Landing Gear / Camera

[nicholas hickman]

Hello fellow H'ers,

some time ago there was a known issue which caused the camera to lose connection when raising the landing gear. After the firmware updates (2 versions ago) this problem seem to be fixed, not had a problem since.....until today when twice (flew 2 batteries) the camera dropped out after raising landing gear, raising and lowering it again after the initial drop does not cause a second camera signal drop.

o/

 

[CraigCam]

What would be the possible cause? The gear just responds to a simple radio command as an on off switch. There is no correlation between camera connection and management via Wifi and landing gear on the radio. The gear does not care if the camera is there to function so it's a good assumption it goes both ways. The only factor would be somehow the inert carbon fiber gear is blocking wifi between camera and ST. I'm not discounting your experience or logic and ask these questions so we can all understand if there is a in fact a firmware resolved issue or something else that can randomly appear.

 

[nicholas hickman]

What would be the possible cause? The gear just responds to a simple radio command as an on off switch. There is no correlation between camera connection and management via Wifi and landing gear on the radio. The gear does not care if the camera is there to function so it's a good assumption it goes both ways. The only factor would be somehow the inert carbon fiber gear is blocking wifi between camera and ST. I'm not discounting your experience or logic and ask these questions so we can all understand if there is a in fact a firmware resolved issue or something else that can randomly appear.

Loss WiFi
yuneecpilots.com/threads/loss-wifi.2114/

see this thread, it was an issue. No idea what the cause is, as you point out there should be no crossover between landing gear and camera connection!

Please note this could be an EU version issue only? I know we have a much longer "handshake" when the camera connects (up to 2 mins).

 

[kinstray]

Perhaps the extra load on the batteries caused by the landing gear motors powering up can cause a drop in voltage on one of the components required to transmit video? Thankfully, the flight components remain unaffected. It may only happen briefly, but causes something to reinitialise, like the wifi transmitter used to broadcast the video.

Is it possible that you were manuvering the drone at the same time into a landing position (putting an extra strain on the batteries)? Might be worth trying to reproduce it, fly in a direction while lowering or raising the landing gear near the end of your flight time. If you can confirm it, then the advice would be to ensure both sticks are idling when raising or lowering the landing gear to minimise the drain on the battery. I don't usually pay special attention to it, as I haven't experienced it, but I try to fly near my landing spot after 15 to 20 mins of flying, before the warnings... I hover above the landing zone and then lower the gear (nice to watch anyway!). Then gently lower the thumbstick to land.

Does anyone have a thought on that theory? It is a toxic combination of you needing to manuver the drone to land, while needing the landing gear down, all while your battery is nearly depleated. Your flight logs may help as I'm sure they monitor voltage, stick positions. I can't remember if the landing gear position is tracked in the flight logs.

 

[Rayray]

the camera dropped out after raising landing gear,

Note that the Wi-Fi antenna wire (on a standard H) is right beside a leg. I have heard cases of that wire being moved by the leg.
May not be your case at all.

 

[Murray Martz]

Note that the Wi-Fi antenna wire (on a standard H) is right beside a leg. I have heard cases of that wire being moved by the leg.
May not be your case at all.

I agree. The antenna wire may be the cause, but not for sure. It is in a bad place, and can be flicked by the gear. I moved mine away so it would not be crimped, but it was the first thing I did before I even took my first flight as I thought it was a bad location. Never had a drop as yet in signal.

 

[Maik]

I own my H for a year now. Have the problem from the very start. After a few months I upgraded to the A version (yes it was EU).
Did not have the problem anymore....
A few months ago I tried the EU version again..... bammm the problem was back!
Now last time I upgraded to the A version again, and all issues disappeared....
So Yes, it is an EU firmware issue, that yuneec can not solve in all cases....

If you want to be sure to get rid of this issue: upgrade to the A version....

 

[Steve Carr]

The WiFi antenna is located inside the camera just above the lens. The EU firmware cuts the transmit power roughly in half compared to the US version. The weaker signal is more likely to be lost when the gear is raising if it blocks the signal even a little. Have you tried raising the gear with the tail facing you at a distance of perhaps 75'?

 

[Dr Delta]

I own my H for a year now. Have the problem from the very start. After a few months I upgraded to the A version (yes it was EU).
Did not have the problem anymore....
A few months ago I tried the EU version again..... bammm the problem was back!
Now last time I upgraded to the A version again, and all issues disappeared....
So Yes, it is an EU firmware issue, that yuneec can not solve in all cases....

If you want to be sure to get rid of this issue: upgrade to the A version....

I have EU firmware and fly my H since february. Never had any issues.
Had one flip @landing, recalibrated accellerometer and all ok.

Cheers!

 

[Dave Stingray]

Owned mine since January (2nd hand). Initially it did it every time I lowered the gear, and it still does it occasionally.

 

[nicholas hickman]

Thanks for the replies,

I will try to replicate it, but I'm pretty sure it's an intermittent issue that seems to only affects EU models.

Using latest firmwares
Usual take off is lift off, hover for a few moments manoeuvre away and raise landing gear.


I only mention it because it seemed odd for the issue to crop up again after a period of no issues.

 

[Maik]

The WiFi antenna is located inside the camera just above the lens. The EU firmware cuts the transmit power roughly in half compared to the US version. The weaker signal is more likely to be lost when the gear is raising if it blocks the signal even a little. Have you tried raising the gear with the tail facing you at a distance of perhaps 75'?

Tried it at a distance of 10 feet.... no luck

 

[Robban]

I had the same issue in the beginning it went away at some point but it now back with the latest firmware update. I got so fed up with it so I ordered the italite antenna and hope it solves the problem. I am also using the EU firmware.

 

[Air Pauly]

ive had it recently and was aware of the suggestion that it "could" be linked to low voltage of the ST16 battery and when mine happened it was when the ST16 was low, since I have kept the ST16 voltage up it has gone so maybe there is some truth in that as I have been on the same firmware since it first started

 

[dxer]

Are there possible problems that can aarise if we put US firmware version in our H in EU ?
I mean...is there a hardware differencies between EU and US versions ?
If not then is is possible to switch to US version in any time or now we need to wait for a new version to try (if I am currently on latest EU version ) ?

 

[Dave Stingray]

8 batteries' of flights this week, no issues when actuating the U/C but a couple of unrelated/unexplained disconnects.

 

[Steve Carr]

Are there possible problems that can aarise if we put US firmware version in our H in EU ?
I mean...is there a hardware differencies between EU and US versions ?
If not then is is possible to switch to US version in any time or now we need to wait for a new version to try (if I am currently on latest EU version ) ?

The hardware is all the same. Some countries have different regulations on power output and also use different sub channels in the frequency range. The EU version complies with those difference in the regulations.

 

[dxer]

I upgraded camera firmware and made two flights finaly without camera disconnection. I hope this is now solved.

Anyway....this standard firmware...is it only different for the camera part ? I mean what about ST16 firmware. Transmit power is coming from ST16 right ? If I remember correctly this standard firmware is providing longer range of controlling drone too....but how is this accomplished if only camera part is different ?

 

[Graham]

8 batteries' of flights this week, no issues when actuating the U/C but a couple of unrelated/unexplained disconnects.

Yes, after first installing the latest EU firmware, I had a couple of disconnects on commanding legs down but now the few disconnects I've had appear random. It's much better than it was.

 

[Maik]

I had the same issue in the beginning it went away at some point but it now back with the latest firmware update. I got so fed up with it so I ordered the italite antenna and hope it solves the problem. I am also using the EU firmware.

Unfortunatly , i own also an itelite dbs and also with the itelite the connection breaks....