86 replies to this topic

[BayAreaCrasher]

So this morning I lost my fully loaded fpv quad.

I was doing a lot of testing of the CC3D on my new FPV frame. LOS flights have been awesome to date so this morning I decided to fpv after putting on all the gear yesterday.

Quick test flight was perfect and even did a range test on the frsky all the way out to a mile.

Took off on a beautiful morning by the golden gate bridge and did a few laps around me. Did a quick flight over the water not even 300 feet away. All was good. All of a sudden it just started a slow descent towards the water!

I couldn't do anything but watch through the goggles. Holy hilarious yet desperate situation. It crashed about 60 yards offshore. Sank. Lost. Dammit.

I lost:
CC3D prototype
HTFPV frame
Gopro2
EzOSD
Frsky receiver
FPV camera and vtx
Motors and escs

Crap. The frsky started beeping right after I took off but I didn't think it was normal because I was so close. My guess is the fpv gear reduce the range all of a sudden to less the 200 yards!

Lots of lessons learned but this is a tough one to swallow. Shit.

[Adverse Effects]

OMG you know anyone with dive gear?

[BayAreaCrasher]

Nope. Not anyone who could come out now. Water is 55 degrees and very murky. Would be a miracle to find it.

[chatch15117]

you may want to get dragon link or ezUHF. after 2 failsafes on my quad i got dragonlink and now i can take it out as far as i want

[thefokker]

man this is the third lost multi I have read about in a few days. Bad week for fpv. I feel your pain man that stinks!

[BayAreaCrasher]

Yeah. I have ezuhf which I usually use. I was just testing out the frsky based on the good reviews . The 1.3ghz video probably messed up the 2.4 rc link.

[peabody124]

Ouch that sucks.

[BayAreaCrasher]

Worst loss is the board to be honest.

[snafu]

Any Video to mark where it went down ? ..
If nothing else Give the guy a Scuba award. I know its not gonna help but he deserves that losing htfpv and all that gear ..

[peabody124]

Good call. Done.

[BayAreaCrasher]

Thanks for the award most expensive award yet. No video of it other than the one that is seared in my head.

[snafu]

Shoot me a pm with your Addy mate will shout you a set of ntm prop drive motors and speedies to help you build a new fpv quad..

[ddavus]

If you are using an frsky receiver, they do not tolerate other high power signals even within an octave of frequency. The front end stages of the frysky can be desensitized by any close Tx.

Here is a link:

I use the frsky receiver, but I am careful with whom I share flight space.

[BayAreaCrasher]

Shoot me a pm with your Addy mate will shout you a set of ntm prop drive motors and speedies to help you build a new fpv quad..

Hey man. Thank you so much. That is beyond kind and it's stuff like this that makes OP just awesome.

[BayAreaCrasher]

Ddavus. Good to know. I should have done a lot more testing with the fpv gear turned on. Life is lessons and crashes are usually human error as in this case. The frsky was beeping almost from the start but it couldn't imagine rssi would be bad only 50 feet away!

[AlPackin]

I learned my lesson, no more flying next to the river and not to use just an Orange sat again

[BayAreaCrasher]

Btw. If you haven't heard snafu is the f'ing man! So kind and generous. I haven't even gotten home yet and he is sending me replacement motors and escs. Great karma.

[astronutski]

Ouch man, so sorry to hear of your loss, DAMNIT! Man, that's an expensive loss, wish I could help.

[icedfusion]

Yeah. I have ezuhf which I usually use. I was just testing out the frsky based on the good reviews . The 1.3ghz video probably messed up the 2.4 rc link.

You are probably right! the 1st harmonic is at 2.6GHz, so depending on the bandwidth and even the power...which for video you probably used alot more than your Tx it would have just got lost in the 'noise'.

My plan for FPV is as follows (now that I have learnt to fly after not having flown anything before)

1. Use googles on 5.8Hz but only at the field to 'learn' - I expect lots of crashes in this process and losing it in trees!

2. I am in the process of building my ground station where the Tx = 433Mhz, Vx = 2.4GHz and GS->Googles=5.8GHz (low power). I believe, after reading alot, that this is the best combination of Frequencies for flying FPV. I then intend to use a diversity for the video (CloverLeaf + Patch antenna) and a 'tracker' (myflydream).

Yes, these are expensive, but I am not going out and buying it all at once, I am buying bits of it at a time when I can justify the cost - but, in the end, I should have an a GS that will last me a long time and do more than I can"!

ice.

[Lightsource]

Tragic loss! Did you have the watertight case around the gopro? if so, watch this:

Edited by Lightsource, 21 April 2012 - 06:44 PM.