S800 EVO - landing gear help.

[MombasaFlash]

Well I have just built an EVO and the landing gear is faulty. Only one leg operates. If you swap the servos the other leg works, so it is the control board. I'm really happy. That keeps my DJI score at 100%. 100% of everything I have bought from DJI has been faulty in one way or another. First S800, first Z15, first retracts set, second Z15, second S800 EVO ...

Full marks to DJI for consistency. Fckuers.

Let's see how Droidworx, PhotoHigher and MK match up .... Huh! Useless. 0%. Not a single fault. Bah!

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

Hey I am having a problem with my landing gear for my s800 evo as well. however I am using the T18MZ instead of the 14SG. When I am trying to configure it I get a solid green light then a solid red then back to solid green but it still doesn't connect and other times I get flashing yellow then solid yellow then nothing will happen after that. I have followed the instructions to a tee that I found on the DJI website. I have only just recently got into the industry. Could someone please help me out and let me now what I am doing wrong.

Cabrams, I can understand the frustration. It took me a month of trying several things until I got mine to work. In my case, I ended up having to disassemble the servos from the gear. With the servos separated out, I put the landing gear into its self-calibration routine and observed the full range of motion. On the landing gear side I would observe what the full range of motion was for the assembly. Then I took the arm off the servo and lined it up with the landing gear orientation so that the full range of motion of both the servo and the landing gear lined up. Once assembled back together, I ran the calibration routine one more time, and it all worked from then on out.
I should say... all of the above was under the assumption that when you attempted to run the calibration routine that the gear was not going up and down. If it did, and you got green after the calibration, then the above might be pointless.
Please feel free to posts more questions you may have. We're here to help.

 

[JPBG]

Hi Propilotwannabe, I'm new to this thread, and forum, and trying to solve an S800 retract problem. We have been using our EVO and the ease of camera movements without the gear made us go and get the retracts for our S800 to bring it up to speed. All connected up fine and we have the green light to say that all is good however the gear doesn't operate. If I boot up the s800 with the switch in the "up" position, ( theS800 is suspended), then I get the rapid red flashing warning light, I move the switch to "down" and the light goes to solid green, so in theory the units are communicating. We are using a 1 man set up on this machine with Fut 18MZ and 2 x 7008s.( But I like your idea of being able to swap between 1&2 man operators). The gear is wired to the Zen receiver. I have tried alternate channels, switches and dials with the same result. Having searched the net it seems you are the guru.. Having not used these forums before - (we are stuck way out in deepest africa and so desperate!), would appreciate any advice. We are skyworksafrica - www.skyworksafrica.com if you would like to see who we are and what we do. Look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Is there some kind of safety protection built into the retracts so they don't operate on the ground? I'm sure I heard about that somewhere.

 

[mkheng]

You need to make sure they are calibrated correctly and that you've not snapped the grub screw that connects the leg to the servo. In the software you can set the protection on so the legs only work when 5m (I think it's 5m) off the ground. You can come lower if need be once the legs are up.

In protection they come down automatically when doing a RTH. I only found that part out when I did my flight test


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[JPBG]

The EVO definitely has a fail safe mode which prevents the gear operating on the ground, not sure if the ones for the S800 do….? These retracts are new out of the box and never been flown… so I am at a loss as to why they don't work… I even tried a new circuit board ( spare for the EVO) - no luck though...

 

[MombasaFlash]

The EVO definitely has a fail safe mode ....

The 'Advanced Gear' Retracts failsafe option is only available with the A2 Flight Control. It has nothing to do with the airframe, i.e. the S800 or the EVO. If your S800 has a Wookong M FC and your EVO has an A2, the different FC's might explain your issue. Swapping retracts and retract control boards around will have no effect if the 'Advanced Gear' feature is enabled within the A2.

Of course, this is all based upon the wildly optimistic assumption that the Retracts are not faulty. The first set I bought (for an S800) were faulty and had to be replaced - after a HELL of a lot of argy-bargy with poxy DJI. The second set came with an S800 EVO kit and they too were faulty and had to be replaced.

Whereabouts are you in "deepest, darkest Africa"? I am ex-Kenyan and went back recently to escape the thorough waste of time that is winter if France.

