Sky High

Draganflyer with Tourette's captured on video!

Well after 4 perfect uneventful flights this past weekend, I prepared for another the next day and right after lift off, my DF's power started cutting out randomly and multiple times. I thought I might be getting RF hits so I moved to another location. That didn't solve it. So I have recorded this thing behaving like this so you can see for yourself what it looks like and hear what it sounds like. Watch for the quick twitching as it hovers and listen to the momentary loss of power over and over again. As you will see it seems to get worse the higher I go. Near the end it falls about 15 ft before regaining power. [X(] That makes me tend to believe that the Ti circuit is somehow involved with this. It is quite disturbing to watch because you don't know if or when it will lose all power. DFI said this is probably due to loose solder joints of the crystals on the board. They recommened that I touch each crystal pin with an iron to make the connection solid again. I'll give an update after I try that.

Tourette's Syndrome - Uncontrollable, erratic behavior

Symptoms

The rotors twitch on the pad by themselves after arming

After take off it is like the dreaded power loss phenomenon but randomly every few seconds.

[link=http://www.jefcommunications.com/asx/helo/rcu/DFI/various/DFISSUE.asx]Draganflyer Issue[/link]

TheHindmost

Thanks for posting that!

Yeah, to my unpracticed eye, that definitely looks like intermittent RF problems, and a loose crystal would certainly explain that. The crystals are among the heaviest of the components and so hard landings and in-flight vibration/stress are going to put stress on the solder joints. I know you already know this, but I'll say it anyway: use a low wattage iron (25w), not a gun!

So far, and even post-crash, my circuit board has never misbehaved, knock on wood! No strange power loss, no intermittent RF problems. But, thanks to the lousy weather we've had around here, I haven't had that much flight time since doing the crash repairs.

Will

shogun4

Hi Sky High
I had twitching problem as you have in your video.
I had a gyro failure no roll control.

Test at 1/2 throttle, holding from base.

I get my repaired boards back next week, I can fly again.

Sky High

I have full control of all axes. I hope it's as simple as making the crystal connections more solid. This might be the advanced stage of what was causing the momentary power loss glitches in a couple of other threads. Alot of people are experiencing those other isolated ones though. As you saw, this is real bad and not safe at all.

TheHindmost

Well, if you don't count the Z axis... (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

Glitchy electronics definitely cannot be tolerated...At the moment, DF modifications have consisted of things like lights, landing gear, custom rotors, custom camera mounts, cool canopies, etc. But can custom-hardened electronics be far off?

Will

intrim

If it is the crystals does that mean that it would be like loosing the signal? isnt it soppose to go into its autoland mode and not just fall out of the sky? I can only imagine what you must feel at the time. Hell its not even mine and you scared me. Sure is a good thing you have that foam ball to break its fall just kidding

Sky High

Yes, that's a good one.

Sky High

Yes, that's true. I'm not certain but autoland only works when there is no transmitter signal at all. Since the signal is intermittently on and off it doesn't activate. That's my theory.

KrisK_Ottawa

Hi all,

I started having a similar issue with mine (DF V Ti) as of yesterday. I had good/smooth Ti flights the evening before; however when I went out last night it was flying very erratic. The best way I can describe it; is that the pitch was twitching. I was not experiencing a loss of power; only the twitching of the pitch. On the 1st flight it took off fine and after about 30-45 seconds is when I first noticed this behavior. It would pitch forward for a split second and then back to level and be ok for another few seconds (10-15) and then do it again. In some of the twitches it almost flipped completely over [X(]. It seemed to be worse the closer I got to the ground. My theory would be that one of my motors is almost at the end of its life; however I’ve only had maybe 15-20, 10-15 min flights on them. Holding it in my hand I feel the twitch and it appears that it is the back motor; but I can’t say for sure. [] I am hoping someone else has experienced the same behavior.

At first I thought it was a problem with the Ti; however I disabled it and was still having the same problem. Any thought or theories?

Thanks all!

draganfly.com

My Feedback: (40)

Kris, could be the pitch gyro. You should call in and speak with Jeremy or Dirk (800 979 9794).

Adam Glatt
Draganfly Innovations

Sky High

KrisK_Ottawa, I have updated the video link in my first post that shows what that board was doing. Once I got a replacement board everything was fine so it was definitely something with the receiver. Recently though, I have experienced some twitching that only seems to happen right when the sun is going down. I think these dramatic temperature differences and changes at this time are confusing the Ti sensors because it flies without issues before and after just fine. It's almost like a light that has an optical sensor when it flickers between the last few minutes of daylight because the sensor is getting conflicting information.

vismaf

Does anyone have instruction on how to make this Dragonfly #36 lift off? I tried everything from playing with the main blades adjustment and the Aileon but no go. Is there instruction out there for this issue?

Pls Advice,

Thank you all,

Vismaf

kg4izw

I can't figure out how to get this video to play. When I click the link, it opens up Windows Media player, then it tells me it cannot play the file. **sigh**

KrisK_Ottawa

Thanks for the post Sky High. I also am unable to play your videos. I'm sure it's because I don't have the right codec or something. Is there anything you can suggest?

Just to update on my situation: DFI suggested a few things (i.e. cleaning motors, replacing motors, etc); however the following evening I tried it again (after only cleaning the motors) and it had gotten worse. It was kind of funny as it looked like a bucking horse only a few inches off the ground bucking wildly (front to back). At that point I was convinced it was a problem with the electronics so, I decided to send it in to DFI to take a look at (with only 1 day to spare on my 30 day warranty…pheww). A few days later I had my reply from DFI that they were sending it back with a new circuit board. I’m now just waiting (not patiently) to receive it.[]

XStroX

Have you guys tried updating Windows Media Player? I have version 10 and they play fine. Just a thought

Stro

KrisK_Ottawa

Hi Stro,

I'm running WMP v.10 (build 4036). I think it's the most up to date release windows has out for WMP. The weird thing is; I am able to play some of Sky’s video and others I can not. For example; I was just watching his traffic report video's with no problems (wicked video btw, Sky!). It's odd. I can't figure out what's going on.

Sky High

KrisK_Ottawa, that is strange how you can play some and not others because they're all the same. Try checking your preferences in the player by opening tools>options>file types and then make sure all of the file types are checked. .asx files are not an option in that list but they are listed in the default files at the bottom of that dialogue box.

HoverDown3K

My Feedback: (2)

check to make sure all the caps on the motors are OK. I had one motor that had a bad cap and it would do random glithing and power cuts because of this.