My previous message is awaiting moderation approval? I had put a link for the Stop Flyaway system, discussing it as better investment for me than a tracking system. I removed the link and it is still invisible. If I did something wrong I am eager to correct it, I didn't know that I can't post links.
flytrex / P3P signal loss / odd startup
- Thread starter davestern2
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That may be the key to this whole thread. I was on the fence with the Flytrex 3G, but when I saw one on eBay for $90 brand new, I had to grab it. I figured there'd probably be something wrong with it, but I could get my money back. It arrived, brand new in package. Installed it with the canbus adaptor. Had to start up the SIM by putting it in my phone first. Shazaam. It has worked perfectly since day 1.
But I have a P2V.
Flytrex refunded me fully after returning back their module. I wish it worked in the first place, nice idea, but it never worked, neither transmitted any data after following all the instructions, while the P3P was off 1 minute from the moment I did a CSC or pushing the battery button, something was very wrong.
It's working better but I'm still testing. I received and replaced all flytrex cables and the flytrex adapter board that is used to connect all cables.
First calibration I did not receive the error which I had consistently with there other adapter which would happen repeatably on part 2 of the calibration, half way through.
First flight I had no signal errors, which were introduced with the prior setup (all of which went away after I reverted the initial install, Eric which I had checked repeatedly including reseating all connections, etc).
I need to repeat the same flight from last time which have the errors to confirm that they do not occur under the same circumstances (flight path, interference, etc).
Will try to do that this weekend.. Was waiting to post until after that test, but since you asked...
Also received a trackimo.
Nice thing about the flytrex is it if recording location every second, vs 1 minute for trackimo. However once the drone loses power, flytrex does too, however trackimo keeps going. Flytrex need a small button cell backup which would give say 30 minutes more when primary power fails.. That would be really great.
Will post back after more test flights.
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a few other flights this weekend with the flytrex and I think it is better. Although I will say that I had an odd readout on the DJI GO app display, however I think it is unrelated (and had an gyro out of bounds, so did an IMU calibration which I think is unrelated to the other issues with signal loss).
So, swapping cables and the adapter board does seem to have helped. Will fly some more and report back definitively. Next will coat the exposed adapter board in liquid tape to better protect it against the elements as it's exposed in the current design.
So, swapping cables and the adapter board does seem to have helped. Will fly some more and report back definitively. Next will coat the exposed adapter board in liquid tape to better protect it against the elements as it's exposed in the current design.
Thx @davestern2 Sounds great, hope it will stay that way without glitches because the Flytrex live module is really a great solution. Great you keep us posted. About myself I received news from Amit that they sended me a new module, the second one. I really hope that this one will work. I lost faith a bit but now I hear that yours is working like it should, makes that I have hope it will work. Looking forward to your follow up posts. By the way, I like how you encounterd the cable problem. Good idea.
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I will add to this thread about my problem I had on a brand new unit. On my initial start up of my P3P quad my new live 3g always stays red and then have to restart the quad a second time and then goes, red, purple, blue then flashing green with connection. Once connected it works fine and never lost signal, It always take two starts of the quad to get a connection with the live 3g unit. I use the H20 sim card in flytrex.
I also had a compass error while flying and dont know if that was because of the flytrex. I sent mine back to flytrex for exchange and new one is coming this week.
I also had a compass error while flying and dont know if that was because of the flytrex. I sent mine back to flytrex for exchange and new one is coming this week.
nix240z - please do post back after you update. My compass error before I replaced the adapter board would occur consistently in calibration, but not while flying. What was new for me yesterday was a gyro out of bounds error, and it would not let me power up the quad. Recalibrated the imu (room temperature though) and all was fine.
I am using the H2O sim card also (in the US)... Has been working great (another brand didn't). I haven't had the issue you describe, but didn't get to green light yesterday with the gyro error. Without knowing what's going on in the ribbon cables, it's hard to know what causes each error .. Or, if the flytrex has power, should it always get to green.
But, if you post back, perhaps it will help to track things down.
Still interested to see what data can be transmitted live that could be useful in addition to the great reporting on healthydrone.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
I am using the H2O sim card also (in the US)... Has been working great (another brand didn't). I haven't had the issue you describe, but didn't get to green light yesterday with the gyro error. Without knowing what's going on in the ribbon cables, it's hard to know what causes each error .. Or, if the flytrex has power, should it always get to green.
But, if you post back, perhaps it will help to track things down.
Still interested to see what data can be transmitted live that could be useful in addition to the great reporting on healthydrone.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
@nix240z did you receive / replace your live 3G? If so, how is the replacement working? I did find that I have a similar issue as you, not sure whether it's consistent like that or just sometimes. But, yesterday I noticed that my light stayed red on power up .. powered off and then restarted, and all was good. It's a bit odd as to what could cause that. doesn't really bother me to be honest as long as it works on the second try.
my flytrex has been stable in the few small flights I've been able to do since posting last time.
I did cover the external circuit board in liquid tape and feel better that it's protected from water .. not that I would fly in the rain, but it just seemed too exposed and susceptible to a short if a drop of liquid did ever get in there while the unit had power.
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Man this is really disappointing. I wanted one of these so bad. Sounds like it's not worth the hassle
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depends on how to define hassle .. the install does take some work (e.g. not simply clip it on in 5 mins like the trackimo, et al. if you are in the US, I'd recommend the H2O SIM card, which I believe I did have to initialize in a cell phone (vs. trackimo that comes with the SIM already initialized and ready to go for example).
however, the tracking is updated every second in flight. I haven't needed to use the app in flight (maybe my kids will at the same time on their phone as we fly), but the trackimo for example logs every minute at most. if the UAV is flying with any amount of horizontal speed, the different between a track which was a second ago vs. a track which was a minute ago can make a different in finding it. that said, if the UAV goes down and loses power, the trackimo would continue to broadcast and can be pinged for the location (assuming the cell signal isn't blocked where the UAV landed).
if flytrex can do more development work on their data collection, it will give better value, however the jury is out on whether that will happen IMO.
