My plan vs reality

[rqaz]

So my plan for the weekend was to try to have the good drone/controller take off, move it a few feet, land and repeet this with gradual distance increases, just simple first steps as a new user.

Well the reality is the drone will not start the motors due to the gps acquiring bug, even with gps off it will not start, suffice to say I'm not very happy with this drone.

I tried leaving it powered outside all day to charge the gps battery that seems to be one possible issue, nothing, I had to change the battery twice, so it was powered for a good 12hrs, no dice.


Other than changing out parts, has anyone root caused this issue?, this is either a very bad design or planned obsolescence, either way this is garbage and does not leave a good impression

 

[WTFDproject]

the drone will not start the motors due to the gps acquiring bug, even with gps off. Other than changing out parts, has anyone root caused this issue?

"the reality is the drone will not start the motors due to the gps acquiring bug, even with gps off it will not start"
This issue has been the subject of endless threads. It has become far more common as more units are left in storage for longer times.

"..Other than changing out parts.."
Nope. The bottom line is you will almost certainly need a new flight controller. You can confirm by connecting to the GUI and looking for the symptoms @h-elsner documented in the thread no gps lock on typhoon H.

http://h-elsner.mooo.com/pdf/GPS_acquiring_problem.pdf

 

[Steve Carr]

this is either a very bad design or planned obsolescence,

It's neither. Sometimes a component doesn't fail for many years and sometimes they fail within a few months. The Typhoon H was released in 2016. The fact that so many have survived this long is pretty incredible. Other drones of that vintage have long since been in the trash bin. Overall, the H has been extremely reliable. At the time of it's release it set a new standard for copters. Six motors assured continued flight if a prop broke or even two opposing props. And a modular design allows for fast repairs. A 360° panning camera was unique as well as Curved Cable Cam for smooth video.

We have all had disappointments. The Flight Controller is one of those. If Yuneec could have foreseen this issue they would have modified the design. The issue didn't appear until well after production had ceased. Thousands of owners continue to fly the H and are happy they chose to keep it.

 

[rqaz]

I decided to try a software update to see if that would help at all, While it did not help with the 'working' H the update on the 'spare part' H worked and the gps locks almost instantly, which after all the bad news from the last 2 days was a very pleasant surprise.

So that leaves with one working set, one H with bad GPS and one controller that reboots constantly.

I have not been able to actually fly the working set as I'm in a no fly zone. I'm less bitter about this drone and my decision to buy it used, sorry for the rant on the original post, but I was beyond frustrated after trying to jump through hoops with this drone.

One a side note, the picture of the FC module on yuneecskins page (top PCB) doesn't really seem that complex overall so I'm intrigued on what really is the root cause of this failure, do we have a pinout of the module by any chance? and while I don't want to temp fate by touching the good drone, I'm wondering if doing a pin to pin comparison between the good and bad module with a scope would show any noticeable differences?, has anyone done this?

I recall seeing a thread where someone asked for a bad module so they may have already done this, but I didn't see any follow up

 

[WTFDproject]

I recall seeing a thread where someone asked for a bad module so they may have already done this, but I didn't see any follow up

Was the document linked in Post #2 above the follow up you are looking for? There is much more in the document than the symptoms.

 

[rqaz]

this is close, I can't read the date codes from all the pictured devices, but it looks like 611 to 619 are possible bad date code lots.

One lingering question is after replacing the MCU board does the same failure happen again after storage? or is this a permanent fix?

 

[WTFDproject]

this is close, I can't read the date codes from all the pictured devices, but it looks like 611 to 619 are possible bad date code lots.

One lingering question is after replacing the MCU board does the same failure happen again after storage? or is this a permanent fix?

"does the same failure happen again after storage? or is this a permanent fix?"
Storage does not really seem to be an exclusive trigger. The failures also happen with units that are in regular service. The chances of another failure are the same as the chances of the first.

