Solex for Solo

[SARDG]

This Sticky was put here for members interested in Solex for Solo.
Solex has has a new Site on FB, so if you have a FB acct. then head on over @ 需要安全验证
You must ask premission to join.
Kelly will continue this Sticky also

I went over to the Solex FB site and joined and found that people posting over there don't RTFM either.

 

[Maddog]

I went over to the Solex FB site and joined and found that people posting over there don't RTFM either.

"RTFM"?

 

[Maddog]

How do you do HDR shots?

 

[SARDG]

"RTFM"?

Read The (your 'F' word of choice goes here) Manual.

...what do they teach you cowboys in Phoenix, Maddog?

 

[Maddog]

Read The (your 'F' word of choice goes here) Manual.

...what do they teach you cowboys in Phoenix, Maddog?

Haha! I was thinking along the lines of RTH, RTL, etc..

 

[SARDG]

Haha! I was thinking along the lines of RTH, RTL, etc..

"RTH", "RTL"??

 

[Maddog]

"RTH", "RTL"??

You're as funny as a submarine with screen hatches..

 

[SteveReno]

Kelly.

Is there any chance to get some Solex support to make time lapse photos more straight forward than the Solo app allows?

From Kelly:
"about the only thing I've got in place for time-lapse photos is the ability to fly to a specific point/heading/gimbal angle repeatedly"

Hope this helps

 

[hackbard23]

so we could combine: RTFH (i said return !!!)
(in case solo has developed it´s own mind)

 

[Kelly Schrock]

Hi all, first post (solex has got me really interested!)

Reading this "it will use that connection for map data, and for connecting to the websocket it uses to receive notifications about target movements" I understand the Solex master needs internet for the maps, but I'm wondering do the remotes also need internet connectivity? Or is just connecting to the solo wifi sufficient?
Darren

Hi Darren, the remotes actually do need an internet connection, and don't maintain a direct connection to Solex or Solo's wifi at all. The reason Solex needs the internet connection is so it can see the messages regarding the targets' locations as they move, which are relayed by a web socket server I set up.

Thanks,
Kelly

 

[Kelly Schrock]

Could be an erroneous first time observation. But the pitch response seemed faster with the Solex app, than the Solo app. Might need to run back to back to compare.

FWIW, I'm not doing anything in the app to influence the paddle's action. That's on the list of things to look at, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

 

[Kelly Schrock]

Killer would be if there is a chance to trigger some python scripts previosly uploaded to solo.
You could for e.g. send commands to a connected arduino that initiates actuators like retracts, or a gimbal on a telescope. Think further - tons of possibilities

With that i think Solo could be the platform it should have been

Yes, definitely. That's on the list too! I'm thinking of something where you could define buttons with whatever labels you want on them and map them to ssh commands to run remotely on the Solo. Would that work for what you're trying to do?

 

[BacklashRC]

I am using Solex with an Nvidia Shield tablet. Images and/or video from the Solo does not save to the tablet when I record (or I do not know where to find it. I am an iOS user).

The 3DR app on the tablet has the same problem.

I have no issues recording on my iPhone.

Interestingly over the last two days two images were captured on the tablet (leading me to believe that I know where to look), but nothing before or since.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The tablet has the latest firmware. I have tried two GoPro's (3+ Black and a 4 Silver (V3.0))

The Solo and controller are up to date. The new android permissions have been granted.

 

[Kelly Schrock]

I am using Solex with an Nvidia Shield tablet. Images and/or video from the Solo does not save to the tablet when I record (or I do not know where to find it. I am an iOS user).

The 3DR app on the tablet has the same problem.

I have no issues recording on my iPhone.

Interestingly over the last two days two images were captured on the tablet (leading me to believe that I know where to look), but nothing before or since.

Hi, in order to save videos on the device, you have to turn the "Save to Camera Roll" option on in the camera settings. When you do, they'll be found in /sdcard/Movies. There is nothing on the app (or the 3DR app, as far as I know) to save images that are captured in picture mode on the tablet. Those are saved to the SD card on the GoPro.

