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My tello went to drone heaven.

Biggie777

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Oct 21, 2020
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I'm So disappointed. I Made a very stupid mistake and flew my Tello on a semi-windy day. It was fine to keep low as I kept it very close to me but I broke my own rule and took it up when the wind died down some and as it started carrying my Tello toward the trees,I pitched it toward home and It fought the good fight but just didn't have quite enough power to push it back in so it ate a tree .

I have been on a search an rescue mission for days as I located the battery and white,outer skin because they fell off and out on Impact. I had to locate a 4-5 inch tello about the same color as the trees and twigs in my woods and that was at least a needle in a haystack... I used binoculars and I got lucky in the way that the sun beamed down and reflected off the shiny steel motors and lit them up like mirrors.. Yes,so that gave me the location and I was very happy because It was about 17 meters up but I have a way to use a slingshot and line tied to a bold to accomplish this,however I ran out of daylight so I had to do it the next day and a windstorm came and knocked it down and NOW it is like trying to find a brown recluse spider in my woods. Several days and even a metal detector and no luck. There is a small chance that it landed in the creek but anyway,after several days,I'm almost hopeless about this and I have another Tello but this was my first drone ever and it was so awesome I loved it,was the best drone to start on and even for money,imo. I hate that I lost if for sentimental and monetary reasons but what can I do? I bought another Tello but haven't flown it yet. Still haven't wanted to give up on my lost one.
*Sigh* RIP
 
Thanks, appreciate it. A bluetooth locator ? Hm,that sounds like something I'd be very interested in for my other one. Is this something you can buy or a mod that you made yourself?
 
It is a bluetooth locator called Filo Tag produced in Italy. There are several tags on the market, but I wanted to try it out for size and weight. I installed the circuit without a plastic case to save weight.
 
I'm So disappointed. I Made a very stupid mistake and flew my Tello on a semi-windy day. It was fine to keep low as I kept it very close to me but I broke my own rule and took it up when the wind died down some and as it started carrying my Tello toward the trees,I pitched it toward home and It fought the good fight but just didn't have quite enough power to push it back in so it ate a tree .

I have been on a search an rescue mission for days as I located the battery and white,outer skin because they fell off and out on Impact. I had to locate a 4-5 inch tello about the same color as the trees and twigs in my woods and that was at least a needle in a haystack... I used binoculars and I got lucky in the way that the sun beamed down and reflected off the shiny steel motors and lit them up like mirrors.. Yes,so that gave me the location and I was very happy because It was about 17 meters up but I have a way to use a slingshot and line tied to a bold to accomplish this,however I ran out of daylight so I had to do it the next day and a windstorm came and knocked it down and NOW it is like trying to find a brown recluse spider in my woods. Several days and even a metal detector and no luck. There is a small chance that it landed in the creek but anyway,after several days,I'm almost hopeless about this and I have another Tello but this was my first drone ever and it was so awesome I loved it,was the best drone to start on and even for money,imo. I hate that I lost if for sentimental and monetary reasons but what can I do? I bought another Tello but haven't flown it yet. Still haven't wanted to give up on my lost one.
*Sigh* RIP
Daaaaaammmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnn, never expected such a story teller to be in this forum. Man I really love it, btw sry for lose , A tip from a co-pilot, start writing man. you are too good.
 
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So sorry to hear this, @Biggie777 . I flew mine into the top of a large mature oak tree. Fortunately, it was in my back garden, but it still took several days with binoculars to find it. Eventually and just before some very stormy weather, I managed to recover it. I had to climb high up in the oak, risking a fall to serious injury or death. It was terrifying and too late I wondered to myself if the recovery risk was worth it. I have since painted the Tello day-glow orange (like nothing in nature)... and now I only fly it outside without the prop guards, to give it more of a chance of falling out of a tree.
 
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I thought to myself,I need to paint my other one a neon color,or a color that stands out likewise. I'm glad you were able to recover your drone while able to beat the storm and accomplished this without harm to yourself. Looking back on it,I'd have to say you made the right choice but would apply the one time only rule to it. Lol
 
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I'm definitely interested in the bluetooth locator. I see they are on the Italian Amazon website.
(FiloTag Keyfinder 2020 | Localizzatore di Oggetti tramite App. Tracker Bluetooth | Ritrova gli Oggetti che Hai Perso | Colore Rosso. Misure: 25x41x5mm | Pack da 1: Amazon.it: Elettronica), and reduced in Black Friday sale for €29.90.

