PatR
Premium Pilot
Might want to call them first. The site states they handle DJI, Freefly, and FLIR.
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Might want to call them first. The site states they handle DJI, Freefly, and FLIR.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Wow the YouTube compression is terrible on that video. Not sure what's going on there, but you do look like you're doing alright.
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- Joined
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- 67
So sorry to read this. I know the feeling.
What you described is exactly the result of Smart mode within 30'. I too on my initial flight using smart (what I now call stupid) mode had the same issue, was only 2-3' off the ground , but only broke 3 props. I was lucky. Also a problem was being in turtle mode -- where response to commands is slower. So yes, lost control and down it went. I haven't used smart mode since and most likely never will.
Repairs are easy. Just have to have torc driver bits. There are a couple videos on how to replace broken arms. (this one is in two parts) . I just completed repairs on a totaled H -- 3 broken arms, legs, air-frame, shells, and camera wiring leads. It required a complete and I mean complete break-down. It flies now without issue.
However, I would address the issue with Yuneec first and pursue a resolve with them before initiating any repairs. They are quite responsive and needs to be your first course of action. Best wishes for a speedy resolve.
What you described is exactly the result of Smart mode within 30'. I too on my initial flight using smart (what I now call stupid) mode had the same issue, was only 2-3' off the ground , but only broke 3 props. I was lucky. Also a problem was being in turtle mode -- where response to commands is slower. So yes, lost control and down it went. I haven't used smart mode since and most likely never will.
Repairs are easy. Just have to have torc driver bits. There are a couple videos on how to replace broken arms. (this one is in two parts) . I just completed repairs on a totaled H -- 3 broken arms, legs, air-frame, shells, and camera wiring leads. It required a complete and I mean complete break-down. It flies now without issue.
However, I would address the issue with Yuneec first and pursue a resolve with them before initiating any repairs. They are quite responsive and needs to be your first course of action. Best wishes for a speedy resolve.
Thanks very much to everyone who's responded here!! Very much appreciate all the feedback and well wishes. Makes me feel better that I'm not the only one who's experienced this before : )
I will be calling Yuneec first thing next week and see what they say.
Will go from there and post back my eventual resolution.
Happy New Year everyone!!
I will be calling Yuneec first thing next week and see what they say.
Will go from there and post back my eventual resolution.
Happy New Year everyone!!
PatR
Premium Pilot
Torx bit is a T10 with a center hole in it for the -16. Hex keys are small metric, screws are JIS standard for slot sizing. Standard Phillips do not fit the screws properly. Hobby size JIS screwdriver sets can be obtained at better RC hobby suppliers. Horizon Hobby is one of them.
Don't use a ball driver hex key where good access with a square end hex key is provided. Ball drivers are often soft or slightly off size and can strip a hex head screw.
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Don't use a ball driver hex key where good access with a square end hex key is provided. Ball drivers are often soft or slightly off size and can strip a hex head screw.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2016
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Hey jethro in Aus I only ever fly in angle mode I have 4 yuneec uav,s and have never had an issue with any of them, I also put it down to that I have never done an update on any of them, hope u get it sorted out cheers peter
Happy Sunday everyone. Finally able to post a bit of a follow-up here for my repair.
Has been a while. Almost three months now since I started the repair process. My experience with Yuneec customer service so far has not been very fun. In fact I have to admit it has been one of the most frustrating things I have ever gone through.
This has definitely been an adventure ... and not of the good kind. Being a Canadian resident, Yuneec uses Staples (the office supply store) as their authorized Canadian repair center. Dealing with Staples as the repair shop has proven to be somewhat challenging. This actually seems to have caused most of the three month delay as there does not seem to be a lot of coordination between Staples and Yuneec. But that's a post for another day (if any other Canadians owners are interested in the process up here : )
After numerous delays and an eventual follow-up with the Yuneec customer service supervisor, I have been informed that Yuneec considers my crash to be user-error and they will NOT warranty the repair cost.
Have a few questions I'm hoping people here might be able to advise on:
1) Yuneec has reviewed my flight telemetry from the crash. What they are saying however does not jive with my recollection of the events.
