YUNEEC Q500

[tcope]

Byroman wrote on Feb 19:
Regarding your comment about 8000' elevation ceiling... this all depends on where you fly. This restriction is one of my gripes to Yuneec as I live in a corner of Montana where there is the ability to fly at elevations beyond 8000' (some nearby peaks are right at 8000'). The Q500 manual is very specific that this is not an AGL height - but an elevation restriction. I'm hoping they modify this to an AGL setting and restrict it to perhaps 1000'.
Guess in the meantime I can fly my Vision in the higher country!

Byroman, have you found out any more from Yuneec whether there is a way to disable this restriction or why they imposed it? I have a Phantom 1 and it flies just fine at 9000', albeit with reduced battery life due to the props having to put out full power more often and being a little less responsive. When I tried the Yuneec Q500 at 8500' at a ski resort here in Utah, I saw the warning on the ST-10 but figured OK, fine and tried to start the quad. That is when I found out they disabled the start capability via software for altitudes above 8000'.

My questions relate to whether this is an arbitrary limit imposed by Yuneec to reduce potential conflicts with manned aircraft assuming the drone was being flown at a sea level/lower altitude or whether it has been verified by flight testing and if flight tested, was it a safety concern or something else. Being an engineer, I know how they impose safety limits by doing theoretical calculations, in this case regarding lift and L/D ratios, then adding a safety factor of 1 to 2X.

Wonder if there is any hope of ever being able to eliminate this restriction or at least set it higher via the GUI? Also wonder if the GPS is disabled and the Q500 set up for manual flying if the quad will start and then if it could be switched to the GPS mode while airborne?

Love the Q500 as a stable camera platform, but not being able to use it at 8000' or above eliminates a lot of my planned use here in Utah.

I was in Little Cottonwood Canyon, about 2. 5 miles up and flew my Phantom. I'm guessing that might be 6000 feet? Seemed to fly just fine. I think a software limitation on the Q500 is very short sighted. I have no doubt it would fly just fine at 8000 and that the limitation is them thinking just about sea level.

 

[Meta4]

Re: YUNEEC Q500 8000' Altitude Restriction

My questions relate to whether this is an arbitrary limit imposed by Yuneec to reduce potential conflicts with manned aircraft assuming the drone was being flown at a sea level/lower altitude or whether it has been verified by flight testing and if flight tested, was it a safety concern or something else.

It's not like potential conflicts with aircraft are avoided below 8000 ft.
There's plenty of opportunity to encounter aircraft at 5000 ft or lower.
Besides, not allowing flight 50 ft AGL at 8000 ft is just too clunky to be for that reason.
It must be related to flight physics.

Also wonder if the GPS is disabled and the Q500 set up for manual flying if the quad will start and then if it could be switched to the GPS mode while airborne?

GPS is very inaccurate for altitude. The Phantom could not hold altitude as it does if it used GPS for altitude input.
I doubt the Yuneec use GPS for altitude either.

 

[dennymont]

Well, I am flying my Phantom 1/FC40 at 9000', and except for reduced battery life and obvious reduced power, it has not been a problem. My basic point is that unless someone can prove aerodynamically that flight above 8000' is too dangerous, I believe its an arbitrary limit imposed by Yuneec, most likely based on some concerns about power/maneuverability, but primarily motivated by their legal department. I mean I can start the quad at 7900' but if I try to start it at 8001', its too dangerous?

Yuneec should allow a GUI option for flight above 8000' to be user selectable (similar to the 300' Smart Mode limit) up to a certain altitude, based on AERODYNAMIC factors and flight testing. Heck, include a waiver in the GUI detailing the risks then allow an operator signature stating the pilot is aware and willing to assume those risks and have the signed waiver uploaded automatically to some Yuneec site/dropbox. After receipt of the waiver by Yuneec, the owner/operator would be allowed to change the maximum operating altitude using the GUI program within set limits, possibly by inputing a password or code provided by Yuneec to allow the change to be made.

 

[Tito]

I flew the q500 yesterday and it was really impressed.

I saw the neighbors fly a fpv "racing" quadcopter and soon enough another quadcopter popped up. I join the action with my phantom. I immediately noticed that it was more stable than my phantom. and it flew smoother. Walked over to him to talk about his new toy. It was de Yuneec Q500. Immediately i saw that is was about twice as big as the phantom (could be an downside of course). He let me play with it for some time. It is smoother flying (probably because of it size) had about 20/25 min flight time. I am used flying FPV and the monitor didn't seem to be laggy and the images are very clear. Monitor looks tiny though compared tot the 7" display that my phantom has. Its strange that is between the palm of your hands but it's also blocking sunlight. And it isn't as annoying as i thought it would be. The OSD can be switched to a full screen mode and has some options and buttons which i didn't use or know what they do. It also has a touchscreen. There's also a little green arrow pointing were you are standing. Handy, as I lost my homepoint a few times flying FPV. It has indeed the speed control which seems to work fine. The follow me mode works well, but doesn't respond the first 4 meters or so. Cool feature is the Rx vibrates when battery is getting low.

The only downside is I "think" the range isn't very far for video. But I don't know for sure. I flew my phantom in about 800 m radius around our house but he didn't flew that far. Don't know why.

All in all, I'm finding out the max range for the Q500 and if it meets my needs, I am selling my Phantom! I was really impressed.

 

[prostreetcamaro]

I bought both the phantom 2 vision plus V3 and a Q500 at the same time with the intention of returning one. I kept the Q500. So stable and smooth and the gimbal is world's better than the phantoms. Today I got 3300' video feed on my Q500. I just received my fpvlr kit today and will be installing it tomorrow. Expecting to get 4000' + out of it. The Q500 is also much quieter. They are both excellent quads I just preferred the stability and smoothness of the Q500.

 

[Cris]

I live in Toluca, a suburb outside Mexico City. The elevation is 8750 ft I just get my new yuneec q500 and I can't turn it on. Any idea on what can I do about it?? Any chances on changing the firmware or something about it.

Please help me

 

[Tito]

Did you took it up to the GUI? you can set hight limits there. Also, push the right control stick to the far right and toggle the smart/angle/home mode 4 times and GPS/GLONAS will be disabled. Check if the engines fire up after that.

 

[GoodnNuff]

Did you took it up to the GUI? you can set hight limits there. Also, push the right control stick to the far right and toggle the smart/angle/home mode 4 times and GPS/GLONAS will be disabled. Check if the engines fire up after that.

This isn't a height limit. It is programmed not to fly above an elevation of 8000 feet ASL. You can't, at this point alter that limitation. The tech folks at Yuneec will tell you it is a performance issue that makes the Q500 unstable (?) at that elevation and that is why they have this limitation. But yeah, it really hampers where those of us in mountainous states can fly.

 

[quadhangar]

If there are Q500 owners here, I would really appreciate their feedback as we're running The Yuneec Q500 Accessories Survey.

Thanks!

 

[Jacob]

Hey guys, be sure to check out our dedicated Yuneec forum here. By signing up to be a member on that forum, you are entered to win a Q500 4K Edition! Thanks! www.YuneecPilots.com