Today we were unable to operate the Alta 6 due to CRC Failures. All the motors failed to programme and the terminal read "SORRY SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH SYNAPSE!". Fail code 256. Previous had no issues and no software alternations have been done between that and todays flight. Could not find any information on this anywhere and rebooting does not help. Any ideas?
It seems this is something more serious and we are solving it together with Freefly personnel. Will let you know once we figure out what has caused it and how it may be resolved.
Update: this morning after the Alta had been in our warehouse (+18 degC) through the night, the boot sequence was successful and everything was normal again = no issues. Since the only factor (besides the location, which I ruled out) that had changed between the successful and the failed boot was temperature, I tested this out. I put the Alta outside (-2 degrees celsius) for 20min and let it cool down. Then I started the boot sequence and I got the same error as yesterday (Fail Code 256). What does this code stand for? Obviously the cold weather is the issue. However, we are operating well within the limitations se for Alta. The Alta internal Sensor Temperature was 4.6degC. Additionally looking at the log, the boot only found 4 motors. Comparing the successful boot there were 6 motors. Here is the boot log (I cut out unnecessary information): Firmware Revision: v3.08.02 Configuration Memory Bank: 0 Configuration OK Firmware Revision: v3.08.02 Barometer: Cal Data OK Base Pressure: 1010.3mBar Base Altitude: -114m Sensor Temperature: 4.6degC Slope: -8.33cm/Pa OSD: Initialised Gyro Initialisation: OK Gyro Temperature: 10.1degC OK Gyro Tests: X: FT=6147 Response=6168 Delta=0.3% Pass Y: FT=-5877 Response=-6169 Delta=5.0% Pass Z: FT=8421 Response=8738 Delta=3.8% Pass Overall - Pass Gyro ISR: OK Primary Accelerometer: OK Stability check: Pass Configured cells: 6 Battery Voltage: 24.26V OK 5V Bus Voltage: 4.90V OK Processor Temperature: 17.8degC OK Checking for SD card: Present Checking for GPS Module: Found NEO7 ESC LED limit: 200 Power board version: 1.0.1 Found 4 Motors Motor temperature limit: 90degC ESC LED limit: 255 Programming motors: Programming motor 1 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 1 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 1 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 1 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 1 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 2 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 2 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 2 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 2 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 2 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 3 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 3 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 3 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 3 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 3 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 4 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 4 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 4 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 4 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 4 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 5 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 5 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 5 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 5 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 5 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 6 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 6 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 6 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 6 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! Programming motor 6 - Response: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FAIL! FAILURE PROGRAMMING MOTORS!. Starting OS: IMU Task: OK SD Log Task: OK Start-up Complete... SORRY SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH SYNAPSE! --------------------------------------------------- FAIL CODE: 256 Attitude Locked - using estimated gyro offsets GPS Time Acquired Date: 10/11/2016
If I remember correctly I have also experienced this failure once. I was booting up the Alta for some test flying without camera load while the day before the Alta was functioning perfectly fine. Using the reboot button in the IOS app the reported failure kept coming up. Only when I disconnected both batteries and reconnected them the booting was successful. After some minutes of flying it very safely close to the ground I concluded that the machine was functioning and performing like it was supposed to. Because I haven't been flying lately (because of having no camera temporarily) I'm not sure if the failure would show again. Since it was a one time event I haven't reported it back to Freefly.
How come no one at Freefly answered this concern? This error is very concerning to those of us flying in colder temperatures.