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Q500 horror flyaway story (with kinda lucky ending)

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Dec 1, 2018
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Hello, this evening i decided to take my q500 for a spin with a huge led attached to it. I started her up, flew up about 50m and then s*** hit the fan. The quad flew VERY fast to one side away from me, it flew about 150m away from me while there was zero joystick input from me, but then i noticed that smart mode makes it stop and just hover(RTH didnt do nothing btw) then I switched back to angle mode to see if the problem is still present and... It was going completely crazy, flying in circles, losing altitude, speeding in various directions etc. I switched to smart mode wich made it hover first time but this time it didnt work. .. It stopped circling and just took off at insane speed( speed, and angle of attack was similar to when you fly without GPS) it flew towards highway and I just ran to see if I can see it in the air... thanks to that strong led torch that put on the drone i spotted it very far away and i switched to RTH wich this time made it fly to my direction at insane speed... Then it changed direction again and this time i hit smart mode again wich made it come directly to me, when it was past my house and near me I just said "im done with this" and just killed motors while it was speeding at me. Motors stopped and drone turned upside down and came crashing directly at me from an altitude of atleast 50-55 meters, I ran away, then looked back and i saw it hitting that deep(30cm) soft snow on my field, i instantly ran towards it, dug it up from the snow and removed the battery as the drone all was covered in snow. The drone appears to be phisically ok, frame is not broken, all props are intact. I dont know about electronics as there was water leaking out of the drone after i put in my house. Will have to take it all apart, dry it and check for other problems.

FACTS about the drone- gps was calibrated recently and i took off from that same slot previously without any issues. Newest firmware that has been running for few months now. Battery was ofcourse full. 12 sattelites at takeoff.
WEATHER DATA - absolutely zero wind, no clouds, minus 24 degress CELSIUS(yes pretty cold) might the cold be the issue?

No, there was no sd card in controller and I dont really care about returning or warranty as the drone frame has already been plastic welded and battery is not stock.

Have you guys heard anything similar with the q500? As far as i knoe my q500 is early model (cgo2gb, st10)

I will deffo remember this incident for a LONG time and i believe im pretty lucky.
 
My first guess would be some type of interference from the LED light that you added.
That is not typical behavior from a Q500. That model is one of the most reliable drones ever made.
 
I have had similiar problems with my Inspire 2 when positioning a EVO SS gimbal on top to close to the GPS module moving to farther forward
position problem went away. My thought it was cause by the 3 axis gimbal motors close to the GPS module. My Typhoon H has not had the problem
when doing the same however, the GPS module is about 2 inches away.from gimbal.

I would change mounting of the LED after testing without it.
I always do very low speed low altitude and distance tests when adding anything in case I have to crash.
I presume all the remote indicators were indicating normal on take off.
 
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My first guess would be some type of interference from the LED light that you added.
That is not typical behavior from a Q500. That model is one of the most reliable drones ever made.
Dont think its LED.it was mounted rightbwhere gimbal would be and weight is similar to gimbal. Only active electronics in that led is a driver containing driver chip and 1 mosfet. Ive had 8+ full flights with the same led in the same field and all was good.
 
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I have had similiar problems with my Inspire 2 when positioning a EVO SS gimbal on top to close to the GPS module moving to farther forward
position problem went away. My thought it was cause by the 3 axis gimbal motors close to the GPS module. My Typhoon H has not had the problem
when doing the same however, the GPS module is about 2 inches away.from gimbal.

I would change mounting of the LED after testing without it.
I always do very low speed low altitude and distance tests when adding anything in case I have to crash.
I presume all the remote indicators were indicating normal on take off.
Like i said previously not the first time flying with this led and all was good previous times. Yes remote showed me ready status on gps and atleast 12 sattelites when taking off
 
My first guess would be some type of interference from the LED light that you added.
That is not typical behavior from a Q500. That model is one of the most reliable drones ever made.
I agree. This behavior is not normal or a common error at all. Nevertheless I experienced something similar when I did something wrong on a self build quadcopter using the APM flight controller. I installed a servo gimbal but connected it in a way which caused to high loads on the voltage regulation which therefore was not able to supply a sufficient voltage any more. The result was a somehow working flight controller and working motors but only temporally control over the drone. Luckily it flew into hedge after a few seconds and nothing more than a propeller and a strut of the landing gear broke.

This incident somehow reminds me on your experience. Maybe the LED was the problem for some reason.

I dont know about electronics as there was water leaking out of the drone after i put in my house. Will have to take it all apart, dry it and check for other problems.
I think the chances are good that everything will be fine. Snow does contain barely any minerals and does therefore not create any short circuits and is only slightly corrosive. Chances are good that nothing happened to your electronics.
 
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I agree. This behavior is not normal or a common error at all. Nevertheless I experienced something similar when I did something wrong on a self build quadcopter using the APM flight controller. I installed a servo gimbal but connected it in a way which caused to high loads on the voltage regulation which therefore was not able to supply a sufficient voltage any more. The result was a somehow working flight controller and working motors but only temporally control over the drone. Luckily it flew into hedge after a few seconds and nothing more than a propeller and a strut of the landing gear broke.

This incident somehow reminds me on your experience. Maybe the LED was the problem for some reason.


I think the chances are good that everything will be fine. Snow does contain barely any minerals and does therefore not create any short circuits and is only slightly corrosive. Chances are good that nothing happened to your electronics.
Thanks for your story mate! My torch was driven by a seperate 16850 cell. In a nutshell only thing that was different from other flights ive taken is that the air temperature was very low.
 
Thanks for your story mate! My torch was driven by a seperate 16850 cell. In a nutshell only thing that was different from other flights ive taken is that the air temperature was very low.
Low temps should not cause flight control problems. Usually just very short flights. When you try another flight w/o the light, you will know more.
 
Maybe the temperature was an issue... As you pointed out it was very cold I remembered that the first acceleration sensors using MEMS technology used in RC helicopters had to be preheated. But I do not know the exact reason. I only read in the manual of the Futaba GY-520 that blue blinking means it is heating up and soon ready to be used. I assume that they would be inaccurate if not at a certain temperature. Since MEMS is basically the only technology used today (due to their many advantages) it might be an issue even today.
 
Low temps should not cause flight control problems. Usually just very short flights. When you try another flight w/o the light, you will know more.
Thanks man but i believe this issue was somebody to do with flight control as i ive had many flights WITH torch and all flights went well
 
The compass chip is on the nose of the Q500. The camera mount is near...
The LED driver is switched and switching causes rapidly changing magnetic field in case of higher current to drive a power LED. Sorry, but I would not do that...
That it has worked sometime is no good argument. BIAS of the compass chip is something that changes as well as the switching frequency. We do not know what interactions occur but such a construct is always dangerous.

I remember times where I got copper foil by Horizon Hobby to shield my camera for the Blade 350QX. I still have it for such cases.

BTW, the compass chip is the same....

br HE
 
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Maybe the temperature was an issue... As you pointed out it was very cold I remembered that the first acceleration sensors using MEMS technology used in RC helicopters had to be preheated. But I do not know the exact reason. I only read in the manual of the Futaba GY-520 that blue blinking means it is heating up and soon ready to be used. I assume that they would be inaccurate if not at a certain temperature. Since MEMS is basically the only technology used today (due to their many advantages) it might be an issue even today.
Well the led itself was mounted on the gimbal bracket just under compass but driver and lithium cell was in the middle right under the mainboard. Should i hook q500 to pc and see if the values change when i bring that torch setup near the drone?
 

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