[Brassman]

Damn I just lost my ET 200 quad, was dark and I had just installed leds. it was windy and I was in rattitude mode and realized I was out of Control 200 meters away trottled up to gain hight but it just fell like a stone. I searcked for 2 hours but no luck, the crash must have ripped the battery out. Im gonna go out looking again at first Daylight, if Im lucky I will find it. it might be in a tree.
anyone ells lost ther quads? did you find ever it and how??

[cato]

That's a bummer. Hope you can find it!

[Brassman]

thanks. yeah, I looked for 3 hours this morning from first Daylight but I could not find it, I never gonna trust frsky v8fr_II reciever again after this. lost signal 150-200 meters away in line of site. Im pretty sure it was the reciver becouse the failsafes(trottle cut) kicked in and it just fell. strange thing I saw aproximatly were it Went down and I was in that spot within 2 minutes. next quad Im building will have the revolution board with oplink gps and all other stuff and im gonna have it connected to the laptop groundstation whenever I fly it, I cant afford to lose Another one. this is really a bummer

[cato]

Bad thing is that it got unpowered. I could recover my small quad several times by triangulating it's signal, using my Taranis. On those occasions I learned that it is very difficult to find a 250 quad even in slightly higher grass, you will only see it from a distance less than 5 m. Because of that I am now using a lost plane beeper whenever I fly at distances more than 50m. But that will not help with disconnected power, so first thing I alwas do is taking care that the battery will not easily disconnect: On my smaller quad I fix it wit velcro to the frame, and a tight velcro strip around. On bigger multicopters you usually have a battery compartment.

I wonder how a signal loss can happen in such a situation as you describe: I am flying my quads with Taranis and X8R usually at a range of 300-500m. I got a few weak signal warnings from my taranis, which always could be solved by repositioning the antenna on the quad. I never had a signal loss so far. I have different rx, but currently using only X8R receivers.

[Mateusz]

Next time some of those might help

• Lost plane alarm, it works if battery does not get disconnected. This one is pretty loud http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-Lost-Plane-Finder-Alarm-RC-Helicopter-Tracer-p-66590.html
• GPS coords on OSD that is recorded with Fatshark's DVR if you have one. Just don't publish those online, you might get into trouble if local government has strict policies for flying.
• GPS coords over telemetry to your transmitter with high sampling recorded to sd-card in your taranis. This way you can recover the route or where you lost signal.

I personally think DVR feature on fatsharks is best for this, as you pretty fresh coords recorded in goggles.

[Brassman]

Thanks for the replys guys. I dident have any type of gps/telemetry on the quad. luckly this one was not that expensive....still a bummer as I was really hoping to find it...
I have the alarm on order but Im pretty sure the battery disconnected in the crash becouse I had really Bright leds on it and I dident see it. I dont have the Money for fatsharks, is there any other accurate way to get current or last known gps cordinates logged and save. cant I get it on my laptop LP gcs? I scooped the pines with binoculars  but I could not see anything.
Im on a frsky converted hitec flash 5 radio with fully charged 3s Life battery so I cant trianguklate its signal I Think. the module has telemetry capabilitys if I get the gear for it.

[Mateusz]

Thanks for the replys guys. I dident have any type of gps/telemetry on the quad. luckly this one was not that expensive....still a bummer as I was really hoping to find it...
I have the alarm on order but Im pretty sure the battery disconnected in the crash becouse I had really Bright leds on it and I dident see it. I dont have the Money for fatsharks, is there any other accurate way to get current or last known gps cordinates logged and save. cant I get it on my laptop LP gcs? I scooped the pines with binoculars  but I could not see anything.
Im on a frsky converted hitec flash 5 radio with fully charged 3s Life battery so I cant trianguklate its signal I Think. the module has telemetry capabilitys if I get the gear for it.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to send telemetry data to frsky receiver from flight controller in LP yet, and even if there was you would still need external inverter, as the only one in the used micro-controller is usually occupied by GPS.

Easiest option would be buying Frsky GPS module which once connected to Frsky receiver can send telemetry data such as GPS position, Taranis can display that (don't know about your transmiter) http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__58201__FrSky_GPS_V2_Sensor_with_SMART_Port_1pc_.html
Receiver must be telemetry capable, not all of them are.
Having someone with you to guard your laptop while you fly, and using Oplink is also an easy option, but not that convenient.

[Brassman]

I looked some more but no luck, my Brothers gonna bring his dja phantom 3 so we can scope the pines from above. if that fails Im not gonna find it ever. last try today. I realise we probebly wont find it but there is still a miniscule chanse. I just have to bite into the onion and build a new one, I have all part I need on order but this time Im doing a 2 person full range test on the reciever mounted on the quad with a servo to the trottle channel. the new one is a zmr250 with cc3d dys mr2205 2700kv motors 30 amp littlebee escs search/voltage alarm and maybe some type of gps tracker. Im gonna try to secure the battery inside the quad.

[Foaly]

I once lost a Mobius camera in tall grass after a crash. I spent half an hour looking for it and thought I could forget about it, but a friend came by and cut down the grass in the whole area. We finally found it when we were almost going to leave. Point is : most of the time, you find it when you are almost sure it's definitively lost, so good luck

Fun fact : my camera was still recording during the whole thing, and at some point I can hear myself in the recording saying "where the f*ck is this damn camera?!" while having litteraly my foot on it above the grass.

