RTH unresponsive?

[Jmcguire525]

There's a thread in the help forum where a few other people and myself are having the same issue with the RTH feature. I just bought my solo and after spending an hour with support chat with no luck have now exchanged the drone just to encounter the same issue... I've tried a few different altitude settings for RTH but it always presents the same behavior, controller vibrates when the button is pressed, "return home" shows up on the controller for less than a second, drone lights flash and manual controls stop working, but the drone just sits in the air at the same spot for 10mins before I give up. If I press the button again I regain manual controls and everything else works fine, I have gps lock with 14 sat connections before takeoff.

Anyone else experiencing this, could it be a problem with a recent update? (I wouldn't know if it worked before since the update is mandatory before first flight)

 

[pyrate]

there have been no recent updates
how far out from you are you testing this? there is a cone around home that RTH ignores
what are your return settings on

 

[Jmcguire525]

I've tried 15' 30' 45' with the drone very close by and out about 50 yards away. I do have a "close to heliport" warning, does this disable the feature?

 

[pious_greek]

If this a new drone, I would exchange it. But given solo's reliability, I find it dubious that RTH would not work while all other conditions appear normal. Do your advanced shot modes like cable cam work? Does your pause button work? Did you change any of the default return to home altitude settings?

What flight mode are you using? Are you obtaining a gps lock prior to arming and taking off?

What app are you using and what phone or tablet are you using it with?

What do your dataflash logs show?

 

[Jmcguire525]

If this a new drone, I would exchange it. But given solo's reliability, I find it dubious that RTH would not work while all other conditions appear normal. Do your advanced shot modes like cable cam work? Does your pause button work? Did you change any of the default return to home altitude settings?

What flight mode are you using? Are you obtaining a gps lock prior to arming and taking off?

What app are you using and what phone or tablet are you using it with?

What do your dataflash logs show?

I got it working, user error although I'm not sure why it requires this... I was using the solo without a camera, even though I had my phone there I wasn't using the "fly solo" screen and instead relied only on the controller, its now working when I go to the "fly solo" screen on my device even though I still don't have a camera or video feed.

 

[User Name]

This is definitely a new issue. I bought my first Solo in 2015, and two more a few months ago when they were $400 at Best Buy. None has this issue, and I'm sure there were no manufacturer changes between them and the ones people are buying now.

Not doubting that people are having the issue, but it's hard to understand how it could be software or hardware related. I'd say user error, but it's hard to understand how that would be the case either... very strange.

 

[User Name]

I got it working, user error although I'm not sure why it requires this... I was using the solo without a camera, even though I had my phone there I wasn't using the "fly solo" screen and instead relied only on the controller, its now working when I go to the "fly solo" screen on my device even though I still don't have a camera or video feed.

So is this what you're saying: When used without a phone connected (Solo app or Solex) the Home button on the controller does nothing?

That's surprising. Not that it's normal to fly without a camera and the phone connected, but regardless, the home button on the controller should activate RTL either way.

 

[Jmcguire525]

So is this what you're saying: When used without a phone connected (Solo app or Solex) the Home button on the controller does nothing?

That's surprising. Not that it's normal to fly without a camera and the phone connected, but regardless, the home button on the controller should activate RTL either way.

The phone was connected, I just didn't leave the "home" screen... I'll have to fly again to verify but so far RTH only works when I go the the "fly solo" view in the app.

 

[SARDG]

So is this what you're saying: When used without a phone connected (Solo app or Solex) the Home button on the controller does nothing?

That's surprising. Not that it's normal to fly without a camera and the phone connected, but regardless, the home button on the controller should activate RTL either way.

Shouldn't need a camera, but the GPS in the phone is how Solo knows where to return 'to', so it now makes sense that without the app controlling flight, Solo would have no 'return' reference. You don't need a device to fly Solo, but you do need a device for Smart Shots and apparently smart return.

 

[Jmcguire525]

Shouldn't need a camera, but the GPS in the phone is how Solo knows where to return 'to', so it now makes sense that without the app controlling flight, Solo would have no 'return' reference. You don't need a device to fly Solo, but you do need a device for Smart Shots and apparently smart return.

It uses the iPhone gps to return to "take off" location? That seems odd, still doesn't explain how it couldn't get that information since the phone was connected just wasn't on the "fly" screen in app.

