Solo in the lake...

[RichWest]

Manufactures do it all the time, sell to pro consumer markets. They just up the price to cover.

If we step back for a moment, 3DR's warranty is over the top in the RC or RTF market. One year for everything, with no exclusions for defined defects. Even batteries... We are paying for that excellent warranty terms.

The best the elephant in the room can bring is 6 months.....with heartburn mixed in. Mod anything and warranty is voided.... Those that buy are paying for those warranty terms.

So when EU members purchase off Alibaba, GoodluckBuy, ebay or HobbyKing they receive a 2 year warranty for their purchases? Fairly sure that's not the case...and based on the prices the EU buyers are willing to risk for those savings gained...

It's an interesting world, I really don't think we'll be able to afford the future.

 

[erikgraham]

Setting aside the 30 day garuntee for a moment, the terms of the 3DR Warranty say "within one year from the date of purchase, or such longer period as is required by applicable law." So if there are applicable laws in the EU or elsewhere they are saying they will honor that. It only covers countries they sell in.

Anyway, back on the original topic... I got an odd email back today. It came off a bit like a customer service guy guessing, rather than a response from an engineer.

Basically he was saying that if I was going too fast, at too great of an angle of attack, I would lose lift - which of course is true... but if he'd looked at the logs he would have seen that we (and the Solo which was following us) were stationary at the time this occurred. Then, in the context of following, he started talking about having a safety pilot with the controller, but I was the safety pilot. Lol. My wife was the driver.

I replied (politely). It will be interesting to see how they respond. Can't wait to get home to check the logs myself in MP, but that's going to be awhile.

CLARIFICATION: I'm not the OP. I just had similar symptoms - including the water landing.

 

[EyeWingsuit]

Bringing mine back on topic, 3DR inspected my logs and found a failure in #3 motorpod. Seems this happens more than it should?

 

[erikgraham]

Bringing mine back on topic, 3DR inspected my logs and found a failure in #3 motorpod. Seems this happens more than it should?

I'm starting to think the same. But forums are naturally where folks post their problems, so sometimes it makes an issue seem more common. I'm just not used to being the guy who has the problem.

 

[Nerius]

That's why some manufacturers, such as Peavey, pulled out of the EU for a while, and made it all mail-order with no warranty beyond what they offered in North America. I don't believe it's a law. That link I posted suggests it's mythical and usually misunderstood.

DIRECTIVE 1999/44/EC, Article 5.

 

[Mauiwind]

The attached photo was taken by the drone in the pond months ago when I first got the GoPro setup with the gimbal mount. Need a volunteer to stand guard with a rifle in case that gator were to show up again ;-)

Holy Moley, you get that Solo out of the water? You should get an award too.

 

[Nerius]

Also still waiting for replacement motor pods to arrive, but taking into account a lot of recent reports about motor pods problems, started to think is it worth to change failed unreliable motor pods to another same type unreliable motor pods? Mine failed in clear air after less than 6 hours of total flight time. Still did not made final decision, but now I'm not so far from change motors to MT2216 and flight without any headache: really love my Solo, but simply don't trust bearings 3DR uses anymore.

 

[Jubalr]

I'm starting to think the same. But forums are naturally where folks post their problems, so sometimes it makes an issue seem more common. I'm just not used to being the guy who has the problem.

I would like to see an analysis of a failed motor pod or 2. I think there is a lot of assumption that the issue is the actual motor it self, but in some cases could be the ESCs on the motor pod. And if that is the case, changing motors would not help. I remember early in the solo production some users experiencing failed ESCs, but generally after that prop had struck an object. But would still be interested in what is the actual failed component on these in flight failures.

One reason I mention this is last week I changed out my stock motors to the T-motor like @RolandS888. On my first test in the parking lot of my company, it was acting very twitchy. In a steady hover it would occasionally (every second or 2) quickly dip to one corner and recover. I brought it down to about 12" and at one point it quickly dipped down enough for the legs to touch the pavement. Since I was filming, I brought it in and played it in slow motion to determine which motor it was dipping toward. I then removed that motor and found where one of my solder joints was a little too close to an adjoining component of the ESC. I re-soldered the joint and that fixed the issue. So while the symptom was the same as some of the posts in this thread, it was not the actual motor causing the issue, but the ESC.

 

[Nerius]

I would like to see an analysis of a failed motor pod or 2. I think there is a lot of assumption that the issue is the actual motor it self, but in some cases could be the ESCs on the motor pod. And if that is the case, changing motors would not help. I remember early in the solo production some users experiencing failed ESCs, but generally after that prop had struck an object. But would still be interested in what is the actual failed component on these in flight failures.