One thing I've seen on Android 6.0 is a runtime exception in a Google component (OS level) when local recording is enabled. The message is "OMG - I got two SPS with same ID but different settings", which I find pretty strange. If you're on Android 6.0 on the Shield (which is included in the list of devices experiencing the problem), this could be what's preventing you from finding video files. The Shield tablet I have is a K1, on Android 6.0.1. Is that the same as yours?

Thanks,
Kelly

 

[BacklashRC]

Hi, in order to save videos on the device, you have to turn the "Save to Camera Roll" option on in the camera settings. When you do, they'll be found in /sdcard/Movies. There is nothing on the app (or the 3DR app, as far as I know) to save images that are captured in picture mode on the tablet. Those are saved to the SD card on the GoPro.

One thing I've seen on Android 6.0 is a runtime exception in a Google component (OS level) when local recording is enabled. The message is "OMG - I got two SPS with same ID but different settings", which I find pretty strange. If you're on Android 6.0 on the Shield (which is included in the list of devices experiencing the problem), this could be what's preventing you from finding video files. The Shield tablet I have is a K1, on Android 6.0.1. Is that the same as yours?

Thanks,
Kelly

Thanks for the prompt reply Kelly. I had totally missed the fact that one can scroll in the camera settings tab. (It looks complete and has no slider )

Enabling 'Save to Camera Roll' initially did not work, but then unnoticed that yet another firmware update was available for the Shield K1 (update 6.0.1)

I installed the update and now everything is working. Videos are recording to camera roll. (I did not check stills as you mentioned that this functionality may be lacking, and is not important to me.)

I have not seen the runtime exception that you mentioned, and hope not to...

Anyway, thanks again for the help, and for Solex!

 

[Kelly Schrock]

Thanks for the prompt reply Kelly. I had totally missed the fact that one can scroll in the camera settings tab. (It looks complete and has no slider )

Enabling 'Save to Camera Roll' initially did not work, but then unnoticed that yet another firmware update was available for the Shield K1 (update 6.0.1)

I installed the update and now everything is working. Videos are recording to camera roll. (I did not check stills as you mentioned that this functionality may be lacking, and is not important to me.)

I have not seen the runtime exception that you mentioned, and hope not to...

Anyway, thanks again for the help, and for Solex!

Good to hear! Glad it's working for you now. My Shield started out at 6.0, but wanted to update immediately, so I never really used Solex with it to be honest. There were some weird bugs in 6.0, and I remember it took Google about 45 minutes to roll 6.0.1 out.

 

[mecummings.cr]

Thanks Kelly... I actually just updated Solex to the latest version 1.1.6 tonight and was reading your post about the technical issues with all the message traffic coming out of the Solo. I haven't had a chance to test the new version yet as I have been flying mostly Mission Planner generated aerial surveys run under Tower. I will try again with the new version of Solex... hopefully this weekend if I get a bit of free time. Is there any chance we might see a Tower version of Solex either integrated into the existing Solex app or as a separate stand alone app? It would be nice to have a more robust version of Tower that will geotag images automatically without having to go back to Mission Planner. Tower also lacks a lot of the capabilities of Mission Planner (i.e. cris-cross missions that produce better orthomosaics which I assemble in MP, upload with my laptop and execute using Tower in the field). Thanks for all the continued support with Solex... looking forward to testing it out!

 

[hackbard23]

Yes, definitely. That's on the list too! I'm thinking of something where you could define buttons with whatever labels you want on them and map them to ssh commands to run remotely on the Solo. Would that work for what you're trying to do?

OH YES MAN ! This is exactly what i´m dreaming of !!

 

[SteveReno]

Just in time for the day 2 days before Halloween: 1.1.7 is on its way to your devices. Here's what's in it:

. Vehicle/motor stats

An earlier update started tracking flight time and distance, storing it in the application preferences. That's been fleshed out in this version, and there's a place where you can actually see it now.

On the main menu, you'll find a "Vehicles" item. Once you've connected to your copter, you'll be able to hit this item, and open a screen showing your copter in a list. Click on it, and you can give it a name and description, and see (and optionally change) the SSID it connects on.

