Solo lost Wifi mid-flight. Now no connection

[Jb1314]

So I was just out flying my solo and lost connection while I was a couple hundred feet away. The home button brought it back pretty darn close and landed it but I've powered it off and on and the Wi-Fi network seems to have disappeared and the controller constantly shows waiting for solo. Anyone else have this problem?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chadbobb]

Mine does that too. Lots of information on here about it. Also a some good youtube videos show you how to take apart the controller and look for a couple of common issues.

One potentional reason is the antenna connectors popping off.
Another is the a small microSD card on the wifi board slipping out.

Either of those can be solved by opening the controller (which technically voids warranty. Not sure how they would know)

3DR has a tech write up on some LEDs you can see through the vent in the back. If you have a solid orange and/or a solid red LED, I would look into those descriptions with more detail.

I am waiting on a replacement as mine had the exact same issue.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Before you take things apart. Just unplug the battery from the controller for a few seconds and plug it back in. That usually fixes it.

 

[SARDG]

So I was just out flying my solo and lost connection...

Before you take things apart. Just unplug the battery from the controller for a few seconds and plug it back in. That usually fixes it.

Indeed P2P, there would be a few other things to try prior to dissection. Proper startup sequence is a frequent gotcha, but if you've truly lost your Wi-Fi signal and don't see it within the App, try the battery thing first.

 

[Chadbobb]

Indeed P2P, there would be a few other things to try prior to dissection. Proper startup sequence is a frequent gotcha, but if you've truly lost your Wi-Fi signal and don't see it within the App, try the battery thing first.

I agree. Don't start by taking it apart. I don't usually remind people to remove a battery... Anyone with $600+ to blow is hopefully smart enough to have done that prior to asking for help.

I would start by looking at the LEDs. They tell is a huge portion of the story. If the orange light isn't blinking, something is wrong. Something more than the startup sequence.

 

[SARDG]

I agree. Don't start by taking it apart. I don't usually remind people to remove a battery... Anyone with $600+ to blow is hopefully smart enough to have done that prior to asking for help...

Nice to assume that, but we don't know what people don't know. At my age, I sometimes forget what I think I know. If posters would give detailed explanations of what's happening, it would help all involved to resolve the problem swiftly.

Couple of commonly observed statements..."I powered it off and on and it still didn't work..."; "I have the latest SW (FW) installed..." With 4 main devices: Tablet (running the App), controller, the GoPro, and the Solo, we need to know what each "it" is. For SW/FW versions, latest isn't much of a help as I have seen MANY posters who simply thought that they had the latest - but did not. We need version numbers and what (device/OS/App/version) they are running. It matters. It matters because we don't know what they don't know.

 

[Jb1314]

I've had the thing for a week and have done the same sequence every time with no problems. Tried to pair again with no luck. Tried the factory reset and nada! The LED inside the controller is a constant red. I've only had it less than a week so I can return or exchange it. Thinking I might give the Dji a try. The future of this company has me a little worried.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jb1314]

So I unplugged the battery for the controller and reset everything and it seems to be working. It's night so I haven't put the props on and flown yet but I'm a little relieved. Just curious if I'm going to run into this problem every few flights and if it's worth the headache. I'm at the point where I'm either going to stick with it or return it and pony up the extra 400 to upgrade to the phantom 3 pro with an extra battery back. If you had a choice what would you do


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PdxSteve]

That depends on how high of quality cinematography you want to achieve. Play around with the smart shots. Then go play with a P3. No matter what they do to the P3 software, it doesn't have the processing power that Solo has, so it will never be as graceful. Especially with the gimbal control.

 

[SARDG]

So I unplugged the battery for the controller and reset everything and it seems to be working... Just curious if I'm going to run into this problem every few flights...

I have 3 Solos (4 actually now, but one's still in the box) and have never had that problem. I've been using one controller though.

 

[Chadbobb]

I have 3 Solos (4 actually now, but one's still in the box) and have never had that problem. I've been using one controller though.

Not to hijack the thread, but have you had issues with the firmware not lining up? By that, I mean new firmware on the controller but then grab a different Solo with older firmware?
I have my replacement coming and I am tempted to keep the Solo and only replace the controller. The Solo is fine, my controller is dead. I guess I could get 3-4 flights in with the new Solo and if that new pair doesn't give me any issues i'm not running much risk sending the functional Solo back.

