Q500 4K No GPS Lock, No GUI

[Foxtrot1]

Hi all from Puerto RIco. New owner of a Typhoon H and Q500 4K. Happy to become part of a healthy growing community of "droners" and also being able to learn from the knowledge base that's available here!

I have questions regarding my new-to-me, purchased used, Q500 4K...it's not being picked up by the GUI software nor is it locking into GPS. I'm getting a steady count of sats on both sides but no GPS lock, just an eternal "Acquiring" on the ST10+ but works with GPS off, meaning I get to turn the rotors on. On the other hand, the Typhoon H gets GPS lock very easily and also connects very fast to it's GUI software. I contacted the seller and he states it "worked in follow-me mode"...

Did I get Rotto-Rootered on the Q500? Am I missing something? I'm technical, so please, fireaway!

Glad to have joined!

 

[DoomMeister]

Welcome to YuneecPilots!

You are not necessarily hosed on the Q500. If you do not get GPS Ready you will NOT be able to fly it in Follow-Me mode. That is in Smart Mode (Watch Me/Follow Me) and it requires GPS to work. The issue with the GUI for the Q500 may be the cables that link it to the computer. You can find a lot of technical info for the Q500 in this document https://yuneecpilots.com/attachments/wtfdproject-rev80-pdf.25490/ that will help you with troubleshooting.

 

[Chris Koch]

Welcome to Yuneec Forum, hope that you will enjoy all related posts, awesome information

 

[h-elsner]

Welcome to this forum.
Regarding Q500 GUI:
- do you have the USB-serial converter YUNA100 (this white cable)?
- If yes, what happens if you plug it in USB port? No matter with/without drone connected, in device manager should appear a new serial device "USB Serial Port" and be assigned to a COM port number. Properties of this port should show the FTDI driver 2.12.26.0.
- If that is working we know driver and USB Hw are OK. You can connect Q500 now and check if it will connect to the COM port with the number above. If not, check the connections (wiring, plugs) inside the Q500.

br HE

 

[7cyclops]

Foxtrot. Sounds like your problems are the usual,included with used drone syndrom. I am sure you can get fixed up on this site as there are a bunch of great fliers on here.Read the extended manuals for both drones and you will see answers to most things. I am not very tech savy, "lucky you" but manage to read my way thru most problems. Besides my own fault and stupidity crashes I have been lucky so far. Use the search icon upper right corner of page. Click on magnifier and ask for a specific topic,and it may take several tries as they are kind of word for word sensitive but you will get most of your answers there. Looking forward to seeing you work your way into some happy flights. These are some awesome birds. Peace KC

 

[Peter b]

What 7cyclops said. You already know alot. I have a feeling you will find all you need to know right here.. I said this to someone else that I wished I knew about this forum 9 months earlier. I am a noob even after 3 years but I love it.

 

[Foxtrot1]

Good morning/afternoon to you all and thank you for such quick and to the point specific responses. It never ceases to impress me how the world connects to share knowledge.

Thanks DoomMeister, the "WTFD" document is a true flowchart of information, PERFECT!

At 2am I was still troubleshooting this bird and was about to tear into the Q500 and inspect the board (yes it was that bad); but then I was able to track down the GPS no-lock down to the Camera/Gymbal or electronics within the Gymbal by reversing the assembly on what I had done upto that point and discovered that by removing/disconnecting the Gymbal harness from the craft and restarting I got GPS "Ready"! So that was a good feeling.

I tried to then connect the GUI side of this but still nothing is going on, no connectivity at all. I checked my USB cable harness, battery level, all good.

Seems I will have to tear down the Camera housing.

BTW, I emailed the seller again, armed with fresh troubleshooting and now he admits that the Q500 had crashed, that he refurbished the whole thing to "like new" status and that in fact, the Camera/Gymbal had suffered part of the impact in the crash and there is a 3/4" slash in the housing which I had not noticed so early in the morning, still he has the nerve to state that is worked for him. How about that.

* Kindly let me know if I have to carry my future postings to a repair or troubleshooting thread or something!

 

[Peter b]

Wftd, doomeister and others will help you Here more than anyone else.
They will be along at some point.
Maybe because it's a holiday weekend. They really know these drones inside out so I recommend that you wait a bit. Believe me if I could help you I would happily.

 

[DoomMeister]

Good morning/afternoon to you all and thank you for such quick and to the point specific responses. It never ceases to impress me how the world connects to share knowledge.

Thanks DoomMeister, the "WTFD" document is a true flowchart of information, PERFECT!

