A2 fails- back to square one

[Carapau]

Well, having been ragging a 550 around on Firmware 2.3 and not having had an issue, I have been flying my Gryphon hexa around a bit to carry on building confidence. Well, today the confidence came crashing down although at least the aircraft didn't! On powering up the A2 having had 3 successful flights, it started with 14 sats and then after about 20 secs went to zero sats and then sat on zero sats with the odd blink back to 14. I managed to get a video of my OSD screen but havent managed to upload it yet but will do so soon. Thankfully I caught this before take off so no harm done.

Well I'm back to the view that the A2 really should be avoided until DJI sort out the GPS issue. I'll keep you posted on what happens re replacement/fix etc. I wonder if it will take as long as Droider's A2 to get fixed (given that his hasn't even been replaced yet).......

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Carapau, did you have a iSOD MK i or II on your 550? I would like to see the flight logs if you did. If not the pictures would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Carapau]

I have the iOSD on both the 550 and the Gryphon. It was the Gryphon that was loosing GPS. Ill post the videos this evening hopefully and if I have time I will get the logs posted too.

 

[Droider]

BH Angus. I would be good to get DJI to finally realise what I have been banging on about for months. Your failure is exactly what I am on about. The totally unpredictability of the A2. Guess the Gryphon is grounded again.

Soler Very kindly came to the Southport LMA meet yesterday and we swapped GPS pucks. I flew his puck on two flights and it was rock solid. Two flights really aint enough to conclude it is deffo the GPS puck it could be how the IMU/FC interoperates the info. Eyeball, Solar and I just went though the whole issue and Soler came up with some food for thought re how the key components my be being swamped with info from the GPS and they just give up, hence the loss of satellite even though they are clearly visible on other devices.

Solar has not had any issues with his A2 which is great in one way but frustrating in another. Why coz all them A2's out there are a ticking clock. As Carapau has experienced, his F550 has been flying great with no issues then just when his confidence has grown bang.. its another kick in the goolies.

Soler it would be good for you to jump in here and give us your take on this as we discussed yesterday. (BYW THANKS for making the effort to come down and meet up. I hope it was worth it and the burgers where good ;-))


@ED what will you see off the log files.. Ill buy a bloody iOSD and send you my files if it will help sort this bleeding mess out.

Dave

 

[Carapau]

Yeah bummer and it just passed its flight test two days ago! Anyway, I'm off too Brussels tonight for the Euro RPAS conference at which I am presenting- I will be talking with a lot of highly influential people about this funnily enough.


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[Droider]

Yeah bummer and it just passed its flight test two days ago! Anyway, I'm off too Brussels tonight for the Euro RPAS conference at which I am presenting- I will be talking with a lot of highly influential people about this funnily enough.


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Aye up Angus.

If there is any info you need from me please bell me. I wish you well with your presentation and thanks for representing http://arpas.co.uk and all UK professionals.

Dave

PS thanks for all the advice on the TOL. We got clearance from NATS and Diplomatic Unit. Really appreciate your input as well as Adams.

Dave

 

[Carapau]

Great pleasure


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[Droider]

Ill be sending u 'positive waves man' - Quote - film Kelly's Heroes.. Ill be with TOL officials about the same time!

D

 

[Tahoe Ed]

@ED what will you see off the log files.. Ill buy a bloody iOSD and send you my files if it will help sort this bleeding mess out.

Dave

Dave, the flight logs record everything that is going on in the flight from the number of satellites, to voltage, to height, motor condition etc. There is a lot of information there. I will admit that I am not the expert in reading the logs. If I cannot see the obvious, I send them to DJI HQ for the engineers to analyze.

Ed

 

[Droider]

Ok Ed Ill have to get a iOSD to record the issues. Hope Angus can send his over after the European Convention.

 

[Carapau]

Dave, iOSD is an excellent logging device. With Heliguy we have often been able to prove if a crash was pilot error or not.

