I’ve been experiencing a huge amount of trouble with the telemetry radio I got with my Iris. I’ve been using it for over a year with pretty good reliability. But lately, I’m having a really hard time maintaining a reliable connection. I use it exclusively with Android devices, and I’ve used 3: Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (1st gen) and Nexus 10.
Sometimes when I plug it in, no LEDs on the radio board light up. I unplug and re-plug it, and that works most of the time. Then it will work reliably for a few minutes, then disconnect. The LEDs are still lit, with the red one blinking rapidly. I disconnect, re-connect, close DroidPlanner, open it again, re-connect in the UI, and repeat ad nauseum until it connects.
Trying to use the radio this way during something like Follow-Me mode is absolutely infuriating, and I’d really like to get it fixed. What can it be? A bad connector on the board? Android restricting current to the USB port to save battery? I have no idea. I suspected a bad USB cable, contacted 3DR support a week ago, got no response, tried a different OTG cable, same results. Can a replacement radio be purchased off the 3DR site? Any insights would be appreciated.
It could be a bad cable from the radio to the pixhawk. My suggestion would be get a new radio, and swap it out to see if that fixes it. I also had 3DR radio fail after a year. I made it work for a little while by putting a piece of plastic between the radio and break-out board (must have been a dry joint) it worked for a bit before not working at all. I’ll fix it someday when my SMD soldering skills get better
Thanks for the link Bill, I hadn’t been able to find a link to a replacement radio.
I played around with it this evening. It looks like it’s probably the connection in the radio. I’m using an OTG cable ($0.40 on Amazon!) and a regular USB->Micro cable. I sprayed some contact cleaner into the connector and it seemed to improve, but I won’t know for sure until I load up a bicycle, the Iris, and a bunch of other gear and go out and try Follow-Me mode again. It seems that if it’s going to fail, it’s most likely to when I’m on a bike 500 ft. from the TX with my Iris hovering overhead.
same problem, no connection between the + site of aerial connector and the IC, like the board is cracked. If i bend the board there is contact again.
Same as you, if my soldering skills improves I will do a bridge
I took the case off the radio and used my magnifier to see if I could find a crack. No luck, but it definitely seems like there’s a problem with the connector on the board. I ordered another radio, hopefully that will get me back to work.
It has been a while since we lasted communicated on the old developers board. I’m glad to see that you are still in the Iris fleet! I just wanted to let you know that I too have had exactly the same experience with my “developers plus” model. I first noticed that the signal became very weak, usually would die off at 50 feet. Then sometimes, it would work almost up to par without a hitch. After putting the two transmitters under my stereoscope, I had to conclude that there were no breaks in the solder joints or PCB lands. About two days ago, the Iris gave a stunning performance in its first flight. The second flight turned into an immediate disaster when the bird took off at a steep angle in stabilize and proceeded to do its own flight no matter what I did. The telemetry radio stopped completely after about 20 seconds into the flight and the 2.4 gig RC control also failed to make contact with the bird. It flew up to my 400 foot ceiling and splattered itself into a road two blocks away. It and the GoPro are total losses. So, with all of that said and in retrospect, I should have been more careful when the telemetry system was starting to fail. I can’t say that the radio itself failed, but perhaps something in the Pixhawk itself created the problem since all radio connections failed. 3DR is presently reviewing all of the logs to help figure out the cause. In the meantime, time to order in an Iris+. So, just be very careful.
Well, hey there! I kind of miss that old discussion board.
I’m back to messing with the Iris at every opportunity. Amazing how it just keeps getting more interesting. I’ve been doing some stuff to DroidPlanner, and playing with it and FollowMe mode.
Sorry to hear about the splattering of your Iris! That is never good. I’ve splattered mine before, breaking arms, gopro case, LED, etc., but it wasn’t a total loss thankfully.
I ended up just getting a new telemetry radio, and now it’s working perfectly. My old one evidently had a crack in a connection on the PCB, but darned if I was able to find it.
