My typhoon h did not seem to drift
Or toilet bowl above 40 feet.
It seemed to do that only around
25 feet or so. But like you say we will
Continue to monitor this.
Stay in touch.
Keith
H 480 Won't descend.
- Thread starter KEITH KUHN
- Start date
My typhoon h did not seem to drift
Or toilet bowl above 40 feet.
It seemed to do that only around
25 feet or so. But like you say we will
Continue to monitor this.
Stay in touch.
Keith
Right then - here's some video evidence ! 
2 problems with this, but the second one is unrelated to this discussion, so probably warrants a thread of its own, or will get added to my last post about 4k workflow.
Here is a relatively unedited whole flight, with some telemetry data overlaid so we can wonder at what the **** that barometer thinks it's doing ! Starts at 0 ft on power-up, then at motor start begins a steady descent to -18 ft before the craft has even moved, and continues doing that, even as the craft launches, in what I would very much describe as 'the opposite direction' ! By the end of the video it is a whole 40 feet wrong, which is really no small error !!
Despite the effort I appear to be putting into trying to find out what is going on here, it remains a relatively minor problem that I feel I am relatively well-equipped to deal with on the rare occasions it happens, but I do wonder if I have a faulty barometer, so just trying to guage opinion on that...
Thanks for continuing to listen guys
2 problems with this, but the second one is unrelated to this discussion, so probably warrants a thread of its own, or will get added to my last post about 4k workflow.
Here is a relatively unedited whole flight, with some telemetry data overlaid so we can wonder at what the **** that barometer thinks it's doing ! Starts at 0 ft on power-up, then at motor start begins a steady descent to -18 ft before the craft has even moved, and continues doing that, even as the craft launches, in what I would very much describe as 'the opposite direction' ! By the end of the video it is a whole 40 feet wrong, which is really no small error !!
I do note that sort of thing all the time, and can honestly report that I have never noticed the drifting at anything above 20 or 30 ft - it's almost always at near ground level, and usually only at the very end of a flight, as I come in to land nice and early, with 14.7v on the pack.
Always do, and this time was no exception - sticks tested fine and got stirred before the session.
I'd say I was at about half way. I had launched in full rabbit mode, and stayed there until the cinematic panning bit in the middle, for which I dropped it to half way, and then as far as I remember left it where it was after that. I would expect that to bring it down a little slower, but what happened here was a literal 'stop' in which the descent I was doing went from -10 or -15 ft a second to 0 ft per second - you can see this at 8:38 in the video, as the craft reaches what it is reporting as 30 ft (but which was actually more like 50). At this point I released down throttle, put camera back in heading mode, dropped landing gear, and then tried full throttle down again, which produced my final, incredibly slow descent.
Despite the effort I appear to be putting into trying to find out what is going on here, it remains a relatively minor problem that I feel I am relatively well-equipped to deal with on the rare occasions it happens, but I do wonder if I have a faulty barometer, so just trying to guage opinion on that...
Thanks for continuing to listen guys
rdonson
Premium Pilot
A couple of thoughts....
- what are the squares/rectangles I saw on the ground? They looked metallic although could have been stone.
- is there anything underground there? Buried pipes?
- don't worry about the altitude - the barometer in the H is notoriously fickle/inaccurate
- try bringing it down in Rabbit with the gear down then slow down for the last 20 feet or so using the stick for a soft landing
I've read reports that in the UK when the gear is raised and lowered there may be a moment of signal loss between the H and the ST16. That would need to be confirmed by some other UK pilots.
I'm glad you see this as a minor problem.
Interesting countryside where you flew. Farms and a golf course.
- what are the squares/rectangles I saw on the ground? They looked metallic although could have been stone.
- is there anything underground there? Buried pipes?
- don't worry about the altitude - the barometer in the H is notoriously fickle/inaccurate
- try bringing it down in Rabbit with the gear down then slow down for the last 20 feet or so using the stick for a soft landing
I've read reports that in the UK when the gear is raised and lowered there may be a moment of signal loss between the H and the ST16. That would need to be confirmed by some other UK pilots.
I'm glad you see this as a minor problem.
Interesting countryside where you flew. Farms and a golf course.
Good question. I don't know for sure, but I think they are some sort of markers for the archeological team that regularly dig up various bits of our heath-land in search of iron-age burial mounds and the like - apparently the area is full of those sort of artefacts.
