Drone flyaway help

Hello Forum,

This is my first post, so I'm not 100% sure if this is the format the group would prefer, however I am stuck in a little pickle.

I decided to build my first quadcopter back in September, which turned out to become relativly simple. With that choice, I choose the APM platform to allow me to explore autonomous operations, as well as its versitility.

My first couple flights were fine, but later on I started to encounter issues.

The day I first tested RTL, the first time I flipped the switch, it worked flawlessly. I went to record the RTL for my video series the second time, but it eventually led to a sudden flip and crash. (Video will be attached).

After repairing the copter, I did a couple of tests in my street. All of them were fine except for one, where I had no control over it drifting and then descending into my neighbors fence. 

The big kahuna of crashes occurred after that, where I once again, intended on testing RTL. The flight was going OK, until I flipped it into RTL, where I felt that it was not working right. I flipped it back into stabilize, where it starting drifting over a neighborhood pool. I'm not positive if I flipped it back into RTL or not, but the copter suddenly shot-up into the sky at full throttle, leaving it out of sight. Eventually we found the copter less than a quarter of a mile away from launch.

I'm still trying to learn the ins and outs of these systems, so I thought posting the video of the last flight, data and kmz logs of the last flight would help me receive some insight of how to fix my quad, as it is grounded until I know this will never happen again.

Raw GoPro video of crash: https://youtu.be/X02X2SxAvTk

All criticisim and comments welcome!

Thanks for the help,

Todd

crash log.kmz

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Replies

    • It looks like there was a brownout...

      Size (kb) 1183.400390625
      No of lines 15628
      Duration 0:05:22
      Vehicletype ArduCopter
      Firmware Version V3.2.1
      Firmware Hash 36b405fb
      Hardware Type
      Free Mem 0
      Skipped Lines 0

      Test: Autotune = NA -
      Test: Balance/Twist = NA -
      Test: Brownout = FAIL - Truncated Log? Ends while armed at altitude 28.15m
      Test: Compass = GOOD - No MAG data, unable to test mag_field interference

      Test: Dupe Log Data = GOOD -
      Test: Empty = GOOD -
      Test: Event/Failsafe = FAIL - ERRs found: GPS FS_THR
      Test: GPS = GOOD -
      Test: IMU Mismatch = UNKNOWN - No IMU log data
      Test: Parameters = GOOD -
      Test: PM = NA -
      Test: Pitch/Roll = NA -
      Test: Thrust = NA -
      Test: VCC = WARN - VCC min/max diff 0.476v, should be <0.3v

    • Developer

      I think the brownout is a false positive because it's based on the altitude being correct nd with baro so inaccurate the altitude is way off.

    • Could you please explain your logic?  I do not under stand how a brownout (which I believe is a significant drop in power supply voltage that causes a system shutdown and restart) error message is based on the  output from a faulty barometer.

    • Developer

      The way the log analyser guesses it's a brown out is by looking for the log ending with the vehicle still at a high altitude.  Our board voltage monitoring normally cannot capture the actual power down even because it happens so quickly.

    • OK, that makes sense.

    • Developer

      By the way, I assume the flight controller is in a case and has foam over the barometer?

  • .(this web-based input form utility cuts longer input and reedits formatted ASCII to unformatted ASCII)

    ..

    we need to find a general solution to the problem of one another Drone Fly-Awy

    Incident in a future to get every drone pilot, operator protected.

    I have joined Philips Hue Lighting Project to study problems with

    wireless LED lighting control technology, exactly alike

    HUE LED Lighting Fly-Away

    problems by wireless LED Hue control technology developed by Philips.

  • @Todd,

    try not to fly close to power lines due to possible electromagnetic interferences next time.

    Prior problems with your drone can  ad-hoc be oberved watching your video,  getting fuzzy at about half of recording time.

    It looks like your frame started to resonate at higher altiude forcing processor 99% busy

    to process gyroscope data to stabilize your drone's frame ( highest priority process ate up

    processor's power).

    Join

    Peer To Drone Crash Investigators

    darius

    manta103g@gmail.com

    • And for future reference, the Gopro was not used for FPV, and was independentally controlled.
    • Thanks for reassuring me for my decision of not launching again!

      I'm running the PM to my PDB with no other electronics attached other than my 4 x 25 A ESCs to my 1000kv motors.
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