[SOLVED]: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetr

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erget
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[SOLVED]: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetr

Post by erget »

Hi there,

I was a long-time, happy user of the first Crazyflie and have now assembled the Crazyflie 2.0.

After installing the cfclient, I established a connection to the Crazyflie, checked that the sensor data was being received correctly by tilting it in my hand, and took off with it - very gently. I took it off the table, but after about 1 second of flight the thrust suddenly went to 100%. The Crazyflie hit the lamp and flipped over, flew upside down into the table, then down into a chair and onto the floor. It seems that roll was also set to 100% in one direction or another, as it was spinning crazily on the floor. I hit the kill button on my controller, but to no effect. Then I picked up the Crazyflie off the ground and held it in my hand. While doing so, I disconnected the client, then unplugged the radio. None of this had any effect - the Crazyflie just kept on trying to fly straight up in a spiral. Finally, I turned it off manually with the on/off switch on the Crazyflie.

Cautiously, I restarted my computer and reconnected. When I turn on the Crazyflie, the rotors spin once in the correct order. Also, I'm able to see it when I scan for connections. When I establish a connection to it, the link quality is good, but it doesn't react to any commands and I'm unable to see on the computer screen if I pick it up and tilt or rotate it.

It seems to me the Crazyflie is fried. I'm kind of upset because I got a whole 1 second of controlled flight out of it and even without it colliding with anything, it essentially *broke itself*. Is there anything I can do?
Last edited by erget on Sat Dec 27, 2014 12:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
erget
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Re: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or f

Post by erget »

Here's a quick update:

After waiting a couple of hours, I tried it again. I was able to connect to the Crazyflie and was happily surprised to see that I could read see the IMU readings in the flight data panel of the GUI. However, flying was impossible. After landing, or even picking up the CF and jiggling it, the flight data onscreen needed a good 10 seconds to level out, even if I set the CF on a table and left it there. Obviously, there's something wrong with the sensors.

After disconnecting and reconnecting, I have the same problem again - I can connect, but I now get no telemetry again. The red LED is flashing, so I guess the sensor check is failing. Looks like the sensors are *really* washy, which is a shame, since they were like that right out of the box.

It seems that it rotates around its horizontal axis from front to back... Very, very slowly. If I pick it up in my hand and turn it on its head, it needs a good minute to zero out again.
Malte
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Re: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or f

Post by Malte »

i´ve had a similar event, but not as dramatic as yours.

The flie was hovering over the ground (indoor) and both front motors went up to 100% without any reason.
It crashed into the furniture but nothing was broken and it is still working.
dbrgn
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Re: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or f

Post by dbrgn »

Something similar happened to me recently with cfheadless. I forgot to plugin in my game controller, so the client used my wireless mouse/keyboard as "joystick" instead. With this configuration, the throttle was set to 100% immediately. Fortunately the CF was held back by the USB cable that was still plugged in :)
tobias
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Re: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or f

Post by tobias »

Hi Erget,

That doesn't sound good at all. Sounds like there has been samething wrong with the MPU9250 sensor from the start. I have never seen that kind of behavior but I guess it could happen if the sensor goes crazy. We will of course replace the HW if there is somerhing wrong with it.
erget
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Re: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or f

Post by erget »

Hi Tobias,

That'd be great. I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news here :( Is there a way of verifying if the sensor is the problem, and how should I go about getting a replacement? Would you be willing to clear the details with seeed studios?

Thanks and have a merry Christmas (here in Germany it's still Christmas until tonight!) :)
erget
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Re: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or f

Post by erget »

Just an update for anybody viewing this post, I just was contacted via PM and the CF team took care of everything for me. Great service! Happy flying everybody :)
chad
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Re: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or f

Post by chad »

erget wrote:Just an update for anybody viewing this post, I just was contacted via PM and the CF team took care of everything for me. Great service! Happy flying everybody :)
That's great! Even though they're insanely busy right now (and trying to celebrate the holidays with their families as well), the Bitcraze bunch are always on top of things. They're three cool guys! :ugeek:

egret, if you have a chance, it's a good practice to prepend "[SOLVED]" to the subject of your thread (as in: [SOLVED] First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or flight) to help indicate a successful resolution.

Have a happy new year!
Crazyflier - my CF journal...
4x Crazyflie Nano (1.0) 10-DOF + NeoPixel Ring mod.
3x Crazyflie 2.0 + Qi Charger and LED Decks.
Raspberry Pi Ground Control.
Mac OS X Dev Environment.
Walkera Devo7e, ESky ET6I, PS3 and iOS Controllers.
erget
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Re: First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or f

Post by erget »

egret, if you have a chance, it's a good practice to prepend "[SOLVED]" to the subject of your thread (as in: [SOLVED] First flight: Crazyflie goes wild, now no telemetry or flight) to help indicate a successful resolution.

Have a happy new year![/quote]

Right you are! It's done now. Sorry for forgetting about that.
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