3.01 update trouble

[RiverRunner]

Ok. I'm not trying to be sarcastic here. I am just trying to understand and learn the need or reason to constantly calibrate the H compass all the time. I was curious so I called Yuneec support a while back to find out what type of compass system the H has. Is it magnetic, electronic or does it use GPS to find it's heading? The tech told me that the H uses a magnetic compass. So my question is if you correctly and successfully calibrate your H compass and you do not add anything to your H that will effect it why would you need to recalibrate it every time you fly or if your location changes by more that 100 miles from your original location? Again, I'm not being sarcastic but do you recalibrate (swing) the magnetic compass on your boat if you go more than 100 miles from your home to marina? If you are a private pilot do you recalibrate (swing) the magnetic or standby compass on the aircraft every time you land at a different airport or state more than 100 miles away? No you don't so why would you have to do it to the magnetic compass in the H? Just trying to understand or learn why?
My first drone was the Q500 that I bought over 2 years ago. I knew nothing about drones and I flew it right out of the box and still to this day I have never done a compass calibration. Even after firmware updates. I have never had any flight issues with it or compass problems at all and it is still flying rock solid till this day.
It seems to be the new firmware causing all these compass problems because that seems to be when they start after the update to the latest firmware. With all the new features and capabilities they designed into the H maybe there is a design issue (EMI) that is causing interferance with the compass system that no amount of calibration will fix or maybe the compass manufacturer has a bad product?

The problem is that magnetic north is not true north and the error varies at different places on the earth. If you want to fly accurately from one point to another, you need to know your position and orientation. GPS will give you an accurate location but not your heading (until you move.) Also the compass is actually a 3d compass. It is measuring the magnetic field in more than one plane. That's why you must rotate the drone about multiple axes. In addition to magnetic north, it is establishing a gravity vector (which way is down.) There are many magnetic sources on the H which are also mapped during calibration. There are magnets in the motors and gimbal as well as fields generated by high currents in the wiring.
The flight controller merges data from the compass and GPS. As the aircraft moves, a heading can be calculated from the old position to the current one. This heading is compared to the compass data. If they disagree by a large amount, then the aircraft may fly erratically trying to sort it out.
If you have ever flown a quad with an external GPS/compass module, you can easily see the effect of having the compass pointed slightly off.
The other issue with a drone is wind. The flight controller must constantly correct for wind as it moves, so the heading calculated from positional data alone would not match the actual heading of the aircraft.
I am certainly not an expert on the matter, but I do understand that it is more complicated than just a simple compass. I do recalibrate if I travel more than 100 miles. It's easy and just takes a minute. I expect that it is not really necessary in most cases. Perhaps the worst that will happen is that you will have some toilet bowling if there is a difference in magnetic declination.

 

[Drone On]

Thanks for the replies. Are the non Pro H's (without Intel Realsense) also having these compass issues?

 

[SoCalDroner]

Ok. I'm not trying to be sarcastic here. I am just trying to understand and learn the need or reason to constantly calibrate the H compass all the time. I was curious so I called Yuneec support a while back to find out what type of compass system the H has. Is it magnetic, electronic or does it use GPS to find it's heading? The tech told me that the H uses a magnetic compass. So my question is if you correctly and successfully calibrate your H compass and you do not add anything to your H that will effect it why would you need to recalibrate it every time you fly or if your location changes by more that 100 miles from your original location? Again, I'm not being sarcastic but do you recalibrate (swing) the magnetic compass on your boat if you go more than 100 miles from your home to marina? If you are a private pilot do you recalibrate (swing) the magnetic or standby compass on the aircraft every time you land at a different airport or state more than 100 miles away? No you don't so why would you have to do it to the magnetic compass in the H? Just trying to understand or learn why?
My first drone was the Q500 that I bought over 2 years ago. I knew nothing about drones and I flew it right out of the box and still to this day I have never done a compass calibration. Even after firmware updates. I have never had any flight issues with it or compass problems at all and it is still flying rock solid till this day.
It seems to be the new firmware causing all these compass problems because that seems to be when they start after the update to the latest firmware. With all the new features and capabilities they designed into the H maybe there is a design issue (EMI) that is causing interferance with the compass system that no amount of calibration will fix or maybe the compass manufacturer has a bad product?

So I'm curious if you have used your H after getting it back and do you still have the calibration issues?

 

[slick]

Well I reloaded firmware flew th and flew fine out to about 1,000 ft 80 ft. High. With 1 video blip. I didn't have any problems till last update .had to recalibrate compass 5 times to get it to take. The video problem I think is the new feature using WiFi backup to fly I wish that wasn't on there I seriously think that's a problem . was afraid to go put too far because last time I tried this firmware it lost video and control and flew away finally coming back about 10 mins later . and now when landing when you let off throttle it acts like its powering up motors on one side causing a tipping motion trying to flip .now I have to hold down on throttle after landing and quickly hold in red button to stop motors .how did they go from pretty descent firmware to this hacked up crap

 

[Drone On]

So I'm curious if you have used your H after getting it back and do you still have the calibration issues?

No, I haven't gotten a chance to fly it yet and probably won't for a couple of weeks. I will post the results when I do.

 

[Drone On]

Well I reloaded firmware flew th and flew fine out to about 1,000 ft 80 ft. High. With 1 video blip. I didn't have any problems till last update .had to recalibrate compass 5 times to get it to take. The video problem I think is the new feature using WiFi backup to fly I wish that wasn't on there I seriously think that's a problem . was afraid to go put too far because last time I tried this firmware it lost video and control and flew away finally coming back about 10 mins later . and now when landing when you let off throttle it acts like its powering up motors on one side causing a tipping motion trying to flip .now I have to hold down on throttle after landing and quickly hold in red button to stop motors .how did they go from pretty descent firmware to this hacked up crap

I had the same issue of it wanting to flip over when I landed also. Along with GPS and compass warnings. That's why I sent it in to be tested.I just got it back a few days ago. They replaced the GPS module and upper cover. Yuneec test flew it and said it was ok before they shipped it. But I won't have a chance to fly it for a couple of weeks yet.

