The short life of my WOT4

jweaver · August 08, 2014, 11:15:43 PM

To cut a long story short, I decided to upgrade my WOT4 to FPV and added a Camera, 250mW TX and Storm OSD.

All went well and it few beautifully.. Tonight I decided that I had an hour free, so popped out to have a few more flights and to tweak the settings (specifically the battery scale).

First flight went well and I started to spend more time with goggles.. But the battery ran out remarkably quick.

So I loaded the 2nd battery and went for it.. And this time used 1/2 as much power as I was just cruising.. So I started to test the RTH feature.. Put it in RTH several times and it came home.. Switched off the TX and it came home.. Everything was working as it should.

I then headed out to my 400m record and went through.. At 500m thought I should turn back, but carried on.. Then I got to 800m and decided to push on for 1000m.

Got there, started to turn and the video immediately cut out.. I held my nerve and completed the turn and expected the video to come back.. But it didn't.. I held the sticks and hoped I was flying back and I would get video again.. Nothing.

So I finally switched in RTH and expected the video to crackle and come back as it got close.. But it never did, and the WOT4 never came home.. And frankly I have no idea where it is, why the video failed and why RTH didn't work when I needed it.

I was considering 'batteries'.. Perhaps the voltage got so low that the VTX stopped working.. But surely the engine would have cut first? I can't honestly remember how much battery I had, but I am sure I was OK.. I just remembered that I had a 1000m PA limit.. But I wasn't in PA, and if anything that would have kicked RTH in.. But why did the video go? If it had gone out of control, I might understand.. But the loss of video first?

I am not happy.. Not happy at all.. FPV has completely lost its appeal to me after this.. And I am at a loss.. Not only am I getting about the time I wasted building the WOT4.. The cost is unthinkable... But now I am worried about damage/injury.. how do I know that someone or something on the ground wasn't hurt/damaged.

I really think I need to go to see the Police tomorrow to report what I did.. At the end of the day, if there is an injury/damage then I have to face the consequences as I am responsible.. But I am truly gutted.. I tested everything over and over.. RTH worked and did exactly as it said on the tin.

I always thought that I would bring the plane home one day in bits.. BUt I never for a second thought that it would end up lost! I feel horrible and am going to bed to sulk!

Night all!!

Coyote · August 08, 2014, 11:22:10 PM

Sorry to hear about the accident. It sucks when that happens, it happens to us all.

Did you have RTH st as the failsafe ? I wonder if you went out of LOS and your video and RC cut straight out

jweaver · August 08, 2014, 11:45:45 PM

Quote from: Coyote on August 08, 2014, 11:22:10 PM
Sorry to hear about the accident. It sucks when that happens, it happens to us all.

Did you have RTH st as the failsafe ? I wonder if you went out of LOS and your video and RC cut straight out

Yep.. FS was setup and tested. TX switched off and RTH kicks in, throttle set to 70% and my alarm started beeping,, tested thus over and over.

I guess its possible that the batteries were running down and it was loosing height and i never noticed. I was so focussed with distance, i honestly didn't comprehend the rest of the numbers. But i don't recall it loosing height.

If the batteries ran out then atleast it wouldn't have gone to much further. And perhaps it was on its way back..

Gutted..

bignose13 · August 08, 2014, 11:54:16 PM

Did you record the flight on a groundstation dvr ??
Maybe you could look at the GPS co-ords on the storm and get some idea from there, if not you need to scan google earth and see if anything is familiar to what your last memory of the flight was
Good luck and I hope you find it

jweaver · August 09, 2014, 12:07:46 AM

Quote from: bignose13 on August 08, 2014, 11:54:16 PM
Did you record the flight on a groundstation dvr ??
Maybe you could look at the GPS co-ords on the storm and get some idea from there, if not you need to scan google earth and see if anything is familiar to what your last memory of the flight was
Good luck and I hope you find it

Nope... Got s DVR on route... But its a bit late..

Been studying Google all evening,, i know where i was when the video failed, but i have no idea where it went... Its possible that RTH kicked in and its somewhere along the line back to home. But there is a railway close by and i fear its on the other side making it hard to search....

I dont expect i am going to see it, unless it did damage and someone reported it to the police.. Or perhaps it pops up on eBay. I am wondering it its worth putting a few flyers up just to see if anyone sees/saw it.

bignose13 · August 09, 2014, 01:01:23 AM

Did you have your name and number on the wot 4 ?

Spookfish · August 09, 2014, 01:16:53 AM

Oh man that sucks. It's the worst feeling when you have to leave the flying field without your plane. Trust me I know!

I notice on another thread that you mentioned running all your FPV gear from the stock ESC in the WOT-4. I'm wondering if the built in BEC has become overloaded and failed thus rendering you blind and your plane paralyzed. If this is the case I'm guessing that the motor would have stopped?? So, your WOT-4 shouldn't have got too far from the point of failure.

Coyote · August 09, 2014, 01:19:03 AM

Was this the same plane that was pulling 38 amps ?

If so Spook has a very good point with thermal shutdown, but you did say you were taking it easy so it shouldn`t have ran hot

jweaver · August 09, 2014, 01:23:00 AM

Quote from: Coyote on August 09, 2014, 01:19:03 AM
Was this the same plane that was pulling 38 amps ?

If so Spook has a very good point with thermal shutdown, but you did say you were taking it easy so it shouldn`t have ran hot

Yep... But on this run i was just cruising about.. But its very possible.

However, unless i misunderstand. The vtx and camera is powered from the storm and thats powered from the tap in the current sensor and not the esc.

jweaver · August 09, 2014, 01:23:45 AM

Quote from: bignose13 on August 09, 2014, 01:01:23 AM
Did you have your name and number on the wot 4 ?

Nope.. Forgot to do it... Have that on my quad but completely forgot to do it on the plane.... I am a tool!

Coyote · August 09, 2014, 01:24:35 AM

I wonder if it ground looped and killed the OSD

jweaver · August 09, 2014, 01:38:32 AM

Quote from: Coyote on August 09, 2014, 01:24:35 AM
I wonder if it ground looped and killed the OSD

I guess the common denominator is the storm.. If there was a failure, that would explain why the video AND RTH failed.. Got to be honest, i am struggling to understand what a ground loop is.. I joined all my video and power gnds.. As i figured all of the gnds were the same.. So i take all the gnds and join them and i am starting to think this is wrong.

Coyote · August 09, 2014, 01:54:43 AM

If you had your 0v wire on your throttle cable into the Storm and left the current sensor -ve to the Storm on you have a ground loop that can under fault carry the motor amps through the Storm

jweaver · August 09, 2014, 02:03:56 AM

Quote from: Coyote on August 09, 2014, 01:54:43 AM
If you had your 0v wire on your throttle cable into the Storm and left the current sensor -ve to the Storm on you have a ground loop that can under fault carry the motor amps through the Storm

Nope.. Throttle only goes to the RX.

Storm is fed by power from the current sensor... Unless i misunderstand what you are saying.

krikey · August 09, 2014, 08:14:23 AM

it really sucks when that happens. I printed up flyers and was out the following day. I managed to work out before the video link failed which direction the plane was facing and also knew roughly where it was at 400ft.

Get some binoculars out and start planning a search pattern, working out high ground to get a vantage point if possible.

We found my Skywalker the following day nestled under High Tension cables undamaged.

hope you find it. it's an awful feeling.

Krikey