At 2am I was still troubleshooting this bird and was about to tear into the Q500 and inspect the board (yes it was that bad); but then I was able to track down the GPS no-lock down to the Camera/Gymbal or electronics within the Gymbal by reversing the assembly on what I had done upto that point and discovered that by removing/disconnecting the Gymbal harness from the craft and restarting I got GPS "Ready"! So that was a good feeling.

I tried to then connect the GUI side of this but still nothing is going on, no connectivity at all. I checked my USB cable harness, battery level, all good.

Seems I will have to tear down the Camera housing.

BTW, I emailed the seller again, armed with fresh troubleshooting and now he admits that the Q500 had crashed, that he refurbished the whole thing to "like new" status and that in fact, the Camera/Gymbal had suffered part of the impact in the crash and there is a 3/4" slash in the housing which I had not noticed so early in the morning, still he has the nerve to state that is worked for him. How about that.

* Kindly let me know if I have to carry my future postings to a repair or troubleshooting thread or something!

Starting a new thread in the appropriate discussion forum for the type of aircraft is advisable. For the GUI on the Q500 the course of action submitted by @h-elsner is the first thing to address. He is one of the most knowledgeable members on the forum for the Q500’s and Typhoon H’s.

 

[Foxtrot1]

Starting a new thread in the appropriate discussion forum for the type of aircraft is advisable. For the GUI on the Q500 the course of action submitted by @h-elsner is the first thing to address. He is one of the most knowledgeable members on the forum for the Q500’s and Typhoon H’s.

Noted and thanks, will do.

 

[Foxtrot1]

Hi all,

This post is a followup on my Typhoon Q500 with no GPS/GUI posted in the "introductions" section.

Ok, so as posted this is one of those auction site used Typhoons in "like new condition". After much frustration with getting the seller to acknowledge the issue, I decided to keep the aircraft and begin the restore-to-flying-condition task.

As mentioned and requested by h-elsner, I went ahead and checked the workability of the USB (YUNA100), I downloaded the necessary driver and inserted the USB, nothing happened. I restarted all again and this time the laptop recognized the USB being inserted, but that was it, no blinking LED or light ON condition, so I am assuming the YUNA100 USB must be bad and because it's always good to have a second unit, I went ahead and ordered one just in case my simple troubleshooting was correct. That's it for now on the GUI part of my issues.

Going into the GPS no lock condition, first note the following:

- I can pair both, the remote controller and Q500
- I have camera video on the controller screen and have full control of normal motion (up-down/slow fast) as allowed by the controller.
- The controller shows a good number of sats on the screen for both, the Q500 and the controller.
- No GPS lock, keeps showing Acquiring" on the screen
- The gimbal has the infamous three wires yanked out because of the previous owner crashing the drone and having the camera and gimbal torn apart on impact with the ground.

Here's the thing:

- When I disconnect the small ribbon cable that connects the camera to the drone body, I am able to have GPS lock and "Ready" appears below the GPS icon.
- If I reconnect the camera, I loose reaching GPS lock once again (...of course, I turn everything off then back on when removing anything within the drone).
- I can most probably get the aircraft to fly in "Manual", being that all rotor motors turn up and down to idle, then off perfectly.

Is my 20150531 board fried? (...or a portion of it?). I truly believe that the VCC and GND wires got crossed together during impact and fried the board. I actually had to splice apart the remanent wire stub seen in the images off the VCC as they were together when I disassembled the gimbal and got access to the board. Everything I have read about this board is that it either works or it doesn't, but have not seen a post anywhere where the camera works but with no GPS. I have the knowledge and repair experience in electroncs (in Audio not drone eletronics, but...). Is this issue somethng that can be repaired without calling Yuneec to service it? I have read the stories on poor to no service assistance on out of warranty products or high repair prices for pairing the new board to the rest of the camera circuitry because they are controlling the use of their software.

Thanks in advance for any additional troubleshooting tips!

 

[h-elsner]

I would remove wiring and contact plate completly and use only the external black cable to connect camera. If the cam is powered on and the Gimbal is levelling then the board was not fried.

Why the cam is disturbing the GPS receiver is not clear for me. Maybe the open PWM wire is working as antenna. I would check the copper foil above the GPS module and connect it to ground to get a better shielding.

br HE

 

[Foxtrot1]

I would remove wiring and contact plate completly and use only the external black cable to connect camera. If the cam is powered on and the Gimbal is levelling then the board was not fried.

Why the cam is disturbing the GPS receiver is not clear for me. Maybe the open PWM wire is working as antenna. I would check the copper foil above the GPS module and connect it to ground to get a better shielding.

br HE

Good point.

