Solex: New App just for Solo!

mecummings.cr · Sep 1, 2016

This app looks great and I'm glad to see such strong support for the developer. Something I thought might be helpful is a feature that would track flight time like a Hobbs meter on an aircraft that could tell you how long your individual motor pods have been running. Not sure if there is a specific parameter or combination of them that would be an indicator of a potential motor pod failure but it would be very helpful to have some sort of idiot light in the app that could warn of an impending failure.

Pedals2Paddles · Sep 1, 2016

I too would love a hobbs meter. Unfortunately I don't believe that can practically be an app feature. That's the kind of thing that needs to be a firmware feature, stored on the solo. You can fly without the app, or with different apps. So storing time on the app would end up inaccurate very quickly.

PdxSteve · Sep 1, 2016

Maybe the Hobbs meter would be a good feature suggestion for ardupilot and not specifically solo. I'm sure it would be useful for lots of uav's. I know some are trying to get ardupilot master branch on solo which would unlock a lot of things and help keep us current. I agree storing in the firmware would be the only real way besides our (only) existing way of adding up log file flight times.

pyrate · Sep 1, 2016

What kind of storage would that require onboard?

PdxSteve · Sep 1, 2016

Barely anything. It would just be a counter to store total minutes of flight. Like the odometer on your car. Maybe 5 digits is all we'd need which would allow you to store about 1,666 hours of flight time, which should be plenty

6 Digits could store 16,666 hours.

pyrate · Sep 1, 2016

so we are talking airfram flight time / cycles
Not so detailed as individual motor or other hardware

PdxSteve · Sep 1, 2016

Oh I missed the individual motor pod part. That would get a bit more complex. I just use the duration of flight logs to track all that, just like I track how many charge cycles each battery has gone through although that's easier as the battery tells me

SteveReno · Sep 1, 2016

1 would also need user input fields for adding new pods or a reset feature of a particular #pod.

PdxSteve · Sep 1, 2016

Why not just use a log service? It does all of this and more. Maintenance logs, etc. No need to reinvent the wheel. DroneLogbook

IceFyre13th · Sep 1, 2016

Will this app give me full control of my hero 3 black?

pyrate · Sep 1, 2016

Not likely since that was never supported.
From what I understand the bus on the 3, 3+ and 4 are all different

pyrate · Sep 1, 2016

just a tip if you are having trouble connecting on solex
I have a nougat device android 7
mine would not connect, though solo app would connect fine
had to uninstall and reinstall app
it works fine now

Pedals2Paddles · Sep 2, 2016

Actually now that I think about it @pyrate, that's what I ended up having to do as well. It wouldn't connect over the weekend, same problem as you. I ended up uninstalling it and reinstalling it afterwards. It worked the next time I flew. I'm on Marshmallow.

thePeter · Sep 3, 2016

This would be amazing if it supported PixHawk + companion computer (Raspberry Pi, Intel Edison) to bring the same functionality as what Solo offers.

rassalas · Sep 4, 2016

So I've flown one flight with this app today. Limited time so maybe haven't had enough time to truly evaluate. However there were two things I noticed that I didn't like. First, when programming a new cablecam, Half the screen is greyed out on the bottom for some minor instruction like push the button to set waypoint. I can't see any purpose for this not to mention flying half blind is dangerous, I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S6. Second, I couldn't find any signal strength meter on the display. Perhaps I'm missing something if so feel free to enlighten me. If not, I've heard the developer is responsive to the clientele, how do I provide feedback to programmer? does he have a web page? google search comes up with motor scooters. I have some other suggestions, but would like to get a better feel for the app first, however with a half blind view on my android I'm not going to be using this app much at all.

PdxSteve · Sep 4, 2016

Author is @Kelly Schrock
He's on here and Facebook

rassalas · Sep 4, 2016

PdxSteve said:
Author is @Kelly Schrock
He's on here and Facebook

Thanks Steve

Chuck P · Sep 5, 2016

Hey guys, I've got a bunch of Solex videos coming up. If you are interested please like and subscribe.

IceFyre13th · Sep 6, 2016

pyrate said:
Not likely since that was never supported.
From what I understand the bus on the 3, 3+ and 4 are all different

I was excited to get a Solo (got in on the first buy), promise made was "will work with Hero 3 and up and full functions of"....."future proof"......what we got was "only dose everything with the Hero 4's" and the rest of you are screwed.....and "your future is what we will tell you it is, thanks for the money"

I am not going to buy a new GoPro just for this bird, my perception was I would not need to.

Now it looks like 3DR are going to forget about all of us and drop the whole Solo idea, but thanks to others who have the knowledge and skills to make / code / build parts and apps the platform may survive despite 3DR's "throwing in the towel"........ its not even worth selling due to the half price sales that have happened, to me this is 3DR screwing us over by making the market value less than it was.

I will hang on as I feel there will be others who will pick up where 3DR fell down........................

User Name · Sep 6, 2016

IceFyre13th said:
I am not going to buy a new GoPro just for this bird, my perception was I would not need to.

I could be mistaken, but I seem to remember it was GoPro who broke some of the compatibility between the Hero 3s and the Solo with a firmware update. 3DR made several updates to the app since, and if it was a simple matter of changing some code, there's no reason they wouldn't have done so. By not working with the Solo, GoPro, on the other hand, pressures people to buy a new camera.

I'm not trying to excuse the issue, but I believe it was out of 3DR's control. That's the perils of making a product dependent on another company's product.