So I've had my H since they first came out in May with only a couple of small issues. ST-16 lost calibration a few times, an easy fix, and a firmware update issue that was resolved without having to send anything back to Yuneec. I've held off on the last firmware update due to the 400' altitude cap. Since everything worked fine there was no reason to fix something that wasn't broken.
So it's like a winter wonderland here and thought it might be nice to do a second flight to capture what the are looks like right now. The first flight was last weekend to test out a new camera. It was pretty cold at about 25* then but aside from what I thought were some frame rate issues causing a little chop in the video it all worked pretty good. This morning was a new story. About 22*, thin overcast but otherwise no precipitation, lots of snow, 16.7v on the H battery, full charge on the ST-16, plenty of satellites and no indications of a problem. I was well more than far enough away so elected to launch in Smart mode. No problems. Raised the gear and started to move further away at about 75' of altitude and suddenly the aft red light illuminates and compass error is depicted on the -16. The H is now moving like a raped ape from right to left and before I can flip to Angle mode. Line of sight with the H is quickly obscured by a tall tree. After getting into Angle and reducing throttle to descend while trying to get clear of the visual obstruction it's still flying but I've lost sight of it. The plan was to fly out in front of me and remain well clear or anything that could limit a clear view of the H since I don't fly FPV, ever. Best laid plans and all that....
Next thing I know I'm getting both a compass and a 5 rotor warning and the video is not changing image. It's not flying any more. Still have a video link so i consider driving and tromping around the neighborhood in a foot and a half of snow to look for it. Took me a minute to figure out the telemetry was still working and to look at the GPS location on the -16 screen but I could not get the constantly cycling warnings to clear the screen while it was still linked to the H. Shutting down the -16 and re-starting it didn't help because it linked to the H again. It's very difficult to see the small GPS location numbers with warnings that can't be cleared. Yuneec, you folks need to set the warnings up where they can be acknowledged and cleared by the user.
Took a bit but managed to finally note the GPS location and perform a Google Earth search. It appears the GPS data is pretty accurate. It said it was 292' away and at 46' of altitude. Looking at the overhead view on Google Earth and I was able to track it down. Unfortunately that 46' is close to accurate. It's up in a tree that I have no hope of recovering it from.
No clue why things suddenly went from good to bad unless the temperature was lower than the H could handle. Perhaps the new camera had something going on within. Who knows. Now to figure out what to do next. I'll have to wait for the H battery to run down and self destruct before I can get into the -16 pad and pull the telemetry. What's really irritating is the H had the new camera on it, and I can see the **** thing but can't get there from here.
So it's like a winter wonderland here and thought it might be nice to do a second flight to capture what the are looks like right now. The first flight was last weekend to test out a new camera. It was pretty cold at about 25* then but aside from what I thought were some frame rate issues causing a little chop in the video it all worked pretty good. This morning was a new story. About 22*, thin overcast but otherwise no precipitation, lots of snow, 16.7v on the H battery, full charge on the ST-16, plenty of satellites and no indications of a problem. I was well more than far enough away so elected to launch in Smart mode. No problems. Raised the gear and started to move further away at about 75' of altitude and suddenly the aft red light illuminates and compass error is depicted on the -16. The H is now moving like a raped ape from right to left and before I can flip to Angle mode. Line of sight with the H is quickly obscured by a tall tree. After getting into Angle and reducing throttle to descend while trying to get clear of the visual obstruction it's still flying but I've lost sight of it. The plan was to fly out in front of me and remain well clear or anything that could limit a clear view of the H since I don't fly FPV, ever. Best laid plans and all that....
Next thing I know I'm getting both a compass and a 5 rotor warning and the video is not changing image. It's not flying any more. Still have a video link so i consider driving and tromping around the neighborhood in a foot and a half of snow to look for it. Took me a minute to figure out the telemetry was still working and to look at the GPS location on the -16 screen but I could not get the constantly cycling warnings to clear the screen while it was still linked to the H. Shutting down the -16 and re-starting it didn't help because it linked to the H again. It's very difficult to see the small GPS location numbers with warnings that can't be cleared. Yuneec, you folks need to set the warnings up where they can be acknowledged and cleared by the user.
Took a bit but managed to finally note the GPS location and perform a Google Earth search. It appears the GPS data is pretty accurate. It said it was 292' away and at 46' of altitude. Looking at the overhead view on Google Earth and I was able to track it down. Unfortunately that 46' is close to accurate. It's up in a tree that I have no hope of recovering it from.
No clue why things suddenly went from good to bad unless the temperature was lower than the H could handle. Perhaps the new camera had something going on within. Who knows. Now to figure out what to do next. I'll have to wait for the H battery to run down and self destruct before I can get into the -16 pad and pull the telemetry. What's really irritating is the H had the new camera on it, and I can see the **** thing but can't get there from here.