Hello Fellow Yuneec Pilot!
Join our free Yuneec community and remove this annoying banner!
Sign up

Sudden loss of 2.4GHz, loss on control and uncommanded RTH

Joined
Jun 27, 2020
Messages
153
Reaction score
88
Age
57
Location
Buckinghamshire, UK
While we were out flying today, the drone suddenly lost the 2.4 connection. It didn't respond to controls and did an automatic RTH. If I remember correctly, it wasn't far from me and definitely in line of sight and the 5 GHz was nice and stable at the time.
It was quite concerning at the time when I realised I didn't actually have control of the aircraft. I was in the middle of filming quite a long sequence and I think, though it might be a coincidence, that the video file is corrupt.
Should I get the logs?
 
It would be interesting to know what firmware build you are on. Starting with Build 777, the H Plus has redundant flight control. That means the flight control should have shifted to the 5.8 Ghz automatically until the 2.4Ghz was restored.
Can you upload a screenshot of your firmware versions screen?
 
03ae2ce52c.jpg
 
With the stick antennas it is very important to never point them directly at the aircraft. They have the weakest signal directly in front of them. I know it is very intuitive to point the tip of the antenna on you model but this is the worst you can do. The strongest signal is on the sides. Usually you have the best signal if you point the antennas either 90° up or down. With two antennas it is also a good idea to tilt them so they have an angle of 90° to each other.

If you have been away 200m or more this might be the reason for the signal loss. If you have been 50m away it is very unlikely.

I think the signal strength is recorded in the log. Would be good to know if it was a sudden loss or a decrease in signal strength over a period of time. Maybe you can upload the log file.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PaulEden
It was less than 200m, perhaps 100.

Right, log files. I've done some searching here and I'm confused as to the best method. I'm going to need a little more guidance.
 
It was less than 200m, perhaps 100.

Right, log files. I've done some searching here and I'm confused as to the best method. I'm going to need a little more guidance.
Have you looked at Attachment 57 ( Typhoon H Plus Flight Log Retrieval ) in the PDF file attached to "Way To Fix Drones project"?

The flight logs may be particularly useful. You are on the latest firmware, which includes redundant flight control, and you did NOT loose 5.8Ghz signal. It's interesting.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: PaulEden
OK got it. I hadn't seen that document - I've saved it locally now.
Here's the log file. I'm just trying to narrow down the time it happened
Edit. I *think* it was around 1040 BST
 

Attachments

  • Flight2Log.zip
    58.7 MB · Views: 20
2 video files from this session are corrupt and won't play. Here's a quick edit of the footage from this session.
One of the corrupt files is, I think when the drone was recording video and went into this signal loss, rth behaviour. The moment the drone landed, I turned it off and because it was recording video, the file is corrupted,
 
Last edited:
Not finding much in the logs. The radio signal looks good all the way through.

The one track I'm seeing issues with is battery voltage. It was only 15.5 V at the start of the flight. Was that a TH Battery?

This event has some symptoms of a low battery voltage RTL event. But not conclusively. The voltage at time of RTH was pretty low, but not low enough to confidently state that was what happened. Also, I don't see much of an initial climb in altitude. It should have gone to at least 20 meters. The logs show a concurrent increase in altitude, but only record it as going to about 7.5 meters. If the Drone started home at exactly the same time control was lost, it would be a hint this was a RTL event on battery voltage. I have had two such events. On one of them, I never saw or heard the low voltage warnings.

The flight logs indicate the flight was mostly 2 to 5 meters above ground. Altitude is one area the Yuneec drones don't record very well. Is 2 to 5 meters about right? If the altitude logs are significantly in error, that might be a clue to the lack of a 20 meter plus increase at the onset of the event. You might want to compare the RTL settings on your controller with what you saw during the event.

Anything you can recall about the behavior during the RTH, or actual observations of the battery conditions might be helpful in getting an understanding of this event.
 
