Ok, so I just had my first test flight with my Iris with my new FPV system. A list of my components can be found below. I started by loading the parameters from AP Flight planner to adjust for my gimbal and go pro. Took IRIS to the park and there we went. I soon noticed IRIS was not achieving her usual altitude height. I thought this was strange but kept on. Around 9 minutes in, she just started falling, not free falling but losing altitude too fast. I tried switching out of loiter mode to manual and every other mode possible. Crash! She hit the ground. Luckily, I was only over a park field and only one gimbal leg broke. Everything else seemed fine. I still had video connection, OSD settings were on display, green light was flashing for GPS signal, so I wasn't too worried. I zip tied the leg back on and tried to take off again after a safety check. I accelerated the throttle and Iris would not get off the ground. I was going to try replacing the battery with a fresh one but rain set in. I don't think it will help but hopefully it will. Either way it doesn't give me an answer to my problem. Why did she come down so fast and without warning? This actually happened to me one time when before I even had any of my new components for the FPV system. 3DR has been no help. Does anybody have any ideas I could trouble shoot?
3DR OSD board
3DR gopro cable
3DR video transmitter
Tarot Gimbal with go pro hero 3+
2 cell liPo battery for video transmitter
The OSD board is attached to the right of the Pixhawk (not touching any other components)
My video transmitter is on the underside of the back right leg antenna down
2 cell battery is on the bottom of the battery door
Replies
Yeah, that battery will have a hard time. Did you check the voltage after the landing? What method are you using to make sure you don't push it too far?
I mostly use Turnigy 5000 mAh batteries these days but will be switching to a 4S when I rebuild the IRIS.
Have a look at http://cloud-surfer.net/2014/07/14/3dr-iris-with-4s-batteries/ for flying IRIS with 4S batteries. Definitely gives you another bird on tall legs and with gimbal.
Interesting... I've just been using the voltage display on the controller and trusting the failsafe. Never again though. What are you adding to your Iris? Do you know of anyone adding more powerful motors? Do yo know anything about the X8? I might save up for that and sell my Iris used. I feel that the Iris is more of a toy than a serious drone for aerial video, at least out of the box.
Thanks for the help BTW!
John,
Thanks, I agree with you. I'm putting the gimbal and my fpv system away for a later project. Going to have fun with my front go pro mount for now. I just ordered the voltage monitor from amazon. Thanks for the link! Definitely need to learn better battery care.
I reread your OP and you said that you did the same thing with your IRIS before adding the extra gear. I would guess that you have been flying until your battery gave out. That will damage your battery (and your quad) pretty quickly, I would stop flying until you have a reliable way to monitor your voltage and know when to land.
The voltage on the LCD of the transmitter? Unless you have modded it to receive telemetry, that number is the voltage of the transmitter battery not the IRIS.
I use a cheap voltage monitor/alarm that plugs into the balance plug and physically monitors the voltage. Like this.
There aren't many people that I can find that are upgrading the IRIS beyond batteries. I imagine that any motor with the same diameter would work fine.
Don't have any experience with the X8, just have 2 quads. I am kicking around the idea of converting the IRIS to an X8 by adding motors mounts where the landing gear mounts. Basically just having fun learning as much as I can with the IRIS.
I would keep the IRIS, for me its a great advanced trainer. I am using mine for a testbed for new stuff. Throw a GoPro on the front mount and maybe an FPV transmitter and have fun. Then invest in a more serious platform for expensive stuff like gimbals and better cameras. The IRIS for practice and more aggressive flying and the higher end copter for serious stuff.
I was never under the impression that the IRIS is a pro platform. It just doesn't have the specs for that or the cost for that matter. For the price as an RTF with Pixhawk, I think its a pretty good deal. The SteadiDrone QU4D kit that I bought was a few hundred more and I had to build/set it up myself and only had a Naza M Lite. The quality and capability of the QU4D is very apparent though, you get what you pay for.
Downloading logs now from copter. Will post when I get it. Thanks!!
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