I wouldn't have thought so. It's common heath land, which has never been built on, with roads and houses on 2 sides of it, but from the various maintenance work I see going on I am led to believe all the housing supply pipes are under the roads.
Thanks - reassuring to know it doesn't particularly matter, and that this behaviour is normal and expected to some extent, but I think I am seeing a correlation between its margin for error, and its reluctance to land. That's OK too - if I think I can see the reason for it I feel a little better about dealing with it
OK, will try that next time I come in to land, and will also note what the barometer is doing, and if anything changes about the descent characteristics when it's a) way off, and b) vaguely right !
rdonson
Premium Pilot
I ask about metal objects on or under the ground because I know my H will sometimes react to them. A compass warning is mostly what I see but sometimes drift as well. In places where I’ve experienced that I will stay 30’ above ground avoid the interference.
Right then - here's some video evidence !
2 problems with this, but the second one is unrelated to this discussion, so probably warrants a thread of its own, or will get added to my last post about 4k workflow.
Here is a relatively unedited whole flight, with some telemetry data overlaid so we can wonder at what the **** that barometer thinks it's doing ! Starts at 0 ft on power-up, then at motor start begins a steady descent to -18 ft before the craft has even moved, and continues doing that, even as the craft launches, in what I would very much describe as 'the opposite direction' ! By the end of the video it is a whole 40 feet wrong, which is really no small error !!
I do note that sort of thing all the time, and can honestly report that I have never noticed the drifting at anything above 20 or 30 ft - it's almost always at near ground level, and usually only at the very end of a flight, as I come in to land nice and early, with 14.7v on the pack.
Always do, and this time was no exception - sticks tested fine and got stirred before the session.
I'd say I was at about half way. I had launched in full rabbit mode, and stayed there until the cinematic panning bit in the middle, for which I dropped it to half way, and then as far as I remember left it where it was after that. I would expect that to bring it down a little slower, but what happened here was a literal 'stop' in which the descent I was doing went from -10 or -15 ft a second to 0 ft per second - you can see this at 8:38 in the video, as the craft reaches what it is reporting as 30 ft (but which was actually more like 50). At this point I released down throttle, put camera back in heading mode, dropped landing gear, and then tried full throttle down again, which produced my final, incredibly slow descent.
Despite the effort I appear to be putting into trying to find out what is going on here, it remains a relatively minor problem that I feel I am relatively well-equipped to deal with on the rare occasions it happens, but I do wonder if I have a faulty barometer, so just trying to guage opinion on that...
Thanks for continuing to listen guys
Hey guys Keith Kuhn here again.
I did a flight yesterday evening.
everything fully charged rapid mode and angle mode only. I sent my drone out then hit return to home. I basically wanted to see how close
it would return to my launch area.
it came within 10 feet, so now I flipped back into angle mode to land manually. Success . Plenty of battery time left I then re launched.
I then flew around a bit more.
with plenty of battery time left I decided to bring it back, once again I hit return to home it came back fine I then tried to.land manually. at this point I am 20 ft off the ground. it will not descend any further. I held the left stick down and prayed, took it up 30 ft
brought it back down to the original 20 ft it would no longer descend. I held left stick down now I am getting low battery warning.
it finally got low enough where I could hand catch it.
stay in touch .
Keith Kuhn
Keith,
I can’t remember, and I don’t have time to re-read this whole thread.
Question: have you talked to Yuneec about this?
Jeff
FlushVision
Premium Pilot
The issue is with the EU firmware as used in the U.K. (and not experienced by all users).
The video feed can sometimes drop out on raising the landing gear and can take up to around a minute to re-establish. However, once connection has been re-established the connection remains good for the remainder of the flight even when lowering the landing gear again.
I have not talked to yuneec I am just going to be well of my drones Behavior, and try to be very careful due to the fact that it is not under warranty.
Keith Kuhn
He might not have done, but I have ! They (that is to say Yuneec UK service dept) claim not to have heard of the problem.
K
Keith, please bear with me here as I try to understand...
I believe this has been asked before: what does the warranty status of your aircraft have to do with contacting Yuneec to see if they have any ideas as to why your aircraft is behaving as it does with respect to this unpredictable [refusal to] land issue? Talking to them is not going to cost you anything. It just might enlighten you as to what Yuneec has found to be the cause of such behavior. Perhaps others (just a chance) have experienced the same behavior and have called in, allowing Yuneec to research if they were not aware already, and provide a game plan for remedy.
