Landing Gear Retract Issue?

Andrew Mac · Mar 5, 2020

Aloha,
After doing the latest software update the landing gear will not retract. Anyone have this issue? No issues prior to up date!
Anyone have any suggestions as a fix?
Thank you in advance.

jannislh · Mar 5, 2020

I guess you encountered the issue while flying?

In order to retract the landing gear on the ground to monitor what is happening, you can turn it upside down and toggle the switch a few times. Sometimes he is not willing to do anything at the first time. Sometimes it gets stuck if you had a harder landing, this might be fixed by turning it upside down since now gravity supports retraction.

DoomMeister · Mar 5, 2020

Mrgs1 said:
it's a Plus I take it, since there's been no updates for nearly 3 years for the H? Check the landing gear switch in Hardware manager, you can test the gear by removing and test with a battery, are any warnings displayed? Sometimes it will right itself after some use.

It’s not the H Plus. I checked his previous posts and he does have the H480.

Try the upside down as suggested by @jannislh. If that doesn’t work, the actuator can be tested with battery power as stated by @Mrgs1.

I am confused as to why you would have performed a firmware update on a Typhoon H as the latest and greatest is now 3 years old. Any new or refurbished H480’s have had the latest firmware for a long time now.

7cyclops · Mar 5, 2020

My H PRO,,had same issue,turned it upside down,gave each leg a little tap to get them going annd tap tap,then down they came,,be very gentle. Keith C.

Andrew Mac · Mar 5, 2020

DoomMeister said:
It’s not the H Plus. I checked his previous posts and he does have the H480.

Try the upside down as suggested by @jannislh. If that doesn’t work, the actuator can be tested with battery power as stated by @Mrgs1.

I am confused as to why you would have performed a firmware update on a Typhoon H as the latest and greatest is now 3 years old. Any new or refurbished H480’s have had the latest firmware for a long time now.

Aloha,

Thanks for the reply, as for the up-date? Between not much use and relocating from Florida to Hawaii I decided to for the latest up-date.
As for attempting the landing gear operation upside down, still no go! I can hear something activating, perhaps a microswitch actuating, and get a amber flash from the rear indicator light.

No hard landings.

Is there any good data available online to guide me in disassembly and trouble shooting? I have not opened the drone up yet!!

Steve Carr · Mar 5, 2020

Andrew Mac said:
Between not much use and relocating from Florida to Hawaii I decided to for the latest up-date.

I think we should start with the firmware update procedure before moving to the landing gear.
Did you follow the steps in Yuneec's video on updating the firmware? There are some very important steps than cannot be skipped.

h-elsner · Mar 5, 2020

It's very unlikely that landing gear retaction has something to do with firmware update. I think it is a mechanical thing. The gears are driven by tiny motors. In some cases the motors are not able to come out from the end position.
As said above, turn the drone upside down, toggle the switch and try to 'help' the gears carefully.

Just for info here is a view inside the landing gear driver and what to do after a harder landing. No need to open the body of the drone, landing gears can be removed by the two screws on the upper side, where the antenna holders are.

br HE

jannislh · Mar 5, 2020

It has most likely nothing to do with the software. Maybe you took it out of the box and placed it a little too hard on the table. The landing gear sometimes tends to jam. Already in minor impacts like a rough landing. Since the end positions are detected by the current needed to move the geat, the H thinks it is already up when the force needed is only a little higher than usual.

If you flick the switch into the "up" position while gently pushing against the gear in the direction of movement it might help.

You can also remove the landing gear and connect a four cell NiMH battery to the contacs (or some other 5V source). If the gear does not move after 1s remove the battery and reverse the polarity. If it has moved a little you can put it back in to the H. It will find the correct position by itself. Doesn't really matter how far you moved it. 10° are already more than enough.

Steve Carr · Mar 5, 2020

h-elsner said:
unlikely that landing gear retaction has something to do with firmware update.

jannislh said:
most likely nothing to do with the software.

My question has a purpose. Often when doing a firmware update, if the user missed a step or two, he may not have created a new model and therefor the H is not properly bound to the controller. That is what I'm trying to determine.
So.....yes.....an update can affect the landing gear operation.

h-elsner · Mar 6, 2020

OK, Steve, if see that in this way. Also a missing battery can affect landing gears .... ducking away and run

Steve Carr · Mar 7, 2020

@Andrew Mac, you have not responded to any of the questions on your thread. What is the status of this?

