1 Topic by Tabishsyed (edited by Tabishsyed 05-08-2012 23:27:26)

  • Registered: 05-08-2012
  • Posts: 54

Topic: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Issue: When moving in a direction and stopping, the drone suddenly drops many feet. I am flying with altitude limiter on.

Example: I fly forward at a 20degree angle for say 20 feet at an altitude of 8 feet.
When I stop, the drone suddenly drops 4 feet as it levels it self.

Since when: Last firmware update using my dad's iphone. I am flying it with my Galaxy Nexus.

It was fine before the firmware update.

  • ixxe
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  • Registered: 05-09-2012
  • Posts: 36

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Dunnu if thats after update but mine does that to, sometimes like 2-3 meters , levling just before it hits the ground so i have to adjust by pushing the throttle and compensating, maby its bc the battery is moving around( not standard) Ill try to fixate it and get back with results.

3 Reply by b00mb00mchuck (edited by b00mb00mchuck 05-09-2012 02:07:06)

  • Registered: 04-21-2012
  • Posts: 1,668

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

How bout a poll on that... mine does it with the 1300mAh battery... but not with the stock battery or the 2000mAh ... seems weird to me cause i thought the 2000 would be the heaviest... maybe the 1300 is moving around in the tray... i'll post back here tomorrow too...

Gadda hand it to the tuning on this thing though... when i put the stock battery back inside sometimes i can really tell the difference ... soooo smooth and rock solid... i don't mind the little quirks with the other batteries though... nothing to terrible

EDIT: and i haven't done a firmware update... flying with Motorola Droid Bionic rooted ar.Pro app

1.4mile (2.25kilometer) World Record AR.Drone 2.0 long range flight
December 16th 2012.................YouTube Link here
  • Registered: 12-15-2011
  • Posts: 126

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Certainly I have to agree with that! Mine dropped so suddenly and quickly on to a gravel driveway from about 9 Meters that it broke the shaft of one motor and now I have to wait for a new drone to replace it. I am convinced however that it was the other way around - the shaft of the motor snapped off in midair for no reason except material defect and caused the drone to crash. Otherwise I (and three other people) would have been able to find the missing piece (a small gear wheel with a bit of motor shaft in the centre) around the spot where it crashed.

  • Registered: 04-27-2012
  • Posts: 71

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Geezer wrote:

Certainly I have to agree with that! Mine dropped so suddenly and quickly on to a gravel driveway from about 9 Meters that it broke the shaft of one motor and now I have to wait for a new drone to replace it. I am convinced however that it was the other way around - the shaft of the motor snapped off in midair for no reason except material defect and caused the drone to crash. Otherwise I (and three other people) would have been able to find the missing piece (a small gear wheel with a bit of motor shaft in the centre) around the spot where it crashed.

I also am noticing this.  Since the update when I stop the drone will dip down into the grass then pull back up. It never did that before.

6 Reply by solaris8x86 (edited by solaris8x86 05-12-2012 00:50:15)

  • Registered: 04-04-2012
  • Posts: 156

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

I have the same issue once firmware updated 2.1.18. Damn Parrot, not well tested before publishing the build!  mad

7 Reply by solaris8x86 (edited by solaris8x86 05-12-2012 00:49:37)

  • Registered: 04-04-2012
  • Posts: 156

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

solaris8x86 wrote:

I have the same issue once firmware updated 2.1.18. Damn Parrot, not well tested before publishing the build!  mad


Regarding to drop altitude issue on 2.1.18. I have uploaded the original 2.1.16 firmware to the public download service which is without that issue and making your Drone 2.0 to fly saver at low altitude. Everybody who have experience the drop altitude issue on 2.1.18 can go to download and downgrade your firmware by yourself using FTP on the Drone.

Firmware of AR Drone 2.0 version 2.1.16
http://netload.in/dateizu0PBlNSSq/AR Drone 2.0 Firmware 2.0.16.zip.htm

  • Registered: 04-09-2012
  • Posts: 176

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

solaris8x86 wrote:
solaris8x86 wrote:

I have the same issue once firmware updated 2.0.18. Damn Parrot, not well tested before publishing the build!  mad


Regarding to drop altitude issue on 2.0.18. I have uploaded the original 2.0.16 firmware to the public download service which is without that issue and making your Drone 2.0 to fly saver at low altitude. Everybody who have experience the drop altitude issue on 2.0.18 can go to download and downgrade your firmware by yourself using FTP on the Drone.

Firmware of AR Drone 2.0 version 2.0.16
http://netload.in/dateizu0PBlNSSq/AR Drone 2.0 Firmware 2.0.16.zip.htm


I finaly just gave in and decided to upgrade my firmware. Then my drone started doing the sudden drops that you cant even recover from with the lift at max power.


How exactly were you able to offload the firmware from the drone?

  • Registered: 04-21-2012
  • Posts: 1,668

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

My drone is showing frmware version 2.1.12 after update this morning and i'm not having the issue with it dropping anymore... but i'm on android and we just got the app update today also

1.4mile (2.25kilometer) World Record AR.Drone 2.0 long range flight
December 16th 2012.................YouTube Link here
  • Registered: 04-04-2012
  • Posts: 156

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

MikesTooLz wrote:
solaris8x86 wrote:
solaris8x86 wrote:

I have the same issue once firmware updated 2.0.18. Damn Parrot, not well tested before publishing the build!  mad


Regarding to drop altitude issue on 2.0.18. I have uploaded the original 2.0.16 firmware to the public download service which is without that issue and making your Drone 2.0 to fly saver at low altitude. Everybody who have experience the drop altitude issue on 2.0.18 can go to download and downgrade your firmware by yourself using FTP on the Drone.