Also as stated before, if you are not willing to get the manufacturer's advice, and are hinting at the fact you are not willing to pay for a fix ("it's out of warranty"), then why, may I ask, are you continually writing about the same issue, post after post?
Your aircraft is going to act the same way unless:
1) either a software/firmware change is made and applied to address the issue,
2) a component or assembly is determined to be the cause and is replaced,
3) an environmental condition is discovered and either you alleviate the condition or change the location of your flights.
With all due respect, something has to change in order to expect different results than what you are getting.
My intentions are not to get on your case but rather help in the way a doctor might say: "If you are not willing to change your eating habits and your activity levels, don't expect much to change with the ol' body, mate!"
Respectfully,
Jeff
AeroJ snuck in just as I was hitting "Post Reply"... decided to add on...
Then maybe if Keith calls in as well, and anyone else experiencing similar issues, perhaps someone might look into this a little bit more.
Jeff
Keith, please bear with me here as I try to understand...
I believe this has been asked before: what does the warranty status of your aircraft have to do with contacting Yuneec to see if they have any ideas as to why your aircraft is behaving as it does with respect to this unpredictable [refusal to] land issue? Talking to them is not going to cost you anything. It just might enlighten you as to what Yuneec has found to be the cause of such behavior. Perhaps others (just a chance) have experienced the same behavior and have called in, allowing Yuneec to research if they were not aware already, and provide a game plan for remedy.
Also as stated before, if you are not willing to get the manufacturer's advice, and are hinting at the fact you are not willing to pay for a fix ("it's out of warranty"), then why, may I ask, are you continually writing about the same issue, post after post?
Your aircraft is going to act the same way unless:
1) either a software/firmware change is made and applied to address the issue,
2) a component or assembly is determined to be the cause and is replaced,
3) an environmental condition is discovered and either you alleviate the condition or change the location of your flights.
With all due respect, something has to change in order to expect different results than what you are getting.
My intentions are not to get on your case but rather help in the way a doctor might say: "If you are not willing to change your eating habits and your activity levels, don't expect much to change with the ol' body, mate!"
Respectfully,
Jeff
AeroJ snuck in just as I was hitting "Post Reply"... decided to add on...
Then maybe if Keith calls in as well, and anyone else experiencing similar issues, perhaps someone might look into this a little bit more.
Jeff
PatR
Premium Pilot
I have to jump to Keith's defence here - this is not a problem that happens all the time, or to all TH pilots ! Until the other day, I had 50+ flights where the problem was entirely absent ! Yet on my last session, inexplicably, it was back, the same problem, twice in a row, on 2 different locations.
With all due respect, we are trying to work out why this happens sporadically, and what conditions might give rise to the behaviour... we are doing pretty much the only thing we can do - monitoring the situation, making videos with telemetry that shows possibly related readings, and reporting our findings to the best community of Yuneec pilots there is ! What sort of thing would you suggest we change / do differently in order to improve things ?
Last edited:
I have to jump to Keith's defence here - this is not a problem that happens all the time ! Until the other day, I had 50+ flights where the problem was entirely absent ! Yet, inexplicably, it was back, the same problem twice in a row on 2 different locations.
With all due respect, we are trying to work out why this happens sporadically, and what conditions might give rise to the behaviour... we are doing pretty much the only thing we can do - monitoring the situation and reporting our findings ! What sort of thing would you suggest we change in order to improve things ?
Hi AeroJ,
I understand the situation and have encountered similar intermittent problems over many years of computer service work. I have empathy for anyone encountering anything that cannot be nailed down as to the cause.
What my main point with Keith is not the fact the issues are present, but rather his repeating of "its out of warranty" and thus seems to imply he does not expect Yuneec to help, at least not free of charge.
As to your point about monitoring and reporting findings... I understand that as well. I guess it just seems the same findings are being repeated over and over, giving the impression there is still a sense of "hey guys, still having the problem, any more ideas?"
That's where my inquiry into whether contact with Yuneec has been made, regardless of warranty status.
Sorry if I came across as not being compassionate. My intent is quite the opposite. I do care about anyone having issues and will try to help if I can, or stay out of it if I cannot. In this case, I guess I'm just trying to push to another possible avenue. You [AeroJ] have made the call to the manufacturer. Perhaps more "direct to Yuneec" reports of the condition will help push it further on the 'hot issues list'.
