Solex App for Android Rocks!

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Hey Guys!

I purchased my first SOLO a couple of weeks ago and I downloaded the Solex app a few days ago. Anyway, the battery reached 25% while in flight yesterday and the app initiated RTH. This would be fine if 10 seconds later the app didn't display 6% battery life while suggesting I "return home or bust out my credit card." My questions is this: Has anyone else experienced their battery life drain that quickly while using the SOLEX app? I have used the Solo app a number of times and have yet to experience the same issue. I just want to figure out if its the battery or the app. If its the battery, I will just try contacting the solo "support" team on Monday.

 

[SARDG]

...My questions is this: Has anyone else experienced their battery life drain that quickly while using the SOLEX app? I have used the Solo app a number of times and have yet to experience the same issue. I just want to figure out if its the battery or the app. If its the battery, I will just try contacting the solo "support" team on Monday.

Kelly could answer this definitively, and I am not certain how his algorithms are working, BUT... there is a selection in Setup to "Account for distance in battery warning", IF that is checked, Solex may be reporting the battery level available, based on getting Solo home.

If you have that checked, uncheck it and try again - or perhaps @KellyShrock can chime in.

 

[Kelly Schrock]

Kelly could answer this definitively, and I am not certain how his algorithms are working, BUT... there is a selection in Setup to "Account for distance in battery warning", IF that is checked, Solex may be reporting the battery level available, based on getting Solo home.

If you have that checked, uncheck it and try again - or perhaps @KellyShrock can chime in.

There's an option in Solex to have it try to account for distance when calculating battery level. So if you're far away, it adds to the percentage it starts warning about low battery at. Actually, I noticed (and fixed in the last release) an issue where if there was no GPS lock yet, sometimes the location reported from the copter would be 0/0 lat/lng (off the coast of Africa). So it would report that your battery was very low and you were in danger of not making it home before it died. And since I'm in the Midwest of the US, that would be true.

There really isn't likely to be anything in Solex that would drain your Solo's battery faster than the 3DR Solo app. Neither app has any control over how fast the battery is being depleted.

 

[SARDG]

There's an option in Solex to have it try to account for distance when calculating battery level. So if you're far away, it adds to the percentage it starts warning about low battery at. Actually, I noticed (and fixed in the last release) an issue where if there was no GPS lock yet, sometimes the location reported from the copter would be 0/0 lat/lng (off the coast of Africa). So it would report that your battery was very low and you were in danger of not making it home before it died. And since I'm in the Midwest of the US, that would be true.

There really isn't likely to be anything in Solex that would drain your Solo's battery faster than the 3DR Solo app. Neither app has any control over how fast the battery is being depleted.

So Kelly, that means that you simply get an earlier warning, and at a higher percentage if you are far away, but the percentage Solex is reporting remains the same whether that option is checked, or not?

 

[Kelly Schrock]

So Kelly, that means that you simply get an earlier warning, and at a higher percentage if you are far away, but the percentage Solex is reporting remains the same whether that option is checked, or not?

Right. If you're, say, 2000 feet away, you'll get a low-battery alert at around 32% vs 25%. But the percentage displayed is the same.

 

[Don H.]

I flew my first flight with Solex today.
All in all it went very well. I really like the app. There are a couple of things I wonder about.
First, when in the camera (smart shot) screen where you select orbit, selfie etc, is there a way to make the Select button larger? On my Nexus 7 2013 I have to tap it several times to get it to activate.
The the slider bars have the same issue. I have to drag my finger across the screen several times to get it to move.
The other thing I noticed is when I attempt a selfie the Solo rotates 180 degrees when I hit start. Then I have to yaw it back facing me before I start the Selfie shot.
I also noticed that when using any of the smart shot modes I have to hit the record button instead of it automatically starting the record when I start the shot or mode. Can I adjust these items in the settings mode?
I haven't read through it all yet. This was my first attempt at using Solex since I downloaded it.

Thanks

Don.