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

JPBG, sorry for the delay in responding.
MombasaFlash is correct. The failsafe operation is a function of the A2 controller, and isn't related to the frame or landing gear type.
To solve my problem I totally disconnected the actual mechanical part of the landing gear, and first just ran servos through the calibration process. So if all connections and the controller board are working properly, you should see solid green, and the servo should move based on the switch position... i.e. see it move up and down as programmed. Once I confirmed that was operating properly, then I attached the servo arm such that it aligned with the mechanical portion of landing gear. Once all reattached, the legs should move up/down. Can you confirm that you servos (unattached) are rotating as expected?

 

[JPBG]

MombasaFlash/ProPilotWannaBe Thanks for your replies and suggestions - I will try disconnecting the mech parts and see what happens. (for MombasaFalsh -We are in Kampala but I was at school in Gilgil back in late 70's early 80's - you should know the one! still drop in to friends in Nairobbery or down at open shorts at watamu!!) Will let you know how I get on with retracts.

 

[MombasaFlash]

A Pembroker! I was staying on the Delamere Ranch, Soysambu by Lake Elmenteita from October last year to a couple of weeks back - escaping winter !! I'll be back there in a few months probably. You had better PM your details so that we can stay in touch if you come across the border.

 

[JPBG]

MombasaFlash/ProPilotWannabe - No joy with the disconnected servos - reboot - 1&1/2 yellow flashes then solid yellow - no movement. restart - solid green?? no movement. It'll be the first time a DJI product has let me down. Any other suggestions??

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

MombasaFlash/ProPilotWannabe - No joy with the disconnected servos - reboot - 1&1/2 yellow flashes then solid yellow - no movement. restart - solid green?? no movement. It'll be the first time a DJI product has let me down. Any other suggestions??

Have you confirmed that your controller/receiver are sending out the signal to the landing gear? I mean, are you sure your transmitter gear switch is actually making its way to the landing gear controls?
If so, how long ago did you purchase it? Can you contact your vendor to get your landing gear replaced? Or at least get the controller board replaced?

 

[MombasaFlash]

MombasaFlash/ProPilotWannabe....

Can we go back a couple of steps? I have lost track with the confusion introduced with the retract Green/Red LED and Yellow Flashes then solid Yellow..... ??

Start with listing the airframes and their respective Flight Controls. As I understand you have an S800, which has been modified over time and now includes retracts, and an S800 EVO which of course is supplied with the same retracts. But what Flight Control do they each have?

EDIT 1: .. and which one is misbehaving?

EDIT 2: this video shows what was happening with the first set of retracts I bought (for an S800). DJI eventually exchanged them.

 

[JPBG]

ProPilotWannaBe/MombasaFlasher….. I have to eat some humble pie. Having checked the servo connections for the 100th time…I then decided to compare to the EVO…and discovered that they were plugged in Backwards…. I flipped them over and…as if by magic…they work. ( Feeling stupid?…yup). For anyone else out there - it is possible to plug in the servo plugs backwards…shiny metal bits should be inwards ( that's technical for you!). It seems strange that this is possible as the servo plugs have a shape that can only fit one way, but the socket is such that it can go in any way… common sense tells me that that shouldn't be allowed to happen - but ho-hum! Anyway, my better half has baked a huge humble pie and so I should go and eat some - and start saying nice things about DJI again!!! As usual it is a simple solution - if only you walk away for a couple of days and then relook at it and hey presto! Thanks for all your advice - wasted on a complete muppet I'm just the pilot……

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

ProPilotWannaBe/MombasaFlasher….. I have to eat some humble pie. Having checked the servo connections for the 100th time…I then decided to compare to the EVO…and discovered that they were plugged in Backwards…. I flipped them over and…as if by magic…they work. ( Feeling stupid?…yup). For anyone else out there - it is possible to plug in the servo plugs backwards…shiny metal bits should be inwards ( that's technical for you!). It seems strange that this is possible as the servo plugs have a shape that can only fit one way, but the socket is such that it can go in any way… common sense tells me that that shouldn't be allowed to happen - but ho-hum! Anyway, my better half has baked a huge humble pie and so I should go and eat some - and start saying nice things about DJI again!!! As usual it is a simple solution - if only you walk away for a couple of days and then relook at it and hey presto! Thanks for all your advice - wasted on a complete muppet I'm just the pilot……

JPBG, it has happened to all of us! No worries. As a clue, I always look at any (-) markings as that is always the black or dark brown wire. Glad you figured it out and that it's working!