Solex for Solo

Hi Kelly and Steve

Just went out to do a practice video after buying solex yesterday. I drew in a box on the geofence and lo and behold it worked great! well done! it certainly struck me how much of a shuddering halt the bird does when its the wall!! :)

2 things that could possibly be further improvement:

- when trying to set up a cable cam and it touched the geofence, I lost the ability to input further waypoints and had to start again, as the app went back to default mode. can you design it so that all it does when it hits the fence is just pop back inside the field of play instead of killing the setup of a waypoint.

-barring that, a voice notification that it is getting close to the fence say within 5 metres, so adjustments can be made to not have it reset the waypoint inputting

- barring that (or additionally to the point above), can the fence be amended mid flight to allow for more room if required.

what say you to these things?
Hi Chardia,
The Fence can be turned on & off at will, so you can extend or retreat a boundary.
Voice notification of approaching fence is a good idea.
Kelly is the Coder, if it can be done with out causing other problems, then i'm sure he will add it to Solex.
 
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Hi Chardia,
The Fence can be turned on & off at will, so you can extend or retreat a boundary.
Voice notification of approaching fence is a good idea.
Kelly is the Coder, if it can be done with out causing other problems, then i'm sure he will add it to Solex.


thats all cool. thanks for the reply. call me charlie, my wifes name is claudia, i just joined them together, as you do.

I think we are all trying to be as constructive as we can be in regards to suggestions, which is an excellent way to go about it in a forum such as this.

The way solex is operating is pretty good so far, in fact, I would have to say its damn excellent.

wondering with the preset things that were coded in, eg flying indoors, if you have to start outdoors first so the bird doesnt fly straight up and crash into the ceiling, which mostly are a standard height here of about 8'.
 
Kelly Schrockto Solo 3DRpliolts
21 hrs ·
Just in time for cold weather: 1.2.2!

Here's the latest updates in it:

. Follow/Optical: Better, smarter, faster

The vast majority of this week's work went into working on Follow/Optical. There had been some weird behavior with it immediately stopping the shot immediately after starting it, and I found/fixed that issue.

Another thing about this update is that it should allow you to track faster-moving objects than before. In the interest of being conservative and safe, the previous update refused to track something if it was moving faster than about 12 mph. Now Follow/Optical will track an object at any speed as long as it doesn't accelerate very suddenly.

There was also an issue with Follow/Optical losing track of the target when you'd start a shot and get the traditional "Solo camera jerk" movement. No idea why Solo does that, but it sometimes made it really difficult to get Follow moving cleanly. So now, Solex pauses any tracking for ~2 seconds after the shot starts (and the jerk happens), staying with the location it had just before the shot started. As a result, that sudden movement of the camera won't cause the tracker to get confused. If you start a shot and it jerks, it should settle back down to the target location. If it does this and shows a red rectangle (instead of green), just re-select the target by dragging over it, and it should be fine.

. Quick Shot Launch option

While I was working on Follow/Optical, I got annoyed at having to click the Shots button, then Follow/Optical in the list, then Select. It's a lot of clicks. So now you can click the "Launch shot on select" checkbox at the bottom of the Shot list screen, and from then on, the UI for the shot you pick will display immediately. Once you turn this checkbox on, it stays on until you turn it off again.

. Added the ability to delete vehicles/batteries
. Geofence delete option

I realized (after someone told me) that I never provided a way to delete vehicles, batteries, or geofences. So now there's a way.
1f642.png
:)

. Fix a few minor bugs

Found a few minor unrelated bugs, and fixed them.

. Fix for battery-change crash on some devices

Some people have mentioned seeing Solex crash every time they shut Solo down to change its battery. I hadn't seen the error happen on my tablet, but people with setups identical to mine WERE seeing it. It's a crash in a Google component. I finally realized it only does it when "Save to camera roll" is turned on, and (apparently) only at certain resolutions on the GoPro. So this update contains a fix that (in theory) will cause that error to stop happening.

Here's a picture of a Solo hovering over a backpack in the dark, in honor of the sun going down way too early this time of year.
15123462_10154757339088384_2712509917937766353_o.jpg
 
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Kelly Schrockto Solo 3DRpliolts
21 hrs ·
Just in time for cold weather: 1.2.2!

Here's the latest updates in it:

. Follow/Optical: Better, smarter, faster

The vast majority of this week's work went into working on Follow/Optical. There had been some weird behavior with it immediately stopping the shot immediately after starting it, and I found/fixed that issue.

Another thing about this update is that it should allow you to track faster-moving objects than before. In the interest of being conservative and safe, the previous update refused to track something if it was moving faster than about 12 mph. Now Follow/Optical will track an object at any speed as long as it doesn't accelerate very suddenly.

There was also an issue with Follow/Optical losing track of the target when you'd start a shot and get the traditional "Solo camera jerk" movement. No idea why Solo does that, but it sometimes made it really difficult to get Follow moving cleanly. So now, Solex pauses any tracking for ~2 seconds after the shot starts (and the jerk happens), staying with the location it had just before the shot started. As a result, that sudden movement of the camera won't cause the tracker to get confused. If you start a shot and it jerks, it should settle back down to the target location. If it does this and shows a red rectangle (instead of green), just re-select the target by dragging over it, and it should be fine.

. Quick Shot Launch option

While I was working on Follow/Optical, I got annoyed at having to click the Shots button, then Follow/Optical in the list, then Select. It's a lot of clicks. So now you can click the "Launch shot on select" checkbox at the bottom of the Shot list screen, and from then on, the UI for the shot you pick will display immediately. Once you turn this checkbox on, it stays on until you turn it off again.

