Totally Disappointed, unreliability, embarrassment

Bonesamy · Jul 6, 2018

It's been almost two years since I bought my first Typhoon, I was excited, read all the manuals watched all the videos, learnt how to fly, yes crashed a few times like everyone does. I built a very cool and successful webpage for my new acquisition posted flights and began to book aerial work. I bought two Typhoons just in case... Well let me tell you I can't think of a time I've gone flying without there being an issue or two, either recalibration or breakage of one component or other. as an example I just took one of my drones out and although I recalibrated twice it will only fly in three directions, earlier it was beeping continuously, something wrong with the camera conection, oh and the pan pot has decided it doesn't want to work anymore. I have talked to various customer care people form a couple of licenced dealers and learnt almost all the tricks. But for all the money I have spent and the time I have invested, I can't think of a bigger waste of money.
I have even been on a job, actually nearly every job there has been something that causes embarrassment, buying two I thought might cure that but no. Yuneec I have defended you over and over but I'm afraid this is the last straw, I'm done. I'd request a full and total refund but I doubt that will ever happen without a class action lawsuit, I truly doubt that it's just my dumb luck or lack of experience, it seems that just leaving the drones alone in their cases causes all these problems...I think not.
Tell you what send me shipping labels and I'll send both of them to you, living in Las Vegas I'm not shy to put a bet on neither will fly right out of the box. Anyone else had similar problems?

Yours sadly,
Don Parnall
Costellophoto.com

DoomMeister · Jul 6, 2018

While we all are sympathetic with your woes, your post might be better placed in letter form and sent to Yuneec Customer Support and possibly to their Sales Office.

This is a privately owned forum for and about pilots that use Yuneec aircraft, to exchange ideas and information as a community. There are many members here that use the Typhoon H, the H520, and the H920 in their businesses and are very happy with their equipment.

Yuneec is not affiliated with this forum and if they peruse it, they never respond to posts or heed any ideas or suggestions for improvement. It’s sad that they don’t listen to and respond to this community, as a group we have solved more problems than their Customer Support could even start to take care of.

Best of luck in your dealings with Yuneec.

Bonesamy · Jul 6, 2018

I did e-mail them and I have a 'Ticket' it will be interesting to see if they reply, don't get me wrong I love my drones, but it's just got ridiculous the times there's always something wrong, doesn't produce a feeling of reliability, particularly when dealing with media, and charging a good rate for your service. I am wondering if I'm the only person who has these issues, your forum might be a good place to get that kind of reaction. I have had a great rapport with Terrestrial Imaging on the east coast, I've called them many times and got a lot of good information and technical help, Yuneec to have been helpful, it's just the product seems less than par. Thanks for letting me know that your not affiliated with Yuneec, I did think you might have had a tie in somehow. So now I'm off to repair one of my drones after unintentionally using aftermarket propellers, good story there but that will have to be another time.
Cheers!

Steve Carr · Jul 7, 2018

Bonesamy said:
it will only fly in three directions, earlier it was beeping continuously

It sounds like you need to add some tools to your how-to box.
Have you checked the controls in Hardware Monitor?
Have you cleaned the sticks?
Do you understand the reason behind the beeping?

Photo · Jul 7, 2018

Bonesamy said:
It's been almost two years since I bought my first Typhoon, I was excited, read all the manuals watched all the videos, learnt how to fly, yes crashed a few times like everyone does. I built a very cool and successful webpage for my new acquisition posted flights and began to book aerial work. I bought two Typhoons just in case... Well let me tell you I can't think of a time I've gone flying without there being an issue or two, either recalibration or breakage of one component or other. as an example I just took one of my drones out and although I recalibrated twice it will only fly in three directions, earlier it was beeping continuously, something wrong with the camera conection, oh and the pan pot has decided it doesn't want to work anymore. I have talked to various customer care people form a couple of licenced dealers and learnt almost all the tricks. But for all the money I have spent and the time I have invested, I can't think of a bigger waste of money.
I have even been on a job, actually nearly every job there has been something that causes embarrassment, buying two I thought might cure that but no. Yuneec I have defended you over and over but I'm afraid this is the last straw, I'm done. I'd request a full and total refund but I doubt that will ever happen without a class action lawsuit, I truly doubt that it's just my dumb luck or lack of experience, it seems that just leaving the drones alone in their cases causes all these problems...I think not.
Tell you what send me shipping labels and I'll send both of them to you, living in Las Vegas I'm not shy to put a bet on neither will fly right out of the box. Anyone else had similar problems?

Yours sadly,
Don Parnall
Costellophoto.com

Don, no I haven't had any of your probs.. Have flewn my H for business almost two years now. I am very careful with pre-flight checks, such as staying on the ground for 14min when not in the air for a week or so. I am very satisfied with my $ generating machine..

Best from Sweden

FlushVision · Jul 7, 2018

Bonesamy said:
I did e-mail them and I have a 'Ticket' it will be interesting to see if they reply, don't get me wrong I love my drones, but it's just got ridiculous the times there's always something wrong, doesn't produce a feeling of reliability, particularly when dealing with media, and charging a good rate for your service. I am wondering if I'm the only person who has these issues, your forum might be a good place to get that kind of reaction. I have had a great rapport with Terrestrial Imaging on the east coast, I've called them many times and got a lot of good information and technical help, Yuneec to have been helpful, it's just the product seems less than par. Thanks for letting me know that your not affiliated with Yuneec, I did think you might have had a tie in somehow. So now I'm off to repair one of my drones after unintentionally using aftermarket propellers, good story there but that will have to be another time.
Cheers!