Yuneec is saying the telemetry shows I started off in Smart mode, then switched to RTH mode and then switched back to Smart mode. The crash was caused by the unit being switched back into Smart mode within the safe circle. I don't believe this was the case though. Although everything went to **** in a matter of seconds, I do not believe I switched back to Smart mode. I even documented all the steps I (believed) took place back in December (so not totally going by memory from 3 months ago).
I did start off in Smart mode (as the operation manual indicates 'new pilots may find starting out in Smart mode to be easier to learn how to fly'). And I did switch to RTH mode when I sort of panicked and thought I was starting to lose control of the bird. I do NOT recall switching back into Smart mode from RTH. From my recollection (again, everything happened so quickly), it was switching to RTH that immediately caused the bird to take off like a bat out of **** and crash. I didn't have time to do anything else but watch helplessly as my $1000 investment hit the ground about 60 yards away probably doing 30MPH.
So my questions for this are:
- Can the telemetry be wrong?? I don't have the ST16 receiver at the moment to pull the flight logs from, but I did have the Staples repair technician (Paul) pull them and send them to me. I'm not exactly sure how to read the files though?? I will attach the file I believe is in question (telemetry file #6) with this post. Will rename the file to .txt (as I don't believe .csv is accepted on this form). Would someone be able to review and advise if Yuneec is reading the file correctly (and the telemetry shows the unit being switched back to Smart mode prior to crash)?
- If Yuneec is correct (and the unit was supposedly 'switched' back to Smart mode), could there be some other explanation?? Could the switch somehow be faulty?? Even though I switched to RTH (which seems not to be in dispute), could the switch somehow still 'think' it was in Smart mode?? Maybe grasping at straws here, but I would swear on my grave I did not switch back to Smart mode.
- And just an observation ... even if the bird is supposed to do everything it can to get out of the safe circle, shouldn't it stop once it gets 'outside'?? It flew 60 yards before it crashed. I get the concept of the safe circle but does it really need to fly that far away to keep the operator safe?? How far away does it have to go before it considers itself out of the safe circle??
Now for the repair quote. I purchased the unit for $1100 (CAN) including taxes. Granted it was on sale and I think I got a pretty good deal.
The damage was: 3 broken arms, one broken landing strut, a broken camera mount and 5 broken propellers.
Staples originally quoted me $600 (CAN) for the repairs (not including the props). This included $120 for one hour of labor (reduced down from two hours - Paul the repair technician seems to be the only one sympathetic to my plight and was willing to try and work with me).
After speaking with the Yuneec supervisor and telling her the quote seemed somewhat excessive (seeing as I could spend another $500 and get a brand new unit complete with an extra battery and receiver), they reduced the quote down to $500.
This still seems high to me though?? I think Staples is planning to replace all three entire arms (including the motors). I wouldn't have thought the motors needed to be replaced though?? I can't say for sure the motors weren't damaged, but I don't think Staples has even bothered to test them. Paul indicated their standard procedure is to simply replace the entire broken arm for that type of repair.
Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the damage, but I believe it was only the plastic arms that broke ... specifically where the arms mount to the frame. There was no apparent damage to the frame itself. Just where the arms connected.
So my questions for this are:
- Does a $500 repair bill for that type of damage seem reasonable?? Even if it includes 3 brand new motors. Are the motors that expensive? I find it hard to believe that 3 plastic arms, a plastic camera mount and one landing gear should cost that much to replace.
Seriously considering just having the entire unit sent back to me untouched. I'll either go buy another one (and have tons of spare parts for it) or sell off the broken one for parts and recover what I can from the original investment.
My sincere apologies for the book here people ... but very much appreciate any feedback : )
Has been a while. Almost three months now since I started the repair process. My experience with Yuneec customer service so far has not been very fun. In fact I have to admit it has been one of the most frustrating things I have ever gone through.
