Hello Fellow Yuneec Pilot!
Join our free Yuneec community and remove this annoying banner!
Sign up

H Plus saying its in a restricted safety area when its not.

Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
24
Reaction score
4
I've had the Typhoon H+ since new but due to work commitments i've not had much time to fly it until now.
I live just in the NFZ of Manchester Airport UK, so whenever you try and arm the drone in Auto, as you would expect it makes a noise and looking at the history it says:
"NOT ARMING: switch to a pilot flight mode first".

If you try and change the toggle switch to Sport, Angle or Home it says:
"Switch to this mode is currently not possible"

Also in the menu if to try to switch to smart mode you get:
"the Drone is within the restricted safety area, Smart mode cannot be enabled"

That's all OK in my back garden in the NFZ, so when I take it to a local flying site just out of the NFZ (legally used for model aircraft so I know its safe) it still does the same, so I fly in manual.

After reading about the possible 8km NFZ radius imposed around a major airport by Yuneec I can see the drone thinking its still in a NFZ at the model aircraft flying site.

However, this weekend I took the drone 23 km away from the airport and it still does not arm in Auto. Same massages on the screen. Airmap shows i'm well away from any areas that may be an issue.

Today I took it to work which is in the opposite direction from Manchester Airport, again I was well away from any areas which I would think creates an issue and the same thing happened.

I've updated the firmware on the drone and ST16 to the latest stable.
Had 14 plus GPS fixes on both the ST16 and drone.

So i'm at a loss as to how to fix this other than removing the geofence which I cannot do because I haven't completed a professional GVC or A2 course.

Any ideas welcome

Thanks

John
 
Also in the menu if to try to switch to smart mode you get:
"the Drone is within the restricted safety area, Smart mode cannot be enabled"
That part may be because you (and the controller) are too close to the drone itself. Move at least 10 meters from the drone. And add some extra distance since GPS isn't all that accurate.

But for the most of it, you probably need to upload the flight logs. It will help to see what seems normal and what does not.
 
Thanks for that, Good point I certainly wasn't 10m away during arming. I will try that tomorrow at work.
I've attached a file from saturday (39) when flying in manual. No flight on 52 just a test to see if it would arm and seeing if I could get it in smart mode (a test for no errors).

Thanks for your help

John
 

Attachments

I just unplugged the GPS on an HPlus and tried the same things. I got all those same error messages. But I also got lots of "GPS not initialized" type error messages.
Are you seeing any GPS related messages either on-screen or in the history menu?
 
Thanks for that, Good point I certainly wasn't 10m away during arming. I will try that tomorrow at work.
I've attached a file from saturday (39) when flying in manual. No flight on 52 just a test to see if it would arm and seeing if I could get it in smart mode (a test for no errors).

Thanks for your help

John
The uploaded flight logs are only the telemetry, which does not contain all possible related issues. And it is only two flights, which limits comparison to earlier flights that did not show the problem.
Many folks just zip up the entire Flight2Log directory.

How long was the drone in storage without being powered up?

This is some GPS information grabbed from the telemetry for flight 52. (I was focused on GPS at the time.) One of the GPS Gurus will have to interpret whether it might be related to the issue.
GPS observatrions Flight 52.png
 
The uploaded flight logs are only the telemetry, which does not contain all possible related issues. And it is only two flights, which limits comparison to earlier flights that did not show the problem.
Many folks just zip up the entire Flight2Log directory.

How long was the drone in storage without being powered up?

This is some GPS information grabbed from the telemetry for flight 52. (I was focused on GPS at the time.) One of the GPS Gurus will have to interpret whether it might be related to the issue.
View attachment 29412
Thanks for this, the drone was in storage for 2 years at least. Batteries removed and the batteries seem OK at the moment.
 
There is a very small battery soldered onto the GPS board that retains the GPS almanac memory. If the little battery goes dead, it may take as much as an hour to acquire a new almanac. The drone will see the satellites during that time but can't calculate the position because it does not know where the satellites are supposed to be in their orbits.

