Horseshoe Up My Toucas!

[Dirty Bird]

Installed Coffee's v8 modded app last night. Was curious if it would work as I am still running 3.0 firmware. The GS part of the app works great. Can't reset RTH altitude with 3.0 firmware, and haven't tested the "Follow Me" mode. Battery indicator on the app works but doesn't show the red/yellow/green segments, which is fine with me. Flew two GS missions last night...first one over 5 miles (round trip), second one 5.7 (RT) miles. The Live 3G makes you feel bold since you know you can at least track her down. This morning I flew four more GS missions, pushing it a little further with each run. Last run was 3.5 miles from home, 7.1 miles total distance. I love launching then watching the mission progress on the computer's Flytrex "Live Flight" screen. Very cool!

Late afternoon I set up a direct flight here to a buddy's house. About 3.2 miles distant, no wind, battery at 100%. Off she goes, I am inside watching it on the screen and I call him. I know he will be sitting outside drinking beer. I tell him to look up. A few moments later the Phantom is over his head and he's cracking up. It stops, rotates, and heads for home. I'm watching her return and when she gets about half a mile away, she suddenly stops and starts losing altitude. Crikes here we go again! Where's the chainsaw! :shock:

I see on the Flytrex "Last seen" she is a few blocks away right over the back yard of the last house on the left of 207th street. About 500 meters short of making it back. I pull up to the house, knock and ask if its OK to look for my quad. The lady says sure. Just then a guy says "Are you looking for your helicopter? Its right behind that house." Cool. She hit the trees coming down. Finally broke a prop! Probably fell from that point to the ground. Bird is laying upside down, One blade broken off (didn't see find the missing piece), battery ejected right next to her, and I can see right away the main gimbal post is bent. Camera still attached, ribbon undamaged. Head home to access the damage.

Was still using the props from the last tree landing. Broke out a set of the DJI blue-tipped ones I bought months ago. Battery appears fine...no physical damage. Surveyed the gimbal. Big pair of pliers, taped the teeth, gently bent the main gimbal shaft back straight. The moment of truth...powered her up. Had to tweak the bend just a hair as the main support was touching the plate when yawing. One more slight bend...everything seems ok. Took her out for a quick test flight, all appears OK. Will run IMU calibration a little later.

What I am unsure of is why she stopped and autolanded at 10.72 volts? I installed Coffee's latest v9 app just before the flight but I don't think that has anything to do with it. I have autoland/RTH disabled in the app. I had flown over 7.1 miles earlier, and the battery voltage on that flight was identical (different battery though I have 4). All in all I am pretty fortunate 1) to have the Live 3G. Trust me it works for finding your bird. She was again exactly where it showed her to be! 2) The gimbal survived relatively unscathed.

Does anyone know off the top of their head the voltage threshold at which this thing autolands?

Flytrex Mission Log - Autolanded @ 10.72 volts - Not sure why?
http://www.flytrex.com/mission/quadcopter-dirty-bird-michael-lovelace-85976/

 

[N017RW]

While #s 1 & 2 may have changed with recent firmware updates, #3 may still be in effect:

Low Battery Capacity Warning Function

The low battery capacity warning alerts users when the battery is close to depletion during flight. When it appears, users should promptly fly back and land to avoid accidental damage. The PHANTOM 2 has two levels of low battery capacity warning. The first appears when the battery has less than 30% power and the second appears when it has less than 15% power.
（1）When battery power drops below 30% and LED indicator will blink red slowly.
（2）At lower than 15% the LED indicator will blink red rapidly, the PHANTOM 2 will also begin to descend and land automatically. After it has landed, keep the throttle stick at its lowest point or execute CSC.
（3)There is a hidden third low battery threshold in addition to the 1st and 2nd level warnings. This uses 10.65V as its threshold. Both this voltage threshold and the 2nd Level Low Battery Warning will trigger auto-landing. Altitude can be maintained if necessary by pushing up on the throttle stick.


FWIW, I have a P2 (3.06) and Futaba w/telemetry... when B+ gets to 10.70 it begins to auto-land.