 

[fdproductions]

Dave, a flight logger is a vital piece of any aircraft and you can actually pull all the most important inputs and outputs of your aircraft from it. one of the most understated essential components in any uav.

BH Angus. I would be good to get DJI to finally realise what I have been banging on about for months. Your failure is exactly what I am on about. The totally unpredictability of the A2. Guess the Gryphon is grounded again.

Soler Very kindly came to the Southport LMA meet yesterday and we swapped GPS pucks. I flew his puck on two flights and it was rock solid. Two flights really aint enough to conclude it is deffo the GPS puck it could be how the IMU/FC interoperates the info. Eyeball, Solar and I just went though the whole issue and Soler came up with some food for thought re how the key components my be being swamped with info from the GPS and they just give up, hence the loss of satellite even though they are clearly visible on other devices.

Solar has not had any issues with his A2 which is great in one way but frustrating in another. Why coz all them A2's out there are a ticking clock. As Carapau has experienced, his F550 has been flying great with no issues then just when his confidence has grown bang.. its another kick in the goolies.

Soler it would be good for you to jump in here and give us your take on this as we discussed yesterday. (BYW THANKS for making the effort to come down and meet up. I hope it was worth it and the burgers where good ;-))


@ED what will you see off the log files.. Ill buy a bloody iOSD and send you my files if it will help sort this bleeding mess out.

Dave

 

[Carapau]

Well, here is my log (https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhwzzbavrkindp6/A2 failure.DAT) and also, here is a video link (https://www.dropbox.com/s/8upz6obhgbszcmp/IMG_0174.MOV). Two odd things other than the lack of GPS. In the Log there appears to be a massive amount of stick movement on the aileron. I have tested my tx and rx so it is not that thus it can only be the A2 or the A2 Sbus adapter causing this. Secondly, in the video, despite there being no satellites according to the A2 and the aircraft being static on the ground, the A2 thinks it is accelerating- look at the speed readout next to the number of sats- it is continuously gaining speed! Ill keep you posted as to what results in terms of support.

 

[SMP]

Phantom flyaway phenomena?

 

[Carapau]

Possibly but I don't intend to find out for sure!

 

[Flylite]

Seeing a speed when the airframe is static can be explained if the GPS is acquiring other fix's (getting a more accurate pos), I have seen this before with other systems - not looked at your vid yet but it could be this.

 

[Carapau]

Latest update. I bought my A2 from UAV Shop here in the UK as Heliguy was out of stock at the time. Alex, having seen the log, without question has replaced my whole A2 system so today I shall be swapping the whole system out and hopefully testing tonight. Stay tuned......and a huge thank you to Alex.

 

[Glennyboy]

I've had this losing gps problem since Jan, I purchased my A2 from quadcopter in UK, Lee I think his name was basically said after several phone calls I have to send the whole unit back to dji, and could take weeks to return.....not what you want to hear after spending a grand. I've used UAV shop and also had great service from them...wish I'd bought my A2 from them.

 

[Droider]

I sent my GPS unit back to BYOD in March and have had absolute no communication from them since.. Always had great service from Alex at UAV shop. I just think the whole A2 system is flawed and everyone should send them back rather risk their machines or even more importantly the safety of others.

D

 

[Jumpy07]

Well all I can say is my A2 has never had any major issues.. and have been flying it since last October.. had some GPS issues on initial firmware.. currently now running 2.3 on my AP CarbonCore HEX.. and currently have had no issues at all.

I must stress that I am NO DJI fanboy.. and fly lots of other FC's.. and have also been on receiving end of their crap service... I accept there does seem to be a number of people having issues.. call it bad batch or whatever I don't know.. but getting fed up with a small number of people stating its unsafe.. lots of other people also flying A2 no problems..

Would be interested in a some sort of balanced view of the issues people have.. v the ones that don't.. to help put this into perspective..I wonder how many A2's DJI have sold in this respect... are the issues limited to certain dates of manufacture etc...