I fly my H in connection with my business (but not for much longer, but that's another story). I've had my H since the beginning of June 2016 and have generally found it to be good at it's job. Yes, there have been a few quirks: The camera sometimes disconnecting when I raise the landing gear...not a real problem, just annoying; and one time one of the landing legs wouldn't retract but that was quickly sorted out by the 'tipping the aircraft upside down' method. But aside from these little quirks it's a capable aircraft and hasn't (so far) embarrassed me in front of a client.

Bonesamy · Jul 7, 2018

Steve Carr said:
It sounds like you need to add some tools to your how-to box.
Have you checked the controls in Hardware Monitor?
Have you cleaned the sticks?
Do you understand the reason behind the beeping?

Hi Steve, yes I checked in the hardware monitor
Cleaned the sticks? No not done that, have replaced the left hand one on one of the controller, and the beeping, I got it to stop but can't remember how or why by that point, I was not the happiest camper and decided my blood pressure didn't need this continuous aggravation! I did recalibrate and got all greens, then found that the camera pan didn't work, I think I took the camera off and replaced it, that I think cured the beeping, had that once before and fixed it, but like I said I don't remember exactly what I did. For the most part, I think these drones are brilliant, I love them but they're so ....so .. needy !

rdonson · Jul 7, 2018

Bonesamy · Jul 7, 2018

Photo said:
Don, no I haven't had any of your probs.. Have flewn my H for business almost two years now. I am very careful with pre-flight checks, such as staying on the ground for 14min when not in the air for a week or so. I am very satisfied with my $ generating machine.. Best from Sweden

Wish I could say the same, after my first crash after the battery ejected it's self I too check, I did accidentally buy aftermarket props, that cost me $100.00 in repairs and also found out the Typhoon doesn't fly with only 5 props, I thought it was supposed to.

rdonson · Jul 7, 2018

After cleaning the pots if you're still not sure try running a calibration per the video below.

Make sure that K1, K2 and K3 are in the center position before at at the end of calibration before exiting calibration.

JulesTEO · Jul 7, 2018

Bonesamy said:
Hi Steve, yes I checked in the hardware monitor
Cleaned the sticks? No not done that, have replaced the left hand one on one of the controller, and the beeping, I got it to stop but can't remember how or why by that point,.....

The constant beeping is mainly caused by an off-centered right stick (its the way of the aircraft to tell you that somethings is wrong beforehand) Ignoring these constant beeps will most definitely result in a crash immediately after takeoff, or at least undesired/erratic behavior while flying.
You can "test" these constant beeps by moving the right stick before taking off, the beeping should stop once the right stick is centered.

This problem could be caused by a few different reasons:

Fautly potetiometers; some times electronics just go bad early
Non calibrated joysticks. (we can rule this one out because you told us you did calibrate)
Dirty potentiometers; by either dust or rust that has formed or simple wear (if the beeping comes and goes at random this could be the problem)

You should often check the hardware monitor to see that every input is working correctly, most importantly the sticks, BUT you can also check the output as well:

While the ST16 is on, tap twice the battery icon on the top left corner, a small screen will pop up with some percentage bars representing each channel output; Channel 2 and 3 are the ones for the right stick, if those (CH2 and CH3) are not at 0% then something is wrong with the right stick, the controller is sending unwanted commands and that is the cause of the beeping.

Regarding the pan knob: If under Hardware monitor you see the rotation knob is not responding then its a hardware problem with the knob itself, but sometimes the problem is just that connection between the camera and the remote wasnt successfull: you might get video feed but no control. This can be solved simply by restarting the aircraft or in the worst case recalibrating the gimbal.

No "drone" is flawless, even more expensive ones have their assortment of well-known issues. No matter how much money we spent on them they are just machines, and all machines in existence are prone to malfunctions.

I understand the frustration of not getting things to work as they are supposed to, but if there's an unresolved problem within your ST16, then you will experience the same "embarassing" issues over and over again until the right issue is addressed.

Bonesamy said:
Wish I could say the same, after my first crash after the battery ejected it's self I too check, I did accidentally buy aftermarket props, that cost me $100.00 in repairs and also found out the Typhoon doesn't fly with only 5 props, I thought it was supposed to.

I strongly disagree on this. The H does fly with only 5 props. But don't take my word for it; a few days ago I decided to test this on my own (I had only seen the videos online but never actually done it myself)

Here:

Greetings!

rdonson · Jul 7, 2018

Jules, you can't get a better example!!!!

RealtreeAPG · Jul 7, 2018

My Typhoon H just recently has been problemed with a slow right stick. It only allows me to go 15mph forward or backwards. All of the other motions are working perfect. I’ve calibrated,duster, you tube,reading, etc. I’m just gonna keep troubleshooting the situation but any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Steve Carr · Jul 7, 2018

It most likely just needs a cleaning with Electrical Contact Cleaner such as that made by CRC. Available at Walmart and many automotive parts stores. There is a video link in post #8 above that describes the location of the pots on the sticks. You can watch the video below to see one cleaning method. Start watching at minute 2:20. It's not in English but still easy to follow.