Another One that Falls out like a rock

[jrsus]

Ok guys. I thought I was never to write about this, but you shouldn't say it won't happen to you ever. No, it wasn't the battery. The Typhoon was still on and emitting noise when I could pick it up from the roof of a house. The telemetry says everything was ok, even the voltage until the last second. So, why a drone drops from the air when flying plenty of power, propellers well tighten and every aspect of preflight was checked? Even more, just before that fly I calibrated the whole ST16 transmitter and everything passed with a green light. If I had crashed it, I'll be calm because I knew I was the responsible and simply I would order a new one.

Well, in an analysis with an engineer, our best bet is a power distribution board failure. The motors stopped in middle of the air and the drone fell out like a rock. If the motors don't stop, the craft doesn't drop. It is that clear. So, why the files of the telemetry don't say anything about it? Because the damage is in the power distribution board. No only one ESC, after all the Thypoon is able to fly with 5 motors. The only way this happens is that all of the motors stop, which take us to think this is the reason.

Searching the internet I have found many cases reported about the same situation and I feel very sad because I really, really was in love with this craft. I was happy to fly an elegant machine and beautiful video from a different drone than DJI. I have several units from them and I prefer the style, the look and if you want the mood of the Typoon.

Well here we go to Yuneec asking a claim about the quality of the product they sell. And of course, if I am lucky I will get a new drone, but as I have seen so far, they won't tell you what happened.

OK guys, I was only thinking loud in this writing and I would like your wise advice in this case, because I am feeling very insecure flying a Typhoon again.

 

[Steve Carr]

I would like your wise advice in this case,

That is very sad indeed. There are, however, a few cases where the motors stopped in flight which are not power related. If it was a power distribution problem, the logs would show a drop in voltage. If you can upload the telemetry file and the remote file for this flight I can take a look and see if there is anything obvious that would cause this to happen. Add a .txt to the file name so they will upload here.

 

[jrsus]

Thanks Steve. I'm attaching the files.

 

[Steve Carr]

I'll take a look. This could take awhile if something isn't obvious right away.

 

[Steve Carr]

they won't tell you what happened.

Doesn't look like I can tell you what happened either. I see nothing remarkable in the logs. I can tell you what didn't happen however.
It did not lose power and the red button was not pressed. I can see it losing altitude and the telemetry suddenly stops probably on impact since the altitude at that point is -18 m.

There is a problem with the ST16 which is unrelated to the shut down. The Yaw and Roll are not going to zero at center stick. You should turn on the ST16 and check the sticks in Hardware Monitor. In fact, check all the control there. Those sticks positions might be sluggish and may need cleaned.

Don't ever do the ST16 calibration unless you have a very good reason to do so. If there is a problem with the controls, the calibration can make it worse.

By the way, did you have the camera recording at the time?

 

[jrsus]

Yes I had the camera recording. However as the power button was pressed without stopping the video recording I've been unable to watch the video. I have a small video recorded by UAV Toolbox but I think it is enough. I can't see anything important like a clue in that video.

 

[Steve Carr]

Yes I had the camera recording. However as the power button was pressed without stopping the video recording I've been unable to watch the video. I have a small video recorded by UAV Toolbox but I think it is enough. I can't see anything important like a clue in that video.

If you have access to another CGO3+ you can put the card in it, power it up and record a short video. Stop it and remove and the file should be useable.

 

[jrsus]

I know. Unfortunately I don't have access to another camera. I'm tying to recover the video using video recovering software.

 

[Steve Carr]

Copy the file before doing anything with it. Also, you can upload the file to Dropbox, Google Drive or another online storage site. I can download it and recover it for you.

 

[jrsus]

By the way, the camera is totally destroyed because of the impact. The legs were up.

 

[jrsus]

OK. I will, and let you know. Thanks.

 

[jrsus]

I cand send you a wetransfer link to your email.

 

[jrsus]

Steve thanks for recovering the video. Something I don't understand is why it didn't record until the impact moment.

 

[kd4pbs]

Doesn't the ST16 keep the latest video in a lower quality version? Worth looking at that video if the higher quality one can't be recovered.

 

[Steve Carr]

Steve thanks for recovering the video. Something I don't understand is why it didn't record until the impact moment.

I don't have an answer for that. Mine did the same. It may be related to being unable to stop the recording so the last few seconds are lost or it might be the camera stops writing to the card because of vibration or the tilt angle.

 

[jrsus]

OK. Let's wait what Yuneec has to tell us.

 

[jrsus]

Doesn't the ST16 keep the latest video in a lower quality version? Worth looking at that video if the higher quality one can't be recovered.

Steve has recovered it yet.

 

[AZSteveB]

How new was the battery? And type? New lipos have to go through several power up, discharge and recharge cycles before they can put out full current that they're rated for. How long was the flight duration ?

 

[jrsus]

How new was the battery? And type? New lipos have to go through several power up, discharge and recharge cycles before they can put out full current that they're rated for. How long was the flight duration ?

The battery is 3 months old, same as the drone. It is a 6300 mAh. I had more than 50 flies with this drone. It was full of charge and the fly was 2 min and 24 seconds.

 

[Steve Carr]

The battery is 3 months old, same as the drone. It is a 6300 mAh. I had more than 50 flies with this drone. It was full of charge and the fly was 2 min and 24 seconds.

I can confirm that. I found no explanation in the telemetry for the sudden and rapid loss of altitude.