The tale of a rogue flyaway Tello and subsequent recovery

Akshay380 · Jan 1, 2020

I use tellofpv app connected via Bluetooth to Gamesir T1 controller and a Xiaomi repeater. One fine evening I setup everything and the Tello took off and hovered. I gave some power to climb higher and to my utter disbelief Tello kept climbing till 30mts and flew away into jungle. I had live feed and started recording though reception became patchy. Finally lost the feed and along with it, the tello. App showed it had travelled 209mts out. It was turning dark so could not search. The recorded footage got corrupted due to sudden stopping of feed. Fixed the same using an app and luckily got final few seconds of recording.
Went next day with some family members and after searching in thick jungle for 2hrs, found the tello lying on ground.

Valuable lessons
1. Never connect controller+phone via Bluetooth.
2. Keep as low signal interference as possible.
3. Start recording on take off because without that footage I had zero chance of recovering the Tello.

Btw the Tellofpv app is brilliant.

Magoo582 · Jan 2, 2020

Lucky I guess to recover Tello in such jungle...we’re always learning our limits Tello flying..??

Huber · Jan 2, 2020

Excelente día a todos. Buena noticia que hayas recuperado el Tello. Yo tengo el GameSir t1d que fue diseñado especialmente para el Tello. Lo conecto vía bluetooth a mi celular y funciona bien.

Terry · Jan 2, 2020

Good story. Glad you found the little runaway. ?

Drones=life · Jan 2, 2020

I will definitely take that in to mind when I do long distance flights.

volate!lo · Jan 3, 2020

the most important thing is to make the external controller "student" and keep the onscreen controls "master". That way you can overrule if the external controller causes trouble (T1D is known to be unreliable, some have ghost inputs, for example mine sometimes yaws left on its own).
You can make the onscreen joysticks auto-hide, they will show up again as you touch the screen

AnGo · Jan 4, 2020

volate!lo said:
T1D is known to be unreliable

I really do not understand why DJI sells this model by default in its Webshop as Tello accessory instead of for example the T1s with wired connection (and doesn't even mention this option). I also went into this trap and bought the T1d first until I found out the disadvantages about suddenly lost connection or bad video feed due to bluetooth. Today the T1d is only serving for Copilot sessions to avoid cabling inconveniences but never used for normal flights.

volate!lo · Jan 4, 2020

AnGo said:
I really do not understand why DJI sells this model by default in its Webshop as Tello accessory instead of for example the T1s with wired connection (and doesn't even mention this option).

money. kickbacks.

Flydrone · Jan 4, 2020

Can you tell me if the GameSir G3s works with OTG and TelloFPV?
Thank you.

umanbean · Jan 4, 2020

Flydrone said:
Can you tell me if the GameSir G3s works with OTG and TelloFPV?
Thank you.

If the G3s works with your phone model and Android version, it works with TelloFPV

Flydrone · Jan 4, 2020

thanks, it was just to know if anyone is using it successfully.

Itdamon · Jan 7, 2020

Oh man my first drone was a huge hexacopter that set me back over $100 bucks and the same thing happened to me.... worst feeling in the whole world watching your new drone fly up up up and away. I never recovered it and then bought a bunch of smaller less expensive drones to learn on.

I keep losing connection to the app on my iPhone and yesterday had to just sit and watch it hover until the battery died. I was going to buy the gamesir controller but after reading this.... what’s the wired deal?

umanbean · Jan 7, 2020

Itdamon said:
I keep losing connection to the app on my iPhone and yesterday had to just sit and watch it hover until the battery died. I was going to buy the gamesir controller but after reading this.... what’s the wired

To help your connection problem with the AC you need a USB repeater/extender instead of a controller. A forum search will give you plenty of information

gigi4 · Jan 22, 2020

Akshay380 said:
Valuable lessons
1. Never connect controller+phone via Bluetooth.

Learned it the hard way yesterday: controller disconnected, Tello drifted out of signal range and autolanded on the roof of a 4 storey building, with no easy access to it.