ST16 problems

[Marsh]

Anyone else having calibration problems. The sticks aren’t properly working. I️ did a hardware check and both sticks are not registering all the way up or down and side to side. My local RC store looked at it and told me to call Yuneec. I did, they ran me through some checks and it worked fine of course. Next time I flew it did it again. I called Yuneec and they had me send both the drone and controller in. After about 4 weeks. I got it back and it worked for a few flights. It is now doing it worse. I am totally frustrated with Yuneec and don’t know what to do.
I loved this drone in the beginning but now have serious doubts about the quality of Yuneec.
I don’t know if I should give up on Yuneec and go to another manufacturer or keep complaining to yuneec.

 

[Marsh]

I forgot to say I have the typhoon H with real sense. Also both my batteries started puffing. Called Yuneec and was told too bad, only a 30 day warranty.
Getting more disappointed with Yuneec by the minute.

 

[BobW55]

When YOU were checking the stick movements with the hardware monitor, was the rabbit/turtle slider in the RABBIT position?
For your batteries, How long have you had them?
How many charge/discharge cycles on them?
Do you store them at 15.2 to 15.6 volts?

 

[Steve Carr]

The sticks just need cleaning. It's simple and fast. Review the thread below. The sticks on the ST10 and ST16 are the same.
Drift due to uncalibrated aileron stick

 

[Marsh]

Slider was in middle between rabbit and turtle.
Batteries were 9 months old. Stored at around 15. Maybe 20 charges. I️ bought new batteries from Venum and a multi charger that has a storage function.

 

[Steve Carr]

Are the Venom batteries the problem or the originals? I've seen several posts recently about the Venom getting puffy after a few months.

 

[Marsh]

The problem was with the original Yuneec batteries. I was more upset at their response that there was only a 30 day warranty and their tough **** attitude.

 

[CraigCam]

It’s a real issue with any battery where you don’t know how it was handled prior to sale. Our Best Buy has OEM YUNEEC 480 batteries but the boxes are beat up and they look pretty old. Of course the sales people are useless with helping determine the length of time it’s been in a warehouse and how “new” it is. I needed a back up and took the leap. There was no lipo literature in the box which was not a good thing and it’s possible it’s “used” even though in theory Best Buy should never take back an opened lipo.

So far so good but for sure I’m babying this one. I’ve got two power 4 Yuneec batteries that are done after one year of flying and now I never try to hit any low battery warnings with my new ones.

After many quads and batteries I can safely say flying any lipo to its LVC point will start it down the puffy path. Also, not waiting for cool down to charge and of course long storage periods fully charged will lower life. It’s a balance between being ready to go with charged batteries vs labor and maintenance of lipo relative to cost of battery. So if I loose a battery over time but I’m always ready to launch, I’m willing to keep them charged in my bag. If I know I’m not going to fly for more then two weeks (very rare as I try to run at least one flight a day and cycle through the batteries) then I’ll discharge. My charger sees more of me then my friends and family I’m afraid but that’s the cost of maintaining the H for your camera work and enjoyment.

 

[BobW55]

To see full stick movement, the Slider needs to be in FULL rabbit mode, other wise you will not see full deflection of the sticks being registered.
As others have stated, Batteries are a toss up. I have had my H for over a year, Probably 45 + cycles on my (3) batteries and they are still going strong. I have a 3S lipo for one of my fixed wing aircraft, 3 months old only 10 cycles on it and it is starting to puff.
I have to admit, while I am good at charge/Storing my batteries, I am bad at keeping accurate logs of the cycles.
Way easier to fly, and more fun, the batteries close to storage voltage than using the Dis-charge mode on my charger.

 

[PatR]

I forgot to say I have the typhoon H with real sense. Also both my batteries started puffing. Called Yuneec and was told too bad, only a 30 day warranty.
Getting more disappointed with Yuneec by the minute.

Marsh,

With all due respect, the number of ways a user can cause a battery to fail is overwhelming. Worse, very few users keep any kind of track of what they did with a battery during every flight and charge cycle. Most don't have any idea what the cell voltages were at when they first got the battery, or what the original total pack voltage was, nor do they abide by any standard where discharging a battery is concerned. They fly them until they are ready to drop, or self land because they were run down further than they should have been. To be candid, I'm surprised there is any warranty at all on any lithium chemistry battery used in multirotors.

