EVO Flew away right after takeoff. Right after new update. Crashed.

konoplya · Jul 5, 2020

so its July 4th, plenty of fireworks going off around. wanted to film from my backyard. have flown my drone in my backyard countless times. never a problem with the signal or GPS. i get it about 35 feet in the air and before i even tried to turn it around to face in the direction of the fireworks all i hear is it speeding up and flying away into the darkness. interestingly, dirctly to the North. i had video recording enabled, so it recorded a whole 6 seconds before hitting the huge tree in my neighbor's front yard and crashing. it was flying backwards too. another interesting thing was that the flight log doesn't show the flight path either, nor the location. only shows that it was in flight for 11 seconds. absolutely ridiculous.

now, i have a cracked battery and my gimball is not functioning properly (keeps doing the startup routine over and over again). otherwise all the lights and everything are fine. has scratches and stuff on it now and some of the propellers are messed up but i have replacement ones. the drone is still under warranty and this is absurd. this has never happened to me. i updated to the new firmware maybe 2 weeks ago and have taken it out once after the update and it was fine. but tonight it went berserk. calling Autel on Monday. unacceptable.

Ansia · Jul 5, 2020

Which version of the app were you using?

konoplya · Jul 5, 2020

Ansia said:
Which version of the app were you using?

the one on my phone? using the one i've used since the beginning which is the Autel Explorer 1.0.1.45. never any problems

Tomaso · Jul 5, 2020

Hey Pal, bummer. I did the same thing tonight. Took my Evo up to 285' and did a slow pan filming all the fireworks. Sorry for your funky ending. Did you check your previous flight info? Perhaps you inadvertently hit a previous mission? The new Evo update I'm using on my iPhone 11 is Autel Explorer, 1.5.8.

konoplya · Jul 5, 2020

Tomaso said:
Hey Pal, bummer. I did the same thing tonight. Took my Evo up to 285' and did a slow pan filming all the fireworks. Sorry for your funky ending. Did you check your previous flight info? Perhaps you inadvertently hit a previous mission? The new Evo update I'm using on my iPhone 11 is Autel Explorer, 1.5.8.

yeah tha'ts the firmware. i'm on the same one. i didn't even get to do anything. it took off and then crash landed. the whole thing lasted 11 seconds. glad you got some good footage.

ChrisP · Jul 5, 2020

Tomaso said:
Hey Pal, bummer. I did the same thing tonight. Took my Evo up to 285' and did a slow pan filming all the fireworks. Sorry for your funky ending. Did you check your previous flight info? Perhaps you inadvertently hit a previous mission? The new Evo update I'm using on my iPhone 11 is Autel Explorer, 1.5.8.

I just did that update and lost my drone 2 days ago, 1.5.8!!!

Ansia · Jul 5, 2020

I've had 1.5.8 since day 1. Never had any problems. Perhaps you had a compass error that trigger the fly away. Did you take off from concrete slab or near a big metal object?

konoplya · Jul 5, 2020

Ansia said:
I've had 1.5.8 since day 1. Never had any problems. Perhaps you had a compass error that trigger the fly away. Did you take off from concrete slab or near a big metal object?

i have paver stones in my backyard. never had a problem taking off from there or flying. i've also taken off concrete slabs as well without any issues in the past. i'm not saying the new firmware is the cause, it just seems to be very coincidental

piperz · Jul 5, 2020

Are you guys saying that you can't take off from a concrete surface....?

chowland · Jul 5, 2020

I have the same firmware and app version. I went up 300ft and recorded some fireworks. I took off from my friends driveway with no issues. How are your props? its the only thing I can think might have caused it?

Jagerbomb52 · Jul 5, 2020

konoplya said:
i have paver stones in my backyard. never had a problem taking off from there or flying. i've also taken off concrete slabs as well without any issues in the past. i'm not saying the new firmware is the cause, it just seems to be very coincidental

I feel your pain and frustration trying to figure out why it just decided to rabbit off without control. This is usually do to a bad compass reading or GPS. Even with a good count on satellites this can happen. Not sure if the EVO I has dual redundancy like DJI does but if it does that should have prevented the fly away.

piperz said:
Are you guys saying that you can't take off from a concrete surface....?

It is a rule of thumb to never take off were there might be rebar in cement like sidewalks, parking structures and so on. All it takes is one bad launch to ruin your day or in this case night time fun.

mike9591 · Jul 5, 2020

It's under warranty. If the craft was the problem, they will handle it.

Any time you fly in the darkness, OA is not active, and you will get warnings about sensors what not. Also GPS can be an issue at night. If you had GPS lock ok, if you did not, it was in ATTI mode which means YOU have to fly the drone with only altitude hold type function. It will not stay in it's location, and RTH seldom works in that Mode... Just so you know. Non GPS mode can be rough on people not used to ATTI. In weaker GPS conditions or night flights, you can also experience the drone going in and out of GPS and ATTI modes.

piperz · Jul 5, 2020

Agustine said:
I feel your pain and frustration trying to figure out why it just decided to rabbit off without control. This is usually do to a bad compass reading or GPS. Even with a good count on satellites this can happen. Not sure if the EVO I has dual redundancy like DJI does but if it does that should have prevented the fly away.

It is a rule of thumb to never take off were there might be rebar in cement like sidewalks, parking structures and so on. All it takes is one bad launch to ruin your day or in this case night time fun.

No Kidding. I was just thinking I often take off on concrete type surfaces, so this was news to me. I'm guessing you're saying the rebar can interefere with the Home Point / Compass?

Tufargon · Jul 5, 2020

piperz said:
No Kidding. I was just thinking I often take off on concrete type surfaces, so this was news to me. I'm guessing you're saying the rebar can interefere with the Home Point / Compass?

Absolutely. Mine (XSP) would tell me there was interference and would not let me take off from a cement picnic table because of he rebar. Moved it off the table 10 feet away and it was fine.

Ansia · Jul 5, 2020

piperz said:
Are you guys saying that you can't take off from a concrete surface....?

No. I take off from concrete all the times, but not all concretes are the same. Some contractors dont follow codes and put rebar close to the surface, making the compass go crazy. Thus creating fly aways.

konoplya · Jul 5, 2020

chowland said:
I have the same firmware and app version. I went up 300ft and recorded some fireworks. I took off from my friends driveway with no issues. How are your props? its the only thing I can think might have caused it?

my props were fine until it crashed. i have to fix and possibly replace a couple now. they're moving kind of tight, proibably because they bent a little .

konoplya · Jul 5, 2020

Ansia said:
No. I take off from concrete all the times, but not all concretes are the same. Some contractors dont follow codes and put rebar close to the surface, making the compass go crazy. Thus creating fly aways.

same here, i take off concrete parking garages a lot and never an issue.

parkgt · Jul 5, 2020

mike9591 said:
Also GPS can be an issue at night.

What does night have to do with with GPS having an issue?

konoplya · Jul 8, 2020

to update this.. i received an RMA from Autel to send in my drone. will update further.

Sky Angels · Jul 11, 2020

DJI techs fly and test indoors off concrete slab floors in concrete buildings regularly. Magnetic interference is more likely.
Or a bad FW package install.