I've had no issues with location accuracy on flytrex. I have seen some reports of location accuracy issues on trackimo, but that would need some further research .. that could be an issue.
now that I have flytrex working, I am very glad about it. the one thing I will ask them about is whether there could be an add-on to provide backup power via button cell if the main power goes out .. just enough for a few mins more of transmission as that would give a good 'final location' for the UAV. it could be clipped between the port on the 3g live and the 4 conductor cable going in .. a small little adapter with a small cell in it. not sure they have the funding to build this .. maybe I'll look into making one with some info from them.
the only other thing is that the flytrex is attached via the adapter board .. it works, but is not super elegant with all the cable routing and external board (vs. a simple data plug into the phantom, or something super clean looking. Most of it is hidden behind the flytrex if you use their holder, but the cables still touch the gimal a little etc... I haven't seen any negative impact on the video quality yet). if there was a way to have all of the cable routing inside the main shell, that would be cleaner, but it's 'ok' as-is - not perfect but fine. note I did not double side tape the adapter board to the shell, as I wanted to allow for more movement. not a bad idea to inspect the cable attachments once in a while to ensure all is good, as there is 1 which is DJI provided which does not lock onto the board .. fit is very tight though and does not look like it's going anywhere, even with vibration.
actually (sorry) other points:
- trackimo has a monthly recurring cost after year 1, vs. flytrex where you only pay for data used, and at super cheap rates.
- trackimo does have user definable buttons on it and you could label it so that someone who finds it presses the button and it texts /emails you (assuming it has power and signal). the trackmo web site is actually pretty good and flexible in terms of notification - really good work there
- I find the UI on the trackimo device confusing but I'm sure with a little practice it gets easier
if you are thinking of doing it and don't have a phone which you could use to init an H2O card and you're in the US, I'd be happy to do it for you if you mail me the card and a SASE (old school!).
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Yes I received the new unit yesterday and it still takes two power up of the quad. Sometimes it will work on first start, Which is no big deal to me, still works just fine. I also use the h20 SIM card
I would send Rebecca at Flytrex an email letting her know you have the same issue. I am hoping that they can correct with some sort of firmware update.
I did let them know I have a new style pro3 with newer motors and that you must remove camera, gimbal and mounting plate to install the 6 pin connector.
I also sent them my id number because they wanted to check their servers.
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Thanks man! I want to try it! I'm just worried about the power issue also!
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I've decided that if it loses power it will likely drop straight down, or only from what horizontal speed it had when power was lost. given that the last track was no more than 1 second before final power loss, I think it would (should?) be able to be located. for me, I decided to just go with that (bird collision causing power loss could result it in going somewhere else, depending on how large the bird is!).
Although I will say that the trackimo can emit a small beep if you ping it and tell it to beep .. which could help.
I was a bit on the fence altogether and have decided (for now??) to stay with the 3g live.
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I'm gonna do it... I've been looking for someone to tell me what's what. Why couldn't I add a AT&T sim? I already have one for a cheap burner phone?
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AT&T may work, I haven't tried it. What I did learn in the process though is that the SIM card needs to have GPRS data enabled (small, bursty packet data .. not just 'data service' but specifically GPRS data service.. that info is buried somewhere on the flytrex site). I tried a truphone SIM first (as I have another of theirs and think the service / support has been good, better than the complete no-name SIMs). I could not get it to work, eventhough the truphone engineer did say it should be enabled with GPRS. However, I do think also its related to the initial configuration of the SIM which requires a cell device (for the confirmation messages, etc. as the flytrex does not have any display, keyboard, etc and does not have software to enable an initial configuration process). It could have been that I made a mistake, but the truphone engineer was very honest that this is really an untested application .. should work but of course these things are complex. (and, they are buying service from the GSM carrier, so there's also the layer in terms of how their cards are configured).
Path of least resistance was to order an H2O sim since it had worked for others. And, on that one I did go step by step through the config process on an old GSM cell phone, then once configured, put it into the flytrex. And, it worked no problem at all. It's possible that the truphone SIM would have worked with a little more work, or perhaps a new SIM, but I didn't get that far. Will use that SIM and credit for something I'm sure.
So, if AT&T SIM has GPRS, it could work. But I do know that the H2O SIM does work, and am not sure what the other dependencies are (as it could be that there are some in how the flytrex talks to the SIM card, etc).
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The at&t go phone(pay as u go) plans work but the data runs out quicker than the $ on the card so if u only use the card for flytrex you end up with 3-6-10$ left on the card and your wondering why the hell this thing isnt working when i got money/time left on the card. You can put an extra line on yer at&t family plan for $15mo. With no issues.
Best bet is (the one i'm on now ) is h2o! 3 mo. $10 and i fly alot and havent come close to using up the data after 3 mo.
Best bet is (the one i'm on now ) is h2o! 3 mo. $10 and i fly alot and havent come close to using up the data after 3 mo.
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I too have had the issue since day one with live plus needing 2 powerups to start flytrex stream. First thought it was cable, nope then new adapter board,nope. In fact the new adapter board was faulty to where i'd get out 2-3 miles and the gimble would shake around and point in strange directions. To test i put on a different camera . Same issue with unstable gimble( thank goodness p3 has satalite radar for return trip!) placed old board back on and no more gimble issues. Buuutt, still have to power up 2 x's . It is completely reliable after its on though. They're going to send me another adapter board but it sounds to me like even if they send me a whole new unit we're all still going to be dealing with the same problem
