I lost my Goblin 570 with Spirit GTR and GeoLink because the GeoLink failed in flight. The helicopter flew away during an RTH operation and was never found again. The log file in the Jeti DC24 transmitter shows that all GPS parameters were "frozen" shortly after take-off. I have programmed a warning message if the number of satellites is less than 10. However, this warning did not appear, as "Sattelites" remained at 16 even after the GeoLink failed. If I had known that RTH was not working, I could have saved the helicopter.
This is a serious problem, that the GeoLink can fail without warning. Is there a solution for this? I don't want to buy another GeoLink until this issue is resolved.
The log file is attached.
Konrad
GeoLink failure/loss of model
- Attachments
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- 13-57-29.log
- (2.34 MiB) Downloaded 142 times
Do you also have a log from the GTR unit available?
Spirit System (Spirit W1, RS & GTR & all the others)
Spirit Wave & JETI DS 12
http://www.habada.cz
Spirit Wave & JETI DS 12
http://www.habada.cz
Hello,
I am very sorry for the troubles. I checked your log and it really look like GeoLink had no connection from the beginning or lost it few seconds after.
First from all I want to ask, if there was no possibility to turn off RTH? This should be possible to turn it off at any moment and gain full control.
Secondly, was both Spirit and GeoLink unit at the latest firmware?
More recent version will actually set satellites to 0 whenever you will loose connection.
You can try it by disconnecting the cable. Satellites should be 0 within following seconds.
I am very sorry for the troubles. I checked your log and it really look like GeoLink had no connection from the beginning or lost it few seconds after.
First from all I want to ask, if there was no possibility to turn off RTH? This should be possible to turn it off at any moment and gain full control.
Secondly, was both Spirit and GeoLink unit at the latest firmware?
More recent version will actually set satellites to 0 whenever you will loose connection.
You can try it by disconnecting the cable. Satellites should be 0 within following seconds.
Spirit System developer
Since the model is gone, I have no log files from the GTR.
All components had the very latest firmware version. I have 5 Helis (now only 4) with GTR/GeoLink and I use always the latest version.
Of course I switched off RTH when I saw that the helicopter was flying in the wrong direction, but by then it was already too late.
When the helicopter is far away, it is difficult to tell whether it is flying back to me or away from me. I tried every trick in the book, such as flying a turn to find the heli's orientation, but it was no use.
I need a way to monitor in flight whether GeoLink is working or not. I thought that checking the number of satellites would work, but it does not.
I normally always test whether RTH is working by doing a short test flight. Unfortunately not on this last flight.
All components had the very latest firmware version. I have 5 Helis (now only 4) with GTR/GeoLink and I use always the latest version.
Of course I switched off RTH when I saw that the helicopter was flying in the wrong direction, but by then it was already too late.
When the helicopter is far away, it is difficult to tell whether it is flying back to me or away from me. I tried every trick in the book, such as flying a turn to find the heli's orientation, but it was no use.
I need a way to monitor in flight whether GeoLink is working or not. I thought that checking the number of satellites would work, but it does not.
I normally always test whether RTH is working by doing a short test flight. Unfortunately not on this last flight.
Hello,
all Spirit units are doing checks if GeoLink is communicating or not.
If there is no response from GeoLink for 2 seconds then Sats are set to 0 immediately.
You can verify it with any of other helicopter. Also Event log will inform you about lost GeoLink connection.
It seems that in your case GeoLink was still active and sending data. But these data were not updated for some strange reason. For example if GPS chip itself stopped to send data. With GeoLink 2 this would be very unusual, but we will check what else could happen, since your GeoLink was seemingly still sending data (but not updated).
all Spirit units are doing checks if GeoLink is communicating or not.
If there is no response from GeoLink for 2 seconds then Sats are set to 0 immediately.
You can verify it with any of other helicopter. Also Event log will inform you about lost GeoLink connection.
It seems that in your case GeoLink was still active and sending data. But these data were not updated for some strange reason. For example if GPS chip itself stopped to send data. With GeoLink 2 this would be very unusual, but we will check what else could happen, since your GeoLink was seemingly still sending data (but not updated).
Spirit System developer
Here are the 4ds files from the lost helicopter. I hope that these can help you with the analysis. I did the last update on 2024-03-22. Are the firmware version numbers stored in the 4ds files?
RTH is always triggered by a separate channel from the transmitter. The accident flight was the fourth flight that day. Everything worked on the previous flights, including RTH.
RTH is always triggered by a separate channel from the transmitter. The accident flight was the fourth flight that day. Everything worked on the previous flights, including RTH.
- Attachments
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- 2024-03-22 Nora1.4ds
- (255 Bytes) Downloaded 156 times
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- 2024-03-22 Nora0.4ds
- (255 Bytes) Downloaded 142 times
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- 2024-03-22 Nora2.4ds
- Backup of bank 0,1,2
- (255 Bytes) Downloaded 133 times
I have a suggestion for a plausibility check: Both the GeoLink and GT/GTR have an altitude sensor. If the GT/GTR checks whether the altitude values are approximately the same, you can assume that the GeoLink is OK. Another plausibility check would be to check whether the altitude remains constant over several seconds even though the pitch has changed. Perhaps there are even better ideas.
but you in diagnostic log viewer open log you opened the file pdf to see if you had any messages of error?
until now I had geolink deactivated but it was connected with the cable.
and I had no errors
I activated geolink yesterday and I received communication errors with geolink.
They are not real errors they are errors that occur when you turn it on or off
when it's about to turn on or when it's about to turn off
but these errors every now and then they turn me off geolink functions.
Connect the helicopter activate the geolink ((do compass calibration etc) and after flies normally.
Then turn off helicopter and go in the pc software spirit and see if you have connection errors with the geolink.
Another thing go in geolink-info and check it out if lifting the helicopter with your hands Barometer height is accurate (for this test use a usb extension) It's super accurate to me.
If you have an unstable geolink connection error all geolink functions will be deactivated.
If you have opened pdf files in the past all pdf files are saved and you can put them here in the topic
until now I had geolink deactivated but it was connected with the cable.
and I had no errors
I activated geolink yesterday and I received communication errors with geolink.
They are not real errors they are errors that occur when you turn it on or off
when it's about to turn on or when it's about to turn off
but these errors every now and then they turn me off geolink functions.
Connect the helicopter activate the geolink ((do compass calibration etc) and after flies normally.
Then turn off helicopter and go in the pc software spirit and see if you have connection errors with the geolink.
Another thing go in geolink-info and check it out if lifting the helicopter with your hands Barometer height is accurate (for this test use a usb extension) It's super accurate to me.
If you have an unstable geolink connection error all geolink functions will be deactivated.
If you have opened pdf files in the past all pdf files are saved and you can put them here in the topic