 

[Jack L.]

Did the selfie shot work after you turned the solo around?
Zipline didn't work for me at all.
What are you using for your controller phone or tablet?

 

[Don H.]

Did the selfie shot work after you turned the solo around?
Zipline didn't work for me at all.
What are you using for your controller phone or tablet?

Yes it did. You have to remember to press record before you send it on its way.
Zip line did work for me too.
I'm using the Nexus 7 2013 tablet.

 

[Jack L.]

Okay, I'll try pressing record before each shot tomorrow.
I also noticed follow me wasn't staying on me when I walked around but, I'm not sure I was recording.
What's your experience?

 

[Don H.]

Okay, I'll try pressing record before each shot tomorrow.
I also noticed follow me wasn't staying on me when I walked around but, I'm not sure I was recording.
What's your experience?

I didn't have time to try that one. It was getting dark and the mosquitoes were eating me alive.

 

[Jack L.]

I hear that as I'm in south Texas!
I asked Kelly about the selfie and zipline not working but there was no mention of pressing record prior to starting smart shots. I assumed Solex started the camera during the smart shots.
Let's stay in touch and maybe we can work through this stuff together.
I need all the help I can get!!

 

[Kelly Schrock]

I flew my first flight with Solex today.
All in all it went very well. I really like the app. There are a couple of things I wonder about.
First, when in the camera (smart shot) screen where you select orbit, selfie etc, is there a way to make the Select button larger? On my Nexus 7 2013 I have to tap it several times to get it to activate.
The the slider bars have the same issue. I have to drag my finger across the screen several times to get it to move.
The other thing I noticed is when I attempt a selfie the Solo rotates 180 degrees when I hit start. Then I have to yaw it back facing me before I start the Selfie shot.
I also noticed that when using any of the smart shot modes I have to hit the record button instead of it automatically starting the record when I start the shot or mode. Can I adjust these items in the settings mode?
I haven't read through it all yet. This was my first attempt at using Solex since I downloaded it.

Thanks

Don.

Hi Don, what device were you running the app on? There's always room for improvement regarding the size of buttons, etc. There are so many different combinations of screen size and screen resolution out there, it requires testing on a great many of them to get the sizing right.

Your Selfie experience is about the same as mine. There is something dodgy with the Selfie on the latest Solo update, and I honestly haven't had time to sort it out. I will say that the points I calculate for Selfie in the app are correct. (I log them as they're created, then extract them from the log and plot them on a map to see if they're in the right spot, and they are). HDR was the first shot I made that runs totally in the app. So the capability for building shots that don't depend on the Solo is there now. Plan is to build a Selfie shot that works properly as a next shot. Probably after this upcoming update. I have to leave tomorrow for a conference, and won't be back until Sunday.

 

[Don H.]

Hi Don, what device were you running the app on? There's always room for improvement regarding the size of buttons, etc. There are so many different combinations of screen size and screen resolution out there, it requires testing on a great many of them to get the sizing right.

Your Selfie experience is about the same as mine. There is something dodgy with the Selfie on the latest Solo update, and I honestly haven't had time to sort it out. I will say that the points I calculate for Selfie in the app are correct. (I log them as they're created, then extract them from the log and plot them on a map to see if they're in the right spot, and they are). HDR was the first shot I made that runs totally in the app. So the capability for building shots that don't depend on the Solo is there now. Plan is to build a Selfie shot that works properly as a next shot. Probably after this upcoming update. I have to leave tomorrow for a conference, and won't be back until Sunday.

Hi Kelly,
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I'm running the Nexus 7 2013
I haven't loaded the latest update to Solo yet. It sounded a like there might be a couple of issues. I'm still running the previous release.

Don.

 

[T Bird]

It has been loosely determined by the great minds of this forum (uh, mine included ) that the limited number of Rev B boards were very likely installed on the Solos that came with pre-installed gimbals. Reasoning is that they had to take apart the Solo to mount the gimbal, so threw in the Rev B board at that time.

