Has this happened to anyone? Last night while flying my H in order to discharge my batteries for storage, The darn camera just fell off of my drone! I was in the parking lot at a local park and about 35 to 45 feet above the ground. I had sent the drone out and was returning back to base. I was not making any aggressive movements with the drone. I had glanced up towards the drone and saw a flash of light come from the display. I looked down and the controller was then displaying the home screen. I thought what the heck! I then glanced back up at the drone and it was still in the air. Then heard an audible crash as something hit the asphalt. What the heck! I flew the drone got closer, I then realized what made the noise and that the camera was gone and had fallen off the drone! I was not running the video at the time and did not hear or see anything hit the camera. At the spot where the camera was laying on the ground there were no trees, no overhead power lines nor were there any birds out flying nor any person around. The nearest tree was 50 to 75 feet away. Upon landing and inspecting the drone I discovered the Camera Mount Top Plate was still attached to the Gimbal Connection Mount. However the pins had broken loose and the rubber bushings were gone. There is extensive damage to the camera! Submitted a support ticket to Yuneec least night and am awaiting a response. Needless to say I am very disappointed.
CGO3 Camera Just Dropped Off of the Drone!
- Thread starter DCobb2
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2017
- Messages
- 2,997
- Reaction score
- 3,185
- Location
- Central Florida
- Website
- copperdawg.com
Also, have you had any incidents (accidents) of any kind? Even a simple tip over can dislodge the edge of one of the rubber dampeners. Once one lets go the resulting forces are transferred to the remaining and it could cause them to fail. There are two drop out pins in opposite corners of the dampeners, these should have stopped a complete failure but here again, if there was any previous occurrence, they could have been damaged or lost. Can you confirm the presence of all four rubber dampeners and perhaps the two pins?
It is a new drone, purchased on September 7th. During my pre-flight check, I checked the dampers and ensured all were properly attached and camera was completely latched to copter. Again, all dampers were in place. I did have one tip over in mid-October. But checked everything out after the incident with no damage to the pins or the dampers. None had pulled free. I had flown many times since that occurred with no issues. After reading all of the posts from here and YouTube I learned the importance of doing a through pre-flight. Had thought about securing the camera with a wire tie. But had gotten to that task. Thanks for the response.
1st time I've heard of such an incident where the camera simply decides to perform a Felix Baumgartner on its own. It's definitely very strange for that to happen mid-air, without hitting any obstacle.
It must have been compromised prior to taking off on that last flight.
Perhaps the case rolled around on the back of your car o a turn while driving to your flight location?
I've read about people receiving their units with the dampers out of place, so unintentional hits/bumps during transportation could have dislodge them without you noticing.
Hope you can repair the camera at a reasonable cost and time!
Edit: Sorry I just re-read that you did check before flying.. leaves me without any hypothesis on what could've happend. Perhaps a hard landing before changing to a new battery?
Greetings
It must have been compromised prior to taking off on that last flight.
Perhaps the case rolled around on the back of your car o a turn while driving to your flight location?
I've read about people receiving their units with the dampers out of place, so unintentional hits/bumps during transportation could have dislodge them without you noticing.
Hope you can repair the camera at a reasonable cost and time!
Edit: Sorry I just re-read that you did check before flying.. leaves me without any hypothesis on what could've happend. Perhaps a hard landing before changing to a new battery?
Greetings
Hi Jules, it's an honor to converse with you. Watched a bunch of your videos before and after I purchased my H. Also, used your videos to build an H from scratch from parts bought on Ebay. What started out as just buying extra parts in case they were needed for repairs soon morphed into a project to build a complete drone. It will be a Christmas present for my son.
Had to Google Felix Baumgartner. I remember him now. That was funny. I found 2 of the dampeners last night and went back to the scene of the accident and found the other 2. Upon inspection, there is no damage to any of them. But, as soft and pliable as they are it would not take much force to pull through the mount holes. Also, thanks to Captain Drone, I hand catch the drone 90% of the time to avoid the impact on the landing gear and camera.
So, while checking out Yuneec's website for parts, I noticed that they are "Out of Stock" on all of their parts now. Is there a reason for this? Are they packing up and moving back to China?
Thanks, Dennis
Had to Google Felix Baumgartner. I remember him now. That was funny.
I found 2 of the dampeners last night and went back to the scene of the accident and found the other 2. Upon inspection, there is no damage to any of them. But, as soft and pliable as they are it would not take much force to pull through the mount holes. Also, thanks to Captain Drone, I hand catch the drone 90% of the time to avoid the impact on the landing gear and camera. So, while checking out Yuneec's website for parts, I noticed that they are "Out of Stock" on all of their parts now. Is there a reason for this? Are they packing up and moving back to China?
