350 QX onboard battery replacement

[AH-64 D]

I spent the last two years ghost-writing when I should have been flying. My 350 QX and its predecessor, the 200 QX now fail to initialize. The 350 QX repeatedly emits 3 descending tones and its display flashes red. The 200 QX constantly beeps and appears to be in Agility mode, but does not respond to inputs. It is likely that the 350 QX onboard battery that maintains the GPS data has died, but the 200 QX does not use GPS, so I did not think it had any onboard battery. I flew both like antique cars - well kept and only flown for fun. Is it possible to replace the 350 QX onboard battery and not lose all programming?

 

[WTFDproject]

I spent the last two years ghost-writing when I should have been flying. My 350 QX and its predecessor, the 200 QX now fail to initialize. The 350 QX repeatedly emits 3 descending tones and its display flashes red. The 200 QX constantly beeps and appears to be in Agility mode, but does not respond to inputs. It is likely that the 350 QX onboard battery that maintains the GPS data has died, but the 200 QX does not use GPS, so I did not think it had any onboard battery. I flew both like antique cars - well kept and only flown for fun. Is it possible to replace the 350 QX onboard battery and not lose all programming?

"...the 200 QX now fail to initialize."
"The 200 QX constantly beeps and appears to be in Agility mode, but does not respond to inputs."
The 200QX can't be in the Agility Mode if it did not initialize, so we could use a clarification of what you see.
Does the indication change if you swap the Mode switch?
Are the indications different when the controller is On / Off?
Does the indication change if you swap between starting drone first and starting controller first?
Do you get normal indications when running the binding sequence?


"Is it possible to replace the 350 QX onboard battery and not lose all programming?"
It's been a while, but I don't even recall a battery on the 350QX GPS.
Have you put the 350QX on the GUI to see the specific error?

General:
What controller(s) are you using to fly each drone?

 

[AH-64 D]

"...the 200 QX now fail to initialize."
"The 200 QX constantly beeps and appears to be in Agility mode, but does not respond to inputs."
The 200QX can't be in the Agility Mode if it did not initialize, so we could use a clarification of what you see.
Does the indication change if you swap the Mode switch?
Are the indications different when the controller is On / Off?
Does the indication change if you swap between starting drone first and starting controller first?
Do you get normal indications when running the binding sequence?


"Is it possible to replace the 350 QX onboard battery and not lose all programming?"
It's been a while, but I don't even recall a battery on the 350QX GPS.
Have you put the 350QX on the GUI to see the specific error?

General:
What controller(s) are you using to fly each drone?

Regarding the 200 QX, its display turns solid red at the end of my efforts to bind it. The mode switch does not seem to work. In fact none of the controls seem to work other than the bind button. I will again note its indications when I power it up without trying to bind. It has been a couple of days since I tried to initialize the 200 QX.

Regarding the 350 QX, I was not aware that a GUI was available for it. A GUI would certainly help to troubleshoot it. You are likely correct about a battery on the GPS. I replaced its GPS with a Taoglas GPS years ago. The stock GPS and the Taoglas did not have a battery associated with them. It is my understanding that there is some kind of battery on the main board. I have not had the 350 QX apart in years and do not recall much about the board.

Both the 200 QX and 350 QX are operated with Spectrum transmitters. The 200 QX is normally bound to a DX-7s. The 350 QX is normally bound to a DX-8. Both of these drones were functional when I stored them away. Their problems prompt me to worry that the Blade Chroma I have never flown will prove to be similarly afflicted.

 

[WTFDproject]

This link is to a copy of the Blade 350QX GUI on Dropbox.
It uses it's own version of a USB adapter, Blade BLH7840.
The adapter might be available here:

Blade BLH7840 USB Interface Multi-Rotor Programmer | eBay

Blade BLH7840 USB Interface Multi-Rotor Programmer

www.ebay.com

@h-elsner would know if other USB adapters will work with only changing the connector.

Not sure which version of the 350QX you have, so all three manuals are included in the attached zip file.

The version also matters because there were at least 4 versions of the board over the series. A couple of the earlier versions did not have a pigtail soldered to the board for the combined receiver/GUI connection, they had a hard connector on the board for only the GUI. I think the boards with a hard connector require use of an adapter that is included in the kit linked above.

 

[AH-64 D]

Thank you so much. The USB cable is noted to work for both the 350 QX and the 200 QX. It seems the GUI is exactly what I need to sort out my problems. I sincerely appreciate your input on these initialization problems. I just ordered the necessary GUI cable and will start trying to figure things out after it arrives.

 

[h-elsner]

The 350QX has no battery on the main board. If it was stored for a long time or if it was moved to another place far away from the previous then it may take a long time until it will get GPS fix (up to 12 min).

 

[AH-64 D]

The schematics kindly provided by the Moderator prove there is no battery on the mainboard. A capacitor may have gone bad. I ordered a USB cable to connect it to the GUI this morning and hope to figure out the problem at that time. At this point, all I can do is read the shared information and wait for the cable.

By the way, does anyone know if the Chroma would use the same cable?

 

[h-elsner]

Chroma has a mirco USB port.

 

[AH-64 D]

Cool! The only thing I have done with it was to power cycle the two batteries I got with it to keep them functional. I did not buy it with a camera so it is "in reserve" should the 350 QX die.

 

[h-elsner]

Do you have it with ST10 or Spektrum RC?
The Chroma is more agile if you want to fly in acro mode it is the better choice compared to 350QX.

 

[AH-64 D]

I bought the Chroma with Spectrum radio installed and bought the Yuneec receiver for it as well with the idea of buying a Yuneec transmitter for it if I ever ran across a camera for the Chroma. That thought never came to fruition.

 

[h-elsner]

Chroma as fun machine the is better with Spektrum. I tried the 350QX with SR24 and ST10. This is good for angle mode but not as good as Spektrum for Stability or Acro mode. Since then I use my DX4 that came with the 350QX. I have removed the spring to center the left stick for better experience in Stability mode and Acro.
I think for the Chroma it is the same.