Drone doesn't work at all....It'll power on and that's it.

[TorQueMoD]

Okay, this is really frustrating. My roommate bought a Breeze 4k Drone sometime in 2020 and it just sat in his closet unopened the whole time. I opened it up last weekend to try it out, and the thing just refuses to work. I've watched some tutorials on how to reset the drone but it doesn't seem to do anything. It gives no indication that it's been reset. I downloaded the app on my iPhone XR and if I try to update the firmware it just pinwheels until the drone shuts off. I can connect to it via wifi and Bluetooth via my phone, but if I load the app, it says the controller is not connected and cannot connect which is weird since it should already be connected. I tried on an old iPhone 6 and managed to see the camera for about half a second and then the app would crash. Tried on an iPhone 8 and it cannot connect to wifi claiming the password is incorrect even though I'm using the default 1234567890. I'm absolutely stumped at what to do to fix this. The batteries all seem fine.
Here's a screenshot of the Drone software about page:

 

[DoomMeister]

You can get the firmware for the Breeze 4K using this link Breeze 4K Firmware - Google Drive where I made a repository before Yuneec removed them from their website and OTA server. You will find instructions to apply the firmware inside each regional area.

This thread How To: Troubleshoot the Breeze and Request Help in the Forum may be of use to help determine connection problems.

Lastly for iOS users phones using iOS versions prior to v14.x.x should work with Breeze Cam. iOS versions 14 and 15 had issues with Breeze Cam and the app would constantly crash. iOS 16 seems to have cured the issue and Breeze Cam is functional again.

 

[TorQueMoD]

You can get the firmware for the Breeze 4K using this link Breeze 4K Firmware - Google Drive where I made a repository before Yuneec removed them from their website and OTA server. You will find instructions to apply the firmware inside each regional area.

This thread How To: Troubleshoot the Breeze and Request Help in the Forum may be of use to help determine connection problems.

Lastly for iOS users phones using iOS versions prior to v14.x.x should work with Breeze Cam. iOS versions 14 and 15 had issues with Breeze Cam and the app would constantly crash. iOS 16 seems to have cured the issue and Breeze Cam is functional again.

Thank you very much. I'm downloading the American version right now. Hopefully, it helps.

 

[TorQueMoD]

Thank you very much. I'm downloading the American version right now. Hopefully, it helps.

Hooray! The firmware update worked. I was finally able to get the drone to take off and the camera is working! Now, I just have to figure out where the calibration is

 

[DoomMeister]

Try this How To: Breeze Compass Calibration

 

[TorQueMoD]

So I'm still having issues. The calibration won't run. It says insufficient battery, so I charged the battery again and I still get the same error. Then when I plug in the controller, I can connect to it via Bluetooth in my phone, but the app says that it can't connect. I should mention I'm running iOS 16 and I updated to the latest firmware 0.1.39_A
It also won't take off anymore.

 

[TorQueMoD]

I got it working by turning on Airplane mode on my phone. If this is a requirement, why the heck isn't it mentioned anywhere in the app or instructions? lol

 

[DoomMeister]

If you read the information in the link I gave for doing the calibration, I mentioned to put the phone in airplane mode. This issue popped up after iOS was updated to newer versions than when Breeze Cam was last updated.

As much as we all deplore obsolescence, it is a fact of life in the tech gadget world. Luckily iOS 16 seems to have gotten rid of the issue of Breeze Cam crashing like we had for iOS 14 and 15.

The following is the text from that link:

The compass (or magnetic) calibration is one of the most important things to accomplish on your Breeze to help prevent flyaways.

This is best accomplished in an open field away from any electrical power lines (above or below ground), reinforced concrete slabs or buildings, metal objects like cars, quads, or motorcycles, and microwave towers or radio antennas.

Place your phone in airplane mode and then enable WiFi (for unexplained reasons the final calibration step will fail if some phones are not placed in airplane mode).

Turn on the Breeze and connect via WiFi then enter the settings menu and proceed to the Compass Calibration in Drone Settings.

Face local Magnetic North with the Breeze camera facing you (it is a selfie drone after all) and press the Start Calibration button on the phone. Holding the Breeze about eye level follow the animations on the phone for the calibrations and rotate the Breeze as smoothly and evenly as possible. You will hear an audible beep as each portion passes.

For the first two calibration steps keep the axis of rotation as parallel to the ground as possible. For the third final step keep the Breeze as level as possible as you rotate it.

If you fly in the same general area you do not need to do this calibration each time you fly.

If you do a hardware reset on your Breeze for any reason, you should perform the Compass Calibration again.

NOTE:
If you are trying to do the compass calibration and keep getting a warning about the battery being less than 20%, place your phone in Airplane Mode and try again. This is a bug that showed up when users updated their phones to newer versions of iOS and Android.