Thanks, Dennis
Even though you didn't see anything in the air such as a bird, it's still possible something hit the camera. A kid with a slingshot can get a lucky hit.
Perhaps you can upload the telemetry here. Just add a .txt to the file name so it will upload.
After one of the rubber dampers dislodged, I found that the H has only two retaining pins...
Since then I have added the remaining two, one for each corner attachment.
Of course, that won't prevent something from ripping the camera loose from it's moorings.. LOL!
Quite frankly, I believe the manufacturer should have installed all four of these cheap plastic pin retainers from the start and smacks of cutting corners...
Since then I have added the remaining two, one for each corner attachment.
Of course, that won't prevent something from ripping the camera loose from it's moorings.. LOL!
Quite frankly, I believe the manufacturer should have installed all four of these cheap plastic pin retainers from the start and smacks of cutting corners...
Thank you very much! Im very happy you found the videos helpful!
You just brought up something interesting. You mention "as soft an pliable as they are..." makes me wonder on the integrity of the dampers themselves.
A bit of context:
I have 2 cameras, one them has been subject of Several repairs; I've removed and reinstalled the dampers countless times. On this camera the rubber dampers are very easy to remove and reinstall, and I'm sure it's because of how much I've manipulated them, the rubber has become looser and looser every time.
Now, on the newest camera, once I had a misshap on which 3 dampers popped off. And upon reinstalling the I noticed they where not only harder to reinstall, but harder all together; they have more stiffness to them, most likely because I havent been manipulating them as much.
I've noticed on the First, looser, camera that sometimes I get noticeable vibrations on recorded video, and I've been suspecting it has to do with the worn dampers. It makes sense that with time the rubber will become softer and more flexible, allowing for more vibration to be transfered to the camera, and also easier to pop off. (Again, removing/reinstalling these dampers is very easy to do)
However, I still believe its a stretch to believe your camera popped off because all 4 dampers are too soft, because even then the 2 safety pins would've kept te camera on place (they really hold on very well, it takes considerably force to pull out those clips). I would agree with @Steve Carr ,something must've hit your aircraft without notice, sadly without video footage it's nearly impossible to tell. (kids with slingshots or teens with BB guns don't sound too far-fetched)
How much damage did the camera take? These guys are pretty tough!
Greetings!
However, if we can review the telemetry we might see some sudden changes in pitch and roll that would offer a clue.
Realized today that I did not find the clear UV filter. So, went back to see if I could find it. Thinking it should be in the area. As I was pulled up and about 50 feet from where I found the camera on the ground. I look up and notice there are 6 power lines overhead. If I happened to hit one of the lines, then I guess I'm lucky it didn't bring down the entire drone.
I believe you found the hidden culprit. The flight path crosses the wires near the end of the flight which coincides with your description.
You can see the power lines crossing the parking lot in the middle of the picture and the utility poles below and above the paved area.
Thanks Steve for putting the flight path together. It's a shame I didn't have the Real Sense switched on! Might have prevented this accident. Wish I could change the title to, "Stupid Pilot Rips Camera From Drone on a Electrical Wire!
I may be wrong, but I do not believe RS was ever designed to detect and avoid power lines... there simply is not enough surface area.
RealSense may have spotted it and maybe not. You would have to test it to see.
I'm curious about some of the values in the telemetry. Prior to starting the motors, do you recall turning off the GPS and then turning it back on?
Good to know that. Perhaps I'll test that someday. In daylight when I can see the lines..
I didn't turn off the GPS. I do believe that I briefly switched off the LEDs lights. But then immediately switched them back on.
I didn't turn off the GPS. I do believe that I briefly switched off the LEDs lights. But then immediately switched them back on.
Did the lights turn off? Perhaps you touched the GPS rather than the LED's? It's strange because the heading went from 227 to zero and stayed at zero until just after the motors were running. Then it went back to 227. If find that rather odd.
Yep, the lights went out. I always tap on the left side of the LED box to prevent turning off the GPS. Plus I do not recall hearing an audible beep warning me the GPS was off.
Very strange. I would not expect the GPS to just drop out and the heading change to zero at the same time. The GPS came back on shortly after but the heading took about 40 seconds to go back to 227.
I'm wondering if you should talk to Yuneec regarding that. You could look at some of the other flights and see if you see anything similar.
I'm wondering if you should talk to Yuneec regarding that. You could look at some of the other flights and see if you see anything similar.
I will look into that. I'll troy to call them on Monday. Have not heard anything from them through their website. Thanks.
Similar threads