I also went ahead and removed the two remaining wires from the board itself to totally isolate a radiation event from happening,, but still, putting the gimbal/camera in place with the external ribbon causes it to loose GPS functionality.

BTW, when the gimbal/camera is connected there is a much lower count of satellites in comparison to having the unit connected with the ribbon cable. The drone really scans fast and gets into "GPS Ready" condition once I turn it on without the ribbon.

 

[DoomMeister]

When the camera is connected via the cable, are you able to tilt the camera? If not there may be the issue with the tilt transistor circuit on the main board. This may be putting a drain on the 5V and/or 3.3V distribution that also feeds the GPS unit.

 

[Foxtrot1]

When the camera is connected via the cable, are you able to tilt the camera? If not there may be the issue with the tilt transistor circuit on the main board. This may be putting a drain on the 5V and/or 3.3V distribution that also feeds the GPS unit.

Tilt, with the remote? Yes. Remote control of the camera seems "normal". Now that I think about "putting a drain", that makes sense, I noticed earlier that I get a smaller count of sats specifically when the camera is wired. Is there a voltage test point guide available for this board so I can perform a spot check?

 

[WTFDproject]

Good point.

I also went ahead and removed the two remaining wires from the board itself to totally isolate a radiation event from happening,,

Did you remove all traces of the wires and any loose tracing from the board itself? Any contact or near contact in that area can cause issues, but interfering with GPS is certainly something new.
I am wondering if there is an issue with the ribbon (pigtail) itself.

Try this as an experiment.
1.) Remove the ribbon from both the drone and the camera.
2.) Power up the drone and wait until GPS count has stabilized and GPS is acquired.
3.) Leave the drone powered on.
4.) Plug the cable into ONLY the drone end.
5.) See if it has an effect on GPS count or acquisition.
6.) With the drone still powered on, plug the cable into the camera.
7.) Again, see if it has an effect on GPS count or acquisition.

 

[Foxtrot1]

Noted, will be back shortly with results.

 

[Foxtrot1]

Ok, here goes something wierd...

- I connected the ribbon to the Q and it started right up and locked GPS, no problems. I even turned the rotors on, no problem with the ribbon.
- Then I connected the camera and everything went beserk. The camera started to vibrate and at the same time it looked like it was trying to level, but then slowly turned sideways, then it leveled out with the vibration still. I was actually waiting for smoke to come out of somewhere. It had this vibrational sound that seemed like a small fan within the camera assy. I then started to play around with the camera turning it slowly to check where that sound was coming from and noticed it was the antenna!
- By touching the antenna and turning it around slowly, it went away. If I let the antenna go off my finger, it started to vibrate again along with the noise.

What is going on with this thing? I have a smal MOV clip of what the antenna is doing, can I upload in some way?

 

[WTFDproject]

Ok, here goes something wierd...

- I connected the ribbon to the Q and it started right up and locked GPS, no problems. I even turned the rotors on, no problem with the ribbon.
- Then I connected the camera and everything went beserk. The camera started to vibrate and at the same time it looked like it was trying to level, but then slowly turned sideways, then it leveled out with the vibration still. I was actually waiting for smoke to come out of somewhere. It had this vibrational sound that seemed like a small fan within the camera assy. I then started to play around with the camera turning it slowly to check where that sound was coming from and noticed it was the antenna!
- By touching the antenna and turning it around slowly, it went away. If I let the antenna go off my finger, it started to vibrate again along with the noise.

What is going on with this thing? I have a smal MOV clip of what the antenna is doing, can I upload in some way?

The vibration is pretty much normal when the camera shell is removed. The lens filter, nose piece, camera shell and the part of the shell that properly positions the antenna are all needed for proper balance and mass. Operating without the shell changes the effects of the motor responses that were programmed in during the camera's initial accelerometer calibration. Touching it tends to dampen the vibration, and removes part of the vibration feed back. Sometimes enough to temporarily stop the vibration, then it comes back when you let go. All that should go away when you reassemble the camera. Not sure about the problems leveling out, but those may also go away when fully assembled.
There is a fan under the WIFI board too keep the WIFI and Main Camera board cool. You just can't hear it much with the shell in place.
You can upload the video to YouTube, and post a link to it on the Forum.

Did you notice the GPS effects when the camera was powered on?

 

[Foxtrot1]

Didn't know about the vibration, it really took me by surprise, rookie lesson learned. Well, once the camera was connected, it did nothing to change the GPS "Ready" status (drone ON, then camera plugged into the ribbon). Controller information remained as "Ready" until I turned off the Q. When I restarted the Q, it changed to "acquiring" with a lower number of sats on screen, but never changed to "Ready" mode.