Well I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I had a horrific crash a couple of months ago, so I've been laying low. Then last week I started to piece everything together and get back into it VERY SLOWLY and carefully.
Some of you (on facebook) helped me look at my logs from 3 simple flights just to foresee any problems, everything looked ok: http://diydrones.com/group/iris/forum/topics/please-check-my-logs
So yesterday I assemble a brand new Tarot 2D gimbal, and also pieced together a couple of broken GoPros and made 1 that would record. Just scraping up the pieces to get back into it slowly, ya know?
I took it to the park tonight, a different park and I made sure to STAY OVER THE GRASS AT ALL TIMES, and no higher than 10 meters for the most part. I flew several auto missions I just drew up tonight in DroidPlanner2. Just quick flights, relatively low to the ground, and I brought 3 batteries.
I was testing different flight patterns and waypoint functions in DroidPlanner, nothing too crazy. A pause here for 10 seconds, a 10 meter circle around this area, point the camera here, no big deal, right???
I'm in my 4th flight and using my 3rd and final battery for the night. The audio comes on and says "Battery at 90%" so I'm like ok, cool. I'm just letting it run it's auto mission that probably would have lasted a grand total of 3 minutes, and the son of a bitch drops out of the F#^%ing sky AGAIN like a rock, NO WARNING. I break one of the blue arms, and my BRAND NEW F$*%ing gimbal snaps off of the Iris.
Is this a joke?
So anyways, here I go again, I'll put this one in to 3DR support with almost ZERO confidence, let's see if they'll offer 30 bucks off of something again and find a way to suggest it was all my fault.
Here are the logs, and better yet I've got the video. What else can I provide you fine folks? I'll just share the Dropbox folder with all 4 logs from tonight, and of course the crash is the latest log. I would absolutely love some analysis on what went wrong.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rn0h0q8msmbw87w/AAD3R6iA_sBKkO0SDxDphz00a?dl=0
And the video. I can share the other videos from the earlier flights tonight, but they are uneventful, just going to a dozen waypoints, looking at points of interest, pausing, and landing.
The crash happens at 2:37, and I think it's just absolutely adorable how the motors continue to spin EVERY TIME it crashes even if it's upside down, as if there is no setting on the compass that can turn those damned motors off.
Replies
well put a load on it and run 3 or 4 batteries through it. Tethered would be best so you could raise the throttle without it getting so high that it would break if it fails.
I replaced the broken arm and took it for a simple test flight (I've been doing a lot of test flights lately!)
I just let it hover about 4 feet off the ground in my backyard and let the battery run all the way to the point of auto land, since I've never done it before, just to see if it worked.
Question; the time on the controller, is that flight time, or does that start once the controller is powered on?
Here's a video of the test. It's not eventful by any means, just shows it flying in Loiter mode and landing automatically when the battery reached 10.5.
Hi Justin:
I am also on my second IRIS from 3dr after a number of disappointments and a bad crash. I am happy to report that 3DR replaced my first drone at no cost, gimbal and all (this was a 60 day process). This all happened in March just before the official launch of SOLO.
Since I had my replacement, I've done all test flights and IRIS has performed very well. (28 flights & 5+ Hrs of flight time) I do check Bat. voltage and monitor each charge mAh , times, etc. and try to never let the bat. failsafe put me into autoland. My flights with gopro and gimbal are almost all 11 or 12 minutes. And I have 5 batteries and yes, I have run them consecutively. Perhaps not immediately after landing but very soon, like 5 minutes or so.
Since I received my replacement IRIS+ Iv'e been much more attentive to batteries, exact flight times and GPS and logging everything in a logbook. Date, weather, battery number, starting mAh, ending..charge mAh, etc. along with notes about the individual flights. Im hopeful to one day use this commercially and I'm betting FAA will require a certain amount of logged hours of flight time to demonstrate proficiency so logging is a good thing.
This particular group is a great learning tool as there is soooo much to learn. I"ll report back on my IRIS Temps. I will go fly today again. Good luck and try not to get discouraged.
Mark
Im sorry I can't offer much advice on your logs although it seems like the group has already ID'd that your crash was not your error.
I have had a similar experience Mark. Got a full replacement after a gyro fault-induced fly-away.
I too intend to use the Iris commercially, and will be in the FAA process once I conclude my current project .
I use the droneshare as my log. Don't know if this will suffice for FAA, but all data is retained from flights. My new Iris automatically added a record in that system, so I believe the Pixhawk has a unique ID for logging purposes. Well thought out!
Still no word back from 3DR Support. A week ago they sent me their automated response saying "We're receiving a high volume of inquiries about the global launch of Solo, so apologies in advance for not helping you immediately: we will get back to you within 1 to 3 days."
Sounds like I need to be a Solo customer to get any attention from 3DR.
In the meantime, it looks like I need to learn how to solder some wires back together just to replace a broken arm! Fun times.
Well I finally did it, I contacted support. Let's see how it goes over the next few days.
Wow, lots of good feedback here, sorry I've been away for a bit, I'll try to read through it today and reply. Thanks!
And if overheating would be a serious issue, I would be keen in knowing it. I am flying in a hot and humid environment. So far each time only two battery packs in a row, without issues.
Isn't there a log for the temperature? Under Baro there is a point Temp.
I checked one of my log files and it reads temperatures between 38 when powering up and around 45 after the flight. Doesn't look concerning. I believe it is in degree Celsius.
Were you able to post the logs outside Dropbox?
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