Flytrex Live 3G Released - Review

[flyNfrank]

I would have added more to my response on the last post but I kept falling asleep and waking up with a couple thousand different letters I had to keep deleting. lol!
I have yet to get a chance to work with ilovecoffee's GS app, but it crossed my mind as a possibility to why the flight path appeared.
Were you able to see what happened(the crash) from the point in which the data stopped?
Did the quad attempt to land but just landed in something like a tree or bush?
Did the quad gradually lose altitude as it was flying, and until it hit something?
Or did it just go straight down at the crash site?

I can not see there being any way your actual gps module failed. But based on my own personal experience, it looks to me exactly like the GPS Plug Connection issue I posted about. Did you ever get a chance to secure your plug at all? I did mine by wedging a piece of plastic wire tie in between the plug & connector. Once added I never experience another issue. But prior to adding the fix, the quad would get totally confused because the gps was unable to give a proper reading. My quad would begin descending on it's own at a rapid rate until I would notice it and switch the S1 switch in & out of GPS Mode. That seem to reset the GPS and it then knew where it was again. Had I not flipped the switch the quad would have crashed into the ground at 40-50mph.

A couple of things to point out about the flytrex. With the flytrex or most any device they will not save data to the point of loosing current. They have to be powered down properly so they can close the file cleanly.
The other thing is the way the flytrex current reads Speed. It currently ONLY records the Speed when the quad is in a horizontal flight. It does not see any speed when the quad moving Up or Down. I have shown the Flytrex Tech's their devices already read that data. they just need to add in the soft along with the others and we will have a good piece of logged info that we can use. Btw, this is why on a dashware gauge doesn't display any vertical movement. And it really sucks! Especially when it is such an easy addition. The gauge will show your quad as not moving and look like a dot. Anyway, so when you look at speed/mph reading on your .csv file it shows a inconsistent pattern in your speed/mph column.

 

[dbfletcher]

Did you ever get a chance to secure your plug at all? I did mine by wedging a piece of plastic wire tie in between the plug & connector.

Yes.. i had done the same as you. two zip tie ends wedged in with a dot of hot glue just for extra measure.

 

[dbfletcher]

Well, unfortunately, it appears the flytrex is no longer monitoring this thread. It is a shame as now they are in the same catagory as DJI. Sent several emails to them thru there contact us page and posting on here. Absolutely not repsonse from them.

Doug Fletcher

 

[flyNfrank]

Well, unfortunately, it appears the flytrex is no longer monitoring this thread. It is a shame as now they are in the same catagory as DJI. Sent several emails to them thru there contact us page and posting on here. Absolutely not repsonse from them.

Doug Fletcher

Doug, Flytrex goes in spurts. They'll be around a lot for a few days, then gone a week or two. I have went through a similar situation. Regardless though, they are some of the nicest people I have dealt with in any of the different industries I have been involved with. Your only real option is to send the same email everyday. In the past they say they are most active on their facebook page. But when they're not around, they are not around. Just now this, they will do whatever they have to for thingd to be right with you.

 

[amitregev]

I sent an email to flytrex support, but haven't received a response yet. My flytrex live was working fine, but on my last flight it stopped sending data and I'm starting to think it might have been responsible for my crash/flyaway as well. Once i recovered my quad, where was nearly 1/2 mile away from where flytrex said it was last seen, I used live programmer to sync all the data to my account. For the flight in question it didn't show any more data, but when i retrieved the video, I could see it flew for several more minutes after it stopped sending data to flytrex.

In any case, the LED sequence of my flytrex live when i power it up is solid red, then solid purple, then after about 20 seconds it goes to solid green. It never goes to flashing green like it is supposed to. When I check online, it shows my flytrex as being offline. But there does seem to be some communication there as it does show that my firmware has been updated... unless live programmer passed that info to the flytrex site. I'm not sure what to do next.

Doug Fletcher

Hi Doug

I'm really sorry for missing this email! I just tried to check the status of your support ticket and apparently it was mistakenly marked as answered -- sorry about that! I also just sent you a follow-up via email with more details about this issue.

Just in case anyone else is having the same issue, usually when seeing a solid green it means that the Live itself is working OK and connection was made with the Flytrex server, however, there is no input GPS data going in to the Live. This usually happens if the Flytrex Live installation cable got released/isn't connected properly, or got broken similar.

