power failure during flight

[IRIS]

First let me set the scene.
Had the 520 for over a week now.
Started with the usual calibrations all good except data link loss
Flown about 3 hours on it since.

Updated the firmware last night on the 520, Camera and gimbal.
Performed calibrations to gimbal and accelerometer at the same time.

Set up survey mission on laptop and transferred to ST.

Set out to fly this morning and first completed compass calibration no problems it calibrated successful. Powered down to put on props and moved to take off point.

Powered on and tried to send mission to 520 which timed out and said the aircraft didn't request all files required. Tried a couple of times to no success. Power cycled both ST and 520, no joy.

Started flight in angle mode for just filming, all good for 4min 8 sec then complete loss of signal looked at screen for 2 seconds as it said signal lost aircraft will return home. Looked back to 520 to see it drop out of the air into the sea.

Left ST powered on.

Tried to recover craft after getting wetsuit on but could not find it.

Checked ST datapilot logs to find no record of flight for today but has video recorded in the memory files.

There also is no records of the update or the calibrations.

Make sure you check the box "save telemetry log even if vehicle was not armed" as I didn't

I will state that the battery was fully inserted and locked. It went through a compass calibration with the same battery as for the flight with no problems. I have more than 500 hour flight time and build UAV's as part of my job.

Hope no one else has had this problem.

Will be it touch with UK tech support in the morning.

 

[AH-1G]

I'm very sorry you had this mishap, hopefully we can get some data somehow and figure out what happened.

 

[IRIS]

Can't find anything on the ST. I'm going for another swim in the morning at low tide now I can identify the area better from the video.

 

[arruntus]

Can't find anything on the ST. I'm going for another swim in the morning at low tide now I can identify the area better from the video.

Only 720p images are stored in the station and no videos are stored. At least with the previous DataPilot, I don't know if it has changed in this version.

 

[Alain]

Good luck Iris.

 

[IRIS]

Only 720p images are stored in the station and no videos are stored. At least with the previous DataPilot, I don't know if it has changed in this version.

If you go into the St with a computer you can find the 720p file stored in datapilot video file

 

[ithacapool]

I'm getting a bit worried now, it is second loss of aircraft in about a week for no particular reason, mind you, both to an experienced pilot. First Hayden and now Iris.
Getting the data logs will hopefully shine some light on this issue.
Wish you luck, please keep us updated on your comms with Yuneec.

 

[PatR]

Hayden's fly away was a serious red flag. This fall from the sky just ended any possibility of me buying one for at least another 4 months. Give people time to do what Yuneec should have already done. Get through a lot of shake down flights to find and fix bugs. At $4k a pop I'm not in the mood to risk it on experimental platforms. I would like to have one but two losses already combined with word of gimbal problems, AND word of a large firmware update says to wait.

 

[BroVari]

Hayden's fly away was a serious red flag. This fall from the sky just ended any possibility of me buying one for at least another 4 months. Give people time to do what Yuneec should have already done. Get through a lot of shake down flights to find and fix bugs. At $4k a pop I'm not in the mood to risk it on experimental platforms. I would like to have one but two losses already combined with word of gimbal problems, AND word of a large firmware update says to wait.

Agreed, I am not going to pay Yuneec to be their guinea pig. I am very disappointed, because I was ready to buy the H520. Perhaps Yuneec wants to promote their "YES" program with all of these failures... not the best way to promote anything though.

 

[gwhuntoon]

I was sure hopeful, (still am), the H520 being a totally different platform was going to be spared a lot of the weaknesses in the H480 which was my primary reason for considering one. My biggest concern with my H480 at the moment is a fly away, and second is a total power failure. Both of which still seem to exist in the H520 at the moment. I would prefer to not take those concerns into a newer more professional platform like the H520.

 

[AH-1G]

Was Yuneec aware of these issues, why would they carry over problems from the 480H to the 520H?
During beta testing were there know issues and if not why all the sudden now?

Hopefully the telemetry will give answers.
Lots of questions, hope Yuneec can explain.

 

[PatR]

I believe they'll get it together. They have to if they want to survive in this area of endeavor. Giving them a little more time to get the software in order is likely all it will take. I'm a bit perturbed they are using the DJI method of using their customers to find what needs to be corrected but that may well be something germane to the area's business culture. If all the company's in that field do it then the policy is not unusual for them. It's also possible their re-org was executed to remove management that promoted such methods. The 520 design was well underway when the re-org occurred.

Yuneec, the industry needs you as a company that can be trusted. Although their hardware can be great we cannot trust DJI. The design intent behind the 520 is good but the execution still needs a little work.