This has definitely been an adventure ... and not of the good kind. Being a Canadian resident, Yuneec uses Staples (the office supply store) as their authorized Canadian repair center. Dealing with Staples as the repair shop has proven to be somewhat challenging. This actually seems to have caused most of the three month delay as there does not seem to be a lot of coordination between Staples and Yuneec. But that's a post for another day (if any other Canadians owners are interested in the process up here : )
After numerous delays and an eventual follow-up with the Yuneec customer service supervisor, I have been informed that Yuneec considers my crash to be user-error and they will NOT warranty the repair cost.
Have a few questions I'm hoping people here might be able to advise on:
1) Yuneec has reviewed my flight telemetry from the crash. What they are saying however does not jive with my recollection of the events.
Yuneec is saying the telemetry shows I started off in Smart mode, then switched to RTH mode and then switched back to Smart mode. The crash was caused by the unit being switched back into Smart mode within the safe circle. I don't believe this was the case though. Although everything went to **** in a matter of seconds, I do not believe I switched back to Smart mode. I even documented all the steps I (believed) took place back in December (so not totally going by memory from 3 months ago).
I did start off in Smart mode (as the operation manual indicates 'new pilots may find starting out in Smart mode to be easier to learn how to fly'). And I did switch to RTH mode when I sort of panicked and thought I was starting to lose control of the bird. I do NOT recall switching back into Smart mode from RTH. From my recollection (again, everything happened so quickly), it was switching to RTH that immediately caused the bird to take off like a bat out of **** and crash. I didn't have time to do anything else but watch helplessly as my $1000 investment hit the ground about 60 yards away probably doing 30MPH.
So my questions for this are:
- Can the telemetry be wrong?? I don't have the ST16 receiver at the moment to pull the flight logs from, but I did have the Staples repair technician (Paul) pull them and send them to me. I'm not exactly sure how to read the files though?? I will attach the file I believe is in question (telemetry file #6) with this post. Will rename the file to .txt (as I don't believe .csv is accepted on this form). Would someone be able to review and advise if Yuneec is reading the file correctly (and the telemetry shows the unit being switched back to Smart mode prior to crash)?
- If Yuneec is correct (and the unit was supposedly 'switched' back to Smart mode), could there be some other explanation?? Could the switch somehow be faulty?? Even though I switched to RTH (which seems not to be in dispute), could the switch somehow still 'think' it was in Smart mode?? Maybe grasping at straws here, but I would swear on my grave I did not switch back to Smart mode.
- And just an observation ... even if the bird is supposed to do everything it can to get out of the safe circle, shouldn't it stop once it gets 'outside'?? It flew 60 yards before it crashed. I get the concept of the safe circle but does it really need to fly that far away to keep the operator safe?? How far away does it have to go before it considers itself out of the safe circle??
Now for the repair quote. I purchased the unit for $1100 (CAN) including taxes. Granted it was on sale and I think I got a pretty good deal.
The damage was: 3 broken arms, one broken landing strut, a broken camera mount and 5 broken propellers.
Staples originally quoted me $600 (CAN) for the repairs (not including the props). This included $120 for one hour of labor (reduced down from two hours - Paul the repair technician seems to be the only one sympathetic to my plight and was willing to try and work with me).
After speaking with the Yuneec supervisor and telling her the quote seemed somewhat excessive (seeing as I could spend another $500 and get a brand new unit complete with an extra battery and receiver), they reduced the quote down to $500.
This still seems high to me though?? I think Staples is planning to replace all three entire arms (including the motors). I wouldn't have thought the motors needed to be replaced though?? I can't say for sure the motors weren't damaged, but I don't think Staples has even bothered to test them. Paul indicated their standard procedure is to simply replace the entire broken arm for that type of repair.
Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the damage, but I believe it was only the plastic arms that broke ... specifically where the arms mount to the frame. There was no apparent damage to the frame itself. Just where the arms connected.
So my questions for this are:
- Does a $500 repair bill for that type of damage seem reasonable?? Even if it includes 3 brand new motors. Are the motors that expensive? I find it hard to believe that 3 plastic arms, a plastic camera mount and one landing gear should cost that much to replace.