Looking at the report and that the Live stopped transmitting data it, it sounds logical that one of the connections got disconnected. If that is indeed the case, reconnecting it should solve this issue.

I asked you to email me a few pictures showing the wire connection and we'll review this more closely and see how we can help to get things working for you.

I hope this helps! Again, I'm sorry the first email was missed.

 

[amitregev]

HEADS UP AMIT......

I just wanted to touch base on two flytrex subjects.

Will you please add the "Vertical Speed MPH" to the Flight logger like I mentioned in the recent past?If the info is not in this thread I will gladly repost it here in how it would best work in it's own column in the flight logger. See pic below.

Next DJI is now finally taking some of the GPS issues more seriously on the Vision Plus. They are now actually wrapping the GPS wires with a shielded cover. Will you also do the same on the Flytrex GPS Wire Harness, or at least something similar? You can get a idea on what I'm referring to in the pic below.

Hi Frank

Regarding vertical speed -- the information is logged by Flytrex buy we still need to add it to our user interface on the site. We hope to have more updates on this shortly as well, this is included in our upcoming updates plan.

Regarding wire shielding - although I'm not part of our hardware team (software guy - sorry ), as far as I know, shielding a wire without grounding the shield is practically useless. Proper shielding requires the shielding itself to be connected to the ground, otherwise it doesn't really do much. That's also why coax wires have the ground as a shield on the wire.

The Flytrex wire shouldn't cause any trouble really, but I suspect that some users are seeing such affect due to the way the wire is placed. Specifically, having the wire going closer to the ESC or engines might add more "noise" since these parts add a lot of noise to the circuit. Keeping the wire in the central section should really cause no affect at all.

I hope this helps. Keep me posted how things are going. Thanks!

 

[jgilbert20]

Flytrex users - Can anyone who has installed one comment on the time lag between the actual position of the bird and the data showing up in the app? Would Flytrex work as live telemetry (e.g. to monitor battery, or fly blind in the case of a lost wifi connection)?

I'm trying to decide if I should go the Flytrex route or instead implement a radio telemetry system for my gear.

Thanks!

 

[DrJoe]

You can use the flytrex live device app to track and fly your phantom while it airborne, in place of the DJI Application, but of course without video feed. It's an interesting back up, but you should have another device running the application, because you can't run both at the same time on your iPhone, since the Wi-Fi is connected to the Phantom

 

[amitregev]

Flytrex users - Can anyone who has installed one comment on the time lag between the actual position of the bird and the data showing up in the app? Would Flytrex work as live telemetry (e.g. to monitor battery, or fly blind in the case of a lost wifi connection)?

I'm trying to decide if I should go the Flytrex route or instead implement a radio telemetry system for my gear.

Thanks!

Hi jgilbert20

The latency you will see with the Flytrex Live is different depending where you're flying. Since our infrastructure goes through our servers, the latency can change depending on your physical distance from our server.

Our Live system server sits in east US, and latency in the states is between ~0.5 to ~1 second, depending on your region. From our testing here in Tel Aviv (which is much further), we've seen latency of about ~1.5 seconds. Even with such latency, we've been cable to track and actually fly the bird back to safety when loosing video link in many cases. It is a different flight experience since you're basically tracking a dot and a series of telemetry fields, but pretty simple to handle.

The main advantage is that the Flytrex system will maintain connectivity even if flying 3km, 4km or 20km -- as long as it can find network coverage. Keep in mind that since you're flying above the ground finding network coverage is also much simpler than you'd usually see on the ground.

 

[flyNfrank]

Hi Frank

Regarding vertical speed -- the information is logged by Flytrex buy we still need to add it to our user interface on the site. We hope to have more updates on this shortly as well, this is included in our upcoming updates plan.

Regarding wire shielding - although I'm not part of our hardware team (software guy - sorry ), as far as I know, shielding a wire without grounding the shield is practically useless. Proper shielding requires the shielding itself to be connected to the ground, otherwise it doesn't really do much. That's also why coax wires have the ground as a shield on the wire.

The Flytrex wire shouldn't cause any trouble really, but I suspect that some users are seeing such affect due to the way the wire is placed. Specifically, having the wire going closer to the ESC or engines might add more "noise" since these parts add a lot of noise to the circuit. Keeping the wire in the central section should really cause no affect at all.

