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What the darn heck happened

mmr

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HI!
I am so upset. My Typhoon H plus went to RTH because the battery was under 25 % . I couldn't make any adjustments to the landing pattern but the drone landed on a high tree. It´s there still.
I couldn't even lift it or fine control it when it decided to come down. Gosh golly puppy doo doo I say. Earlier similar situation I could take control after RTH started. NOT anything now.
This is my second Yuneec as I got earlier first Typhoon and now this Typhoon H Plus. It will be my last even I might get it down tomorrow.
 
We can sympathize with your event, and we do. But without information, that's about all we can really do.
To help you understand what actually happened from the systems viewpoint, we would need your Flight Log files. Refer to Attachment 56 (Typhoon H Plus Flight Log Retrieval) of this document (as needed) if you want to upload your flight logs for review.
"Way To Fix Drones project"
 
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We all feel bad for you but this may boil down to the all time battery care,condition issue. Used to be able to,,,and couldn't this time,,,sounds like battery deteriorated a little,. What kind of battery,how old how stored,what charger used,age of drone age of battery etc.etc. Seriously wtfd can at least help you figure out what happened as the info will be there,guess it depends on how far you want to take this. I would want to know myself. Good Luck. Keith C.
 
If you want to know why this happened....do as @WTFDproject said and post up the logs. The smart folks here will analyze them and tell you exactly what happened and why.

I know this sux, and feel for ya, but the better the event is understood, the better for all of us.
 
I would like to believe theres a way to take control when its over head, as with manually using RTH ? I always return at the first warning, and was considering waiting til the second warning, not so much now ?
 
I always return at the first warning, and was considering waiting til the second warning, not so much now ?
I suggest planning your flight so you are very close to home before the 1st battery warning. I like to be on the ground before the warning. It's my belief the battery life is shortened by draining it too low.
 
I suggest planning your flight so you are very close to home before the 1st battery warning. I like to be on the ground before the warning. It's my belief the battery life is shortened by draining it too low.
Usually @ 48%, and above at landing, never lower works for me ?
 
I couldn't make any adjustments to the landing pattern but the drone landed on a high tree.
Here's a handy tip for these situations. As soon as the aircraft enters RTH due to low battery, you can cycle the Mode Switch between any two modes (Sport & Angle, or RTH & Angle) and this will cancel RTH and return full control to you. At this point you better be heading back with dispatch because it will attempt to RTH again in about 30 seconds. If you still aren't at the LZ then cycle it again to buy a little more time. At some point however you will run out of power and RTH will no longer engage, and the aircraft will initiate an emergency landing and come straight down wherever it is.

Another scenario that can sometimes trigger RTH is lowering the landing gear after the 2nd Low Voltage Warning. I have had mine instantly enter RTH just as I was trying to land. As soon as I hit the Landing Gear Switch, the H Plus jumped into RTH and tried to climb away, even though I was only 3' from touching down. The voltage drop caused by actuating the Landing Gear motors is enough to trigger RTH when the battery is already low. This was a shocking surprise that has motivated me to lower the landing gear immediately when I get the 1st battery warning.
 
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Here's a handy tip for these situations. As soon as the aircraft enters RTH due to low battery, you can cycle the Mode Switch between any two modes (Sport & Angle, or RTH & Angle) and this will cancel RTH and return full control to you. At this point you better be heading back with dispatch because it will attempt to RTH again in about 30 seconds. If you still aren't at the LZ then cycle it again to buy a little more time. At some point however you will run out of power and RTH will no longer engage, and the aircraft will initiate an emergency landing and come straight down wherever it is.

Another scenario that can sometimes trigger RTH is lowering the landing gear after the 2nd Low Voltage Warning. I have had mine instantly enter RTH just as I was trying to land. As soon as I hit the Landing Gear Switch, the H Plus jumped into RTH and tried to climb away, even though I was only 3' from torching down. This was a shocking surprise that has motivated me to lower the landing gear immediately when I get the 1st battery warning.
Thank you Dr. Phoon, for your valuable input on this, I knew there was a way.
 
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Here's a handy tip for these situations. As soon as the aircraft enters RTH due to low battery, you can cycle the Mode Switch between any two modes (Sport & Angle, or RTH & Angle) and this will cancel RTH and return full control to you. At this point you better be heading back with dispatch because it will attempt to RTH again in about 30 seconds. If you still aren't at the LZ then cycle it again to buy a little more time. At some point however you will run out of power and RTH will no longer engage, and the aircraft will initiate an emergency landing and come straight down wherever it is.

Another scenario that can sometimes trigger RTH is lowering the landing gear after the 2nd Low Voltage Warning. I have had mine instantly enter RTH just as I was trying to land. As soon as I hit the Landing Gear Switch, the H Plus jumped into RTH and tried to climb away, even though I was only 3' from touching down. The voltage drop caused by actuating the Landing Gear motors is enough to trigger RTH when the battery is already low. This was a shocking surprise that has motivated me to lower the landing gear immediately when I get the 1st battery warning.