 

[SARDG]

It uses the iPhone gps to return to "take off" location? That seems odd, still doesn't explain how it couldn't get that information since the phone was connected just wasn't on the "fly" screen in app.

I suppose 'fly Solo'' tells the app to go get the GPS coordinates from the device. I can tell you that I had never experienced this 'unresponsive rth' before, but use, and must have always had, the correct startup sequence and utilized 'fly Solo'' - which would be the normal thing to do. But I don't do much RTH anyway.

 

[Jubalr]

Unless using the RTM or Follow Me feature, the phone/tablet is not providing GPS to the Solo. This is easily demonstrated by the fact that regardless of where you are at take off, the Solo returns to where it took off, not where you were standing, which could be 100' away. Also the fact that many Apple products do not have GPS to begin with. The discrepancy here seems to be that the Solo was allowed to establish a connection with the device and then not used for flight, and there could be an anomaly in that situation that I haven't seen before. I have flown plenty without a connected device, just the controller and solo and never noticed anything out of the ordinary. The buttons function the same as they are communicating directly to Solo and have nothing to do with an external device.

 

[User Name]

Ahhh, if Solo is set to Return to Me, then yea, without the Solo app connected, it would have no location to return to. If it's configured to Return to Home (or Launch, I forget which term it uses), Solo shouldn't require a device (phone/tablet) at all. It stores the location where it was armed, or the location if first got a fix if it was taken off before a fix was acquired.

Anyone having this problem should test to see what failsafe mode they're set to. Also, if they're using Android, they should be aware that Return to Me is BROKEN and WILL send their Solo off on a nice random journey, likely never to return from. I know 3DR is no longer interested in Solo as a consumer product, but it's astonishing that the latest version of the app was released with this issue and there's been no attempt to warn or inform anyone, especially new users.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Arducopter calls it RTL (Return to Launch). The solo application and companion computer call it RTH (Return to Home). They are actually two different things though. The solo executes RTH in the same way it executes smart shots, putting the pixhawk in Guided Mode and navigating home using the companion computer. It never actually puts the pixhawk into RTL mode. That is also how it executes RTM.

As has been said, RTH does not require a phone/tablet at all. And certainly doesn't require a camera. The home location comes from the GPS on the solo, and is stored on the solo. Not the application or mobile device. The only time you need the application on a connected mobile device is if you're using Return to Me (RTM). Which brings up quite the paradox. What if you have it set for RTM, and have no device connected or no application running to feed it the me location? Does the firmware recognize this and fail over to RTH? Does it just go to whatever the last location was?

Does setting RTM stick between reboots? Or does it reset to RTH every time it boots up?

 

[SARDG]

Unless using the RTM or Follow Me feature, the phone/tablet is not providing GPS to the Solo. This is easily demonstrated by the fact that regardless of where you are at take off, the Solo returns to where it took off, not where you were standing, which could be 100' away.....

Thank you Jubalr. I was trying to decipher the relationship of the device GPS/App/Return-to functions and when the App uses that device GPS. I guess it's clear now... maybe...

I see a lot of new RTH issues here on the forum that didn't pop up before.

 

[Frank Foster]

This forum is so great! LOT's of info, and more coming everyday!

 

[healthyfatboy]

Anyone willing to test that theory out to see what happens when it's in RTM mode but with no phone connected? It's been cold and windy and dark when I get home or I would test it out.

 

[Jubalr]

Anyone willing to test that theory out to see what happens when it's in RTM mode but with no phone connected? It's been cold and windy and dark when I get home or I would test it out.

I've tested it a few times, flying and by hand. What do you want to know?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

If you have it set for RTM, say from a prior flight, and for this flight you do not have a mobile device connected, what will it do.

 

[Jmcguire525]

Just tested 3 scenarios, here are the results...

-Just using the controller and the drone without a phone/tablet: RTH works fine
-Using an iPhone 6s and proceeding to the "Fly Solo" screen in the app: RTH works fine
-Using and iPhone 6s or iPad Mini 3 connected but at the "Home" screen of the app: RTH initiates but the drone remains stationary in the air

Obviously this isn't how its supposed to work, but if a device is connected and isn't at the "Fly Solo" screen there is a bug with the RTH feature. Maybe this is just a iOS issue, can anyone confirm?