Having trouble with the breeze app functions not working then shutting down

[Marc.RCAddict]

Hi all..
I took the Breeze out today for a fly as there was basically no wind

Unfortunately the flights did not go well, all standard checks were fine, phone in pilot mode, 19 satalites, optical flow and IR sensors fine. And when I was flying in pilot mode and orbit, the flights went perfectly well, as did RTH..

The problem started soon as I tried follow me, soon as I click follow me I get the message along the lines off ''only pilot mode function works when no or weak GPS signal". But like I say I had 19 satalites and GPS was turned on obviously, so I ignored the message and click continue with follow me, the Breeze does not respond then the app was just closing down, I tried about 10 times before giving up and going home, each time I tried though I had the same result, the follow me would not worked then the app would shut down, but all other functions and modes would work as they should..

Any ideas what it could be?

I'm going to try my best and stick with it, but if nothing changes within a week or two, I'll take the drone back.

Thanks for your time and help.
ATB Marc

 

[DoomMeister]

Make sure you have location services turned on for the phone and that Breeze Cam has access (permission) to use it.

 

[Marc.RCAddict]

Make sure you have location services turned on for the phone and that Breeze Cam has access (permission) to use it.

Hi mate thanks for your reply..
Yeah my location services are turned on and the Breeze has permission to use them in turn on as well..

 

[robbie2]

Still, for all modes except Pilot (and Controller), it is the GPS reception of your phone and not of the Breeze that would cause this message. Depending on your phone's properties or its location (under a tree or such?), this could be much poorer than what the Breeze itself has in terms of satellite reception. The Breeze is not displaying any direct information on the phone GPS status, AFAIK. For tracking this further, try a specialized GPS app and check that before starting BreezeCam. Finally, even how you hold your phone may affect its GPS reception...

 

[DoomMeister]

Just read your post again, with a more alert mind this morning, and noticed that you were saying the app would shutdown when choosing Follow Me.

That is odd! I got that when trying to use the Bluetooth controller with an iPhone 5c in Controller mode. Sounds like there is an incompatibility in your case. What phone are you using? Also list your FC, ESC, and Camera versions from about in Breeze Cam (Breeze has to be connected).

 

[DoomMeister]

I have to disagree with robbie2 about the GPS. The GPS in the Breeze is the one that matters in all modes. That is the one reported at the top in the Status bar. The only time the phone GPS is used is in Follow Me mode and for location for NFZ purposes.

I have a way to prove that, but it could be used to defeat the NFZ protection built into Breeze Cam.

 

[robbie2]

I didn't say that the GPS in the Breeze did not matter, I said that it may not have caused the error message . For follow me and orbit, (and perhaps even journey), the route control necessarily needs both the Breeze and the phone/pilot position, right?

 

[Marc.RCAddict]

Hi guys, thanks again for taking the time to reply..

Robbie I was in an open field with nothing within 400m forwards for behind me and around 60m to the left or right of me.. Orbit mode worked perfectly well, The Breeze would not even do the standard hover/looking at me only follow me mode.. No harm in me checking my phone gps next time though.. (today in a few hours)

DoomMeister, yeah it was strange that the app just kept closing down when trying follow me only modes..

I was not using the Bluetooth controller yesterday, when I want to use the orbit or journey or follow me modes I don't bother taking the Bluetooth transmitter and just use the phone, (android Sony Xperia xz) the follow me functions have worked once before for me, when I first got the Breeze a few months ago, this was only the second time trying the follow me modes as I'm now used to the drone and tge area I fly in I thought I would try using them properly this time.

The versions are:
FCV 1.1.2, SN: YU164321F1B09A01
ESC 1.0.3
Camera 2.0.15(f)

I just checked and it said no updates available..

I'm going to take the drone out again in a few hours and have another go and see if I get the same results..

ATB Marc

 

[DoomMeister]

The only one that really needs the phone GPS is the Smart Follow Me.

Just want you to know that I mean no disrespect when I disagree with a statement someone makes. I only try to keep things factual as it relates to the system.

Disagreement and discussion is healthy for the forum as long as it doesn’t turn into a flame war or personal attacks.

 

[Marc.RCAddict]

The only one that really needs the phone GPS is the Smart Follow Me.

Just want you to know that I mean no disrespect when I disagree with a statement someone makes. I only try to keep things factual as it relates to the system.

Disagreement and discussion is healthy for the forum as long as it doesn’t turn into a flame war or personal attacks.

Totally, I'm sure Robbie understands that.. Your one of the most helpful people on this forum so we all appreciate your input as well as other peoples..

 

[DoomMeister]

Hi guys, thanks again for taking the time to reply..

Robbie I was in an open field with nothing within 400m forwards for behind me and around 60m to the left or right of me.. Orbit mode worked perfectly well, The Breeze would not even do the standard hover/looking at me only follow me mode.. No harm in me checking my phone gps next time though.. (today in a few hours)

DoomMeister, yeah it was strange that the app just kept closing down when trying follow me only modes..

I was not using the Bluetooth controller yesterday, when I want to use the orbit or journey or follow me modes I don't bother taking the Bluetooth transmitter and just use the phone, (android Sony Xperia xz) the follow me functions have worked once before for me, when I first got the Breeze a few months ago, this was only the second time trying the follow me modes as I'm now used to the drone and tge area I fly in I thought I would try using them properly this time.

The versions are:
FCV 1.1.2, SN: YU164321F1B09A01
ESC 1.0.3
Camera 2.0.15(f)

I just checked and it said no updates available..

I'm going to take the drone out again in a few hours and have another go and see if I get the same results..

