What to do when your TYPHOON H suddenly FLYS AWAY!!!

Hunter_Michael · Oct 16, 2016

CAPTAINDRONE said:
Saw the 5 compass errors which I fully expected to see during a fly away, but did not see that last part. Thanks!

Click all the i on right on every column and it will give you an explanation of the block. I saw GPS issues as well in the GPS block.

Chilcotin · Oct 16, 2016

CAPTAINDRONE said:
Saw the 5 compass errors which I fully expected to see during a fly away, but did not see that last part. Thanks!

Hey Captain can you send your telemetry file? I would like to take a look if thats ok

PatR · Oct 16, 2016

I have a few questions for all those that have experienced a fly away. Both have to do with soft/firmware updates. I'm trying to determine if there is any commonality between them aside from a fly away.

How many experienced a fly away after a firmware update?

How many experienced a flyaway after a firmware update was released, but that update was not performed?

How many experienced a fly away out of the box and what firmware version was installed?

Has anyone experienced a fly away that had updated some firmware, skipped an update, and recently updated to the latest firmware, without previously installing all the earlier updates?

For those that have experienced a fly away, what OS and anti virus programs are you using? For me that's Win10 and AVG.

I'm two updates behind but I'll be installing the earlier update before installing the latest in case the code builds on each previous update.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 16, 2016

JohnL said:
@CAPTAINDRONE Wow man, I totally feel for you here. Some years back when I was experiencing problems with some of my homebuilds using the DJI Naza-M v.1 FC, flyaways were almost a given. A lot of my buds here in Spain either lost their vehicles outright or they were severely damaged. We struggled for a long time trying to figure out what event or combination of events was causing this, and the message boards at various forums (RC Groups especially) were literally on fire with frustrated RC pilots. We never really figured out the ultimate cause, and our begs and pleas for assistance from the a-holes at DJI were met with complete silence. When Naza-M v.2 came out things seemed to really improve, but the flyaways were still occurring frequently enough for a lot of us hobbyists to start looking elsewhere for "reliable" FC's. I for one went the ArduCopter (Pixhawk) route.

I spent a lot of time with a lot of people (including brick and mortar hobby suppliers here) developing protocols to recover and regain control when experiencing DJI FC malfunctions and flyaways. What we came up with was that first and foremost, the RC pilot had to learn to master his vehicle in total Manual mode, meaning no GPS nor gyro stabilization. With the Naza-M and a good Tx (my Taranis comes to mind ;-) ) you could program a 3-position switch to go from GPS, Atti, Manual modes and then you were all set. In almost all instances flipping your switch to Manual while the vehicle was having a "FC moment" almost always saved the aircraft IF one had the proper altitude to do so.

What really pisses me off about the TH is there literally is no way to do this. Taking the vehicle out of GPS mode while in flight does NOT infer manual mode. It's essentially the DJI equivalent of ATTI mode (I think), but does not relinquish 6-axis control to the pilot. So in a sense we're f**ked because since there is no true Manual Mode available for this aircraft, it therefore becomes a relative crapshoot if one can regain control or not. Having said that, Manual mode requires rather advanced flying skills and experience that I would assume most RTF buyers do NOT have, as they just want to launch their drone and take video, which I totally understand.

Thanks so much for keeping us posted on this issue. I for one do not trust my TH at all, and have been experiencing all sorts of crappy and bizarre behavior from it (even with latest firmwares) that leads me to the conclusion that probably sooner than later, I will lose this thing once and for all (and then I'm finally done with this POS).

Thanks! I've been flying drones for awhile but only began with the Phantom 2 Vision+. You seem to have entered the sport when it was still in the hit or miss days. The P2V+ was semi reliable. Just like the Typhoon H, some days it would not hover properly in place and sometimes it would not fly straight. I keep thinking the Typhoon H has some of the common problems we all experienced in drones of 2 years ago. Not sure what Yuneec is doing, but they really have to get a grip on issues like this.

I will say that from now on, each time I fly the H, there will be a small part of me at the ready for when it misbehaves.

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 16, 2016

Chilcotin said:
Hey Captain can you send your telemetry file? I would like to take a look if thats ok

Sure, send an email to:

[email protected]

Anyone else who wants the file, just send me an email.

Rayray · Oct 16, 2016

CAPTAINDRONE said:
I will say that from now on, each time I fly the H, there will be a small part of me at the ready for when it misbehaves.

Yeah well...leave the scattergun at home, lol.

Chilcotin · Oct 16, 2016

CAPTAINDRONE said:
Sure, send an email to:

[email protected]

Anyone else who wants the file, just send me an email.

I checked the numbers in your file. Something the error codes don't reveal at the times when you started and stopped the motors, are that your compass reading went from 57 to 337 degrees on motor start, and from 281 to 109 degrees on motor stop.
If all the motors and esc's are fine, which they seem to be, then the current draw should not affect the compass that much unless the is a problem with the compass. I havent opened up my H so not sure how its mounted but a wire may have shifted too close or the compass board itself may be loose, or it is simply faulty.
Of course this could also be some weird software thing......but I would start with the compass.
Cheers

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 16, 2016

Chilcotin said:
I checked the numbers in your file. Something the error codes don't reveal at the times when you started and stopped the motors, are that your compass reading went from 57 to 337 degrees on motor start, and from 281 to 109 degrees on motor stop.
If all the motors and esc's are fine, which they seem to be, then the current draw should not affect the compass that much unless the is a problem with the compass. I havent opened up my H so not sure how its mounted but a wire may have shifted too close or the compass board itself may be loose, or it is simply faulty.
Of course this could also be some weird software thing......but I would start with the compass.
Cheers

Thanks for that. I'll do a compass calibration before the next flight. Very odd though that the entire H was out of whack during the time of the flyaway, but then it fixed itself and came back safely with what appeared to be a working compass.