The voltage difference you see may be to measurement uncetainty or other error(s).

 

[DrJoe]

Jeez, I fly the thing after a few beers, it falls off my deck and costs my $679 for a new gimbal. You really are a lucky sonofagun! A tree landing in the rain... then this! You do have a horseshoe up your toucas.

And tell me more about Live 3G.... is a part of flytrex or a seperate tracker?

 

[Dirty Bird]

While #s 1 & 2 may have changed with recent firmware updates, #3 may still be in effect:

（3)There is a hidden third low battery threshold in addition to the 1st and 2nd level warnings. This uses 10.65V as its threshold. Both this voltage threshold and the 2nd Level Low Battery Warning will trigger auto-landing. Altitude can be maintained if necessary by pushing up on the throttle stick.

FWIW, I have a P2 (3.06) and Futaba w/telemetry... when B+ gets to 10.70 it begins to auto-land.

The voltage difference you see may be to measurement uncetainty or other error(s).

Thank you very much. That definitely would explain the auto-landing @ 10.72. I guess that is a risk involved in long-range GS missions.

 

[Dirty Bird]

And tell me more about Live 3G.... is a part of flytrex or a seperate tracker?

The Flytrex Live 3G is the new model of the Flytrex Live (2G) that was released a few months ago. It connects via cellular to provide real-time logging (like a Core except you don't have to manually upload the data) and tracking via the carrier of your choice. Flytrex is taking pre-orders now with the first batch expected mid-November. I was a beta tester so I have one of the Flytrex Live 3G prototype units. Trust me it works and has now recovered my Phantom TWICE!

 

[N017RW]

Hmmm... does this mean you never had a 'problem' or needed 'recovery' until after you installed the Flytrex?

I bet I know the answer :lol:

 

[flyNfrank]

The last time I used the GS I had the same thing happen, and it was due to the battery voltage. Mine took place when I noticed a sound difference. I looked over to where I had it running way points from one end of rows in a cornfield to the other end. I caught it on it's descent which was at 5ft from chewing up corn. From instinct I went up on left lever to take it safely up away from the hazard, but it only maintained altitude until I let the lever go back to normal when it begin to go down even more. I took the lever back up and nervously flew away from the field. I never did check to see if there was some thing I could set to keep that from happening again. I just haven't used the GS since then

 

[Dirty Bird]

Hmmm... does this mean you never had a 'problem' or needed 'recovery' until after you installed the Flytrex?

I bet I know the answer :lol:

LOL. The first time was just an unexplained battery issue (that battery - #1 - has worked perfectly ever since!). This time it was pushing the envelope, though I had gone a mile further earlier today. Winds were calm this evening so that wasn't the cause. I think knowing the Flytrex Live 3G is there makes you more at ease on-the-edge knowing you at least have a chance to recovery the aircraft. Watching your long-range GS flights in real-time on the computer is priceless. Tonight I saw what was happening and I was out the door and on the way before she had come down!

 

[Dirty Bird]

Here is the video from the crash. Of course the crash itself is missing, as the last 30 seconds was lost repairing the unfinalized video.

***This mission almost had a different ending. Watch @ 5:00-5:15 for the alternate ending that almost was! :shock:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ptvEyLVUfc[/youtube]

 

[Stile2112]

Any man who lists "lightsaber" as an interest is one bad muther fuc.... HUSH YOUR MOUTH!!! Just talking about DB!! :lol:

 

[flyNfrank]

Hello Tree.... That was awesome leading up to the suspense as you are getting closer & closer. How long does it take to drive to your buddies house, now that you know you can some thing to him in the 8 minute time frame. Btw, I don't care so much about 7th channel gimbal stuff. I want to convert it to activate a switch to open and drop the movies I borrowed from the family.
Oh, what speed setting were you in there, 15ms?

