Today I lost my quadWent out flying and was hover about 10ft high and about 30ft away. I decided to try RTL turned on the switch and the quadcopter quickly started to climb in the sky above the cloud and disappeared.I lost my new APM2.5+ and Gps.(30days old) I am so hurt losing my new Apm2.5+I hope someone will fell sorry for me. If not I guess 1 more year of savings for a new one.
I asked/mentioned this on the 2.9 release thread and didn't get any responses....I don't understand why, by default, RTL is allowed to go active if home is far away? It seems like that should be on and you should be forced to disable it if you are doing long range FPV or something that would have you far from home. I believe I've read there's a variable for distance from home so such a check should be trivial I would think. It seems like that simple check would prevent a bunch of these fly aways. I also don't understand why simple geofence is not enabled by default vs. having to enable it. It seems like the defaults should err on the side of beginner restrictive vs. experienced free as a bird.
Also, I agree that the wikis need some work but I also understand that documentation is the least fun part of software design so its natural that its playing second fiddle to everything else. But speaking as a noob who my wife says is "obsessed with this helicopter thingie" I am having a really tough time keeping up with the forums and constant stream of advice and tweaks and settings recommendations. So how is someone who isn't obsessed expected to safely fly it? I think more safety checks need built into the code. I really think it's too high an expectation to blame a lot of these non-bug related problems on people not reading enough or following the recommendations that are spread throughout the wikis and threads.
I mean I have honestly put in more time on this than I did getting my real pilots license, and I don't feel comfortable with my drone at all not because I've seen anything bad with my drone but rather because I've read so many horror stories that seem to me to have been avoidable. That doesn't seem right that this should be more difficult than flying a plane and everything that goes along with it.
Make sure you label your flying quad/plane/heli with good coated labels. Put your phone number, name, and maybe even 'reward if found'. Make sure the labels are coated on the outside or the ink will wash away in the rain.
I was flying a plane FPV over some remote forest area and crashed when I lost video signal. Since I had my name and number labeled on it, some random person who lived in the area happened to find it, and called me. Thankfully I got it back, all for a $50 bottle of Merlot, and two failed lipo batteries, and a lot of apologizing (they were not even upset, but I shouldn't have been flying FPV only without a backup RTL or failsafe).
I'm sure others have mentioned, look into a backup gps system that can text you it's current coordinates, along with buzzer alarms, or even high gain directional antennas.
Squeak! Im sorry about your loss too! And about my own one, a 2.4m span long range electro glider that I have built myself since April (but not all that time). Left me 2 days ago and never came back.
Just an incidentally associated rant - these "Berg-Strip" pin header connectors in common use for hobby aircraft are absolutely dreadful. Strange intermittent bug-a-boo phenomena are easily conjured up by unreliable electromechanical connections, and these dirt-cheap pin headers are just an accident waiting to happen. Oh, but the accidents don't wait for everyone. In the obviously high-vibration environment of a VTOL aircraft, they're patently absurd. (I know why 3DR uses them - because everyone else in the industry does. That doesn't make it good, just convenient.)
Frankly, I use them for temporary testing on the bench only. If everything works, I cut 'em off and make soldered connections, putting a locking Molex-style or high-quality D-sub connector pair where disconnecting the wires is mandatory.
The rule of thumb should be: solder where you can, substitute good data connectors where you must.
Just a thought? Could the fact that the telemetry antenna was not fitted cause a brownout? If it is not there it will suck a load more power... As the problem certainly sounds like a brownout to me?
My guess is that your barometer was not properly shielded from air currents from your props. If you are moving air and creating a positive pressure on the barometer then the same pressure reading you had on the ground with throttle at zero might be read at a much higher altitude!
Replies
Also, I agree that the wikis need some work but I also understand that documentation is the least fun part of software design so its natural that its playing second fiddle to everything else. But speaking as a noob who my wife says is "obsessed with this helicopter thingie" I am having a really tough time keeping up with the forums and constant stream of advice and tweaks and settings recommendations. So how is someone who isn't obsessed expected to safely fly it? I think more safety checks need built into the code. I really think it's too high an expectation to blame a lot of these non-bug related problems on people not reading enough or following the recommendations that are spread throughout the wikis and threads.
I mean I have honestly put in more time on this than I did getting my real pilots license, and I don't feel comfortable with my drone at all not because I've seen anything bad with my drone but rather because I've read so many horror stories that seem to me to have been avoidable. That doesn't seem right that this should be more difficult than flying a plane and everything that goes along with it.
Make sure you label your flying quad/plane/heli with good coated labels. Put your phone number, name, and maybe even 'reward if found'. Make sure the labels are coated on the outside or the ink will wash away in the rain.
I was flying a plane FPV over some remote forest area and crashed when I lost video signal. Since I had my name and number labeled on it, some random person who lived in the area happened to find it, and called me. Thankfully I got it back, all for a $50 bottle of Merlot, and two failed lipo batteries, and a lot of apologizing (they were not even upset, but I shouldn't have been flying FPV only without a backup RTL or failsafe).
I'm sure others have mentioned, look into a backup gps system that can text you it's current coordinates, along with buzzer alarms, or even high gain directional antennas.
so sorry . communication lost?
i am sorry about your loss
Just an incidentally associated rant - these "Berg-Strip" pin header connectors in common use for hobby aircraft are absolutely dreadful. Strange intermittent bug-a-boo phenomena are easily conjured up by unreliable electromechanical connections, and these dirt-cheap pin headers are just an accident waiting to happen. Oh, but the accidents don't wait for everyone. In the obviously high-vibration environment of a VTOL aircraft, they're patently absurd. (I know why 3DR uses them - because everyone else in the industry does. That doesn't make it good, just convenient.)
Frankly, I use them for temporary testing on the bench only. If everything works, I cut 'em off and make soldered connections, putting a locking Molex-style or high-quality D-sub connector pair where disconnecting the wires is mandatory.
The rule of thumb should be: solder where you can, substitute good data connectors where you must.
Generally, the same thing happened to me. Please see my post in "ArduCopter 2.9 Released" - its on page 66.
Just a thought? Could the fact that the telemetry antenna was not fitted cause a brownout? If it is not there it will suck a load more power... As the problem certainly sounds like a brownout to me?
My guess is that your barometer was not properly shielded from air currents from your props. If you are moving air and creating a positive pressure on the barometer then the same pressure reading you had on the ground with throttle at zero might be read at a much higher altitude!
Check out this user's experience: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/important-note-for-apm-2-5-user...
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