ATB Marc

Marc,

The controller can only be used in Controller mode and my point was that I had shutdown issues with the app when trying to use it with the iPhone 5c (there was a Bluetooth incompatibility).

When you try again, place your phone in airplane mode first and then enable WiFi to allow connection to the Breeze. Then try follow me and see if it stops shutting down. With all the hardware differences with Android equipment there can be some really odd behavior at times. If that doesn’t solve it, try a reboot of the phone first, then the airplane mode as above.

You are running the current European firmware on the Breeze.

 

[robbie2]

Hi DoomMeister,

you were certainly not appearing disrespectful, nor did I understand you to be! But my apologies if my reply didn't pay the due respect the other way round... typing on a smartphone makes me be shorter than I should be. I do very much appreciate your being so polite in all those posts you write, it surely helps the forum climate a lot. And now I can use my desktop, and get wordy again ;-).

Anyways, it is interesting to learn that the Breeze does orbits without even looking at the smartphone GPS! Again, I shouldn't have worked per assumption... that the orbit would need a point of reference just seems so perfectly logical to me. The Breeze orbit NOT using such a reference point might then explain why these orbits often are so much 'off the center', and actually loose focus of myself being in the intended center of the circle. I recently tried a 'POI' orbit for the first time, and that actually worked a lot better than the default 'point Breeze to intended center' method. I guess the POI mark is then actually stored as a GPS reference? Well, I'll have to try that more often to really know.

Going back to the original poster's topic: one thing I have repeatedly seen when in Follow-Me-mode is that the Breeze Cam app not only does give messages about the phone GPS having low accuracy (it sometimes does that for me, at least). It also starts showing errors about data transfers failing when the Wifi link is less than perfect (which it was a lot of the time during my attempts). Again, I guess that relates to a continuous exchange of GPS coordinates between phone and drone. Would possibly hiccups in that data transfer be a trigger for the app crashing? The question would then be how these could be specific to your particular setup, if this is not a frequently reported problem?

 

[Marc.RCAddict]

Marc,

The controller can only be used in Controller mode and my point was that I had shutdown issues with the app when trying to use it with the iPhone 5c (there was a Bluetooth incompatibility).

When you try again, place your phone in airplane mode first and then enable WiFi to allow connection to the Breeze. Then try follow me and see if it stops shutting down. With all the hardware differences with Android equipment there can be some really odd behavior at times. If that doesn’t solve it, try a reboot of the phone first, then the airplane mode as above.

You are running the current European firmware on the Breeze.

Hi mate,
I always put my phone in airplane mode before starting up the drone or app, then I open up the WiFi, then start the drone, bind and open the app and connect..

Yeah i hear a few things with compatibility and just temperamental behaviour with the breeze and android lol I thought I was lucky with my phone and the Breeze at the beginning as it seemed flawless..

I'm not sure if I'm running the current European fireware I presume I am, as when I click update it tells me I'm not updates available I'm running up to date..

Here's the screen shot..

 

[DoomMeister]

Hi mate,
I always put my phone in airplane mode before starting up the drone or app, then I open up the WiFi, then start the drone, bind and open the app and connect..

Yeah i hear a few things with compatibility and just temperamental behaviour with the breeze and android lol I thought I was lucky with my phone and the Breeze at the beginning as it seemed flawless..

I'm not sure if I'm running the current European fireware I presume I am, as when I click update it tells me I'm not updates available I'm running up to date..

Here's the screen shot..

This thread Help for Breeze WiFi and Firmware Issues has info on the subject. The Google Drive link has a file under the European section called Official version.txt that shows the version numbers reported in Breeze Cam for that firmware.

 

[DoomMeister]

Hi DoomMeister,

you were certainly not appearing disrespectful, nor did I understand you to be! But my apologies if my reply didn't pay the due respect the other way round... typing on a smartphone makes me be shorter than I should be. I do very much appreciate your being so polite in all those posts you write, it surely helps the forum climate a lot. And now I can use my desktop, and get wordy again ;-).

Anyways, it is interesting to learn that the Breeze does orbits without even looking at the smartphone GPS! Again, I shouldn't have worked per assumption... that the orbit would need a point of reference just seems so perfectly logical to me. The Breeze orbit NOT using such a reference point might then explain why these orbits often are so much 'off the center', and actually loose focus of myself being in the intended center of the circle. I recently tried a 'POI' orbit for the first time, and that actually worked a lot better than the default 'point Breeze to intended center' method. I guess the POI mark is then actually stored as a GPS reference? Well, I'll have to try that more often to really know.

Going back to the original poster's topic: one thing I have repeatedly seen when in Follow-Me-mode is that the Breeze Cam app not only does give messages about the phone GPS having low accuracy (it sometimes does that for me, at least). It also starts showing errors about data transfers failing when the Wifi link is less than perfect (which it was a lot of the time during my attempts). Again, I guess that relates to a continuous exchange of GPS coordinates between phone and drone. Would possibly hiccups in that data transfer be a trigger for the app crashing? The question would then be how these could be specific to your particular setup, if this is not a frequently reported problem?

I did not find your post disrespectful and appreciate your input on the forum.

You bring up a good point on the Orbit mode. The regular Orbit uses the distance set in the Drone Settings and finding that spot to place yourself can be somewhat difficult. I found the POI to be much more accurate myself, just as you did!

For the Follow Me mode you bring some interesting thoughts to light for the reasons for an app crash. While I personally haven’t had troubles with Follow Me, many have, and the extra calculation load placed on Breeze Cam could be a factor. I know my son found the Android version of Breeze Cam to be a single threaded app and unable to take advantage of a multi core processor.

Best Regards,

DoomMeister