One reason I mention this is last week I changed out my stock motors to the T-motor like @RolandS888. On my first test in the parking lot of my company, it was acting very twitchy. In a steady hover it would occasionally (every second or 2) quickly dip to one corner and recover. I brought it down to about 12" and at one point it quickly dipped down enough for the legs to touch the pavement. Since I was filming, I brought it in and played it in slow motion to determine which motor it was dipping toward. I then removed that motor and found where one of my solder joints was a little too close to an adjoining component of the ESC. I re-soldered the joint and that fixed the issue. So while the symptom was the same as some of the posts in this thread, it was not the actual motor causing the issue, but the ESC.

Maybe this could help with analysis (a graph in article "Mechanical Failures")? Logs from my Solo looks similar: Roll-In is almost flat, but Roll started not to following it exactly at a time of crash. So I assume it's mechanical motor failure.
common-Diagnosing problems using Logs | Copter

 

[RichWest]

I would like to see an analysis of a failed motor pod or 2.

I'd like to see some post analysis of so called pod failures as well. But like many failures we've heard over the last 6-8 months here, users tend to leave out the "little" crash they had prior to a problem. That's why 3DR requests a boat-load of log files to confirm a failure wasn't user crash related.

I've inspected my ESC pods, all seven, for heat damage, poor solder points or for indication of failing components. Clean bill of health. Removing the old motors was a challenge, as the lead-free solder required more heat to clean off. The motor lead pads are fairly close to the FETs, quality solder resist kept everything separated. These are quality circuit boards for re-work efforts.

The FETs would be the point of typical motor loading failure. If they were overheating, the conformal coating would indicate something of a pending failure. I saw no indications, but then I had never crashed my Solo.

 

[pyrate]

that over heating in the ESCs is why I am concerned about changing motors
most likely unnecessarily

 

[Nerius]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have an impression, that accordingly symptoms, motor pods failures now are mainly (90% or more) mechanical and caused by bearings problems, not motors windings or ESC?

 

[Jubalr]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have an impression, that accordingly symptoms, motor pods failures now are mainly (90% or more) mechanical and caused by bearings problems, not motors windings or ESC?

That is why I would like to see determined. I know bearings have been suspect in some incidents, but not necessarily determined.

 

[erikgraham]

Great point about the ESCs vs the motors. In my mind though, "Motor Pod" encompasses both the motors and the ESCs.

 

[Jubalr]

True. But I brought it up to address

Great point about the ESCs vs the motors. In my mind though, "Motor Pod" encompasses both the motors and the ESCs.

True, but I only brought it up for those blaming the motors specifically, and if there are failures that relate to ESC components, motor swaps may not be a 'cure'. Only 3dr could tell us I guess.

 

[mecummings.cr]

I am impressed... On Tuesday at almost 11 p.m., 3DR responded and they determined that an esc/motor3 malfunction is what made the copter loose control. They are authorizing replacement of the equipment. Not only did they do a super fast turnaround with evaluation of the log files, they are standing behind the product 100%. Hats off to 3DR for a quick turnaround and supporting their customers.

 

[pyrate]

that is the 3DR we all love, well most of us anyway

 

[User Name]

I am impressed... On Tuesday at almost 11 p.m., 3DR responded and they determined that an esc/motor3 malfunction is what made the copter loose control. They are authorizing replacement of the equipment. Not only did they do a super fast turnaround with evaluation of the log files, they are standing behind the product 100%. Hats off to 3DR for a quick turnaround and supporting their customers.

Glad to hear they're taking care of you.

Regarding the one in the water, if you have a rough idea where it is, you might be able to fish it out with a large magnet. Most of it is plastic, but you have 4 motors full of very strong magnets to latch onto. Worth a try... assuming you have/could borrow a small aluminum row boat or something. Diving with sharks are one thing, but the thought of diving in water with a known gator would scare the %&*# out of me!

 

[pyrate]

Here is a pretty good argument for those who say Tower will void your warranty
apparently not

 

[mecummings.cr]

I actually found a local guy that was willing to jump in the lake at his own risk. Claims he isn't scared of alligators, has swam with many in Florida lakes and was willing to recover the copter for $100... I prefer sharks to gators but that's just me. Armed with a location map from the flight tracks, a small boat and a lot of courage he was still not able to find the copter. Using just mask and snorkel he found there were a lot of weeds on the bottom of the lake and with Solo's black color he couldn't find any trace. We had thought it would have been sitting on top of the weeds but there really wasn't any sign of the copter. I really was most interested in the SD card in the GoPro and was curious more than anything how the copter fared after hitting the water.

I actually wish we would have had that GetterBack product I saw mentioned on here before... at least that would have theoretically left a tether floating off the copter after sinking to the bottom. I actually ordered a GetterBack for the new copter but am going to avoid flying over water although in Florida it's kind of part of the terrain. Got an email from 3DR early this morning regarding the status of the replacement and it is in process. I actually ordered and paid for a bare bones copter replacement last week from 3DR and they are going to just credit my account. So far they have been very responsive and have kept up the communication throughout each step of the process.