I hope this helps. Keep me posted how things are going. Thanks!

Vertical Speed MPH - Of coarse I'm not familiar with your Interface setup, but I had gathered it was a rather simple, an quick process. The image I used which shows the text "Vertical Speed MPH" was taken from a Flytrex .csv file.

GPS Wire Harness Shield - I believe what DJI is trying to accomplish is to eliminate all possible cross contamination. Whether it's contamination coming out, or going into the wire. This GPS issue, and a few others, has become a sensitive subject for many. Anyway I wanted to bring it to your attention since the factory is now doing it, and benefits have been found by routing the wires different.

 

[Couchie]

Just have to throw in that this wait is killing me! Ordered the flytrex 3G on Christmas. It shipped on the 15th and was finally tracked in Flushing, NY on the 25th. Still waiting.... Gotta love the high speed USPS!

 

[PhantomPhreak]

Just have to throw in that this wait is killing me! Ordered the flytrex 3G on Christmas. It shipped on the 15th and was finally tracked in Flushing, NY on the 25th. Still waiting.... Gotta love the high speed USPS!

I got my notice the same day you did. Mine also went through New York and I got mine yesterday. I am in CA so you should have got yours before me. I never know what to expect from USPS. I have some ESC's that show out for delivery, its 9 pm, never showed.

 

[flyNfrank]

Just have to throw in that this wait is killing me! Ordered the flytrex 3G on Christmas. It shipped on the 15th and was finally tracked in Flushing, NY on the 25th. Still waiting.... Gotta love the high speed USPS!

Oh my!!!

Flytrex has shipped to me before here in the US in Indiana and it left there on Sunday and I pulled it from my mailbox on Weds. I nearly wet myself getting it that soon.

 

[Navman]

It would be nice to have it stocked and shipped from a small distribution center like say... Amazon :mrgreen:

 

[dbfletcher]

It would be nice to have it stocked and shipped from a small distribution center like say... Amazon :mrgreen:

There are dealers in the US that carry them. I got mine for florida.. ordered Friday night, had it on monday morning.

btw.. i ordered my second one here:

http://www.getfpv.com/flytrex-live-3g-dji-naza-m-phantom-blade-350-qx-apm.html

 

[Navman]

Thanks db, I didn't know that!

It would be nice to have it stocked and shipped from a small distribution center like say... Amazon :mrgreen:

There are dealers in the US that carry them. I got mine for florida.. ordered Friday night, had it on monday morning.

btw.. i ordered my second one here:

http://www.getfpv.com/flytrex-live-3g-dji-naza-m-phantom-blade-350-qx-apm.html

 

[p fandango]

must say, i was very disappointed with the amount of time it took to receive my Flytrex Live (especially when the first email you receive after paying says it will be shipped within 48hrs). But having finally got it, & opened up my phantom tonight to fit it which was stupidly easy with the canbus lead. I've only done a quick test but really does look to be accurate & another quality product

 

[flyNfrank]

must say, i was very disappointed with the amount of time it took to receive my Flytrex Live (especially when the first email you receive after paying says it will be shipped within 48hrs). But having finally got it, & opened up my phantom tonight to fit it which was stupidly easy with the canbus lead. I've only done a quick test but really does look to be accurate & another quality product

At 1st I thought you did something you should not have with using a CanBus Lead. But then I read your signature and saw you were not trying to use it on a vPlus. It would be nice if the vPlus was able use a CanBus Lead!

 

[p fandango]

At 1st I thought you did something you should not have with using a CanBus Lead. But then I read your signature and saw you were not trying to use it on a vPlus

no, i've got a proper camera

 

[mendezl]

must say, i was very disappointed with the amount of time it took to receive my Flytrex Live (especially when the first email you receive after paying says it will be shipped within 48hrs). But having finally got it, & opened up my phantom tonight to fit it which was stupidly easy with the canbus lead. I've only done a quick test but really does look to be accurate & another quality product

At 1st I thought you did something you should not have with using a CanBus Lead. But then I read your signature and saw you were not trying to use it on a vPlus. It would be nice if the vPlus was able use a CanBus Lead!

Can bus cable is available http://www.flytrex.com/blog/flytrex-can-bus-adapter/