Landing Problems when outside

[Chrislaf]

I have flew my Tello a few times outside with little to no wind. The Tello easily handled it even in slow mode and I had complete control up until landing time.

When I come in to land usually on one of those circular pads with an H on it but also when trying to land in my hand, control becomes very sluggish or I cannot control it at all. A couple of times the Tello has landed, the props slowed, then they start to spin up again and it becomes airborn again. This has happened with and without my controller (T1D), and with or without my Mi extender.

Most of the time when this happens, I am bringing it in because the low battery warning has appeared.

Any idea what is going on here and how to prevent it? This does not happen when flying in my house even in low ambient light.

Thanks
Chris

 

[Ansia]

I have flew my Tello a few times outside with little to no wind. The Tello easily handled it even in slow mode and I had complete control up until landing time.

When I come in to land usually on one of those circular pads with an H on it but also when trying to land in my hand, control becomes very sluggish or I cannot control it at all. A couple of times the Tello has landed, the props slowed, then they start to spin up again and it becomes airborn again. This has happened with and without my controller (T1D), and with or without my Mi extender.

Most of the time when this happens, I am bringing it in because the low battery warning has appeared.

Any idea what is going on here and how to prevent it? This does not happen when flying in my house even in low ambient light.

Thanks
Chris

How are you landing it? Using the auto land feature or just pressing the stick down?

 

[Chrislaf]

Doesn’t seem to matter. Has happened using Autoland with just phone, or choosing hand land. Also happens with my controller using the land combo (Y+R2) and if I just hold left stick down. None of these methods cause any problems inside my house.

Why it just happens outside is puzzling. The only difference is I can fly much higher outside. Today when it happened I was up 15m. In my house I can’t go much beyond 2.5m or I’ll hit the ceiling.

Chris

 

[Ansia]

Doesn’t seem to matter. Has happened using Autoland with just phone, or choosing hand land. Also happens with my controller using the land combo (Y+R2) and if I just hold left stick down. None of these methods cause any problems inside my house.

Why it just happens outside is puzzling. The only difference is I can fly much higher outside. Today when it happened I was up 15m. In my house I can’t go much beyond 2.5m or I’ll hit the ceiling.

Chris

Probably sensors misreading?

 

[xcrost]

Doesn’t seem to matter. Has happened using Autoland with just phone, or choosing hand land. Also happens with my controller using the land combo (Y+R2) and if I just hold left stick down. None of these methods cause any problems inside my house.

Why it just happens outside is puzzling. The only difference is I can fly much higher outside. Today when it happened I was up 15m. In my house I can’t go much beyond 2.5m or I’ll hit the ceiling.

Chris

You are not alone. This happens to me. A few things are at play I think. Tello becomes sluggish below a certain height (around 10ft.?). It is in the firmware. Tello low battery landing seems to disable "hand land" so the VPS will sometimes not let it land. Also check your altitude telemetry when you land. It can be way off. Tello might think it is actually still up high but the VPS won't let it land due to collision avoidance(firmware). I have learned a few "tricks" to help deal with this but hard to explain. I always land in my hand. If Tello is force landing due to low batt. I force tello up, hit the hand land button on my T1d, and quickly put my hand underneath to catch it. Motors shut down immediately 90% of the time. In the case the motors don't shut off, I can grab and tilt tello sideways which will shut the motors off manually. Good luck!

 

[volate!lo]

Normal behavior.
Whenever below ~2m tello's firmware reduces the maximum attitude angle and you have less control. The lower the worse. Shortly before touching ground you have no control at all and Tello drifts just in its own prop wash. Any wind and its gone. So just land & takeoff quickly and climb to 2m.

As for props restarting during landing: Happens when the ground isn't level, for palm landing also when you don't hold your hand steady. nothing to worry. Just accept it and fly on!

 

[Chrislaf]

Thanks for the replies and tips. Good to know it is normal behaviour. Didn’t realize I could tilt it sideways if the motors don’t shut off when hand landing, so thanks for the tip xcrost.

Its winter here and there is snow on the ground, so not the most ideal place to land if Tello misses the landing pad. Today was mild so now we have wet slushy snow and when landing Tello drifted off the landing pad when the motors didn’t quite shut down and reved up again. I tried quickly to move the pad but it was too fast for me and it landed in the wet snow but only the feet were wet.

Using suggestions given above, I think I will initiate landing from higher up and be ready to move my pad or hand land and turn sideways. I’ll try again on another day with little wind.

Chris

 

[volate!lo]

In no wind I' just do a hand landing. Works well if you practice it a little. Just don't be afraid if it revs up a little when touching the hand. Keep the hand steady and it will shut down.

For windy conditions I'd just let Tello hover below shoulder level so there is some attitude angle left for fighting the wind, grab one leg from the side (not underneath, it will try to get away from you) and tilt it beyond 45 degrees or so. That initiates the emergency shutdown, but before that the motors will rev up like mad so again, don't be afraid or let got.

 

[Chrislaf]

In no wind I' just do a hand landing. Works well if you practice it a little. Just don't be afraid if it revs up a little when touching the hand. Keep the hand steady and it will shut down.

For windy conditions I'd just let Tello hover below shoulder level so there is some attitude angle left for fighting the wind, grab one leg from the side (not underneath, it will try to get away from you) and tilt it beyond 45 degrees or so. That initiates the emergency shutdown, but before that the motors will rev up like mad so again, don't be afraid or let got.

Thanks for the helpful tips. I think my problem with hand landing is I let it touch down then immediately grab it which results in the motors reving up again. I’ll just need to be more patient and wait for motors to stop fully.

Chris

 

[xcrost]

Thanks for the helpful tips. I think my problem with hand landing is I let it touch down then immediately grab it which results in the motors reving up again. I’ll just need to be more patient and wait for motors to stop fully.

Chris

Yes, patience is a good thing w/ this little guy. Also Don't worry so much about moisture or snow. DJI/Ryze have done a pretty good job of sealing the motherboard. I wouldn't abuse it though and saltwater is a def. no no. I actually went into a dive (motor going bad issue) and Tello sank a few inches into the snow about 50m away from me. Of course the screen was all white but I could still hear the motors running in the snow. I hit the gas and it took of with big clump of snow attached I flew home, blew off the snow and took off again. I'll upload the video of it when I have the chance. Happy flying!

 

[xcrost]

Here's a video I took about a month ago flying in snow