Vegasrobbi · Oct 16, 2016

I had a similar event with my P3P. I was 1/2 mile out in the desert and it began to fly erratically. I threw it into atti mode and tried to fly the arrow home; problem is it got further away. I deduced the compass heading was off 150 degrees and was able to fly back with the arrow facing away from me. The log showed the compass error and after a reboot it was fine.

Goh · Oct 16, 2016

Vegasrobbi said:
I think the H may confuse where it is vs where it wants to be. With the old firmware switching back into GPS could cause a sudden flyaway but once it got where it wanted to be it was solid. Look at 6:25 in this video.

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Thank you Captain for your sharing, hope that the next firmware update allows the Aux button can be programmed to GPS off mode, so that in your case we can immediately switch to non GPS mode to gain control

Goh · Oct 16, 2016

In your case it this cause by the heat and affect the circuit board causing out of control because this is the fourth batteries that your are flying.

Chris A · Oct 16, 2016

PatR said:
I have a few questions for all those that have experienced a fly away. Both have to do with soft/firmware updates. I'm trying to determine if there is any commonality between them aside from a fly away.

How many experienced a fly away after a firmware update?

How many experienced a flyaway after a firmware update was released, but that update was not performed?

How many experienced a fly away out of the box and what firmware version was installed?

Has anyone experienced a fly away that had updated some firmware, skipped an update, and recently updated to the latest firmware, without previously installing all the earlier updates?

For those that have experienced a fly away, what OS and anti virus programs are you using? For me that's Win10 and AVG.

I'm two updates behind but I'll be installing the earlier update before installing the latest in case the code builds on each previous update.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had my first flyaway after I updated to the latest firmware 2.25 on the very first battery. Refuse to land, started doing a small toilet bowl and did a flyaway into a tree about 50 feet away
My H flew flawlessly first 2 months, about 3 or so months had my first refuse to land, took about 30-40 seconds before it would come down.
After the very first firmware update experience my very first toilet bowl when trying to land about the 3rd battery after that update.
All calibrations were done after each update, I do not fly in smart mode and I do not use obstacle avoidance.

glider · Oct 17, 2016

I wonder how much ferrous material is buried under the takeoff point on the road. I did two tests a few months back with the P4 on a granite plate at work in the lab. Observe the compass interference graphs with the P4 on the granite plate compared to the floor. I didn't use a Gauss meter but am sure it would bend the needle.

It doesn't take much to throw off the compass; even a magnetized screw nearby on the board can wreak havoc, and why I always use non-magnetic SS screws or plastic as required for my copters.

Sticks · Oct 17, 2016

Captain,

Wonder if you were getting EM interference from the power lines you mentioned. IIRC you were standing under them/launching point.

JohnL · Oct 17, 2016

glider said:
I wonder how much ferrous material is buried under the takeoff point on the road. I did two tests a few months back with the P4 on a granite plate at work in the lab. Observe the compass interference graphs with the P4 on the granite plate compared to the floor. I didn't use a Gauss meter but am sure it would bend the needle.

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It doesn't take much to throw off the compass; even a magnetized screw nearby on the board can wreak havoc, and why I always use non-magnetic SS screws or plastic as required for my copters.

A quick and dirty way to determine if there may be ferrous material under your takeoff point is to use the compass feature of your phone (my iPhone has this app, I assume Android does too?). Stand somewhere away from metal structures and look at your compass. Now, set your phone on your takeoff spot oriented exactly the same way and see if the compass goes bonkers or not.

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 17, 2016

Goh said:
Thank you Captain for your sharing, hope that the next firmware update allows the Aux button can be programmed to GPS off mode, so that in your case we can immediately switch to non GPS mode to gain control

That would be nice. I had a look at the AUX button. It appears to be designed as a non-latch mode button. In other words, it only provides a signal when held down (like the engine start/stop button), which could be again used for something in an emergency.

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 17, 2016

Goh said:
In your case it this cause by the heat and affect the circuit board causing out of control because this is the fourth batteries that your are flying.

This 4th battery was used 20 minutes after the 3rd, so heat would not be an issue.

Renaud · Oct 17, 2016

I hope that i'll never know a "fly away" but thanks to your "experience" the first thing i'll do is trying to switch gps off. Thanks for sharing Captain.

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 17, 2016

glider said:
I wonder how much ferrous material is buried under the takeoff point on the road. I did two tests a few months back with the P4 on a granite plate at work in the lab. Observe the compass interference graphs with the P4 on the granite plate compared to the floor. I didn't use a Gauss meter but am sure it would bend the needle.

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It doesn't take much to throw off the compass; even a magnetized screw nearby on the board can wreak havoc, and why I always use non-magnetic SS screws or plastic as required for my copters.

For some reason the Phantoms have a very sensitive compass compared to the Typhoon H. If you place a Phantom on your car, you can't take off due to the compass error. If you place a Typhoon H on your car... no warnings, you can take off.

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 17, 2016

Renaud said:
I hope that i'll never know a "fly away" but thanks to your "experience" the first thing i'll do is trying to switch gps off. Thanks for sharing Captain.

Thanks! Well, I can say that from now on I will always take off immediately to a height of 30 to 50 feet. This way if the Typhoon H is going to go out of control, it's not gonna hit anything and it gives me time to regain control.