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Losing connection on q

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I've recently been having issues with losing camera connection at around 400-500 ft from transmitter and last night it lost connection all together. Got it back in home mode okay. Seeing as how it uses 2 different antennas would it be a transmitter issue? Is there a way to test it and know for sure? Thanks
 
Your statements are kinda focused on the transmitter, and yes it could certainly be a problem there. It can also be a problem with the WiFi board or antenna in the camera.

You can check to see which might be the problem by trying to view the video on another controller, or on a smartphone.
There are also WiFi Apps available for the smartphone that might give you some idea of the signal strength from the camera. (or the controller).
Of course, if you have another camera available, you can just use it to see if there is a difference. (Same for a different controller if you have one)

Once you are convinced where the problem is, it will be easier to make some suggestions for remedy.
 
I know someone with a q that I can try their transmitter. I was just thinking with both the camera and control signal going out that might be it. Would the wifi board or camera antenna have anything to do with the control of the Q itself?
 
I know someone with a q that I can try their transmitter. I was just thinking with both the camera and control signal going out that might be it. Would the wifi board or camera antenna have anything to do with the control of the Q itself?

Sorry, I didn't pick up on the fact you also lost control signal. When you said "lost connection altogether, I thought you meant video signal. Odd part is that it saw the RTH signal, which is on the control channel. I think comparing to another controller is a good thing to do, but recommend doing it ON THE GROUND for obvious reasons.
Find a big space somewhere, and ensure you can see the rear LED. (I would need binoculars at that distance.) With controller bound but motors OFF, swap between Angle, Safe and RTH Modes. See how far away you can get before the video cuts out, and how far before the LED stops responding. Repeat with the other controller, and compare the results. If results are essentially the same, it is a drone issue. If the results are significantly different, it's a controller issue.

Kinda late in the game to ask this, but is there anything around the flight area that may have caused interference? Have you flown there before with no issues? Have you flown at those distances without problem in the past? Recently done any MODs, calibrations, or firmware updates?

Note that 400 to 500 ft. is pretty normal max video range for the Q500/CGo3 combination, unless you are out over water or barren landscape. Control, however, should be good for a lot further. (Dang. Another assumption. What camera do you have?)
 
Cg03 camera. Same place I fly all the time so that shouldn't be a problem. Used to not lose any video signal flying 800-1000 ft away. Only mod is the rakon heli frame but I did that a few months ago and hadn't had any problems until lately. Will be able to do your suggested testing tomorrow when the other controller is available. I appreciate all the help
 
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A little more thinking. Again, I assumed when you said "lost all connection", you meant you lost control of the drone. In rethinking it, I realize you may have just meant you lost telemetry (all the screen indications). To understand where I'm going with this, you need to understand the 2.4gHz control channel is a TWO way street. The controller transmits control signals, the drone receives it. The drone transmits telemetry, and the controller receives it. Two different areas that can have a problem. It is important when you do your test to also look at your telemetry. If loss of telemetry is why you thought you had lost all connection, it opens up some different probabilities of where the problem lies. A minor bit of corrosion on the related connections has a more noticeable effect on the received signal than it does on the transmitted signal from the same antenna. Whether control drops out first or telemetry cuts out first will be a clue where to look first.
As you might guess, your mention that RTH worked already has me suspecting the issue is going to be some corrosion on the antenna connectors inside your controller. Cross your fingers. That one is pretty easy to correct.
 
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To check if the 2.4GHz RC connection was lost, have a look on the telemetrie data in the flight logs (fsk_rssi, gaps in telemetry). I doubt because the RTH command was received.

br HE
 
I have a question for you guys yesterday I was flying my q500 I was in the air for about 5 minutes I had just gained about a hundred feet of altitude and started bringing it back towards my direction I was about 150 ft out and all of a sudden the controller vibrated Big Red warning popped up on the screen said that a battery critical and it dropped out of the sky rip the camera off broke one of the Wings off when I went looking for it it came back to life on the controller showed three dots 11.9 volts on the battery like there was nothing wrong anyone have any ideas on what happened needless to say I have to get another drone is there anyway that anyone recommends for the same price range is the q500
 
I have a question for you guys yesterday I was flying my q500 I was in the air for about 5 minutes I had just gained about a hundred feet of altitude and started bringing it back towards my direction I was about 150 ft out and all of a sudden the controller vibrated Big Red warning popped up on the screen said that a battery critical and it dropped out of the sky rip the camera off broke one of the Wings off when I went looking for it it came back to life on the controller showed three dots 11.9 volts on the battery like there was nothing wrong anyone have any ideas on what happened needless to say I have to get another drone is there anyway that anyone recommends for the same price range is the q500

First, Lets start a new thread for this to avoid confusion. Just click on "Post Thread" under the Q500 Discussion Forum, and copy what you said as the first entry. (See picture below.)

More to the issue, we will need a copy of the "Flight Log" directory from the card in your ST10. Just zip the whole directory up, and upload it to a post in your new thread (second picture). That will give us a way to look at what actually happened, and see if we can make more accurate comments on what may have happened. Initial guess, (which is almost always wrong) is that you have a bad battery, but the flight log data will help clear that up.
Some information on how old is the battery, how often it is used, how long it was stored since last use, and how it was stored will be good additional information.

