One flight, and then problems... Holystone HS720R

[Ralf1958]

I had a very uneventful flight last weekend, orienting myself on the flight controls on this new drone. Did post flight routine checks & cleaning, then put it on the charger for next time.

I ran through my pre-flight today, and hooked everything up... but the drone failed in the vertical geomagnetic orientation process.
I turned it 360 degrees, vertically, probably two dozen times... and got no response. I shut everything down cold, and toggled airplane mode (on my new Samsung 5G phone), then powered up and reconnected everything. It failed at the same point... vertical orientation. Horizontal orientation catches after two complete turns. All communications showed green, or a connected status.

I stopped trying after four attempts. Same failure point in the steps. There are plenty of satellites available, and the weather was good.

This looks like a drone electronics malfunction to me. Anyone have any input?

 

[Ralf1958]

Tried again today... same results.

I have written to customer service at Holystone, and submitted a video of the problem as it is occurring. We'll see what they say.

 

[Droneaddiction]

Did you do the three rotations horizontal or just two? Try holding it still and spinning your body. I know it sounds stupid, but it's easier sometimes than dealing with all the props and things.

 

[Ralf1958]

Hello Droneaddiction. The (first step) horizontal orientation always completed successfully, It was the vertical that was giving me problems.

Customer service at Holystone sent me a link to a Youtube video that explained the probable cause.

I'm not doing the vertical orientation (rotations) correctly. I'm holding the drone "head up", but turning the body vertically like a cartwheel (spinning on a horizontal axis). Their video shows the proper way is to spin on the vertical axis (with the head up). I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure that's the problem. I'm certainly feeling pretty stupid.

I'm not sure why it worked the first time, unless I was just lucky. In my defense, I was left unsupervised by my wife.

 

[Droneaddiction]

Hello Droneaddiction. The (first step) horizontal orientation always completed successfully, It was the vertical that was giving me problems.

Customer service at Holystone sent me a link to a Youtube video that explained the probable cause.

I'm not doing the vertical orientation (rotations) correctly. I'm holding the drone "head up", but turning the body vertically like a cartwheel (spinning on a horizontal axis). Their video shows the proper way is to spin on the vertical axis (with the head up). I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure that's the problem. I'm certainly feeling pretty stupid.

I'm not sure why it worked the first time, unless I was just lucky. In my defense, I was left unsupervised by my wife.

Glad you were able to find resolution.

 

[CRA]

I have an HS720R with flight problems. I have recalibrated about 10 times an still the HS720R flies out of control. It flies ok for about a minute and then I lose control (it will not respond to controller). Have you resolved your problem permanently?

 

[Ralf1958]

Yes. I was simply not doing "the vertical orientation set up dance" correctly. Your problem sounds like there is some source of local interference. Is there anything close by (like a cell tower? TV/radio broadcast system? airport weather radar?) Have you tried a different flying location? I had the problem you are having once. It turned out there was an AM radio station transmitter just down the road (small brick building with huge antennae)!

 

[CRA]

I am going to take another run at this. Holy Stone told me to calibrate horizontal with clockwise spin and vertical counterclockwise with camera down (in writing in email from them). I am going to try clockwise horizontal and vertical nose up clockwise. By the way, I fly my my DJI Mini 4 Pro and Mini 3 in the same place we try to fly my grandsons HS720R and have no claibration issues. Sure would be nice to get the HS720R working.

Thanks for the feedback!