Below that, you'll see 4 entries for motors. The idea here is that Solex will track your motors' lives along with that of your copter. You'll get a notice in this screen if one or more of your motors exceeds its recommended service life (150 hours). When you replace one, you can hit the "reset" button for that motor and reset the counter for that motor.

. Multi-vehicle support

Notice above, where I said "Vehicles" (with an s). Solex now explicitly handles multiple vehicles. When you connect to a NEW copter, you'll see an entry for it in the Vehicles screen, and Solex is better at connecting to (and tracking) multiple vehicles.

. External storage option

This one seems kind of boring, but it's actually kind of a big deal. Previous versions of Solex stored all of your cable cams, fences, etc. in a private directory visible to Solex, but it's also a directory that gets deleted when you uninstall the app. If you do that without remembering to "share" your data in an email or something to yourself, all your data gets lost. Now you can select "External storage" in the settings, and the data will be copied to a public directory on your tablet where it won't be deleted on an uninstall. Note that the first time you turn this option on, Solex will check to see if it should copy your existing data to the new location and ask you about it. If you say "OK", all your existing data will now be in the new directory.

. Fix HDR shot switching to video mode

In an effort to be polite and convenient, the HDR shot would reset your camera mode back to the mode it was in before you ran the HDR shot. The problem is, it would do this even when you weren't running the HDR shot. That's been fixed.

. "Rule of Thirds" camera grid

Someone asked about a "rule of thirds" camera grid. So now the camera grid does that instead of just drawing a bunch of lines on the screen.

. Fix picture viewer in Flight Log

Does what it says.

. HDR Shot improvements

Seems like a lot of people prefer to have more control over which EV exposures are used in an HDR shot. Previously, you could set the low and high range, and that's it. Now you can select specific EV values, and the shot remembers those settings the next time you run the shot. So that's easier now.

I didn't know this earlier, but apparently Protune has to be turned on for EV adjustments to even work. So now the HDR shot turns Protune on if you don't have it on, and turns it back off when the shot ends.

Finally, the GoPro camera seems to be *really* picky about making adjustments and taking pictures too quickly afterward. So the app is more "careful" about telling the camera to do all these things. You might still encounter situations when the camera won't change EV settings when it should. (You can check this by poking the EV Comp buttons on the flight screen. If you have Protune on and it doesn't change, you might need to go into the camera settings screen and toggle Protune a couple of times to convince the camera to play along.)

That's it for this update. I'm working on a way to track individual batteries' health and some other cool things I talked with people about this week.

 

[SARDG]

Just in time for the day 2 days before Halloween: 1.1.7 is on its way to your devices. Here's what's in it:

On the main menu, you'll find a "Vehicles" item. Once you've connected to your copter, you'll be able to hit this item, and open a screen showing your copter in a list. Click on it, and you can give it a name and description, and see (and optionally change) the SSID it connects on.

. Multi-vehicle support

Notice above, where I said "Vehicles" (with an s). Solex now explicitly handles multiple vehicles. When you connect to a NEW copter, you'll see an entry for it in the Vehicles screen, and Solex is better at connecting to (and tracking) multiple vehicles.

Okay... I'll play devil's advocate here for Kelly's perusal.

Technically, you don't connect Solex (the app) to the vehicle, you connect Solex to a controller and the controller (router) stores the SSID. BUT, you cannot fly numerous vehicles with the same controller unless you pair the vehicle to that given controller each time - keep controller, keep SSID, and you must pair a new bird (vehicle) to that controller. SO, is Solex keeping track of controllers, allowing you to change SSID of the controller? It must be.

Ergo, how does Solex keep track of multiple birds as each bird is NOT, and does not have to be associated with any particular controller - only paired to it?

I have 4 Solos, but each controller has a different SSID; SololinkXXXXXblahblah# # being the controller/bird numbered pair, 1 through 4. My choice is to fly the controller/bird pair OR fly any controller I want as long as I have the bird paired to it. But again, from what is described, Solex will keep track of controllers, not vehicles.

ETA: Edited for clarification of controller/bird numbered pair