Black Box iphone app??

[Richlizard]

Hi all.

Another day, another question (or ten).

After watching the below video...

Scariest Phantom FPV flight yet

... I was reading the comments and became a little paranoid about losing my copter. The reason for this paranoia was while I was flying around last night, I put in a newly charged battery and shot it off over the field (This was 100% charged, I keep all batteries in separate bags). I noticed within seconds of take-off that the light at the back had started fast flashing red!! Before I had chance to think ';******, what if this was over water'; it just landed itself. Not using RTH but right where it was. Gulp!! Is this the norm? And are faulty batteries a regular occurrence?

Anyway, if you look at the comments beneath the video, there is one from an alias called piitti777 that suggests he uses a black box attached to the phantom and can locate it with an android app. Does anyone know of this or any system that can do the same with an app? It seems common sense really, but I couldn';t find anything.

Thx again for your valuable replies 

[SimonS]

There are three possibilities.  Either the battery was not charged or is a dud and the voltage protection took over and landed the quad.
The third possibility is that the quad did not have a GPS lock (either before take off or during the flight) and in such cases the RTH will land where it is since it has no idea where home is.

[Biffa]

I disabled the low voltage protection for this very reason. No way I want the Naza landing my quad and all it';s gear in a pond for the sake of a few volts.

I would rather kill a battery than lose the quad.

[robshaw]

Yes I agree with biffa. Low voltage failsafe on my APM is well and trully off.
Cant help you with black box but telemetry on an APM connected to you android device running andropilot will give you last known location, which is usually where it hit the ground or went under water and power is lost.
Saved my quad when I lost it.

[Richlizard]

Thanks guys.

As I said, the battery was definitely charged and I always wait for start-up procedure to finish before I even close the battery compartment. It wasn';t the GPS flashing signals as there was no green light first. All flashing red.

So it appears I may have a dud, which presumably still would not save me but at least I could attempt to bring it home myself once spotted?

How do I disable the low voltage protection?

Oh and my apologies but ';APM'; is not listed in any of my glossaries  :embarrassed

[Col_M]

Oh and my apologies but ';APM'; is not listed in any of my glossaries  :embarrassed

ArduPilot Mega 2.5+, it';s another model of flight controller.

I like the analogy that I';ve heard before that if the Naza can be compared to an iOS device being simple to use and propitiatory, the APM is more like an Android device being open source and almost infinitely configurable albeit a little more daunting.