Myself (with 4 Solos) and others with multiple Solos have confirmed that their Solos with pre-installed gimbals have had the Rev B board.

There doesn't appear to be a particularly old stock vs. new stock.

That makes sense- the one I got with the Rev B had a pre-installed gimbal, the Rev A did not.

 

[Maddog]

Kelly, I've been using Solex and I really like it. Regarding the ability to change the light colors, why the "reverse" aviation?
Normal aviation would be useful but reverse is just confusing- can you change or add it?
Thanks!

 

[Mike Davis]

Kelly, I've been using Solex and I really like it. Regarding the ability to change the light colors, why the "reverse" aviation?
Normal aviation would be useful but reverse is just confusing- can you change or add it?
Thanks!

Kelly covered this in another thread I think. Basically he said he would have to change the firmware to enable the correct configuration for aviation lights. The app used to say "aviation" but when it was pointed out that the lights were reversed, he noted the issue and changed the app to reflect that the lights were backward so no one would be confused.

 

[Maddog]

Kelly covered this in another thread I think. Basically he said he would have to change the firmware to enable the correct configuration for aviation lights. The app used to say "aviation" but when it was pointed out that the lights were reversed, he noted the issue and changed the app to reflect that the lights were backward so no one would be confused.

Thanks Mike- guess I missed that.

Kelly- carry on. We took care of it.

 

[SARDG]

Kelly covered this in another thread I think. Basically he said he would have to change the firmware to enable the correct configuration for aviation lights. The app used to say "aviation" but when it was pointed out that the lights were reversed, he noted the issue and changed the app to reflect that the lights were backward so no one would be confused.

...and he then put a smilie after that selection in Solex.

This from an email from Kelly about 6 weeks ago when I brought it up after another poster commented:

Haha, yes I know they're reversed. The issue is that I can't control that part of it. There is an "Aviation" macro in the API for setting the LEDs that way, and the macro has it backwards. I can either use the macro, or not, from the app.

There is a small change that could be made to the LED controls in the APM code base that would be easy to implement and fix not only this, but also allow full control of individual LEDs. However, getting that change into place on a Solo would require an entire new build of the firmware.

 

[John Githens]

Hi Don, what device were you running the app on? There's always room for improvement regarding the size of buttons, etc. There are so many different combinations of screen size and screen resolution out there, it requires testing on a great many of them to get the sizing right.

Your Selfie experience is about the same as mine. There is something dodgy with the Selfie on the latest Solo update, and I honestly haven't had time to sort it out. I will say that the points I calculate for Selfie in the app are correct. (I log them as they're created, then extract them from the log and plot them on a map to see if they're in the right spot, and they are). HDR was the first shot I made that runs totally in the app. So the capability for building shots that don't depend on the Solo is there now. Plan is to build a Selfie shot that works properly as a next shot. Probably after this upcoming update. I have to leave tomorrow for a conference, and won't be back until Sunday.

Kelly, I am enjoying Solex (thanks!), however I am experiencing the same problem that Don H. reported: After all calibrations are done, including with Solex, my Solo rotates 180 degrees after 'Start' in Selfie mode. I must manually rotate the Solo to focus on the start point. Any news or other insights to share? Frankly, I use MPCC mode and Solex for much of my work (Tower for other work), so the other Smart Shots are not that useful to me. But it would be nice from time to time to do a Selfie/Dronie. In my test today I used a Nexus 10 by Samsung (I also have a Nexus 7 by ASUS). Thanks.

 

[jcar]

The price from BestBuy keeps changing. For a week the price was 399$ including the gimble, extra battery, extra props and the 20$ Shutterfly. Yesterday or the day befoer they moved the price to 379$ without Shutterfly, today its 399$ without the extra battery, gimble or props, but with Shutterfly. Just keep checking BestBuy online and watch for the low prices WITH the gimble battery and props.

I just picked up Two solo's from bestbuy for $299.00 each with an extra gimbal. What a deal!!