It's a hard fact of life that many people buy a multirotor and go fly it without paying any attention to the various systems and components that come together to make it fly. Batteries are among the most abused component on them, and often fail prematurely simply because the owners didn't learn anything about them and treated them so bad they were forced to fail.

 

[Marsh]

As for the batteries, my issue was Yuneec’s attitude not the need the buy new ones. There are many ways we can cause these batteries to not function properly.

In respect to the controller issue, in full rabbit setting, K2 doesn’t move, J1 and J2 are showing +100 always, J3 and J4 are stuck at -100, K3 is stuck at the top.
Something isn’t right with this controller. That’s after Yuneec fixed it.

 

[SkyVidTek]

As for the batteries, my issue was Yuneec’s attitude not the need the buy new ones. There are many ways we can cause these batteries to not function properly.

In respect to the controller issue, in full rabbit setting, K2 doesn’t move, J1 and J2 are showing +100 always, J3 and J4 are stuck at -100, K3 is stuck at the top.
Something isn’t right with this controller. That’s after Yuneec fixed it.

Marsh,
DO NOT FLY with your ST16 like this. It is a sure recipe for disaster. The settings have gotten way out of whack and the basics need to be reset. I had this exact profile on my ST16 just before a fatal flight.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

If reference to your controller, a complete cleaning of the pots and subsequently either a factory reset and/or a "secret menu" calibration of the ST-16 might be in order...

CRC QD Electronic Cleaner does work from the outside

Reference: "Soft" ST16 reset or "Factory" ST16 reset for Typhoon H

ST-16 Calibration ( secret menu )

 

[madatme]

Clean the pots, calibrate, worked for me, batteries are hit a and miss with no warranty, but take care of them and they will take of you, I have 6 yuneec batteries for a year and they work fine

 

[Jeff Hansen]

On my second Typhoon after the first crashed due to incorrect input signals from the controller (it wasn’t moving the direction I was moving the right stick). Yuneec sent me a new one after considerable pain and months of pressure only to find after only a couple of flights the right stick output is so sporadic even the repair tech shut it down and said to send it back. Yuneec has had an email from me for over 3 weeks... no response.

Anyone else having calibration problems. The sticks aren’t properly working. I️ did a hardware check and both sticks are not registering all the way up or down and side to side. My local RC store looked at it and told me to call Yuneec. I did, they ran me through some checks and it worked fine of course. Next time I flew it did it again. I called Yuneec and they had me send both the drone and controller in. After about 4 weeks. I got it back and it worked for a few flights. It is now doing it worse. I am totally frustrated with Yuneec and don’t know what to do.
I loved this drone in the beginning but now have serious doubts about the quality of Yuneec.
I don’t know if I should give up on Yuneec and go to another manufacturer or keep complaining to yuneec.

 

[JulesTEO]

Make sure to clean the joystick pots and regularly check them in hardware monitor.

Rust/dust on the potentiometers can cause improper contact and result in what you see on your output. Do not fly like this: basically the sticks are sending unpredictable, unwanted commands to your aircraft. Based on your screenshot if you were to fly right now your aircraft would shoot straight up, spinning and going backwards in a circular fashion (very fast) as soon as you arm the motors; no way to tell if you could be able to regain control, but I would assume not.

If cleaning doesn't fix this then the pots might be defective and require replacement.

Storage can play an important role on keeping joysticks clean: for example, leaving the ST16 laying around on a desk even for a couple of days and dust will certainly settle on the sticks, buttons and switches. Unfortunately the ST16 is not IP certified. (is any RC remote IP certified?)

As for the batteries, a puffed battery doesn't necessarily mean it must go straight to the garbage. I have a couple of "puffed" batteries which work perfectly. One of them, however, provides less flight time since the internal resistance of one of the cells has raised.

Greetings!

 

[CraigCam]

I don’t understand why maintenance is a warranty issue. If I called a manufacturer every time dirt got in any of my electronics - and I own 100s of thousands of recording equipment- then I’d be on the phone constantly. The good guys used sealed pots but you pay up front. The St is basically 699.00 most places. Considering it’s an Android also, we all know half of that cost is in the screen and hardware plus firmware building and updating no one gets paid for. So cost get cut somewhere and obviously it’s the sticks that were jobbed out on the low scale of function vs life.