We good?
Jeff
Lols - of course we are
Likewise, I hope I didn't sound angry or overly defensive in my reply...And I agree, there is a certain amount of feeling like we're going round in circles about this (both figuratively and literally in Keith's case!) but I thought I was making progress ! I still do think it's reasonable to correlate the barometer inaccuracy with the landing refusal. After all, we know that under normal conditions the TH does a graded descent rate, which is fast when you are high, and drops incrementally in 2 stages as you near the ground. If the barometer is 40 ft off, as it was in my video at time of landing, I think it's pretty reasonable to posit that this incorrect reading might affect that staged descent programming somehow, to the extent where it refuses to go lower for a while, and it is my hope that if Keith can monitor his altitude readings in subsequent flights, and either corroborate or negate this theory, we might find some consistent answers. Now I come to think of it, the eventual descent rate I get when this happens is roughly the same as the lowest-speed stage of a normal landing...
So in this instance, I'm hoping that the going round in circles might actually get us somewhere !
Last edited:
Lols - of course we are
And I agree, there is a certain amount of feeling like we're going round in circles about this (both figuratively and literally in Keith's case!) but I thought I was making progress ! I still do think it's reasonable to correlate the barometer inaccuracy with the landing refusal. After all, we know that under normal conditions the TH does a graded descent rate, which is fast when you are high, and drops incrementally in 2 stages as you near the ground. If the barometer is 40 ft off, as it was in my video at time of landing, I think it's pretty reasonable to posit that this incorrect reading might affect that staged descent programming somehow, to the extent where it refuses to go lower for a while, and it is my hope that if Keith can monitor his altitude readings in subsequent flights, and either corroborate or negate this theory, we might find some consistent answers.
So in this instance, I'm hoping that the going round in circles might actually get us somewhere !
AeroJ,
I agree completely!
I did watch your video last night. The altimeter readings confirmed, visually, what you have been saying. Thus, my mind keeps moving towards the altitude reading as to a key clue in all this.
I posted awhile ago [I think] that my first H520 had a similar, but not exact issue. In fact, maybe I read earlier in this thread or another; someone else stated something as to hearing voices saying: "aircraft has not landing, motor shutdown not possible."
In my case, the altimeter was reading a few feet higher than it was (the H520 was on the ground). The motors would not shut down on their own. Even when it tipped and two of the motors were stopped due to the props being in the ground, the ST16s complained of "not landed yet" and would not shut down the rest of the motors. (I believe I did try flying again but I cannot remember the exact details without pulling my files. I'm lazy right now, sorry. I do know Yuneec wanted to see the unit.)
Yuneec had me send the H520 to KAV (U.S.). They determined the IMU was the culprit along with something about the GPS. I don't know the complete details as to a hold up in reprogramming the IMU/GPS replacement module, but with a show of great customer empathy and service, they shipped a new H520 so I could get back in the air. The new machine has performed flawlessly.
There's my story. Hopefully something concrete can be determined with the H480's showing "similar" symptoms.
Jeff
FlushVision
Premium Pilot
Just shoving my tuppence worth in here.
Living in quite a hilly area I often find myself flying my aircraft below the ground level that I'm standing on (or the level that the aircraft took off from. It is my experience that when descending towards the height that the H thinks is ground level I can see that the rate of decent is slowed, but once it reaches negative height then the rate of decent increases again...where care must be used lest I crash into the real ground.
Incidentally, I cannot recall a time that my aircraft refused to descend, though there have been times that it's decent rate has slowed far more than I would have expected normally.
Living in quite a hilly area I often find myself flying my aircraft below the ground level that I'm standing on (or the level that the aircraft took off from. It is my experience that when descending towards the height that the H thinks is ground level I can see that the rate of decent is slowed, but once it reaches negative height then the rate of decent increases again...where care must be used lest I crash into the real ground.
Incidentally, I cannot recall a time that my aircraft refused to descend, though there have been times that it's decent rate has slowed far more than I would have expected normally.
Large variations in the altimeter reading seem to be associated with temp variations. After you idle the motors do you watch the alt reading for a couple of minutes? If it changes more than a few feet, I stop and restart the motors to reset it to zero alt.
I will try to contact yuneec Monday Tuesday or Wednesday just to see if they have any input on the matter of it not descending. I will keep you posted if I find out anything whatsoever.
Keith Kuhn
Similar threads