Firmware of AR Drone 2.0 version 2.0.16
http://netload.in/dateizu0PBlNSSq/AR Drone 2.0 Firmware 2.0.16.zip.htm


I finaly just gave in and decided to upgrade my firmware. Then my drone started doing the sudden drops that you cant even recover from with the lift at max power.


How exactly were you able to offload the firmware from the drone?


Not download from the Drone. The firmware file is extracted from the previous version of the FreeFlgiht 2.0.1.

  • Registered: 04-04-2012
  • Posts: 156

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

b00mb00mchuck wrote:

My drone is showing frmware version 2.1.12 after update this morning and i'm not having the issue with it dropping anymore... but i'm on android and we just got the app update today also


2.1.12 or 2.0.12??? roll

  • Registered: 04-21-2012
  • Posts: 1,668

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

solaris8x86 wrote:
b00mb00mchuck wrote:

My drone is showing frmware version 2.1.12 after update this morning and i'm not having the issue with it dropping anymore... but i'm on android and we just got the app update today also


2.1.12 or 2.0.12??? roll

2.1.12 ... just checked again

1.4mile (2.25kilometer) World Record AR.Drone 2.0 long range flight
December 16th 2012.................YouTube Link here

13 Reply by solaris8x86 (edited by solaris8x86 05-12-2012 00:48:49)

  • Registered: 04-04-2012
  • Posts: 156

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Amazing! 2.1.12 should not be the latest version. It should be 2.1.18 in my drone. sad

  • ixxe
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  • Registered: 05-09-2012
  • Posts: 36

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

hmm mine says 2.1.19

  • Registered: 04-21-2012
  • Posts: 1,668

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

UPDATE: mine says 2.1.12 but it's showing i should update again... i'm thinking leave it alone for now untill things get sorted out... I'd hate to do an update and start having problems like i'm seeing around the forums

1.4mile (2.25kilometer) World Record AR.Drone 2.0 long range flight
December 16th 2012.................YouTube Link here
  • Registered: 05-08-2012
  • Posts: 54

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

2.1.19 here. It is better but still does the drop.

  • Registered: 05-15-2012
  • Posts: 6

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Same here, Version 2.1.18. changing altitude abruptly when 'braking' or hovering 3 feet above ground. No Wind.
Seems like it also doesn't fly forward at time, but need to confirm that with more tests.
This causes some dangerous situations when you 'brake' (by just letting go of the iPad virtual joystick), because it might drop and hit the ground.

  • Registered: 04-04-2012
  • Posts: 156

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Right. I notice that the drop issue only happens on 2.1.18 no matter you press the reset button or not. In fact, it helps a bit by pressing the reset button. But obviously. The dropping issue not goes away.

The 2.1.18 must be buggy.  tongue

  • Registered: 05-08-2012
  • Posts: 54

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Mine is running 2.1.19. It drops less than it did before.

20 Reply by Geezer (edited by Geezer 05-16-2012 17:52:15)

  • Registered: 12-15-2011
  • Posts: 126

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

So, how does one update from 2.1.18 (which the newest FreeFlight has imbedded) to 2.1.19?

Is there a new version of FreeFlight that only a select few know about? (Not Apple, obviously)

  • Registered: 05-15-2012
  • Posts: 6

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Yes i would be interested in finding out about .19 as well, haven't been able to locate it either anywhere. Also, does Parrot have ANY information about a new firmware being in the making?

  • From: USA
  • Registered: 05-18-2012
  • Posts: 314

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

Confusion reigns here.  tongue

When I fired-up my brand-new AR.Drone 2.0, I touched the Update button and was shocked to find that I'd started some sort of scary process.   yikes

Well it updated just fine and now I'm at 2.1.18, but as a result of the above I don't know where I started i.e. what it shipped with. Does someone here know (got mine from Brookstone/shipped ~May 1 as scheduled)?

And I missed it: How would one go about reverting to the .12 firmware (just curious, I think I'll wait for "the fix")?

AR.Drone 2.0 FW 2.2.3
iPad 1stGen WiFi-only iOS 5.1.1
  • Registered: 04-21-2012
  • Posts: 1,668

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

It probably shipped with 2.1.12 ... haven't heard of any shipping with .18

1.4mile (2.25kilometer) World Record AR.Drone 2.0 long range flight
December 16th 2012.................YouTube Link here
  • Registered: 05-22-2012
  • Posts: 2

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

What is the procedure for using FTP to downgrade the firmware for the 2.0 drone?
I downloaded the 2.1.16 File from the above source
I can connect my PC to the drone on my wireless network.
I just don't know how to get the FTP thing going ....

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The dropping issue is REALLY irritating

Dennis

  • Registered: 05-22-2012
  • Posts: 2

Re: New update causing Drone to drop altitude abruptly.

So what’s the verdict? I have a new AR Drone 2.0 and its running the 2.1.12 firmware that came installed. I’m not having any problems after only a few flights using Freefight other than not been able to save video to the device. I turned off the goelocation feature to prevent the crash scenario and apparently is preventing me from saving video to device. I’m using the latest iOS on my iPhone 4 and iPad 1 to fly it. I am considering upgrading the firmware but based on allot of responses here there is problems with the new upgrade.  So I’m hoping a moderator will chime in with some advice??? Should I continue to run the currently installed version firmware or upgrade? What is the benefit of the new upgrade?