Seriously considering just having the entire unit sent back to me untouched. I'll either go buy another one (and have tons of spare parts for it) or sell off the broken one for parts and recover what I can from the original investment.
My sincere apologies for the book here people ... but very much appreciate any feedback : )
If you are willing to attempt replacing those parts yourself, your total cost of the
parts themselves is about $200.00 (not including the props):
Yuneec Typhoon H Folding Arm Assembly A
Yuneec Typhoon H Folding Arm Assembly B
Yuneec Typhoon H Landing Gear Struts
Mount Set: Yuneec Typhoon H CGO3+
parts themselves is about $200.00 (not including the props):
Yuneec Typhoon H Folding Arm Assembly A
Yuneec Typhoon H Folding Arm Assembly B
Yuneec Typhoon H Landing Gear Struts
Mount Set: Yuneec Typhoon H CGO3+
Thanks Eagle Eye : ) Even with the exchange, that works out cheaper than what Staples is trying to charge me. Think I've seen a few how-to videos on You-tube showing how to replace the arm. Doesn't 'seem' all that difficult. Especially if the motors are already pre-installed in the arm tube. The one reason I didn't go that route in the first place was I was hoping Yuneec would warranty the repair right off the bat.
PatR
Premium Pilot
The telemetry is quite accurate. If it shows the mode being changed, it was changed. I have not heard of a switch failing and self changing flight modes. Having about 9 transmitters using similar switches, not one switch has done that in 20 years. Two switches have broken but both occurred when dropping a transmitter. The Yuneec labor rate is $80.00/hour. I don't know at what point labor charges start on a non warranty repair but they would not be just swapping parts. Full system checks would also be involved, adding to the time involved.
Buy the parts and do the work yourself.
Buy the parts and do the work yourself.
Jethros,
Don't forget about the last option you posted, that being another hull.
The Bind and Fly kits, in my opinion, are definitely worth it. Get the H, the camera, props, and battery. The battery, by the way, works out to $50 (U.S.) so definitely worth it.
Several positives of this approach:
1) You get flying again sooner than later.
2) You can take your time repairing your original H, even if you have someone else do it for you.
3) When you do have your original back to flight worthiness, you have a backup.
You may find, once you have more flight experience, the need to fly is far greater than the cost of ensuring you have ships to fly!
One closing comment, meant for all who jump in with the H as their first entry into drone ownership and flight: Take your time and learn on something more forgiving to the bank account before taking your prize out to the backyard, even to "just see it hovering".
Check out the many $40-$80 (U.S.) options available, along with prop guards, with which one can learn, have fun, and be prepared, all in the comfort of your favorite lounger. Just don't fly around any breakable treasures of your significant other, if applicable.
The stress level of those first H flights will be much reduced, and the likelihood of successful flights increases greatly.
Good luck with your adventure!
Jeff
Thanks Jeff : )
One of the first things I did after crashing my H was go out and buy one of the cheap 'toy' drones on the market. Figured it would be a good option to learn and practice flying in angle mode whilst waiting for my H to be repaired. Looking forward to seeing how my experience/new skills transfers over to flying the H.
Question for you though. Can I get you to clarify what you mean by 'Bind and Fly kit'?? Is that basically the entire package minus the ST16 receiver?? So double everything but only one receiver?? Is that kit just something available directly through Yuneec?? Suspect I might be able to find that somewhere on their website??
Jethros,
Bind and Fly is the H only. Bind to your existing controller and off you go.
Some dealers have them. Have even seen packages containing two drones, one controller, et al.
I called Yuneec sales directly. I got the H, props, battery, and camera package. Could not find that same package elsewhere. Not saying it doesn't exist; I just gave up searching.
Jeff
Jethros
You posted the telemetry log from your flight and asked if anyone could check it. Although I am also quite new to the H, I have found some knowledgeable people out there. One of them is Helmut Elsner who developed Q500log2kml and whose manual gives much info about the log files. Using that info, the log seems to show that you took off at 20:02:22 but the mode is "Smart mode - follow me". At 20:03:21 this changes to "Return to Home" with a landing started at 20:03:27 but at 20:03:31 it changes again to "Smart mode - follow me" and four seconds later status is "Emergency/Killed".
