desert yesterday, I did a manual Return Home, fearing the less than 50% charge remaining wouldn't be sufficient, just wondering if I hadn't, would it have gone down somewhere before it could make it back.

Actually, that's a GREAT question!
Not only can you fly too "far" to be able to get back but too "high". If I recall correctly, a Solo owner in Mexico discovered that 1000' above ground did not leave him enough battery to get back on the ground. Motors stopped about 50' above ground, but somebody caught it- and was injured- before it hit the ground.