What does it say if the 520 still uses the same controller? They think the sticks are acceptable and most problems are fixed with cleaning and checking and then calibration if needed. Unless I could see a predictable and constant problem that normal pre flight maintenance and check address, I’d hesitate to involve Yuneec.

Put a can of air and some electronic wash with a bit of lubricant in your field kit and check your values with hardware monitor for proper centering and proper outputs. If it looks weird, work the sticks around and double check all flight controls in hover in front of you before initiating your mission.

For what it’s worth, the camera pan and OBS switches have been changed on current ST and replacement boards have the newer robust switches. Those long skinny switch arms fell apart. The joysticks are still the same so it was not determined to need a new version on all current production runs so all you will get back are same sticks with same possible problems. I’m not surprised the fix failed. Someone will find an affordable more reliable replacement and a lot of us will end up swapping out if we can. I hope after all this they get you a “fixed” unit but it’s always going to have this potential and you have to be prepared unfortunately for the unexpected with an off the shelf who knows what QC made in China drone.

 

[AH-1G]

Make sure to clean the joystick pots and regularly check them in hardware monitor.

Rust/dust on the potentiometers can cause improper contact and result in what you see on your output. Do not fly like this: basically the sticks are sending unpredictable, unwanted commands to your aircraft. Based on your screenshot if you were to fly right now your aircraft would shoot straight up, spinning and going backwards in a circular fashion (very fast) as soon as you arm the motors; no way to tell if you could be able to regain control, but I would assume not.

If cleaning doesn't fix this then the pots might be defective and require replacement.

Storage can play an important role on keeping joysticks clean: for example, leaving the ST16 laying around on a desk even for a couple of days and dust will certainly settle on the sticks, buttons and switches. Unfortunately the ST16 is not IP certified. (is any RC remote IP certified?)

As for the batteries, a puffed battery doesn't necessarily mean it must go straight to the garbage. I have a couple of "puffed" batteries which work perfectly. One of them, however, provides less flight time since the internal resistance of one of the cells has raised.

Greetings!

Seriously!!!! There are examples of puffed batteries that start on fire that this shouldn’t even be questioned or you mentioning this dangerous statement.

That doesn’t mean that every battery that is puffed is going to explode as soon as you use it but it does mean that a high enough percentage of them are going to be dangerous that it isn’t worth the risk.

You should follow up with your puffy battery statement with a caution and explanation. You're putting yourself and others in harms way

 

[JulesTEO]

Seriously!!!! There are examples of puffed batteries that start on fire that this shouldn’t even be a question.

That doesn’t mean that every battery that is puffed is going to explode as soon as you use it but it does mean that a high enough percentage of them are going to be dangerous that it isn’t worth the risk.

Did you just copy/paste from Puffed Lipo Battery: Why they swell and what to do about it • LearningRC ? I'm just kidding,

Yes LiPo fires are scary and it's the main reason to be cautious when using LiPos, not only when they are puffed, but in general.

A few months back I researched on the subject of LiPos and shortly after that I decided to invest on a true smart-charger that allows me to closely monitor the individual cells of my 'puffed' packs for both voltage and internal resistance. (as I mentioned only one of the cells shows slightly higher internal resistance in one pack and it's the one that provides less flight time). The voltage between cells don't show any difference between them to be concerned about (yet), and also neither of them show any signs of overheating after charge/discharge.

I do take special care not to take these particular packs to too low voltages (first low battery warning is waaay too low) precisely to prevent from overheating and further 'puffing'

Technically speaking, both packs are fine, they both perform acceptably, with no sudden voltage drops, and very close to my newest packs in terms of flight time.

Greetings!

 

[Dave0080]

I forgot to say I have the typhoon H with real sense. Also both my batteries started puffing. Called Yuneec and was told too bad, only a 30 day warranty.
Getting more disappointed with Yuneec by the minute.

Yes they will start to get fat if stored at full tilt for only a short time..get a good charger discharged and if letting them sit for more than a few days bring them down to lowest voltage... The charger that comes with the H is OK but you can do way better for short money and they will last much longer..Mine are almost a year old and have over 50 flights each and are still giving me 15 to 18 min flight times