 

[job2310]

I swear if Chuck Norris and the Marlboro Man had a love child it would be DB! I hope you play the lottery with your luck! :lol: I also think you should chop down a tree just for the principal of the thing! :lol:

 

[bliffman]

Not wanting to rain on your parade but from brief look at the video it looks like you're flying over several densely populated areas, across several major roads.

Do you not feel that's a bit irresponsible given the crashes/autolanding crashes could've happened at any point during this and caused injuries/car crashes?

I can't help but feel if there was someone with a lesser post count just signed up and posted that he'd be getting flamed now.

 

[ilovecoffee]

Sorry DB!

I can't help feel slightly responsible for your recklessness Maybe because I told you to "keep pushing it"

 

[Nathan Carter]

What I don't like about Flytrex systems is this number 5 step of installation instruction:

5. Solder the two power wires (black and red) to your aircraft main distribution board.

Of course you need to connect it somewhere, but can't this also potentially introduce problems to the system? Bad soldering/Loose connections or potential sudden power draw(for example if 3G network signal is low, for boosting signal reception?) which could actually trigger an auto-land of the Phantom itself...
:-/

 

[Dirty Bird]

I agree that this experience has caused me to reevaluate future flight plans. Generally I prefer flying over water. I had flown several prior GS test flights to 7 miles @ 15 m/s with wind, over the bay, and returned with 25-30% battery remaining. At only 6.7 miles and virtually no wind, I believed I was well within range. Further, my batteries typically last to 18+ minutes before reaching critical (12%) levels. The flight video shows auto-land initiated in less than 14 minutes. This flight was flown with Battery #4. It has never given me troubles. It was, in fact, one of the batteries used in the 7 mile flights. I am not sure why it shut down prematurely during this flight? Normally my batteries run, recharge, and sit for a few days before the next flight. Perhaps running it twice in one day (~8 hours between flights) did not allow time for it to sufficiently recover?

 

[Dirty Bird]

Hello Tree.... That was awesome leading up to the suspense as you are getting closer & closer.
Oh, what speed setting were you in there, 15ms?

Yes it was 15 m/s. As I was watched the video I saw the terrain rising and that one tall tree sticking up. Can't believe how close that was...another foot or two. :shock:

At one point in the video I saw a couple guys look up as she buzzed past overhead. It would make me smile to be outside and see a Phantom cruise by.

 

[flyNfrank]

Hello Tree.... That was awesome leading up to the suspense as you are getting closer & closer.
Oh, what speed setting were you in there, 15ms?

Yes it was 15 m/s. As I was watched the video I saw the terrain rising and that one tall tree sticking up. Can't believe how close that was...another foot or two. :shock:

At one point in the video I saw a couple guys look up as she buzzed past overhead. It would make me smile to be outside and see a Phantom cruise by.

I have watched it at least half dozen times now, last was with the wife on the 60 inch HD this morning. First thing she said was, can yours fly that far. She also liked how your trees still had leaves with color on them. I live in Indiana a little further south then your location and our trees are 70% of them are now bare.

I'm still curious how long it takes to drive to your buddies house opposed to the 8 1/2 minutes it took to fly there.

 

[Dirty Bird]

With all of the red lights & traffic 15-20 minutes. :roll:

The fall foliage is beautiful right now. I'll be picking the mess up soon though!

Speaking of the big TV's, I love how these new tv's are internet capable. I often go to my YouTube channel and start the first video and let them play in sequence. A nice distraction from the blood-pressure-rising, lock-&-load, 24/7 news I normally watch... :lol:

 

[job2310]

Hello Tree.... That was awesome leading up to the suspense as you are getting closer & closer.
Oh, what speed setting were you in there, 15ms?

Yes it was 15 m/s. As I was watched the video I saw the terrain rising and that one tall tree sticking up. Can't believe how close that was...another foot or two. :shock:

At one point in the video I saw a couple guys look up as she buzzed past overhead. It would make me smile to be outside and see a Phantom cruise by.

I've been wondering, running the motors flat out to reach 15m/s...is there a chance that the constant high demand from the battery to achieve that speed caused the voltage problem? I know ZERO about batteries but maybe?