Hi does anyone own a tello drone, I have one but I can’t get it to connect, when I incert the battery it goes to a solid red, is it the battery that’s no good or some other reason, Thanks, Andrew.
Yeah, I have a Tello. Interesting little beast.
OK, the thing with Tello is that it overheats quickly when not flying, so you don’t have long to do anything with it on the ground, so everything needs to be prepared especially if you’re also using the game console bluetoothed to phone.
When you first turn Tello on, the LED should flash through all colours looking for wi-fi link, if it doesn’t find that it will go red and then switch off as it gets too hot. Also when you first get it, you need to charge the batteries in the charger with a USB plug with a decent outlet, get them properly charged.
Sequence of getting it to go that I use.
(1) Take phone out of case ready, put into Game controller cradle, ensure phone has bluetooth and wi-fi turned on with wi-fi network finding enabled.
(2) Turn on game controller
(3) Open the Tello app on the phone
(4) Open wi-fi settings on the phone so it’s displaying a list of available networks
(5) Turn on Tello and see the LED scroll through colours then go yellow as it finds your phone
(6) About 10 to 12 seconds after turning on Tello, you should see “Tello” appear in your phone wi-fi list. Tap it to connect.
(7) Once connected, the LED on Tello will go green. My phone will then tell me that the network I am connected to (Tello) doesn’t have internet, do I want to switch? I cancel that notification. (If you accept the notofication it throws Tello off and goes back onto your usual network and you need to go back to point (6) hopefully quickly enough to Tello doesn’t overheat…)
(8) Back to Tello App, I click then link in the app to connect to the Gamecontroller using Bluetooth
(9) Now ready to fly, I get Tello in the air ASAP before the it gets hot and bothered.
It’s a bit of a palaver but once you’ve got the sequence worked out youd be surprised how quickly you can get through it. If you are changing the battery, the Gamecontroller stays connected to the phone but you need to go through the wi-fi connection rigmarole each time.
I have a full cage for my Tello as I fly it around the house, it pinballs off the walls quite nicely with the cage on 
GC.
1 Like
If it’s solid then unfortunately that is an indication of a critical hardware/firmware error.
First time I used my Tello, I had that, what I needed to do was charge the batteries using the supplied charger AND PLUG/CABLE i.e. use the 3-pin plug supplying the USB and the USB cable supplied. My usual phone charger/USB combo doesn’t kick out enough juice even though the cable fits the charging station and it appears to work. Having done this, the batteries got going (albeit I later had a few "LED goes red and Tello switches off moments until I realised how fast I needed to work, took me 3 goes to master re-calibrating the IMU).
Never really thought about it since, but maybe it’s a bit like the DJI batteries all needing to be “woken up” from hibernation when you first get them? Also my smartcontroller is sensitive to chargers, will only charge fast on a high-output USB charger/cable combo (same if using a powerbank- I use the sort sold as being able to charge a MacAir). Not all USB chargers are equal unfortunately, similarly USB cables.
GC
Hello greycat, it’s Andrew, thanks for getting back to me, I have been trying again to get it to connect but no luck, I might try
Hello greycat, it’s Andrew thanks for getting back to me regarding my tello drone, is because the batteries haven’t been used for a while that it stays a solid red, I thought I might try a different charger to see if does charge them better as I have heard different chargers work better, what do you think, thanks again, Andrew.
Did you not see this reply above @HOURLIN2005?
It may not be good news:
Thanks you @PingSpike, Rich.
For better clarification of the Tello’s LED codes.
Here is the list of codes that may help you:
| Colour | Mode | Drone State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal State | AlternatingRed, white, green and yellowlights | Alternating flashes | Turning On and performing self-diagnostic test |
| Green | Blinking twice | Video Positioning System Available | |
| Yellow | Interval flashing | Video Positioning System Unavailable | |
| Charging State | Blue | Solid light | Battery Fully Charged |
| Blue | Blinking Slowly | Charging | |
| Blue | Blinking Quickly | Charging error | |
| (Only applies if you are inserting USB Adapter to charge drone battery) | If not, usually charges multiple Tello batteries on a multiple port charger | ||
| Warning State | Yellow | Blinking quickly | Remote Control signal lost |
| Red | Blinking Slowly | Low battery | |
| Red | Blinking Quickly | Critically low battery, almost 0% battery life | |
| Red | Solid | Critical error |
e.g. Navigation System error , Aircraft is tilt|
2 Likes
Hi Andrew, I’m not sure how you are charging your batteries, I don’t see all the codes Nidge lists below as I only charge the batteries in the little 3-gang battery charger unit (not when in the drone) and that flashes GREEN (on the charger unit) when charging, solid green once charged and yellow when waiting to charge. Only once charged do I put them in the drone.
I use the hi-output USB plug charger from my Smart Controller to charge the batteries- but only in the 3-gang charger unit. I have no idea what it would do if charging the batteries in the drone. If you have a red LED when charging in the drone Nidge is most probably right and the battery is U/S, especially if you are using the charger cable it came with…
Tello batteries are cheap enough so I suppose you could try a new battery assuming you only have the one? but no guarantee of success unfortunately, as Nidge says it could be the firmware.
GC
Hello, it’s Andrew, thanks for your help about the tello, I have managed to get it flying again, I have 3 tello batteries,. The 2 I have when I insert them onto the 3 gang charger unit stay solid red so I think that they are no good because I leave them on in the charger for quite some time and they still are solid red so I think that I will have to discard them, the other one that I have has still some power in it so what I did is put it in the tello and I did a calibration and that seems to have bought the battery back to life and now I have been able to fly it indoors tonight, but I think that the other 2 batteries have gone flat because I haven’t used them for a while, I have ordered another battery so I think now it should be alright, let me know what you think, thanks 
, Andrew