Two years isn't all that bad. But the theory might be worth a try. Place the drone in an area with clear view of the sky, power it up, and let it sit for about an hour. It should receive a copy of the almanac sometime in the first 12 minutes. If it sits for an hour with no improvement, the battery is probably not the issue.
Be aware if you turn the drone off, you have to start all over again. It takes a LONG time for the little battery to recharge, and it only recharges when the drone is turned on.
 
Typhoon H Plus send a lot of partially destroyed telemetry messages. To avoid misinterpretations use option "Purge H Plus". Not all wrong messages will be filtered out mot most of them.
H_Plus_purge.png
The GPS related columns are not proper used by H Plus (I don't know why, Yuneec seems to be not interested in...). Only "gpsUsed" is filled with data from drone.
This means, we cannot say much about GPS reliability.

Track no 00052: Drone position between the industrial buldings - not a good place.
Track no 00051, 00050: Drone between buildings.
Track no 00049: This seems to be free area. A better place to get GPS fix. I do not know if it is in NFZ. Yuneec's NFZs are relatively generously sized and never updated since many years.
Track no 00041: Last successful flight at 13. May. So I think drone should have already valid almanac data from sats. I wonder why it shows only flight mode 4, manual mode. This voltage drop at the end of the fly looks very dangerous. Are you sure the battery is still good? Do you have the possibility to measure the internal resistance of the cells (a good charger is needed for that)? The last seen flights with flight modes except Manual mode (like angle, sport, RTH) are from year 2020. Strange.

I would say there is a serious problem with GPS fix and/or IMU stability. I would do all calibration, possibly two times (compass, accelerometer).
More diagnosis would be possible when we download the ULOG files from the drone and upload it to Flight Review for deeper analysis.

I could prepare a description how to do that if someone want it.

br HE
 
All thanks for the input.

"This voltage drop at the end of the fly looks very dangerous. Are you sure the battery is still good?" I'll check thanks.

All flights to this point have been in manual mode as I've not been able to fly in Auto.

I could prepare a description how to do that if someone want it. If possible think that would be good

Update from today:

Left the drone out for 2 hours powered up without the camera fitted. Re booted the aircraft and controller, walked over 10 meters away and till the same.
I forgot to mention the rear lights were flashing purple throughout these problems.

Got back home and read HE post, recalibrated the compass, I can't find an option for calibrating the accelerometer on the H+.

Rebooted the aircraft and ST16 (removed the batteries after shutdown for a few mins before boot). (No props fitted)

Tried the start/stop and still the same messages and beeps from the drone.

Out of interest I tried the auto takeoff and the motors spun up, then errored out due to no props (so the start / stop didn't work but the auto takeoff seems to work, props still removed as im in a NFZ).

Went back into the menu and turned off the aircraft GPS switch, tried start / stop and same message.

Turned the aircraft GPS switch back on and the start / stop button worked. I got massages that I'm in a restricted area and max height is 50M, the motors tried to start then errored out due to no props.

Rebooted to check it this was a one off and its still working.

I'm not sure what caused it or fixed it, however the GUI on the ST16 seems a bit suspect, for instance, the keyboard only just visible when the background picture changes when paring the camera. Sometimes the switches in the menus don't save position when you exit the screen.

Maybe all of the above fixed it, unsure any suggestions?


Thanks for all your help

John
 
We weren't clear enough. You can't reboot. If the GPS battery is dead, you have to leave the craft powered on each time until GPS is acquired. then complete the flight. If you turn the drone off, the almanac just disappears again instantly, and you have to start over.
However, you did not mention the purple going solid after the two hours. If you are sure it remained in "acquiring" for two hours without success, the problem is elsewhere.