[Mateusz]

I am building now 150mm quad-rotor, seems cheaper than building bigger one.  Also I didn't want to buy expensive components this time, so I can crash it as much as I want.
For example SunnySky 1306 3100kv cost $14.49 and SunnySky 2204 2300kv cost $15.59. Battery gets much cheaper Dualsky 3S 800mah 3S for $9.89 compared to same brand 1800mah 3s for $19.99. Props get cheaper as well.. etc. It's a little, but every few dolars here and there, makes it cheaper. Also smaller frame is cheaper.

[Brassman]

Yeah I know its strange it happens alot when you just give up but no luck with the phantom, atleast we tryed. I have carefully watched all fottage on my pc but I cant find it.
Yeah its cheaper but its harder to find if its small, Im gonna try to not lose this one. It is twice as expensive but Im gonna be more carefull where I fly and Im gonna have the lost drone alarm on it. also gonna try to find a small standalone tracking device for it but I dont know whats aveileble. mabey even a keyfinder would be better than nothing lol.

[Mateusz]

Just a thought maybe there are cheaper recorders, but I found this
http://www.foxtechfpv.com/mini-d1-quality-sd-card-video-recorder-p-451.html

So if you are using some other fpv goggles that are cheaper than fat-sharks, and you have OSD with GPS coords, this or something cheaper might be an option.
You could also set alarm for low RSSI (packet loss) in your transmiter or also display it on OSD, so you know when you are about to lose signal before it happens.

[Brassman]

I will look into fpv stuff later I just dont have the Money right now for that stuff and If i had I would nott feel bad to pay extra for good googles becouse you wont ever lose them:) I found this real GPS tracking Watch, but I dont Think it would work in sweden becouse it seems all civilian market phone operators companys run 2100mhz. pitty really becouse its perfect, mabey it works anyway...
http://www.banggood.com/Anti-lost-E5-Smart-Watch-Somatosensory-Answer-GPS-WiFi-BS-Tracker-SOS-Security-Alarm-For-Kids-Baby-p-1028164.html

I will have this on on the next order I make, its not perfect but its better than nothing and could be of big help.
http://www.banggood.com/Wireless-Anti-theft-Anti-Lost-Security-Alarm-Receiver-Transmitter-Key-Finder-p-1013395.html

This is the order Im waiting for delivery right now


CC3D APM Flight Controller Anti-vibration Damping Plate Shock Absorber Set x1

CC3D CC3D Atom RC Antenna Pedestal Antenna Box For RC Multirotors x3

DYS ESC USB Linker Programmer for SN16A SN20A SN30A SN40A BL16A BL20A BL30A BL40A  x1

Hobbywing 5V/6V 3A Switch-Mode Ultimate BEC (UBEC) x1

10 PCS Eachine Battey Tie Down Strap Velcro Strap 22.3cm x1

Diatone Universal Motor Protect Landing Gear For 1806-2204 (2PCS) Motors Color: Black x1

DYS MR2205 2700kv Brushless Motor For Multicopter FPV Racer Quadcopter x4

MAT-NLC Low Voltage Buzzer Alarm With LED Indicator Drone Searching Function x2

OpenPilot CC3D Flight Controller Staight Pin STM32 32-bit Flexiport  x1

Diatone Universal Camera Lens Adjustable Holder For FPV RC Multirotors Color: Orange x1

2 Pairs Gemfan 6045 Bullnose 6X4.5 Glass Fiber Nylon Propeller CW/CCW For QAV250 ZMR250 Multirotor Color: Orange x3

2 Pairs Gemfan 6045 Bullnose 6X4.5 Glass Fiber Nylon Propeller CW/CCW For QAV250 ZMR250 Multirotor Color: Black x3

4X FVT LittleBee 30A ESC 2-6S BLHeli Supports OneShot125 For RC Multirotors x1

[Mateusz]

DYS ESC USB Linker Programmer for SN16A SN20A SN30A SN40A BL16A BL20A BL30A BL40A  x1
4X FVT LittleBee 30A ESC 2-6S BLHeli Supports OneShot125 For RC Multirotors x1

Littebee ESC are great, but I am not sure if you can program them with the DYS linker, it might be only for Atmel, but check when that arrives.
This one works with both SiLabs and Atmel http://www.multirc.com/universal-esc-usb-linker.aspx but I saw universal ones that costed $7 so even cheaper.

Oh forgot, you can use BLHeliSuite and cleanflight flashed on CC3D to program SiLabs ESC if you dont have the right linker, so you're safe with your order

[Brassman]

Yeah the dys usb linker might not work, added anotherone in my wishlist that does work if the dys one fails. I tested my range today on my hitec flash 5 with frsky DHT diy telemetry module and my Futaba 3pk with DFT plug in telemetry module both were tested in range test mode with the same v8fr-ii hv reciever. The dht tested glitch free to 25 meters while the DFT tested glitch free to 75 meters. ether the dht module or the hitec flash 5 is faulty. no wonder I lost my quad