Solo Return Home

Fawkyooo · Jul 19, 2018

I just got a Solo on trade for some RC trucks. this is all new to me i love it! I'm a little confused about a function called return home. I understand the feature and how/why it works. my confusion comes in with the Low Flight battery RTH.. It gets down to 15% Flight battery and automatically climbs 30' up and B lines it straight back to the Take off location. When it was descending The controller lost signal with the drone. The under body lights all turned red and started flashing it was approx 30' off the ground and the last i saw the battery life it was at 8% Because it was on the auto RTH i figure no worries it should land on its own. At 30' above the ground it sat there hovering and to my knowledge was not descending the controller regained signal approx 60 seconds later [Felt like an hour] and landed.

My question is when the controller looses signal does it still RTH on it own or does it hover until it regains signal?

Thanks in advance
Johnny
3DR Solo Noob

lyk2fly · Jul 19, 2018

Welcome to the Solo world! It's supposed to RTH in the event of low battery or controller disconnect.
I don't know why yours stopped descending unless the controller disconnect (a second RTH event) caused a pause so the Solo's logic could process the second event.
Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can elaborate.

Fawkyooo · Jul 19, 2018

Thanks from the information i found its suppose to RTH but it most definitively stopped descending. Long enough for me to start to panic. if the battery hits 0% or is there a small buffer like itll run on 0% for 2 mins...

lyk2fly · Jul 19, 2018

0% is not healthy for the battery but I have had mine to 0% before and the Solo keeps flying. So there must be a buffer.
Seems like I've read threads where people have actually been to negative percentages...if I'm not crazy lol. Just do a forum search on the subject. Lots of info in here from people smarter than me.

USMC86 · Jul 19, 2018

Fawkyooo-
So your batteries last longer- it’s recommended not taking your smart-battery below 25%. A lot of guys will monitor their batteries’ usage when they have multiples so each battery gets equal amounts of usage to spread out your demands.

Joe Horn · Jul 19, 2018

Fawkyooo said:
My question is when the controller looses signal does it still RTH on it own or does it hover until it regains signal?

That's user-settable. In the 3DR Solo app, tap Settings, then Solo Settings, then Return Home Options, then After Reaching Home. You can choose either Land or Hover. You may have had it set to Hover.

Saijin_Naib · Jul 20, 2018

Fawkyooo said:
It gets down to 15% Flight battery and automatically climbs 30' up and B lines it straight back to the Take off location.

This parameter determines how much the Solo will rise vertically when initiating an RTL.
Complete Parameter List — Copter documentation

Fawkyooo · Jul 20, 2018

The parameters I haven't touched but the app (iPhone) im using is Solo a lot of the items are grayed out. I wish they came out with the app that android has for the 3DR. (Solex) That app looks amazing.

Im going out to the desert tonight so i will try to set the parameters and get back on here to let you guys know how it went. Thanks for the help.

Joe Horn · Jul 20, 2018

Fawkyooo said:
The parameters I haven't touched but the app (iPhone) im using is Solo a lot of the items are grayed out.

Sounds like you haven't turned on the Advanced Settings mode (see page 66 in the Solo User Manual, Version 9). Turning it on enables lots of cool options which are otherwise grayed out.

daniel s · Jul 21, 2018

Fawkyooo said:
I just got a Solo on trade for some RC trucks. this is all new to me i love it! I'm a little confused about a function called return home. I understand the feature and how/why it works. my confusion comes in with the Low Flight battery RTH.. It gets down to 15% Flight battery and automatically climbs 30' up and B lines it straight back to the Take off location. When it was descending The controller lost signal with the drone. The under body lights all turned red and started flashing it was approx 30' off the ground and the last i saw the battery life it was at 8% Because it was on the auto RTH i figure no worries it should land on its own. At 30' above the ground it sat there hovering and to my knowledge was not descending the controller regained signal approx 60 seconds later [Felt like an hour] and landed.

My question is when the controller looses signal does it still RTH on it own or does it hover until it regains signal?

Thanks in advance
Johnny
3DR Solo Noob

Set a button to fly manual that way if something weird happens u can land it urself

Fawkyooo · Jul 23, 2018

Joe Horn said:
Sounds like you haven't turned on the Advanced Settings mode (see page 66 in the Solo User Manual, Version 9). Turning it on enables lots of cool options which are otherwise grayed out.

Thank you thank you thank you. I didn't receive the manual from the PO. I will Deft look at this today. I tried to test it this weekend it was very windy so i didn't want to mess with the iPad very much while it was in the air. But I couldn't do anything I cant even start or stop the recording.

Second Question does anyone know where I can buy the internal parts for the remote to mount a iPad to the 3DR mount? Or dose anyone on here had a 3D printer that knows how to print them? I will gladly pay the part plus shipping?

Fawkyooo · Jul 23, 2018

daniel s said:
Set a button to fly manual that way if something weird happens u can land it urself

I think I'll find the way to set buttons in the manual that Joe Horn posted. Thanks for the help.

Fawkyooo · Jul 23, 2018

Tonight I'm going to try the settings.. I read the 90 pages and see that there are a lot of things that I cant get to but I don't have the drone in front of me. I think I might be able to get it to do more then I was before I also found a 3DR mobile mount on eBay for $19.99 USD this should help me tremendously.

IrishmanPDX · Jul 23, 2018

I think you mean "external" parts for mounting a tablet to your 3DR controller.

3DR Solo Tablet/Phone Extension New 762931720012 | eBay

3DR Solo Controller "Shoes" and Phone Extension (tablet 10') 689742983699 | eBay

Fawkyooo · Jul 23, 2018

IrishmanPDX said:
I think you mean "external" parts for mounting a tablet to your 3DR controller.

3DR Solo Tablet/Phone Extension New 762931720012 | eBay

3DR Solo Controller "Shoes" and Phone Extension (tablet 10') 689742983699 | eBay

Yes i found the Controller Mount for the iPad on eBay earlier last one for $19.99. that in it self should help me a lot i was doing the forearm shuffle a few times the others i was flying and taking orders from the wife on where to point the camera and what not. it would be cool if we could link 2 screen devices to see the same image on an iPad separate from what the flyer is staring at.

IrishmanPDX · Jul 23, 2018

You can, the back of your controller has a HDMI out on it. It will port the live feed from the gopro to another screen. I have a cheapo 32" LCD TV that I bring with me, I fly with the controller and my tablet, but output an extra feed to the TV so my wife/copilot can see any area's of interest or direct me to them. You should also try using the multipoint cable cam feature. Do a flight, drop the flight points along the way, then you can re-fly the same route automatically but put the camera into free look mode, so while the drone flies itself you can adjust the angles camera all you want.