 

[TorQueMoD]

Oh, I did read that, but I thought you meant just while calibrating That's why I thought to put it in Airplane mode afterwards.
Thanks for the help regardless, I really appreciate it.

Anyway, man, this drone is absolute garbage. It's just so inconsistent. The controller doesn't work half the time, the thing ran out of batteries after one session and then started auto-landing and buried itself into the concrete. All the pieces flew off so I thought it was destroyed but thankfully they all just snapped back into place. Then I had an incident where I launched it and tried to rotate it, and it just went haywire and started spinning in wider and wider circles and I couldn't control it or shut it off. I was so worried it was going to hit someone, but thankfully it smashed into the back of a parked SUV. This was all sporadically in between working completely normally. Finally, we got all the footage off the drone, and it can't record for more than about 3.5 minutes at a time in a single take so it split the videos into pieces and it's unstable as all get out. Even when I was just flying in a straight line, it was all wobbly and useless for anything aside from maybe the odd 3 - 5 second period. So glad I didn't buy this myself, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to use this for any even moderately serious filming. Blah. Such a let down after all the struggle to even get it operating.

 

[DoomMeister]

I is a selfie drone and was never intended for anything remotely serious video wise. It does not have gimbal stabilization and 4K video is very unstable. If you video in 1024p it does provide some electronic stabilization.

The episode where it started toilet bowling (an ever widening spiral) could have been stopped using an RTH. This usually is caused by launching from reinforced concrete or near large ferrous objects. I had it happen to me during an orbit of the Veteran’s Monument in a Florida community. It was caused by iron mesh under the Memorial Pavers used to stabilize the ground and prevent heaving of the pavers. I quickly exited the automated flight mode to halt the TB.

You have to realize that the Breeze was developed in 2015 and released in 2016. The final update of the Breeze Cam app was in early 2018.

Flying with the phone in airplane mode was always a good idea for those using Android appliances due to it always wanting to be connected to the internet and favoring connections that had internet access over those that didn’t. Then somewhere around iOS version 9 or 10 iPhones started exhibiting the same issue and it became advisable to switch to airplane mode to help retain WiFi connection to the Breeze. This was especially true around areas where your phone has known connections that have internet access.

 

[TorQueMoD]

I is a selfie drone and was never intended for anything remotely serious video wise. It does not have gimbal stabilization and 4K video is very unstable. If you video in 1024p it does provide some electronic stabilization.

The episode where it started toilet bowling (an ever widening spiral) could have been stopped using an RTH. This usually is caused by launching from reinforced concrete or near large ferrous objects. I had it happen to me during an orbit of the Veteran’s Monument in a Florida community. It was caused by iron mesh under the Memorial Pavers used to stabilize the ground and prevent heaving of the pavers. I quickly exited the automated flight mode to halt the TB.

You have to realize that the Breeze was developed in 2015 and released in 2016. The final update of the Breeze Cam app was in early 2018.

Flying with the phone in airplane mode was always a good idea for those using Android appliances due to it always wanting to be connected to the internet and favoring connections that had internet access over those that didn’t. Then somewhere around iOS version 9 or 10 iPhones started exhibiting the same issue and it became advisable to switch to airplane mode to help retain WiFi connection to the Breeze. This was especially true around areas where your phone has known connections that have internet access.

Yeah, all fair points. My expectation was probably a lot higher than what the drone could provide. Still, though, had I paid for this I would have immediately returned it, but my roommate bought it 4 years ago or something like that and just left it in a box in his closet so obviously it wasn't an option. Good to know that it's mostly a selfie drone though. I didn't think of that.
In that toilet bowl scenario, I actually wanted to get it to RTH but I couldn't see the button on the app. I read in the manual previously that the RTH button looks like a little house icon with a sort of refresh arrow, but it wasn't anywhere on the app. I was trying to hold the start button on the controller to shut it down but that didn't work.
Also, I had no idea that the drone wasn't being made anymore and that the company had released a final version of the app. It's still sold on Amazon so I thought they were still doing business. Good to know
Thanks again for all your help! You're awesome!

 

[DoomMeister]

A Breeze is what got me into flying drones and admittedly it is quite limited. The batteries you are using are most likely the biggest limiting factor you are experiencing. Being that old and in storage that long I would be surprised if they last longer than 4 or 5 minutes in the air.

The length of the video recording is based on file size and is shorter for 4K video. 1070p and 720p are broken into 5 minute chunks. The chunks can be seamlessly joined in in post processor.

Using the Bluetooth controller eases the processor load for the phone and results in a smoother video feed than just using the phone for control by not having to constantly monitor the virtual sticks on the touch screen. Review the instructions for it to learn what buttons are for each function.