The flight when this happened was supposed to be quite low level. In the videos I posted earlier (at the time of writing, I'm reuploading them because I had left off 2 clips) you can see a large white trailer behind the farm tractor. The flight where the bad stuff happened was supposed to be 'earth zoom out' type shot that is flown and reversed in post. Soon after I had started the fast climb of this flight, the 2.4 went and it RTLd. So yes, 2 to 5 metres is correct for much of that flight.
I don't recall anything else notable. I think it was on a fairly fresh battery because it was the second of 2.
When you say 'low voltage warnings' do you mean the controller buzz and beeps when battery gets < 25%?
Also, what you said in PM, my copilot said "solar event". Is that possible?
 
I think it was on a fairly fresh battery because it was the second of 2.
When you say 'low voltage warnings' do you mean the controller buzz and beeps when battery gets < 25%?
Also, what you said in PM, my copilot said "solar event". Is that possible?

"I think it was on a fairly fresh battery because it was the second of 2."
I would check that battery with a meter. At 15.5 volts initial, something is wrong unless it was not as fresh as you thought.

"When you say 'low voltage warnings' do you mean the controller buzz and beeps when battery gets < 25%?"
Yes. But I was at 22%, and never got the notifications. My controller seems to be set up correctly, so I don't know why the notifications did not appear.

"Also, what you said in PM, my copilot said "solar event". Is that possible?"
I was leaning more towards suspecting a Klingon Battle Cruiser in stationary earth orbit. But I suppose a solar flare might be almost as likely.
 
"Also, what you said in PM, my copilot said "solar event". Is that possible?"
I was leaning more towards suspecting a Klingon Battle Cruiser in stationary earth orbit. But I suppose a solar flare might be almost as likely.

maHvaD choraQ. qaStaHvIS DIS Law' DIS poH, ghaH wIta'rup.
(English translation): You were right to suspect our Battle Cruiser. We have been in orbit around your planet for 12 years.
 
This just gets weirder. My copilot (my daughter) and I were discussing her theory that a solar event could be responsible. My wife said it was an alien fleet coming out from behind the moon. lol.
Seriously though, a solar event is a possible, if outlandish explanation.
I'll recharge the battery and manually check it's voltage before the next flight. In answer to your earlier question, both batteries are original Yuneec batteries.
 
My wife said it was an alien fleet coming out from behind the moon. lol.
Seriously though, a solar event is a possible, if outlandish explanation.
According to this report, your wife may be closer to correct. Besides, we already have confirmation from the bridge of the Battle Cruiser.
Solar Flare.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: PaulEden and JWG
I'll recharge the battery and manually check it's voltage before the next flight.
That would be a very good idea. I see several of the files starting with much less than full voltage. Do you often fly with a partially charged battery?
 
That would be a very good idea. I see several of the files starting with much less than full voltage. Do you often fly with a partially charged battery?
Not usually, though this flight was at short notice and we had to charge the battery using the car power supply, not the mains one on the way there. The charger said they were both full by the time we actually started using them.
Most of the flights were short hops and things like that because of the subject matter. So only a few of the flights were with a full battery
 
maHvaD choraQ. qaStaHvIS DIS Law' DIS poH, ghaH wIta'rup.
(English translation): You were right to suspect our Battle Cruiser. We have been in orbit around your planet for 12 years.
wow dude, put a "lol" after that or people will think ur picking on them instead o being funny, lol
 
"I think it was on a fairly fresh battery because it was the second of 2."
I would check that battery with a meter. At 15.5 volts initial, something is wrong unless it was not as fresh as you thought.

"When you say 'low voltage warnings' do you mean the controller buzz and beeps when battery gets < 25%?"
Yes. But I was at 22%, and never got the notifications. My controller seems to be set up correctly, so I don't know why the notifications did not appear.

"Also, what you said in PM, my copilot said "solar event". Is that possible?"
I was leaning more towards suspecting a Klingon Battle Cruiser in stationary earth orbit. But I suppose a solar flare might be almost as likely.
There was a report of a "Skydiving Octapuss" in the air. Another guy said it was a "Hexapuss".
 

New Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
20,955
Messages
241,595
Members
27,286
Latest member
lahorelaptop