The Accelerometer calibration is in the "Secret Menu". See attached file.
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: JohnBarnes
We weren't clear enough. You can't reboot. If the GPS battery is dead, you have to leave the craft powered on each time until GPS is acquired. then complete the flight. If you turn the drone off, the almanac just disappears again instantly, and you have to start over.
However, you did not mention the purple going solid after the two hours. If you are sure it remained in "acquiring" for two hours without success, the problem is elsewhere.

The Accelerometer calibration is in the "Secret Menu". See attached file.
Thanks,

The purple lights were flashing during the 2 hours. They have been flashing all the time since I got the drone if i remember correctly (sorry forgot to mention).
They only stopped and went flashing white (flashing because i'm in a NFZ) after I toggled the aircraft GPS switch off the on.

I had messed with the aircraft GPS switch a few times trying to fix this before the 2 hour charge.
The switch was on during the 2 hour charge.

Having a stab at the mode of failure (i'm probably wrong)
Maybe the GPS module battery had gone flat.
2 hour charge for the GPS module battery.
The aircraft GPS switch was showing to be 'ON'
Maybe the ST16 was miss showing the GPS switch state and it was actually 'OFF' on the aircraft. Hence all tests following the 2 hour recharge were unsuccessful.
Upto this point:
I toggled the aircraft GPS switch from 'ON' to 'OFF' did some tests which failed.
I toggled the aircraft GPS switch from 'OFF' to 'ON' and hey presto! lights went white, start / stop worked and I started to get NFZ messages (which i've never seen before).

I don't have much faith in the ST16 GUI. and the aircraft GPS switch is a software switch in the GUI.

I will have a play with the 'Secret Menu' in a moment.

Thanks
 
....during the 2 hours.
It may take more than 2 hours to charge the little memory battery. It is unknown how flat it is. A fully discharged memory battery takes about 3 DAYS of the drone being powered on to fully recover. That's why you have to keep waiting for the almanac after each restart until the battery gets at least enough charge to retain the almanac while the drone is powered off
When the drone is on, the memory is retained using the voltage from the main flight battery.

Still not convinced the battery is the issue. It sounds like something changed when you turned GPS "ON" that last time. I'm not sure if you got acquisition or if you were just getting good enough location for the system to know your general area. Either way, it sounds like GPS was coming alive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JohnBarnes
Thanks All for your help,

Flew for the first time yesterday in auto. A bit of a hickup where it started to rock in whilst in flight and it came down in a bit of a controlled crash. Both brackets broke in the T bar legs, 3D printer is working on the replacements as I type. I put that to not heeding the battery warning from HE and checking it before flight!

Flew for a good hour after the issue on another 2 batteries without any problems (just with legs hanging off).

Tried the secrete menu, but after tapping the blank space the keyboard and text box for the password popped up under the main setting screen so I couldn't see what I was typing or the cancel / OK buttons. It does this when binding the camera as well.

Anyway I'll mess with it until I get in the menu.

Thanks

John
 
So you got it to acquire the GPS? That would be great.

I'm not at all sure what is going on with the secret menu screens coming up under the main settings screen. If you could post a screenshot of your versions page and of the secret menu screens it might give someone a clue.
 
Managed to get into the calibration and completed all the calibrations ect.

I've attached a vid of the keyboard appearing, just about showing, then despairing with the background image fade in / out.

I've worked out the histogram, gridlines, centre point need to be off before attempting to invoke a keyboard.

That said, if you need to re-bind your camera (which needs a password / keyboard) and the grid lines / histogram are on you cannot get to the menu to switch them off unless you have a camera working, catch 22!
Maybe someone knows of a way to get to the histogram settings without a camera bound.

Been out flying a number of times since and found the second battery is on its way out.
3D printed a holder for a 8000 mAh LiHV pack and that works a treat. Looks like the 8000 mAh pack will fit in the Yuneec battery housings so I may explore that route as well.

Thanks
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: WTFDproject

New Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
21,169
Messages
244,178
Members
27,910
Latest member
Conson Droppa