6.JPGFlightlog.jpg
 
Okay here's where I'm at. The guy I know sold his q so can't use a second controller to test. Looked up telemetry in flight log evaluation program and a whole lot of red. Fsk column is reading -70's to -90's in part and -30 to -40's in others Fmod is at 13 and 16 during flight Have no clue what this means but red can't be good. Thoughts about where I go from here?
 
Gaps in the telemetry can be idetified by red color in the column Date/Time. Check the time stamps to see if the gap is too long (some seconds or minutes).
fsk_rssi -90 is poor connection but acceptable, RC connection is still present. -30 to -40 is very good.

If you click on the header of the column fsk_rssi you will get a chart for the received signal strength. Also here you can identify lost of control by partially streight line. Example:
Diagramm_für_fsk_rssi_01.png
If you don't see that, we have to dig deeper.

If you click on the header of longitude or latitude you will get a chart how far from startpoint the copter is. So you can compare how it receives signals depending on distance.

br HE
 
It would also help if you upload your "FlightLog" folder for more detailed review. It's an interesting coincidence, but the basic "how to" for this was mentioned to another member in Post #9 above.
 
It would also help if you upload your "FlightLog" folder for more detailed review. It's an interesting coincidence, but the basic "how to" for this was mentioned to another member in Post #9 above.
 

Attachments

  • FlightLogzip.zip
    12.6 MB · Views: 4
im like a blind man trying to understand these but going back over previous flights it looks like im having some calibration issues as well?
 
@Khel72,
I won't have a chance to take a good look for several hours, but a quick glance implies you are having an intermittent problem with radio signal, starting at 8:30 PM on July 19 of this year. The previous flight, only about an hour earlier, seems pretty normal. Do you recall anything about this flight, or anything that occurred between flights that might be a clue?

The real experts on reading this data are not online right now. The best reviews come from those guys anyway.
 
@Khel72,
I won't have a chance to take a good look for several hours, but a quick glance implies you are having an intermittent problem with radio signal, starting at 8:30 PM on July 19 of this year. The previous flight, only about an hour earlier, seems pretty normal. Do you recall anything about this flight, or anything that occurred between flights that might be a clue?

The real experts on reading this data are not online right now. The best reviews come from those guys anyway.
No problem I'm working right now anyway. Nothing of note has happened recently, no hard landings, no crashes, etc. Just had camera connection issues and then control connection issues started as well
 
@Khel72,
First thing, forget what I said about the flights on July 19. Nothing changed then.

I think someone more experienced is going to have to step in on a couple anomalies, but there is a recognizable pattern.
The overall signal strength has not changed much from the first recorded flights.
What is very apparent is the difference in recorded signal strength related to the location of the flights.
All of the flights I looked at were at one of four locations.
1. South, at the end of S. El Capitan at what looks like a school, out over barren, open ground. This area consistently shows the strongest signal strength for flight duration. You went out over 1200ft on one flight, and still had signal.
2. West, at the end of Natures Glenn Ave. Also flying out over open ground. This area also shows good signal strength, just not quite as good as the first one. I think the max I saw here was about 900ft.
3. A couple miles north, near what looks like a large drainage culvert. Signal strength recorded here is mediocre, but not all that bad. There were a couple anomalies here, in that you had very weak signal when only a couple hundred feet out. Mostly you didn't go much over 400ft, and still had some signal.
4. Your house. Surrounded by LOTS of other houses. The recorded signal strength here is by far the weakest. It's not all that bad actually (better than around my area), but it is noticeably less than any of the open areas. And on flight 121/122, you showed a relatively steady decline until you lost signal completely at about 800 ft.

There is also a noticeable decline in recorded signal strength as you increase altitude. Drops with distance, of course, but eyeball evaluation makes me think the rate of decline is very high when you reach (typically) about the 60 ft. range. I don't have much to speculate on that one, unless you are not keeping the flat part of the controller aimed at the drone. Signal seems to level back towards normal as you move further away. This implies (certainly does not prove) you could benefit a little by keeping the controller aimed at the drone.

Bottom line from what I can see, you don't really have an equipment problem. At least not a new one. You have better signal than I do at those ranges, but I have no way to tell what is "normal" for your flying environment. It appears that on flight 121/122 (same actual flight), you just outflew the radio range available at that location. The signal cuts completely out at the end of what is recorded as flight 121. ~30 or 40 seconds later, it struggles back in as flight 122, with the drone pretty near the same position. I have no way to know how much further (if any) it went /returned during the missing time period. I don't know if RTH brought it back, or if it was the normal programmed response of the Q500 to return to launch site if it sees a sustained loss of signal.

The flight log does not have data for the camera signal, so I can't speculate much on that until we talk more about the current level of video loss, any areas where it is better than others, the history of how it has changed, and the typical distances where you loose it.

I hope someone else can provide better info. Reading this stuff is not a strong point for me.
 
I'm on checking your files. Please be patient.

GPS signal is also bad in the last flight.

RC-Connection is lost for for some longer intervals at only 250m distance. I guess one of the two antennas at the copter is bad or loose.

For a good connection in all possible flight attitudes you need two antennas in 90° angle to each other. In ST10 you have one horizontal and one vertical antenna inside the top handle. Both are rod antennas.
The Q500 has one vertical in the landing gear and one horizontal in the body that points forward.

br HE
 

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