Haven’t read of this one before, @DCH.

Definitely a procedure to add to the playbook if ever stretching the comfort zone!

Thanks!

Jeff
 
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Haven’t read of this one before, @DCH.
This was brought to my attention by @Peggy back when the subject of using H480 batteries in a Plus or H520 was being discussed. The ST16S/H Plus reads the LiHV battery differently than than an H480 LiPo, so when the system said the voltage was low enough for RTH to trigger, in reality you had a lot of time left. So those who dared, used this trick to get (read: Squeeze) more time out out of the standard LiPo.

I use a LiPo occasionally in my Plus, but I don't typically test my nerves in a dual with the RTH, I still bring in when the voltage is low and land with the first, or second LVW. at the latest.
 
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Here's a handy tip for these situations. As soon as the aircraft enters RTH due to low battery, you can cycle the Mode Switch between any two modes (Sport & Angle, or RTH & Angle) and this will cancel RTH and return full control to you. At this point you better be heading back with dispatch because it will attempt to RTH again in about 30 seconds. If you still aren't at the LZ then cycle it again to buy a little more time. At some point however you will run out of power and RTH will no longer engage, and the aircraft will initiate an emergency landing and come straight down wherever it is.

Another scenario that can sometimes trigger RTH is lowering the landing gear after the 2nd Low Voltage Warning. I have had mine instantly enter RTH just as I was trying to land. As soon as I hit the Landing Gear Switch, the H Plus jumped into RTH and tried to climb away, even though I was only 3' from touching down. The voltage drop caused by actuating the Landing Gear motors is enough to trigger RTH when the battery is already low. This was a shocking surprise that has motivated me to lower the landing gear immediately when I get the 1st battery warning.
Late to comment on June thread... haven't flown the H520 in sometime and was cycling the batteries... and purposely bringing them down while watching volts... and triggered a RTH in driveway hover and a bit under a tree limb. Used to other platforms, quickly tried a few things to override... and was "after the fact" looking for an Emerg RTH override.

To clarify the procedure of toggling the RTH/Ang, Ang/Man...

In your scenario, with landing gear and close to ground. This procedure still worked and you regained control, and able to keep it low and land?

When cycling SW a 2nd time to add more time. Can this be done prior to RTH activating again or do you need to be on the ready to toggle when RTH is triggered? In other words, can you cycle at 20sec... 10 sec prior to 30 sec RTH trigger to initiate a new 30 sec counter?

I'm curious but I'll wait till an empty field to re-test to the lower level for a emergency RTH trigger vs a driveway with trees overhanging. Oh, and 1st test did result in a controlled landing... holding stick down for extended time (est 3-5 sec) also appeared to allow regain of manual control.

Incidently, Yuneec H520 manual (or safety manual) indicates 20% perfered minimal and 10% as max lower limit. The H520 RTH wasn't emergency triggered until somewhere in the 8-7% range which coincides to their 10% allowed low range. The drop from 16-8% is rapid compared to higher percentages. These low percentages are still comfortably above indicated voltage above the minimal LiHV per cell volts. It's lower than "Normally" desired but good to know limits and behavior.

Humorously, some have stated how H's RTH is quick... in comparison to other platforms it does have a fast reacting RTH and not the accustomed "cancel" on screen to delay.
 
When cycling SW a 2nd time to add more time. Can this be done prior to RTH activating again or do you need to be on the ready to toggle when RTH is triggered? In other words, can you cycle at 20sec... 10 sec prior to 30 sec RTH trigger to initiate a new 30 sec counter?
I do not know the answer to this question. I would venture a guess that the RTH is a separate timer that once engaged needs to run down before a retry, but it could reset with a Mode change. It would be very interesting to know so please share your results if you test this out. And Yes, once I toggled the Mode Switch I was able to regain full control and land normally.

Another important note to keep in mind is that at some point, when the voltage gets low enough, the H will initiate an autonomous Emergency Landing routine ignoring all pilot control input. It will immediately extend the landing gear (if they are not already down) and start a rapid decent straight down until is senses a landing -or drowns.o_O Remember when you are flying-down batteries that you have no control once the Emergency Landing routine starts, so testing this lowest voltage setting would require a big open field -and a brass pair.;)

I watched a video of an H520 pilot in Germany who's 520 was already coming home from a very long way out in a self-initiated low voltage RTL mode, when suddenly it just stopped moving forward, lowered the gear, and went straight down and disappeared in a huge spinach(?) field. The crop was about 2' tall and he only had a rough idea of where it was. So he sent up his H Plus -with a good battery, and flew it up over the field camera down. It only took moments to find, ...that H520 stood out like a pumpkin in a spinach patch! :cool:
 
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