 

[Hoss]

Well I reloaded firmware flew th and flew fine out to about 1,000 ft 80 ft. High. With 1 video blip. I didn't have any problems till last update .had to recalibrate compass 5 times to get it to take. The video problem I think is the new feature using WiFi backup to fly I wish that wasn't on there I seriously think that's a problem . was afraid to go put too far because last time I tried this firmware it lost video and control and flew away finally coming back about 10 mins later . and now when landing when you let off throttle it acts like its powering up motors on one side causing a tipping motion trying to flip .now I have to hold down on throttle after landing and quickly hold in red button to stop motors .how did they go from pretty descent firmware to this hacked up crap

I feel your pain. I can't get mine t hold a compass calibration. I was flying this thing everwhere, over water, down to a park and back, but now now. I'm afraid.

 

[SoCalDroner]

I feel your pain. I can't get mine t hold a compass calibration. I was flying this thing everwhere, over water, down to a park and back, but now now. I'm afraid.

Do you get the message when you start the motors? If so, give this a try. If you start the motors and get the compass message, stop the motors and the start them again. See if the message appears again. I'm guessing not... not until you shut down the H and start it again, at least.

 

[CraigCam]

Do you get the message when you start the motors? If so, give this a try. If you start the motors and get the compass message, stop the motors and the start them again. See if the message appears again. I'm guessing not... not until you shut down the H and start it again, at least.

I had that behavior once or twice. Started motors, got compass warning, stopped motors, and restart with no warning. I also had the tipping thing briefly. I've rolled back to AP 1.29 and had no problems since. I also only catch land now to prevent tip overs and keep dirt out of everything during landing.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[SoCalDroner]

I had that behavior once or twice. Started motors, got compass warning, stopped motors, and restart with no warning. I also had the tipping thing briefly. I've rolled back to AP 1.29 and had no problems since. I also only catch land now to prevent tip overs and keep dirt out of everything during landing.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks. That confirms my suspicions that it is firmware related. Though I'm not sure exactly how starting stopping the motors makes the warning go away...

 

[harleyryder]

Well I reloaded firmware flew th and flew fine out to about 1,000 ft 80 ft. High. With 1 video blip. I didn't have any problems till last update .had to recalibrate compass 5 times to get it to take. The video problem I think is the new feature using WiFi backup to fly I wish that wasn't on there I seriously think that's a problem . was afraid to go put too far because last time I tried this firmware it lost video and control and flew away finally coming back about 10 mins later . and now when landing when you let off throttle it acts like its powering up motors on one side causing a tipping motion trying to flip .now I have to hold down on throttle after landing and quickly hold in red button to stop motors .how did they go from pretty descent firmware to this hacked up crap

you are right

 

[slick]

i guess ill try to found out how to roll back to earlier versipn

 

[harleyryder]

i guess ill try to found out how to roll back to earlier versipn

slick im sorry i dont know how im going to sell my h on kind of yuneec updates i found you never know what trouble the new update will cause. yuneec has to much frimware trouble for me

 

[CraigCam]

slick im sorry i dont know how im going to sell my h on kind of yuneec updates i found you never know what trouble the new update will cause. yuneec has to much frimware trouble for me

Roll it back to what you bought it with and make it the new buyers problem.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Hoss]

Just got off phone with support. I have tried over a dozen times to get the H to hold a compass calibration. Starts off OK but after a few minutes I start getting the drifting and compass warning. I'm shipping it back, support did mention they are having an issue with compass boards but they will need transmitter too. Just to make sure they can eliminate that as the problem. Last update did me in.

 

[CraigCam]

Just got off phone with support. I have tried over a dozen times to get the H to hold a compass calibration. Starts off OK but after a few minutes I start getting the drifting and compass warning. I'm shipping it back, support did mention they are having an issue with compass boards but they will need transmitter too. Just to make sure they can eliminate that as the problem. Last update did me in.

My guess is there is a hardware and firmware conflict that popped when they added more features like cruise control. My initial problems were IMU related and mine went in twice for multiple things. I basically have all new under warranty. It's worth letting them fix it. I'm back to productive but I'm going to stay pro active on calibrating. I still feel long hover and wind over time begins drift behavior that proceeds compass spams.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[harleyryder]

Just got off phone with support. I have tried over a dozen times to get the H to hold a compass calibration. Starts off OK but after a few minutes I start getting the drifting and compass warning. I'm shipping it back, support did mention they are having an issue with compass boards but they will need transmitter too. Just to make sure they can eliminate that as the problem. Last update did me in.

Just got off phone with support. I have tried over a dozen times to get the H to hold a compass calibration. Starts off OK but after a few minutes I start getting the drifting and compass warning. I'm shipping it back, support did mention they are having an issue with compass boards but they will need transmitter too. Just to make sure they can eliminate that as the problem. Last update did me in.

i sent mine to atlana hobby. i got back today they reflash it and tim said not to install no more update till he call me he said they flashing a ton of typhoon h because of a bad update mine fly great now i think it time to sell

 

[Hoss]

i sent mine to atlana hobby. i got back today they reflash it and tim said not to install no more update till he call me he said they flashing a ton of typhoon h because of a bad update mine fly great now i think it time to sell

Can't argue with that. I think I will too.