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Toilet bowled then crashed

Discussion in 'Cinestar 8' started by Mark Melville, Jul 6, 2013.

  1. Mark Melville

    Mark Melville Member

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    My bird started toilet bowling went out of control and crashed. Fortunately it as about 15 or so feet off the ground so there was no serious damage. Here are the files if any one can venture a guess what happened it would be greatly appreciated.

    It should be the last file. Forensics anyone? Andy!!!!
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    Not Andy but I bought his GPXtools DVD so lets test how close I was paying attention.
    For the last 4 seconds of the flight you experienced this error.
    Error "ERR: FC I2C" (17) occured 5 times!
    Everything looks good, battery voltage, current, your flying in free fly mode with GPS off. Your motor info on current and temp all look good for peak and average. There's no motor too high or too low for current and temp. Your IC2 error counter starts off on the flight with a count of 104. The last few seconds it then goes to 118, to 146, to 245, to 029 and to 049.

    Having IC2 error counter of 104 at take off isn't out of normal as I have IC2 errors that develop upon initial start up but they never change during the flight. What's not normal is that your numbers change at the very end which could have caused the issues. How far into the flight did you see a toilet bowl effect starting? Since you are not using GPS that sounds abnormal.

    From the information I seen from the GPX file log I would make a few stabs at what could be wrong.
    1. Your molex connector from the flight control board to the power distribution board came unplugged.
    2. This same molex connector has a bad wire or loose connection.
    3. Some debre might have gotten on your power distribution board during the flight and could be causing issues with the I2C communication on the board. You might want to get a can of compressed air and air the board out on both sides of the board.
    4. Something has gone wrong with your flight control board.

    Andy how did I do?
     
  3. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Mark typically 'toilet bowling' is the effect when the copter is in position hold and wanders in circles. GPS0 has no entries and GPS01 has 3 lines. GPS02 has a flight of 142 seconds. At the 135 second point you get an error code 17 which Flight Controller I2C error with communication between the FC and the BL's.

    Possible causes to check.

    Molex connector between the FC and PDB. There are other items listed like a defective BL or an address changed but if the copter has been flying normally I would start with the molex cable.

    You may also want to upgrade on your software. Nothing wrong with .88n/.28p but general release is now .90 with a solid beta at .91.
     
  4. Mark Melville

    Mark Melville Member

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    I know about the I2C error. I have a direct solder from the FC to the BL board so in theory the wiring should not cause this problem. I also have the molex connected as well. What I'm wondering is if the molex is creating a feedback of sorts? I'll disconnect the molex and see if it stops giving us the error 17.
     
  5. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    Mark

    I would eliminate the possibility that the wiring mod you did could have caused this with either a loose wire, pinched wire, solder bridge etc. I would try just the molex connector. I have been using just the molex connector with a dab of hot glue on both ends and that sucker won't come off. In June my copter had a free fall from 300 feet (due to pilot error from loss of orientation) and the molex connector was still attached on both ends.
     
  6. Adam Paugh

    Adam Paugh Distributor

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    Hello Mark,

    Is there a chance that this is not the correct file for the flight with the toilet bowling effect? Toilet bowling is an erratic flight behavior that occurs in GPS Pos. Hold. It will occur if:
    1.) GPS gain is set 80-100 and you have minimum sats. in fix
    2.) Magnetic interference from on-board lipos/wiring
    3.) Solar flares/activity

    This does not sound like an issue that would be caused by a wire that is disconnected

    Greetings,
    Adam
     
  7. Mark Melville

    Mark Melville Member

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    I soldered the I2C connections directly rather than opt for the Molex connecter a while back. Based on a forum members recommendation who is an electronics engineer he suggested we also plug in the molex as a redundant connection backup. Made sense to me.

    It had crashed a few other times always with the same error 17 message. Finally my pilot who is also quite good withe electronics went on the MK site and found (small print) that NEVER should both connections be used at the same time. it's either one or the other. We've disconnected the molex and I hope that solves the problem.
     
  8. Janne Hoglund

    Janne Hoglund Member

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    I do it the same way and have no problems with it at all.

    Regards.

    /Janne
     
  9. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    I hope it works, keep us updated!
     
  10. Janne Hoglund

    Janne Hoglund Member

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    Mark, have you any link as to where this info can be found?

    Best regards.

    /Janne
     

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