Today
I received my solo from UPS so on my lunch break I started charging, once charged I updated the system. When I got off work I took it outside to the open field out back and powered it up and I was getting 12 sats,,, That was good and it gave me the OK to fly. At that moment I stopped and re-calibrated level and also re-calibrated the compass just because,,,
I set it to manual mode and took it for a spin, I have built and flown my share of quads and Hex's and all I can say is,, WOW. I run Pixhawk in most all of my multi-rotors and love them but I have to say PIX II ,,, Having a 10 to 15 MPH NW wind today even in manual mode it was very very stable. To say the least I am impressed. I hope the Pix II will be available soon for my next build.
So anytime I build a copter I want to know the flight Time limits and battery capabilities so I know what to expect if I can't make it back to Home. As you are about to read this (DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME) So I was just playing and flying low and fast and depleted the battery to around 10% at this point "Solo app" told me it was unsafe to fly. OK SO HOW UNSAFE?? and yes I want to know. With other copters I have found with PIXhawk1 it will stop flying well before 3.3 volts per cell is reached ( 4S ). I have a eagle tree Vector on a 650 and it gets the wobbles at 14 volts (4S) and it simply plays dead. I have never had a chipped prop because all battery test flights are hover flights in manual mode and just inches off the ground and over tall grass and in an open field.
I have found that the Solo is not happy when its below 3%. I figured the Solo would get the wobbles and want to lay on its side or just drop or something simple, I will tell you now, If your not on the ground by 5% to 8% and get below 3% and you only see one indicator light on your battery ((( RUN))) , I am Laughing MY A** off right now thinking about it and only wish I was filming this. Once the power was around 3% that little Bi*CH got mad and started to climb and I tried everything to get it to come back down it would not respond to the controls at all.
So it got to about 20/25 Ft and then it dropped sideways to about 10 feet as it tried to catch itself and that's when it wanted to chase me,, "Not really" but it was trying to right itself and it hit the ground. Once it hit the ground you would think it would shut down but NO,, it wanted to take off again so I quickly grabbed the battery and held it in place to keep it on the ground until it got over its fit and again there was NO ONE HOME.. I pulled the battery ASAP once the blades stopped as there was no telling what else it might have done.
So If anyone was thinking of testing the limits of your Solo battery I would to stay at 10% and if you do push it by the time you hit 8% you better be on the ground no matter how far away it is from you. The Solo was undamaged and without a scratch so I brought her back to the shop and recharged the battery and took her for another flight just to tell her I was sorry and she rewarded me with a very fast 15 Min flight about a foot over the grass out in the field and I can tell you in advanced manual mode she can move very fast and stable. shes not a race quad but my race quad doesn't carry a GoPro and a gimbal.
So now that I know, evidently the Linux didn't like low voltage and stops communicating completely. I have seen a few vid's where the Solo has a flyway and I do feel that even if your Solo tells you to fly after you upgrade I would suggest re-calibrating the compass before your first flight along with leveling.
Along with that I have seen that when the Solo hits the ground the blades keep spinning.
Isn't there a impact motor kill command in the Solo? I know with the Eagletree Vector once it senses an impact it kills the ESC"s and the only way to get the system running again is to unplug and re-power the FC.
I received my solo from UPS so on my lunch break I started charging, once charged I updated the system. When I got off work I took it outside to the open field out back and powered it up and I was getting 12 sats,,, That was good and it gave me the OK to fly. At that moment I stopped and re-calibrated level and also re-calibrated the compass just because,,,
I set it to manual mode and took it for a spin, I have built and flown my share of quads and Hex's and all I can say is,, WOW. I run Pixhawk in most all of my multi-rotors and love them but I have to say PIX II ,,, Having a 10 to 15 MPH NW wind today even in manual mode it was very very stable. To say the least I am impressed. I hope the Pix II will be available soon for my next build.
So anytime I build a copter I want to know the flight Time limits and battery capabilities so I know what to expect if I can't make it back to Home. As you are about to read this (DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME) So I was just playing and flying low and fast and depleted the battery to around 10% at this point "Solo app" told me it was unsafe to fly. OK SO HOW UNSAFE?? and yes I want to know. With other copters I have found with PIXhawk1 it will stop flying well before 3.3 volts per cell is reached ( 4S ). I have a eagle tree Vector on a 650 and it gets the wobbles at 14 volts (4S) and it simply plays dead. I have never had a chipped prop because all battery test flights are hover flights in manual mode and just inches off the ground and over tall grass and in an open field.
I have found that the Solo is not happy when its below 3%. I figured the Solo would get the wobbles and want to lay on its side or just drop or something simple, I will tell you now, If your not on the ground by 5% to 8% and get below 3% and you only see one indicator light on your battery ((( RUN))) , I am Laughing MY A** off right now thinking about it and only wish I was filming this. Once the power was around 3% that little Bi*CH got mad and started to climb and I tried everything to get it to come back down it would not respond to the controls at all.
So it got to about 20/25 Ft and then it dropped sideways to about 10 feet as it tried to catch itself and that's when it wanted to chase me,, "Not really" but it was trying to right itself and it hit the ground. Once it hit the ground you would think it would shut down but NO,, it wanted to take off again so I quickly grabbed the battery and held it in place to keep it on the ground until it got over its fit and again there was NO ONE HOME.. I pulled the battery ASAP once the blades stopped as there was no telling what else it might have done.
So If anyone was thinking of testing the limits of your Solo battery I would to stay at 10% and if you do push it by the time you hit 8% you better be on the ground no matter how far away it is from you. The Solo was undamaged and without a scratch so I brought her back to the shop and recharged the battery and took her for another flight just to tell her I was sorry and she rewarded me with a very fast 15 Min flight about a foot over the grass out in the field and I can tell you in advanced manual mode she can move very fast and stable. shes not a race quad but my race quad doesn't carry a GoPro and a gimbal.
So now that I know, evidently the Linux didn't like low voltage and stops communicating completely. I have seen a few vid's where the Solo has a flyway and I do feel that even if your Solo tells you to fly after you upgrade I would suggest re-calibrating the compass before your first flight along with leveling.
Along with that I have seen that when the Solo hits the ground the blades keep spinning.
Isn't there a impact motor kill command in the Solo? I know with the Eagletree Vector once it senses an impact it kills the ESC"s and the only way to get the system running again is to unplug and re-power the FC.
