Tello Drone Not Taking off and Flipping Over- 5 ways to fix it
There has been an issue people are having, where their Tello drone is unable to liftoff or flipping over when trying to liftoff, I had this problem a couple of weeks ago, After reading a bunch of forums, hours of frustration, and trying different things, I fixed it and saved myself some money, and so I thought I could do the same for others.
So what is causing this issue, and how do you fix it?
If your Tello drone is having a hard time lifting off or it flips over when trying to lift off it is usually a hardware problem. Check if the propellers don’t have any physical damage and make sure the blades are mounted on the correct motor position, finally calibrate the IMU.
Before we start I want you to watch the video below, where I will show you what was causing my problem.
1. Wrongly mounted
The most common thing I see people doing is mounting the props on the wrong motor, before replacing anything on the drone make sure to check if they are mounted properly.
2. Damged props
- If your Tello drone flips over to the same direction every time, it means one of the propellers is damaged or is mounted wrongly. To tell which of the props is damaged swap the propellers diagonally and see if the quadcopter flips to the opposite side, if so you should replace the propellers.
- If you swap the propeller and the quadcopter flips the same side that means there is nothing wrong with the propeller it is the motor or the electronic speed controller that is damaged, if you are good with electronics you can swap the motors and try if the issue follows to the other direction.
How to Peplace the propeller
After you make sure it is the propeller that is causing the issue you can replace them, Watch the video down below where it will show you how to replace the propellers.
3. Update/refresh firmware
There is a low chance this problem is a software problem but it won’t hurt to try and see if it solves the problem
so to update the firmware make sure the drone’s battery level is above 50%.
- open the Tello mobile app.
- Connect your mobile device to the available network.
- Launch the latest version of the Tello mobile app.
- Download the latest firmware version. The app will notify if there is an update.
- Select Start to download the firmware.
- Connect your device to the drone’s Wi-Fi once the download of the firmware is complete.
- Click Update to update the firmware on the Tello mobile app.
After the update is complete, the Tello mobile app will prompt that the update was successful and the drone will automatically restart.
If the issue still persists after you do the firmware update, try uninstalling the Tello mobile app and installing it again.
4. Calibrate the IMU
- Before calibrating the IMU make sure the drone have at least 50% charge
- calibrate the IMU when it is cold
- and make sure you place the drone on a flat surface
5. Factory reset
Before you change any part from the drone to make sure it is not a software issue that you are having you can try restttng the drone and see if that does anything.
- Switch on the Ryze Tello drone and wait for the LEDs to flash yellow.
- press the power button for 5 seconds until the indicator light turns off.
- The indicator light starts to flash yellow. The Wi-Fi SSID and password will be reset to the factory settings and no password is set by default.
Final choice
If none of the methods fix it, you might have to send it to a professional
I don’t know what your take on this or your budget but for the price of Ryze tello I wouldn’t consider sending it to a professional.
The first reason is the cost to get it fixed won’t probably match the price of the drone the second reason is there is a high chance it have another issue once it gets fixed, which at that point it you are better off buying another drone, but that is my opinion.
You can, however, try to fix it by yourself and it would be a great experience for you, all you need is soldering equipment and some screwdrivers.