"and while I don't want to temp fate by touching the good drone, I'm wondering if doing a pin to pin comparison between the good and bad module with a scope would show any noticeable differences?" (from an earlier post)
If you are just looking to confirm a bad flight controller, it doesn't have to be that complicated. Just swap flight controllers. If the problem follows the flight controller, then the flight controller itself is the issue.
If you are looking to research the failure, then yeah, it's probably not worth the risk if you have only one flight ready unit.

 

[h-elsner]

Drones from other suppliers using the MPU6050 as IMU have the same problem. It seems to be a common aging problem with that chip. Other FW than Yuneec such as PX4 Autopilot have a wider range for correcting the z-axis bias, so they don't see this after proper accelerometer calibration.
Maybe Yuneec developer underestimated the MPU6050 bias problem or they did limit the correction values for security reasons, I don't know. However, it the z-axis bias is to high there is no way to overcome the situation except replace the IMU which end up with replace the whole flight controller. Sorry to say that.

 

[rqaz]

yeah, I'm slowly coming to that realization, but if this is an aging issue, won't the replacement FC brd also suffer from the same aging issue?, I presume the parts on yuneecskins web site are not new, (nor cheap), so they are 'ageing' on the shelf so to speak. So are you playing russian roulette when purchasing a replacement?

BTW, I found your site h-elsner.mooo.com and the pdf section contains a lot of good info, the information you have gathered is quite impressive, so big thumbs up!

 

[DoomMeister]

BTW, I found your site h-elsner.mooo.com and the pdf section contains a lot of good info, the information you have gathered is quite impressive, so big thumbs up!

I totally agree!

The same goes for @WTFDproject and the work he has put in to create the pdf and online versions of the Way to Fix Drones Project that is hosted as Drone Repair on the Yuneec Skins website.

The F/C modules can be kept from aging by powering them up at least once a month and also keeping them out of extreme heat (closed up in a vehicle in direct sun). I do this with my spares to keep the GPS batteries charged to a maintenance level and also do the static accelerometer calibration.

 

[Yuneec Skins]

yeah, I'm slowly coming to that realization, but if this is an aging issue, won't the replacement FC brd also suffer from the same aging issue?, I presume the parts on yuneecskins web site are not new, (nor cheap), so they are 'ageing' on the shelf so to speak. So are you playing russian roulette when purchasing a replacement?

BTW, I found your site h-elsner.mooo.com and the pdf section contains a lot of good info, the information you have gathered is quite impressive, so big thumbs up!

Every Typhoon H Flight Control (FC) Module purchased from YuneecSkins.com is tested prior to shipping.

 

[rqaz]

thanks for posting this, that is good to know, I'm still debating if I want to pour more money into this drone, or sell it for parts.

 

[ChadSteele]

thanks for posting this, that is good to know, I'm still debating if I want to pour more money into this drone, or sell it for parts.

Thanks to Yuneec Skins, both my Typhoon H's are airworthy and functional.

 

[rqaz]

He seems to have a good rep on the forum which is good to know, as noted above I'm torn on pouring more cash into this, I may end up doing this, but I'm not there yet (I'm a stubborn sob ;-) )

 

[ChadSteele]

He seems to have a good rep on the forum which is good to know, as noted above I'm torn on pouring more cash into this, I may end up doing this, but I'm not there yet (I'm a stubborn sob ;-) )

The typhoon H is a solid bird, I have the IR camera on one and a modified lens cg03+ on the other. My favorite thing about them is the cable cam feature, not available on my mavic pro, nor mini 4 pro.

 

[rqaz]

Just an update to close the loop, took out the working set for a quick test flight and it seemed to go pretty well, It was very chilly this morning and being the first time out I didn't fly it very high or far incase something went wrong but I was able to land it a few times, loop back / forth, up/down etc. So after a rocky first exposure to this drone, I think I will be flying it a little more.

Thanks for all the patience.