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Movi Dick getting slapped around... any thoughts?

Discussion in 'MōVI M10' started by Steven Flynn, Mar 3, 2014.

  1. Steven Flynn

    Steven Flynn Member

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    We've had some great results with our Movi. But it has developed what I can only call a slapping action. Like someone walked up and just smacked it. We first started seeing this in the air, then last week we had it in a room working handheld. I honestly don't think it a balance issue as we've gotten that down. And the tuning numbers are high enough to provide really smooth action in the air and on the ground. But out of nowhere we're getting smacked around. In this video, I've put the very first flight we had on a c300 out of the box with default settings on our CS8. Really smooth. Then, same setup months later (on a day that had really high solar storm activity (launches for ESA rockets were postponed)). But then in the room at the piano it came back. I'm wondering if it is radio strength /interference from the DX7? I'm hoping someone more technical than me will see this and know exactly what causes this, and maybe provide some ideas for how to solve it. We fixed it by the piano by making a clear path to the movi from the transmitter, but that isn't an option 200 feet in the air. Thanks for any thoughts. Steve.
     
  2. Brett Harrison

    Brett Harrison Active Member

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    Wow, that's certainly a bug, unless there's a poltergeist following you around.
     
  3. Steven Flynn

    Steven Flynn Member

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    No no... don't say that. I have no ghostbuster outfits around... tell me that my antenna needs to be moved 8 degrees to the left. :) I'm trying to figure out if it is a radio thing, or a battery thing where the voltage spikes or droops. It's like it's getting a "wake up" signal or something. On the copter I thought it might be GPS issues, but handheld it shouldn't be doing that.
     
  4. Jason Eaton

    Jason Eaton New Member

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    Handheld or in the air, geomagnetic storms in the atmosphere wreak havoc on radio systems, gps systems etc. I'm not saying this is the issue but it's certainly possible.

    When you say it's like someone slapped it, would that be similar to the action it does when switching modes when it repositions itself? If so it could possibly be dropping the radio signal and picking it back up again? I've lost radio transmission both while flying and on the ground during these storms. Now I just call it a no fly day for safety reasons.
     
  5. Steven Flynn

    Steven Flynn Member

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    It seems to go back to where it was at originally, but this shoot was in a stone building inside. I'm thinking it might be loss of signal from the transmitter, in which case... can anything be done? On the dx7 is there anything like rebinding, channel selection, etc? I guess what I'm looking for would be for a Movi Engineer to say definitively "That is what loss of signal looks like". I started to think it might be a bad battery on the Movi itself because the problem popped up after a battery change last week (but I also moved my transmitter station as well).
     
  6. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Steven this may be loss of signal for the TX/RX on the MōVI. And as Jason mentions the storms in the last few days have been massive. Lots of Northern Lights photos being posted out of the UK and Ireland. Spectacular shots of castles at night on the moors lit only with the Northern Lights.

    When you are handheld is it happening when you are in Remote mode with the TX or without the the TX?
     
  7. Jason Eaton

    Jason Eaton New Member

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    Gary's right there have been some really amazing shots in the sky's the last few days. Actually the sun is finishing up a 7 year cycle right now and (if it hasn't already) flipped poles (I know right?). Expect more geomagnetic anomalies in the coming months but it'll hopefully settle for summer. I've seen more activity in the last 3 months than I've seen in the last year.

    I may not be a MoVI Engineer but I have lost TX/RX signal even only feet away and had great difficulty re-binding during solar storms on other units. Am I correct to assume you were in "remote" mode?
     
  8. Steven Flynn

    Steven Flynn Member

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    Yep, it was remote dual op mode. Would rebinding be something to do regularly? Also, is there a good place to go to get a "readable" prediction of solar events in the coming days? You should see the faces on the clients when we talk about solar storms ... worth a photograph for sure.
     
  9. Jason Eaton

    Jason Eaton New Member

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    Consider this your bible for solar activity: http://www.n3kl.org/sun/noaa.html and refer to it everyday....

    I know what the clients faces look like... but that's why they look to you!
     
  10. Shane Moore

    Shane Moore Member

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    This topic brings up another question. Will Synapse initialize on a boat?
     
  11. Jason Eaton

    Jason Eaton New Member

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    It depends how big the waves are.... it has to be a steady boat...
     
  12. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    I don't think anybody has seen a real Synapse in the wild, let alone on the sea. There's been precious little in the way of concrete information released about it, including a potential release/ship date. They've not even started taking orders on it.
     
  13. Justin Marx

    Justin Marx Active Member

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    Hey Steven, what do the lights on the Movi do when this happens?

    I had a similar issue where it was kinda like the Movi going limp on the Pan Axis..

    The solve for me was to check ALL of my cable connections and gently make sure they are all plugged in snugly. I unplugged and replugged them all.. Do this gently as the cables are small!

    This worked for me, hopefully it does for you..

    If not, please post a video of the Movi itself doing this so we can see what's happening..
     
  14. Justin Marx

    Justin Marx Active Member

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    Also, can you post a picture of your c300 rig? THANKS!!
     
  15. Justin Marx

    Justin Marx Active Member

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    Shoot, last question-- does this happen in majestic mode?
     
  16. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    I'd certainly start with Justin's recommendation -- check *every* cable connector, including the hard to reach ones that are behind small CF plates (e.g. the tilt motor). My hunch (and it's only a hunch) is that it's a connector that needs to be re-seated. I noticed the solar storm (Kp Index = 6, and the amazing aurora images coming out of the UK and other places)....that was a big coronal mass ejection. I suspect the effect of the incoming radiation would be more continuous (e.g. unable to establish or sustain contact) rather than the "twitches" you're seeing. Just my $0.02. or £0.02 (OK, allow for the exchange rate!)

    Andy.
     
  17. Steven Flynn

    Steven Flynn Member

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    Thanks everyone. Really good thoughts. I had my shoot and in the morning flight test it was flawless. Then in the afternoon with the clients around (of course) it got slappy. One thing I did notice earlier was that the GPS wouldn't fix. On this shot however we had GPS green light on Movi...so don't know if that matters at all. Below is a photo of the rig. It's really clean, nothing near the movi antenna, and balanced really well. Here is a link to a busted take thanks to the slap. It's with c300, 50 mm L series canon lens.

    Am I the only one having this issue? I'll try and reseat all the connectors even the ones I can't see, and heck, even the ones that aren't there! Thanks again for all your suggestions. I'm very grateful. View attachment 4749
     
  18. Steven Flynn

    Steven Flynn Member

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    Sorry, here is the image of the rig in flight: [​IMG]
     
  19. Michael Elsegood

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    Have had the same problem on Sunday in Australia, both in airborne and dual op handheld modes.

    Happened on tilt axis in the air and pan axis on handheld config.

    Are these storms global or typically in one part of the world at a time?
     
  20. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    The storms are global, although I suspect the effects will differ depending on how the magnetosphere dissipates the high energy particles.
    See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection (section "Impact on Earth").

    Be sure to check http://n3kl.org/sun/noaa.html (click on lower center chart).

    Andy.
     

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