some seconds into flight, I’m getting a “EKF or Inertial Nav failure”, which is visible by the red/yellow blinking LED on my Pixhawk.
The copter then gets uncontrollable on the yaw axis, meaning he starts turning either left or right totally random. I can’t even use the remote control to control the copter on the yaw axis, whereas pitch/roll and throttle are completly controllable. This has nearly caused a crash several minutes ago.
The copter flew great. This problem just came up after a minor crash. Can this be caused by a defective GPS module? Both Pos Hold and Return to Home don’t work (any by don’t work I mean that if i switch to Pos Hold, the copter starts drifting away into a random direction) and I am getting the slight feeling that my GPS module is completly defective.
This is supported by the fact that even the “Home-Arrow” in my MinimOSD is turning totally randomly and shows everything besides the correct way back to home…
Thanks for the answer. Just found out I am still running 3.2.1, so this might not be the right forum (I wanted to update, however).
The logs are attached. If I recall correctly, 70.bin is WITH GPS, 71.bin is WITHOUT GPS (I simply unplugged it). Both logs are from flights were the error occured. They come directly from the Pixhawks SD card.
I am sorry to post twice, but there are some news.
I just flashed to 3.3.2 using Mission planner.
Right after the successfull flashing, I’m getting the errors attached in the screenshot. The red message “Error compass variance” is rapidly switching back and forth inbetween “Error compass variance” and “Bad AHRS”.
[attachment=0]error.jpg[/attachment]
This is a completly new behaviour and just happend “overnight”. I didn’t change anything here except I unplugged the external compass. At least now I know why the EKF failsafe is triggering in-flight, however I have absolutely no idea where that problem is coming from and how to fix this.
Just to remind everybody: The screenshot was taken right after flashing, without anything being configured. I have neither attached a GPS nor an external compass right now.
After recalibrating the internal compass and rebooting the Pixhawk, the EKF compass status often stays below 0,5 and the “Error compass variance” message is gone.
However after moving the copter, the status often goes over 0,8, triggering the EKF failsafe (as seen in the screenshot). What can I do here? Do I need an external compass? Is something defective?
The last update for today (sorry again). The EKF Failsafe can also be triggered with the bare, unmounted Pixhawk with nothing else attached. I have freshly flashed the Pixhawk with Arducopter 3.3.2, calibrated the internal compass and voila - the EKF compass status values mostly move inbetween 0,5 and 0,8 and sometimes go over 0,8, triggering the failsafe. The photo attached shows the unmounted pixhawk with the triggered failsafe and the “Error compass variance” message. I have no idea what to do - is this normal?
I am suffering the same issue on a new quad setup. I have tried calibrating with two different external compasses, and even set it up to only use the external compass and I get the same results. The EKF Variance posts every time i change the the heading of the frame. Did you ever figure out the issue?
I am sure this is not what you want to hear: I have tried nearly everything and failed, so I sent back my Pixhawk to 3DR. The service is great though I haven’t received my replacement unit yet as I live in Germany and shipping takes so time. My advice would be for you to do the same.
It is me again. Just for all the google-users who find this problem:
The problem is with a 99% chance caused by vibrations on your frame or insufficient mounting of the pixhawk on the frame. Disassembling the whole copter, using loctite, double-checking all mounts solved the problem for good.