How does it work, @Flydrone ? Was the alarm sound coming from your phone or from the Filo Tag?
Hi, the sound comes from the tag, you activate it directly from your smartphone with the Filo app.

I have two smartphones, and at least for me it is faster in hooking the Filo Tag with the device with bluetooth 4.0 with version 5.0 seems to take longer. Filo has Bluetooth 4.0 chip
 
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The shipping for the Filo tag from Italy to UK doubled the price of the tag, so I bought a Tile Mate instead. Very similar and it arrived today.
 
Well it works very effectively with the Tile on the back of the battery like this.
 

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did you stick it with adhesive felt on each battery?
i am sure this item will be very useful if you lose your tello. but hopefully not!?
 
I stuck it with sticky tape around the tile and onto each side of the battery, then more sticky tape around the battery to hold the previous tape in place. It's actually very secure.

The Tile appears to work in exactly the same way as the Filo Tag. I got someone to hide my Tello in the garden and I found it really quickly with the Tile app on my phone.

The Tello doesn't seem to notice the weight of the Tile in flight. It really is very light.
 
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some time ago, I lost the wifi signal of the tello and I saw it fly away without being able to check it .. I had not yet put the tag and I spent more than an hour to be able to retrieve it in the tall grass 100 meters from where I had taken off.
the next day i bought the tag and now i fly safer. It won't be as effective as GPS, but with this tag you definitely have a good hope of finding the drone again,
even if you have to know more or less the direction of where it went.
A greeting.?
 
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Similar story here! Allow me to share.

When I bought the Tello, I thought "Hey, I fly FPV quads, what could be so hard about this!" and was I wrong! The main difference between FPV and camera drones for me is the automation in flight. Things like the auto stabilization, various limits on vertical climb, etc. When you are used to having full control over these flight controls, trusting an onboard computer takes some adjustment.

The flight started out fairly normal. I used the TelloFPV app after a few recommendations I found online. Notably for the ability to fly to 30m with a range extender. I was excited, put the drone in sport mode, lifted off and went straight up! All was well at the 30m altitude until the Tello was caught by the wind (like almost everyone else's experience with the Tello drifting) and started to slowly head for my 40m pine tree. To make matters worse, the line of sight back to my WiFi extender was partly occluded and the app threw the "WiFi Interference and VPS Not Active" error over and over. I didn't panic, but the last image I saw was the Tello flying full tilt into the trunk of the tree and the tumble that followed.

After looking for hours and hours (the cover on mine is white - which I thought would be easy to spot!). I waited until the evening and a friend suggested we light up the tree with an LED floodlight. We were able to locate the Tello about 15m up in the tree! After a few tosses of pine cones at it (hah) it tumbled back to the ground and I was able to retrieve it.

What I learned from this experience:

- Stay within your limits or the design limits.
- Trees are quad magnets!
- In a way - I was lucky that prior to the flight, I removed the prop guards. This prevented the Tello from getting caught higher up the tree.
- WiFi signal works great when it works, not so great when it doesn't
- Any wind above say 5mph is probably enough to keep the Tello a little closer to the ground and AWAY from trees!

- Adi
 
Well it works very effectively with the Tile on the back of the battery like this.
I'll second the Tile. It isn't GPS but utilizes Bluetooth or other Tile users' Bluetooth to locate the chip. Pretty cool tech and works fine for this. If you are in a rural area without interference, Bluetooth can go quite a ways.
 
I mounted the Tile to the back of the battery packs with a piece of Velcro, and it seems to work okay. You are correct that it can interfere with the BT signal, but I have only really noticed it with BT on my phone Switched ON and I was actively looking for the Tello using the Tile app. I'll have to test it out a little more :)

They also make micro GPS receivers, which I use on my FPV drones. When I tried one of those, the Tello video signal was pretty bad.

More flying, more testing :)

- Adi
 

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