. Added the ability to delete vehicles/batteries
. Geofence delete option

I realized (after someone told me) that I never provided a way to delete vehicles, batteries, or geofences. So now there's a way.
1f642.png
:)

. Fix a few minor bugs

Found a few minor unrelated bugs, and fixed them.

. Fix for battery-change crash on some devices

Some people have mentioned seeing Solex crash every time they shut Solo down to change its battery. I hadn't seen the error happen on my tablet, but people with setups identical to mine WERE seeing it. It's a crash in a Google component. I finally realized it only does it when "Save to camera roll" is turned on, and (apparently) only at certain resolutions on the GoPro. So this update contains a fix that (in theory) will cause that error to stop happening.

Here's a picture of a Solo hovering over a backpack in the dark, in honor of the sun going down way too early this time of year.
15123462_10154757339088384_2712509917937766353_o.jpg
Hi Kelly,

These are great improvements and options.
May I suggest a few more for a future release?

(1) Ability to delete one or more vertices of a geofence;

(2) Add a map display similar to to Solo app so that the pilot can orientate himself/herself when the quad is in an area where there are no prominent features to use as landmarks.

Keep up the great work and always look forward to new features and capabilities.

Cheers,
Sam
 
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Kelly Schrock
3 hrs
OK, weird post of the day:

Several people over the past couple of months have mentioned the idea of me either getting a Bitcoin address, or putting up a donate page so they could donate to Solex. I can't really put into words what it feels like to have someone want to pay you more than once for something you've sold them. What a community this bird has!

So what I thought I would do is put up a donation page so people can donate money if they want, and make it clear that any money coming to me through that page would go exclusively toward the following:

1. Improving Solex
2. Doing things like I'm planning to do this winter: Build some kind of software layer on Solo-like vehicles (drones with Linux companion boards), so we'll all have Solo-like machines to fly when the motors on all of our Solos have worn down to pieces of molten slag from long-term use.
1f642.png
:)
3. Buying stuff from other guys who are supporting Solo (Philip Rowse's flight controller, Ian Soler's drone accessories, etc). Which, now that I think of it, is probably going to be necessary to enable item 2.

So I guess based on that, the idea is that if you donate on that page, you're donating to the overall Solo *world*, rather than to just me.

So, anyway, here's a link to the donation page. To be clear, NO ONE should feel obligated to go there and donate!
 
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went out and bought an android tablet just for this feature of the app. Haven't been able to try it yet as I bought the wrong kind of tablet. Silly me thought I could tether to my iPhone via bluetooth while the android tablet was connected to SoloLink. Seems you cant provide internet via bluetooth when connected to wifi. So it will go back tomorrow and will head over to ATT.
 
went out and bought an android tablet just for this feature of the app. Haven't been able to try it yet as I bought the wrong kind of tablet. Silly me thought I could tether to my iPhone via bluetooth while the android tablet was connected to SoloLink. Seems you cant provide internet via bluetooth when connected to wifi. So it will go back tomorrow and will head over to ATT.
Updated & Corrected
Most Android mobile should work with 3 dr's Solo App & also work with Solex .
Do Not use BT "Bluetooth" The only WiFi that should be on, is your mobile device & your Controller. NEVER turn WiFI on the GoPro while connected to your Solo.


Hope this helps
 
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This may be a dumb question but I'm still a little green with all this drone stuff.
Does the solex app require a cell signal to use some of those features. Such as geofence, zipline, etc? I'm wondering if the features work well in remote areas?
 
Has anyone made or created a screen video on how to use the many features of SOLEX ?
Yes there are several videos. the Video's are scattered here, Facebook & Your tube..
'll try to list few links here.

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The link below has several videos about Solex
ChuckPPhotography

Hope this helps
 
Last edited:
This may be a dumb question but I'm still a little green with all this drone stuff.
Does the solex app require a cell signal to use some of those features. Such as geofence, zipline, etc? I'm wondering if the features work well in remote areas?
Everything should work, just as the Solo App does. The more remote, the better, just download maps "If you need them" before you live Cell area. If your the only WiFi in the area, then your Solo will fly twice or more the normal distance. Comparing to if you lived it the city.

Hope this helps
 
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Everything should work, just as the Solo App does. The more remote, the better, just download maps "If you need them" before you live Cell area. If your the only WiFi in the area, then your Solo will fly twice or more the normal distance. Comparing to of you lived it the city.

Hope this helps
Awesome thank you for the reply.
 
most iphone iOS Or Android mobile should work with 3 dr's Solo App & also work with Solex .
Ether device don't not use BT "Bluetooth" for anything. their are 2 WiFi's connections that you can turn or off. The only WiFi that should be on, is your mobile device & your Controller. NEVER turn WiFI on the GoPro while connected to your Solo.

Hope this helps


HOWEVER, it should be made clear that Solex is ANDROID ONLY, unless something has changed in the last week or so.......
 
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Has anyone tried the Solex Indoors profile to fly 3DR Solo indoors? If so,
(1) how well did it work?
(2) did you have control of the quad?
(3) run into any stability problems?
 
I'm willing to help anyone with a feature by Going out doing a video or 2 showing how it works.
I may start first the first on the list, "Tap to save location" ? Sounds interesting or i Can the Show GPS coordinates on screen.
sounds easy enough.

You make good How To's, your willing to make one, would be a good thing.
Hi Steve, I would be interested in seeing how the Indoors Profile option works indoors! Thanks...Sam
 

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