Return home low battery

Dustin · Oct 28, 2015

So twice now I have been hovering the solo near me a few feet off the ground about to land when the return home was activated by low battery. The first act of the return home seems to be shoot upward to a safe altitude. But should it even shoot up to return home altitude when it's within 10 feet of it's return home coordinates? In one of the cases I was hovering the solo near a structure. When I it shot up to RH altitude is just barely missed an overhanging roof. Seems like the Solo needs fail safe that prevents this when it's very close to the remote. Is there a setting to disable RH in low battery situation? I am not a moron, I fly it home when the battery is low.

Jubalr · Oct 28, 2015

Dustin said:
So twice now I have been hovering the solo near me a few feet off the ground about to land when the return home was activated by low battery. The first act of the return home seems to be shoot upward to a safe altitude. But should it even shoot up to return home altitude when it's within 10 feet of it's return home coordinates? In one of the cases I was hovering the solo near a structure. When I it shot up to RH altitude is just barely missed an overhanging roof. Seems like the Solo needs fail safe that prevents this when it's very close to the remote. Is there a setting to disable RH in low battery situation? I am not a moron, I fly it home when the battery is low.

It's not good for the LiPo batteries to be taken so low in voltage. But yes, when RTH is initiated it will go to the height you told it to when going in to RTH. You can put it in manual as soon as you see it going into RTH and land it manually as that will save some juice rather than climbing.

Solo58216 · Oct 28, 2015

You can also hit pause or fly then land.

Pogo · Oct 30, 2015

Dustin said:
So twice now I have been hovering the solo near me a few feet off the ground about to land when the return home was activated by low battery. The first act of the return home seems to be shoot upward to a safe altitude. But should it even shoot up to return home altitude when it's within 10 feet of it's return home coordinates? In one of the cases I was hovering the solo near a structure. When I it shot up to RH altitude is just barely missed an overhanging roof. Seems like the Solo needs fail safe that prevents this when it's very close to the remote. Is there a setting to disable RH in low battery situation? I am not a moron, I fly it home when the battery is low.

Even though you may be 10 feet away from Solo when RTH is activated, the Solo does not know if there is a huge wall between you and the bird at that time so it does the safest thing and climbs to RTH altitude so that it can land exactly where it took of from and that is why you should always launch from a spot that has no objects directly above launch spot.

Dustin · Oct 30, 2015

Here is the thing. In one case, the drone was actually over the launch point. Maybe if it's within 5 feet it should just land?

Solo58216 · Oct 30, 2015

No. Not if RTL. It goes to the required height, checks its position. Repositions then starts to land. If you want it to just land you have to take responsibility for it and take control of it.

Chip Luck · Nov 1, 2015

I do the Manual thing, hit Pause, or just hold down the Fly button to land NOW.

Jonathan.Lopez · Feb 4, 2016

I have the same problem. Is it posible to desactive

Jonathan.Lopez · Feb 4, 2016

I have the same problem is it possible to disable the auto return to home when we have low battery ?

pyrate · Feb 4, 2016

then it does not come home when you want, would you expect 3DR to replace it?
RTH is there for a reason, a DANG good reason

Solo58216 · Feb 4, 2016

You can change its parameters in APM Planer and Mission planer. I have not looked to see if you can disable it all together.
In one of the next updates they will be refining the way it works. but that down the pike and we know how that goes....
Also... If it goes to RTL you hit fly and take control. If the battery gets two low it will go into "land now" and I think you can hit fly again to take control (I think I have done this personaly when I was flying in a difficult place) but be advised at some point it will not have enough power to maintain flight.......

Solo58216 · Feb 4, 2016

pyrate said:
then it does not come home when you want, would you expect 3DR to replace it?
RTH is there for a reason, a DANG good reason

good point

erikgraham · Feb 4, 2016

To disable the battery failsafe, set FS_BATT_ENABLE to 0

I highly recommend you dont do this. Just be aware of your battery level. If you are, you'll know it's about to hit the failsafe and be ready to hit the FLY button to take back control.

http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/ar...tery_failsafe_enable_arducopterfs_batt_enable

pyrate · Feb 4, 2016

yeah I cant remember to hit the record button sometimes, I am not going to lose solo because I forgot to check battery, good luck turning that off

Rusty Jones · Feb 9, 2016

I thought if it was in the RTL cone it would not necessarily go to full RTL height?

Rusty · Feb 15, 2016

Hey guys,
i believe in the 2.0 update RTH is overridden when you are in landing mode.

BlackHawk · Feb 15, 2016

Rusty said:
Hey guys,
i believe in the 2.0 update RTH is overridden when you are in landing mode.

What's "landing mode"?

pyrate · Feb 15, 2016

what is landing mode

Rusty · Feb 15, 2016

i am trying to find the list of features in the new update. but am pretty sure that's how it was worded.

erikgraham · Feb 15, 2016

pyrate said:
what is landing mode

I assume by "landing mode" @Rusty just means that when you are using the auto land feature (by holding down fly button). I don't ever land like that (and if i recall some of your previous posts correctly, neither do you), but it would make sense that if your in landing mode, RTL shouldn't kick in.