Andrew Mac · Mar 7, 2020

Aloha,
I did try turning the drone upside down with same results. I will remove the gear from the airframe and bench test it tomorrow.
when I move the gear selector switch to the up position the rear light flashes red. To me that indicates the signal is getting to the drone?

Thank you again for all that have responded. I'll keep you posted.
BTW, we have been having wind gusts to 45 mph up on the hill where I live, so drone stays safely inside!!!! Paradise!

Steve Carr · Mar 7, 2020

Andrew Mac said:
I will remove the gear from the airframe and bench test it tomorrow.

I had asked above the procedure you used to update the firmware. That is an important question.

Regarding the landing gear see this thread:

Gear issues

Greetings fellow pilots way smarter than I , recently put my H+ back together, surprisingly it flys beautifully one exception the right landing gear will not retract, checked connection installed a new leg I’m stymied any ideas?

yuneecpilots.com

Andrew Mac · Mar 7, 2020

Steve Carr said:
I had asked above the procedure you used to update the firmware. That is an important question.

Regarding the landing gear see this thread:

Gear issues

Greetings fellow pilots way smarter than I , recently put my H+ back together, surprisingly it flys beautifully one exception the right landing gear will not retract, checked connection installed a new leg I’m stymied any ideas?

yuneecpilots.com

I was not able to complete the wifi update so I did the process described by Jeff Sibelius in his video. Down loaded up date onto a micro card, then loaded onto controller, then into drone. The update seamed to go as described, normal.

WTFDproject · Mar 7, 2020

Andrew Mac said:
when I move the gear selector switch to the up position the rear light flashes red. To me that indicates the signal is getting to the drone?

Not on my Typhoon H. I also checked an H Plus.
If the rear LED is flashing red, it suggests you have the Mode switch and the Landing Gear switch reversed, or you are operating the wrong switch. (Or, I might be about to learn something new.)

Note Hardware Monitor is not fully revealing on the TH. You should check the "final output" graph. Do a fast double tap on the Volts display of your ST16. A chart will appear showing 24 channels. Operating the Landing Gear switch should show a full scale change on Channel 11. Operating the Mode switch should show changes on Channels 5 and 6.

It may also be helpful to upload a screenshot of your firmware page, such as this:

Andrew Mac · Mar 7, 2020

WTFDproject said:
Not on my Typhoon H. I also checked an H Plus.
If the rear LED is flashing red, it suggests you have the Mode switch and the Landing Gear switch reversed, or you are operating the wrong switch. (Or, I might be about to learn something new.)

Note Hardware Monitor is not fully revealing on the TH. You should check the "final output" graph. Do a fast double tap on the Volts display of your ST16. A chart will appear showing 24 channels. Operating the Landing Gear switch should show a full scale change on Channel 11. Operating the Mode switch should show changes on Channels 5 and 6.

View attachment 20598 View attachment 20599

It may also be helpful to upload a screenshot of your firmware page, such as this:
View attachment 20601

Aloha,
When I switch the gear switch, Channel 11 is indicating full deflection. No red indicator light flash on the rear light when attempting upside down, and now one gear leg moves partial travel. I have done nothing to it!

WTFDproject · Mar 7, 2020

Remove the landing gear that is NOT moving. See if the one that is moving will then move full travel.
If it does, plug it into the other side, and try again. This will help determine where the problem is.

Andrew Mac · Mar 7, 2020

Will do tomorrow, off to work!
Thank you.

PatR · Mar 8, 2020

Just remove both landing gear and reinstall again. Often is encounter a case where the gear banged on the ground or a table hard enough to dislodge the contact points. Doing and R&R corrects that issue. The process is cheap, fast, and easy.

When trouble shooting it’s practical to start with the easy stuff first.

Andrew Mac · Mar 8, 2020

WTFDproject said:
Remove the landing gear that is NOT moving. See if the one that is moving will then move full travel.
If it does, plug it into the other side, and try again. This will help determine where the problem is.

Aloha, good morning.

As suggested, I removed the gear leg that was NOT moving, the other gear leg now functions normally full travel. I swapped it to the other side and it still functions normally. The non-functioning gear leg stays non-functioning regardless of installed position. Whew, drone not the problem, narrowed down to gear retract module.
Is it worth opening up the retract module, or just replace it?

BTW.... you folks are awesome for the guidance you share.