I hope this makes sense to you and good luck with the rebuild - hope you are flying again soon.
You posted the telemetry log from your flight and asked if anyone could check it. Although I am also quite new to the H, I have found some knowledgeable people out there. One of them is Helmut Elsner who developed Q500log2kml and whose manual gives much info about the log files. Using that info, the log seems to show that you took off at 20:02:22 but the mode is "Smart mode - follow me". At 20:03:21 this changes to "Return to Home" with a landing started at 20:03:27 but at 20:03:31 it changes again to "Smart mode - follow me" and four seconds later status is "Emergency/Killed".
I hope this makes sense to you and good luck with the rebuild - hope you are flying again soon.
Dilly, Thank you so much. Super appreciate your feedback here. That at least seems to jive with what Yuneec is telling me. Although I still do not recall switching back to Smart mode that final time. But it was 3 months ago and everything happened so fast.
I will also admit, it does kinda make sense with what actually occurred (with the H flying directly away from me trying to get out of the safe circle).
Guess I'll have to buy into the fact maybe I did flick the switch back to Smart mode.
Still think it's stupid that it should fly 60 yards away (and crash) before it considers itself 'outside' the safety circle. But know there's lots of posts on this forum questioning the benefit of 'Smart' mode. Unfortunately it has been a painful lesson, but I can at least say I have a better concept of exactly what can happen now : )
Do you know if there is a link to Helmut Elsner's Q500log2kml manual?? I'd be interested to read through that : ) Will try to search it out as well.
Again, thank you so much for your help.
PatR
Premium Pilot
Hi Pat ... now I KNOW I did not push the red kill motor button in flight ... sorry, I took 'Emergency-Killed' as meaning that's when the bird crashed. Does the 'Emergency-Killed' event mean the red button was pushed?? Cause if that is the case, there is something wrong with my recorded telemetry.
I can 'maybe' buy into the theory I inadvertently switched back to 'Smart' mode to cause the crash (although I still really don't think I did that, but everything did happen fast) ... but there is no way I pushed the red kill button in flight.
According to Dilly, he says the 'Emergency-Killed' status happened about 4 seconds after switching back to 'Smart' mode ... it probably flew for right around 4 seconds from when it took off from me until it crashed ... so it could coincide with when the bird crashed.
I can't recall if the motors were still running after the crash ... I might have pressed the red button when I made my way to the wreckage 60 yards away ... but it certainly took me more than 4 seconds to get there. I do remember the wreckage was still powered (and beeping at me) after the crash. I did have to power it down.
[QUOTE="Jethros, post: 85756, member: 7054" 'Emergency-Killed[/QUOTE]
I'm not an expert and I merely quote what it says in the manual but I would guess hitting the trees is an "Emergency" that certainly "Killed" the bird.
Jethros, if it was smart mode, you are not the only one - my incident was less catastrophic than yours. On one of my first flights in Angle mode, my H seemed to have a mind of its own. Pointed towards me, it suddenly started flying backwards when I went forward on the stick, going left when I tried to make it go right; I thought I had lost control so was about to switch to Return to Home when I saw the switch was in the dreaded Smart position. I must have knocked it without realising it. I was lucky and no crash!
Sorry don't have the link to hand so Google "Q500log2kml", Helmut Elsner is in Germany I think.
I'm not an expert and I merely quote what it says in the manual but I would guess hitting the trees is an "Emergency" that certainly "Killed" the bird.
Jethros, if it was smart mode, you are not the only one - my incident was less catastrophic than yours. On one of my first flights in Angle mode, my H seemed to have a mind of its own. Pointed towards me, it suddenly started flying backwards when I went forward on the stick, going left when I tried to make it go right; I thought I had lost control so was about to switch to Return to Home when I saw the switch was in the dreaded Smart position. I must have knocked it without realising it. I was lucky and no crash!
Sorry don't have the link to hand so Google "Q500log2kml", Helmut Elsner is in Germany I think.