 

[Jb1314]

I'm not quite sure. I pulled it out of the box a few days ago did all the updates and went flying until this happened. I noticed after I powered the controller down I could see the red light on inside the controller.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SARDG]

Not to hijack the thread, but have you had issues with the firmware not lining up? By that, I mean new firmware on the controller but then grab a different Solo with older firmware?
I have my replacement coming and I am tempted to keep the Solo and only replace the controller. The Solo is fine, my controller is dead. I guess I could get 3-4 flights in with the new Solo and if that new pair doesn't give me any issues i'm not running much risk sending the functional Solo back.

My procedure with a new Solo kit has been to fire-up the new controller with the new Solo (and gimbal - and a GP) to test basic system functionality within the 30 day warranty. At that time I download and update both controller and Solo, then put away the new controller. If they are sending you an entire new Solo kit, you can do that.

I wouldn't see it as a problem with initially mismatched FW anyway - I suspect it will automatically update the 3DR device that needs updating, and perhaps automatically update the 3DR device that doesn't need updating - or not, if the update checks versions first (which it should).

I will say, that I have a habit of trying 'stuff', and asking questions later - or at least if I am relatively comfortable that what I do won't make things 10 times worse. 2 or 3 times worse, is okay!

If you don't have any mods on the old Solo, I'd try the new Solo a few times and send the old Solo back. However, I have understood that warranty replacement Solos are refurbished, not NIB. I cannot personally confirm that.

 

[Jb1314]

This is still the original solo and remote that came in the package. I've only had it a week


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chadbobb]

My procedure with a new Solo kit has been to fire-up the new controller with the new Solo (and gimbal - and a GP) to test basic system functionality within the 30 day warranty. At that time I download and update both controller and Solo, then put away the new controller. If they are sending you an entire new Solo kit, you can do that.

I wouldn't see it as a problem with initially mismatched FW anyway - I suspect it will automatically update the 3DR device that needs updating, and perhaps automatically update the 3DR device that doesn't need updating - or not, if the update checks versions first (which it should).

I will say, that I have a habit of trying 'stuff', and asking questions later - or at least if I am relatively comfortable that what I do won't make things 10 times worse. 2 or 3 times worse, is okay!

If you don't have any mods on the old Solo, I'd try the new Solo a few times and send the old Solo back. However, I have understood that warranty replacement Solos are refurbished, not NIB. I cannot personally confirm that.

I understand warranty replacements are refurbs as well. I believe that may be why some of the guys on here go through cycles of replacement after replacement and always dealing with new issues.

In my situation, my issues started within the first 30 days and I purchased on Amazon. Rather than deal with 3DR and refurbs, I had amazon send me another brand-new non-refurb unit. I'll have it tomorrow.

 

[Chadbobb]

This is still the original solo and remote that came in the package. I've only had it a week

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where did you buy from? If you can't resolve the issues at home, I would get a new replacement from the retailer. Most retailers have 30-day money back return policies.

 

[Jb1314]

So here goes the bigger issue. I can return it today to Best Buy. However the local stores no longer have any in stock. It makes me wonder about the deal I got. 499 for the solo, 3D gimbal extra blades and a battery. Speculation is the big box retailers are liquidating their inventories on this product because the company is in trouble. They have plenty of phantoms in stock. I could return this and spend an extra 400 and get the phantom 3 pro with an extra battery back.

I just don't want to keep having problems and then deal with a product that has no support and limited parts availability. It would suck if a year from there's no factory replacement parts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chadbobb]

You'll have to be the judge of the companies status. Though, do a little research on here to help you get a better idea. 3DR is making some changes internally and restructuring for enterprise applications. That said, they are getting investments from Autodesk and recently published some news about the company that indicates they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

One thing that isn't clear to me is what the enterprise applications look like. I think the development is all being done using the Solo. If that's the case, I think you'll have support for more than the next year. Probably a lot longer than that.

 

[PdxSteve]

There are some videos of SiteScan on youtube along with the workflow. It's more like a dumbed down/simplified version of the Tower app, rather than the Solo app.

 

[Chadbobb]

There are some videos of SiteScan on youtube along with the workflow. It's more like a dumbed down/simplified version of the Tower app, rather than the Solo app.

My point was more about the quadcopter than the software. I think we all expect that the Solo App updates are over.
Hardware, parts, and service for SiteScan are all based on the Solo Quadcopter, right? Meaning we should have those things available to us for a while?