3rd Vision Flight in Houston - Bad S2 Switch?

[Pmcdn]

I flew my 3rd flight with my Vision today. I was at a small park near a school in my neighborhood in Houston. Today I went a little higher than before, up to around 330'. It was a little windy (gusts around 15mph) with low, fast moving clouds.

I fly with it set on the NAZA mode where I like to toggle back and forth between IOC mode and regular mode. I had it out about 500' and about 275' in altitude with a strong wifi signal (nothing obstructing in-between). While out a bit, I noticed the IOC function stopped working as it began flying based on which way it was pointing. As I got it a little closer, it began flying in IOC mode again. S switches in proper position. Weird. Anyone know why that may have been?

It is also the first time I lost sight of it while up higher in the cloud/fog. It made me nervous when I couldn't see it and the low battery alarm began to honk at me. I just told myself to remain relaxed and used the orientation data on the screen to point it towards me and fly it back to me. Worked like a charm. Other than the odd IOC issue, it performed exactly as advertised. It's a great little flying machine!

Here is a video I shot today. It's pretty bumpy as it was windy. I quickly slapped some music behind it, but it's not anything that will be worthy of Aviation Magazine or anything ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=MJx8IxfujN0

 

[Seahorse]

Re: 3rd Vision Flight in Houston - Question

Given you have only just got your P2V perhaps you should stick to GPS until you are more comfortable and better practiced in flying it before using the more advanced settings? Then again perhaps you just have a very high risk appetite... :shock:

 

[Pmcdn]

Re: 3rd Vision Flight in Houston - Question

Given you have only just got your P2V perhaps you should stick to GPS until you are more comfortable and better practiced in flying it before using the more advanced settings? Then again perhaps you just have a very high risk appetite... :shock:

I never take it out of GPS mode. While in GPS mode I like to use IOC mode so I can more easily bring it back to me.

 

[bob22]

Re: 3rd Vision Flight in Houston - Question

My phantom vision did the same thing not too long after I purchased it. I traced it to the S2 switch.. I would have the S2 switch in the off position and it would switch to course lock by itself, which, of course made the control different. It turned out that it was a bad switch. Purchased one from radio shack and soldered it in.. It has worked great since. The switch number from Radio Shack is 275-035. The sudden reversal of the flight control in mid flight by a defective switch could easily make the most experienced pilot crash. I was lucky in that I caught it while flying close in.

 

[Pmcdn]

Re: 3rd Vision Flight in Houston - Question

My phantom vision did the same thing not too long after I purchased it. I traced it to the S2 switch.. I would have the S2 switch in the off position and it would switch to course lock by itself, which, of course made the control different. It turned out that it was a bad switch. Purchased one from radio shack and soldered it in.. It has worked great since. The switch number from Radio Shack is 275-035. The sudden reversal of the flight control in mid flight by a defective switch could easily make the most experienced pilot crash. I was lucky in that I caught it while flying close in.

That's a little unsettling, but good to know. I'll keep an eye out for it again.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[bob22]

Re: 3rd Vision Flight in Houston - Question

Yeah, I almost ran into a tree before I realized my controls were backward. Mine would switch from the off position to course lock back and forth by itself. Immediately landed. Put a meter on both switches. It made good connection in course lock and home lock. The off position is the one that it wouldn't stay it. Would check switch before you fly again. Hope this helps. Only joined forum tonight because I read your question and it happened to me. Thought you ought to know.

 

[Pmcdn]

So it was the toggle switch itself? Odd.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this?

 

[bob22]

I have only seen one other post about a bad switch. I can't remember if it was on this forum or somewhere else. I first noticed that I was having trouble setting a new home position by toggling the S2 switch. Some time it would work and some time it wouldn't. When the control would reverse for no reason is when it really got my attention. If I had been flying way out and high, the outcome might not have good. I took it out of NASA mode, which disables S2, until I could fix it.

 

[Pmcdn]

Was it relatively easy to replace?

 

[bob22]

Just three wires to solder. Pretty easy if you have soldered before. Took longer to unscrew the old switch than to put the new one in. Just make sure the wires go in the same position as before. Like I said earlier, you can take it out of nasa mode and continue to fly it until you get it fixed. You just won't have home lock and course lock. Under five dollar fix for a twelve hundred dollar quad.

 

[Pmcdn]

May I call you tomorrow? I'd love to pick your brain on this.

 

[nhoover]

I've also been using IOC mode (mostly home lock) for a while but have noticed several times that it doesn't work right when I'm far away (like over 3300' away). Closer in it works perfectly and so does course lock. I suppose it could be a bad switch but it never fails in close. Will experiment more. Failure is that the p2v responds as in regular GPS mode. Of course I need it the most when far away!