X Star Premium crash

Charlie B · Sep 29, 2016

My XSP failed to respond to the return to home command from the controller. It also would not respond using the joysticks or the iPhone Starlink app. I was in the beginner mode and the drone was aprx 100 feet from me at 90 feet in height. I was in a large field with the drone in sight. I tried the return to home when I got the 25% battery power left. As it failed all to respond to all commands I had to wait until the battery drained and and subsequently crash. It damaged the shell, busted a prop and a couple of the prop guards. I called Autel and was told it was under warranty and it would be replaced or repaired. It has been there and is in repair now. Their response was quite good. I was using an iPhone 5S with the latest IOS updates. Anyone else have a similar crash?

Follow up 10/5/16... The techs went over the flight logs and "deemed it not repairable." They are preparing a refurbished drone with "minor cosmetic issues" that has been flight tested. All the accessories minus some original packaging like for the manuals and repair kit are included. I'll update this when the replacement arrives.

clackey · Sep 29, 2016

Good to hear they will replace or repair it. Sounds like they have great customer service.

Charlie B · Sep 29, 2016

Customer service was the deciding factor in my purchasing the XSP. So far they have been very responsive to my repair.

RJ_Make · Sep 29, 2016

So it was just lock in a hover?

Charlie B · Sep 29, 2016

Yes, it was stationary in hover until battery drained.

RJ_Make · Sep 29, 2016

Do you know which FW version you were running?

Uavdude · Sep 29, 2016

Had that happen with a phantom 3 Adv once....i finally got it to return to home after shutting down the remote power, and powering back on.

Charlie B · Sep 29, 2016

RJ_Make said:
Do you know which FW version you were running?

The latest V 1.1.3 which I updated in July when I received it.

Charlie B · Sep 29, 2016

Uavdude said:
Had that happen with a phantom 3 Adv once....i finally got it to return to home after shutting down the remote power, and powering back on.

I tried different combinations but the battery level was critical and finally died.

m0j0 · Oct 3, 2016

Charlie B said:
drone was aprx 100 feet from me at 90 feet in height. I was in a large field with the drone in sight. I tried the return to home when I got the 25% battery power left

Sorry about the crash, but why did you hit RTH with the drone 100 feet away? Do you actually let it land?

TomKnAL · Oct 4, 2016

I had a fairly stressful flight a few weeks ago. I tried reorienting the antennas, but wasn't able to get back control. The RC Controller link dropped so I turned off the controller in hopes that It would reconnect. "Go Home" had been activated so it was flying towards me. Then it flew right over me and kept on going. After flying a short distance, it stopped and hovered but did not respond to controls. Then I noticed that I could turn the XSP. It wasn't responding to directional controls or altitude.

I finally figured out the problem. I had been flying waypoints when I lost the connection and the XSP started Home. I regained the connection, so rather than flying home it continued to the next waypoint. At some point I pressed "Pause" so it wasn't moving to the next waypoint but was also not responsive. I had "hidden" the waypoints panel so the only indicator that it was still in "Waypoints" mode was that the Autopilot icon was highlighted. I cancelled the route and was able to end the flight.

This may not have anything to do with the original problem, but I would try turning off teh remote if nothing else was working.

Charlie B · Oct 4, 2016

m0j0 said:
Sorry about the crash, but why did you hit RTH with the drone 100 feet away? Do you actually let it land?

After it would not respond to the joysticks I tried the RTH function on the controller and my iPhone. It is in repair now and they are testing it.

Charlie B · Oct 4, 2016

TomKnAL said:
I had a fairly stressful flight a few weeks ago. I tried reorienting the antennas, but wasn't able to get back control. The RC Controller link dropped so I turned off the controller in hopes that It would reconnect. "Go Home" had been activated so it was flying towards me. Then it flew right over me and kept on going. After flying a short distance, it stopped and hovered but did not respond to controls. Then I noticed that I could turn the XSP. It wasn't responding to directional controls or altitude.

I finally figured out the problem. I had been flying waypoints when I lost the connection and the XSP started Home. I regained the connection, so rather than flying home it continued to the next waypoint. At some point I pressed "Pause" so it wasn't moving to the next waypoint but was also not responsive. I had "hidden" the waypoints panel so the only indicator that it was still in "Waypoints" mode was that the Autopilot icon was highlighted. I cancelled the route and was able to end the flight.

This may not have anything to do with the original problem, but I would try turning off teh remote if nothing else was working.

I tried all the functions and nothing worked to regain control of it with either the controller or my iPhone.

m0j0 · Oct 5, 2016

Really strange. When the battery went critical it didn't land? It just shut down and dropped? I would be really interested to know why it did that? Doesn't sound like there was anything you could do to prevent the crash. Glad you got a replacement.

Charlie B · Oct 5, 2016

Nothing I could do to avoid the crash and I couldn't get any more info other than it was not repairable. Their support is really great. They're easy to get ahold of by phone and respond to emails in a timely manner.

TomKnAL · Oct 6, 2016

I would have turned off the remote in hope that it would kick off "Return Home".

Charlie B · Oct 7, 2016

TomKnAL said:
I would have turned off the remote in hope that it would kick off "Return Home".

I was running out of options when the battery reached a critical stage. I felt turning off the controller would eliminate any chance of me regaining control of it.

elguapo · Oct 11, 2016

Charlie B said:
Customer service was the deciding factor in my purchasing the XSP. So far they have been very responsive to my repair.

That's the reason I bought from Autel, their customer service is awesome. I have spoken to Ben, Casey, and Dan in tech support department, great group of guys.

Charlie B · Oct 12, 2016

elguapo said:
That's the reason I bought from Autel, their customer service is awesome. I have spoken to Ben, Casey, and Dan in tech support department, great group of guys.

I dealt with Ben and Casey also and they were very responsive to my emails and a few phone calls. I received my replacement/refurbished drone with all the accessories yesterday. The drone looks brand new as do all the accessories. I just updated the firmware and am going to fly it tomorrow.