 

[terrence davidson]

16 flights so far no major issues. at 4 flights at a time before having to recharge the controller for 5 hours. that leaves 4 flight before I have to throw out the propellers and get new ones per the manual. had to abort next consecutive 4 flights due to custom st16s battery cable positive lead for the h480 st16+ battery split apart when connecting it to the positive lead head on the st16s controller. the controller is perfect working shape still. the negative lead on the custom cable lead connector was solid no signs of failure. that lead has been repaired with an adapter part that hold solid on the st16s positive lead. which will be ready for next weekend. All 16 flights are on h480 batteries. I have yet to use the h520 main flight batteries. issues before firmware update 1 time issue unit tipped over first flight attempt stopped 2 front motors totally props where undamaged but the 2 sides and both back motors were running all known methods to shut down the h520 besides pulling the battery failed to do so and to do that I had to flip h520 fully on it top with a tree branch that did the trick stopped all motors then pulled the battery out pronto. h520 suffered no side effects from that fortunately. blip e90 blackouts 3 of them occurred in flight and about 16 or more data loss errors without loss on control of h520 . After recent firmware update only one loss datalink reported middle of 3rd flight. but no loss of control but was ready to react accordingly. ((rant) when is the spare st16s batteries ready to ship. I have just figured out how to gut the st16s battery for retro fit of a ec2 connector I won't do so until I have second st16s controller battery to remain as is without changing it.)

 

[IRIS]

Just a quick update.
Sent logs in to Yuneec Uk yesterday, flight controller going in tomorrow.

As expected the stock answer at this point we will look into the telemetry and get back to you and the expected speech of "probably user error not connecting the battery properly".

Having a second one sent out tomorrow (at my cost) hopefully have a better experience with this one.

Will do extensive flight testing over open fields first.

Will keep you updated

 

[IRIS]

16 flights so far no major issues. at 4 flights at a time before having to recharge the controller for 5 hours. that leaves 4 flight before I have to throw out the propellers and get new ones per the manual. had to abort next consecutive 4 flights due to custom st16s battery cable positive lead for the h480 st16+ battery split apart when connecting it to the positive lead head on the st16s controller. the controller is perfect working shape still. the negative lead on the custom cable lead connector was solid no signs of failure. that lead has been repaired with an adapter part that hold solid on the st16s positive lead. which will be ready for next weekend. All 16 flights are on h480 batteries. I have yet to use the h520 main flight batteries. issues before firmware update 1 time issue unit tipped over first flight attempt stopped 2 front motors totally props where undamaged but the 2 sides and both back motors were running all known methods to shut down the h520 besides pulling the battery failed to do so and to do that I had to flip h520 fully on it top with a tree branch that did the trick stopped all motors then pulled the battery out pronto. h520 suffered no side effects from that fortunately. blip e90 blackouts 3 of them occurred in flight and about 16 or more data loss errors without loss on control of h520 . After recent firmware update only one loss datalink reported middle of 3rd flight. but no loss of control but was ready to react accordingly. ((rant) when is the spare st16s batteries ready to ship. I have just figured out how to gut the st16s battery for retro fit of a ec2 connector I won't do so until I have second st16s controller battery to remain as is without changing it.)

Hi Terrence

Could you check your flight telemetry om the ST for me please as I did not have any after firmware update for the flight where it lost power.

Cheers IRIS

 

[terrence davidson]

I am trying to figure out how to make q groundcontrol talk with the st16s controller got to regain access of my h520 to my pc again

 

[oliver]

compation

 

[terrence davidson]

okay st16s has tlogs in storage/emulated/0/datapilot/telemetry. now to get the tlog converted to ulogs so they can be uploaded to uavtool box made by tuna

 

[terrence davidson]

okay I have telemetry files on the aircraft and now also on the controller.

 

[FlushVision]

Hayden's fly away was a serious red flag. This fall from the sky just ended any possibility of me buying one for at least another 4 months. Give people time to do what Yuneec should have already done. Get through a lot of shake down flights to find and fix bugs. At $4k a pop I'm not in the mood to risk it on experimental platforms. I would like to have one but two losses already combined with word of gimbal problems, AND word of a large firmware update says to wait.

I agree.
I'd already decided not to get a H520 for a couple of months after it's release to the market anticipating teething issues. Seems that my decision was a good one.

I was one of the first to receive the H480 back at the start of June last year (ordered it on a pre-order). I guess I was lucky with the one I received since I've not had a major issue with it so far that couldn't be sorted out with a firmware update. However, I'm reluctant to tempt fate twice. I will have one, but I'll wait 'til spring next year. Hopefully by then Yuneec will have got all the info they need from their 'guinea pigs' and implemented the fixes.