Got my H back from Yuneec earlier this week after they replaced the GPS module. Finally had a chance to fully test it and I'm not convinced its fixed.
You can search my posts to find my history with this H and my first one that needed to be replaced...
In any event took my H to my "Area 51". Air temp was 36F, no wind, KP Index at 3, a beautiful morning to fly. Performed all my calibrations prior to going to my flight area. And did one final Compass Cal at the location. I powered cycled the bird afterwards.
Fired everything up (remote first) and let it sit. I also had my GoPro on my hat as its something I ALWAYS do during "check-out" flights when I have new firmware or in this case returned from Yuneec.
Ensured satellites were locked and stable in number. Per my flight checklist I ensured all switches were in my desired take-off configuration. Angle mode is what I fly in. It took off nicely and let it hover about 10' off the deck. Relatively stable. A little movement in both X and Y, but no drift. Did my usual "pattern" test and all was good. Flew around a little bit and it handled nicely. I then decided to do one of my 360 degree shots letting the camera rotate. I took it up to 385' high and 500' away. It was a very slow rotation. On the knob to rotate the camera it would be a the 1 o'clock position.
Everything seemed fine until it just about returned to the starting point. I heard a beep and looked down. I saw a message heading; "Compass Warning", Message body said something about Angle Mode. I looked up and saw the H starting to drift/move in the 4 o'clock position. I tapped the screen so I could see what the camera was seeing. Message came up again. I double-checked my Flight Mode switch and it was in Angle Mode. I quickly toggled the camera back to center and started to pilot the H. The message went away and I never lost control of the H. I brought it lower and continued to fly with no further warnings. I landed it, swapped batteries and took off again. I did not try to duplicate the exact same conditions but I did let it hover at various altitudes for various lengths of time but not as long as it did for the video, it did not do this again.
So now I'm concerned. Even before the "repair" it had never displayed any Compass Warnings or drift when above 20' AGL. When I got home I downloaded the flight logs, videos from my "H" which it was filming at the time, and from my GoPro. I was able to correlate all of the data. From the time it started drifting till I took control was only a matter of several seconds. The GoPro was not angled low enough so only a portion of the message can be seen on the ST-16. The H camera clearly shows it starting to drift backwards and right. Unfortunately the flight logs aren't very telling. The file shows all values to be very consistent right up till the time it drifts. At that point the "pitch" values start increasing. But all other values were stable.
One thing I did notice when I first got it back from Yuneec and did a quick flight around my neighborhood after doing calibrations was that when I initially power on the H after powering on the ST-16 and waiting for it to fully initialize was that the H would flash orange and the ST-16 would display a Compass Warning momentarily. It did this the 3 times I started up the H (after fully shutting it down). Today it did no such thing.
After that first flight and I inserted the second battery and flew. I was a bit pissed about this and said screw it, I'm gonna fly it. If it flys-away or crashes so be it. I'm tired of babying this thing and flying it well under its claimed capabilities. I took it out as far as 2000' and up to 385 and flew it around. I flew beyond the trees, over past some farm. Flew it without care. Nothing bad happened. While that is a good sign I don't trust that this Compass Warning and drift may return which makes me not trust it....
You can search my posts to find my history with this H and my first one that needed to be replaced...
In any event took my H to my "Area 51". Air temp was 36F, no wind, KP Index at 3, a beautiful morning to fly. Performed all my calibrations prior to going to my flight area. And did one final Compass Cal at the location. I powered cycled the bird afterwards.
Fired everything up (remote first) and let it sit. I also had my GoPro on my hat as its something I ALWAYS do during "check-out" flights when I have new firmware or in this case returned from Yuneec.
Ensured satellites were locked and stable in number. Per my flight checklist I ensured all switches were in my desired take-off configuration. Angle mode is what I fly in. It took off nicely and let it hover about 10' off the deck. Relatively stable. A little movement in both X and Y, but no drift. Did my usual "pattern" test and all was good. Flew around a little bit and it handled nicely. I then decided to do one of my 360 degree shots letting the camera rotate. I took it up to 385' high and 500' away. It was a very slow rotation. On the knob to rotate the camera it would be a the 1 o'clock position.
Everything seemed fine until it just about returned to the starting point. I heard a beep and looked down. I saw a message heading; "Compass Warning", Message body said something about Angle Mode. I looked up and saw the H starting to drift/move in the 4 o'clock position. I tapped the screen so I could see what the camera was seeing. Message came up again. I double-checked my Flight Mode switch and it was in Angle Mode. I quickly toggled the camera back to center and started to pilot the H. The message went away and I never lost control of the H. I brought it lower and continued to fly with no further warnings. I landed it, swapped batteries and took off again. I did not try to duplicate the exact same conditions but I did let it hover at various altitudes for various lengths of time but not as long as it did for the video, it did not do this again.
So now I'm concerned. Even before the "repair" it had never displayed any Compass Warnings or drift when above 20' AGL. When I got home I downloaded the flight logs, videos from my "H" which it was filming at the time, and from my GoPro. I was able to correlate all of the data. From the time it started drifting till I took control was only a matter of several seconds. The GoPro was not angled low enough so only a portion of the message can be seen on the ST-16. The H camera clearly shows it starting to drift backwards and right. Unfortunately the flight logs aren't very telling. The file shows all values to be very consistent right up till the time it drifts. At that point the "pitch" values start increasing. But all other values were stable.
One thing I did notice when I first got it back from Yuneec and did a quick flight around my neighborhood after doing calibrations was that when I initially power on the H after powering on the ST-16 and waiting for it to fully initialize was that the H would flash orange and the ST-16 would display a Compass Warning momentarily. It did this the 3 times I started up the H (after fully shutting it down). Today it did no such thing.
After that first flight and I inserted the second battery and flew. I was a bit pissed about this and said screw it, I'm gonna fly it. If it flys-away or crashes so be it. I'm tired of babying this thing and flying it well under its claimed capabilities. I took it out as far as 2000' and up to 385 and flew it around. I flew beyond the trees, over past some farm. Flew it without care. Nothing bad happened. While that is a good sign I don't trust that this Compass Warning and drift may return which makes me not trust it....
