Camera and connection problem

[redrick]

Hello everyone,
I've been reading up allot lately, and greatly appreciate all of the info and help that I have gotten from everyone already.

I've had my phantom 2 vision for about two weeks now and have had 2 successful flights with no issues.
Today feeling more comfortable and looking forward to another flight I ran into a problem. I powered everything on and was un-able to connect to the CAMERA through the vision app.

I tried power cycling the entire system. (Tx, wifi extender, camera and phantom) a few times with no luck. My phone connects to the rang extender with no problem. When I try to connect to the camera through the app it comes up with an error message "unable to connect to phantom 2 vision". I attempted to re-bind the wifi extender to see if that made a difference, and it did not.

So I believe that I isolated the problem to the phantoms camera itself. When powering on the phantom and with the power switch on the camera switched to on /on wifi I do not get any type of status light from camera. And I can't say that even with my successful flights I ever noticed a status light on the camera. I've checked the plug going into the camera and re seated it several times also without any luck. Maybe the camera for whatever reason is no longer being powered from the plug? I'll have to check with a volt meter Monday.

Does anyone actually get a status light from the camera? I've seen a few YouTube videos that don't seem to have a light on the camera either.
And does anyone have any suggestions for me to get this thing working?
Extremely frustrating since it was working so well and then all of a sudden nothing....

Appreciate any help
-Rick

I even tried pressing the camera shutter button on the bottom of the camera to see if it would do anything and no luck.

 

[Richhealth]

Hey Rick, when the camera is in the on position, or the wifi on position, the light just above the plug inlet, goes from orange (for a quick second)to a solid green. So if your not seeing the light, sounds like the camera isn't getting power . I'd make sure there isn't some sort of debree inside the camera plug or on the contacts, (worth mentioning, though I have a feeling youve already done so) Good luck,

Rich

 

[redrick]

Rich,
Thanks for the reply and the suggestion.
I did originally check the connection hole, but didn't have good lighting so I just went and checked again with a flashlight. It looks clean as a whistle and contacts are all shinny and corrosion free.

Thanks for also confirming the camera status light. My camera status light does not come on at all in on or wifi on.

An interesting thing I noticed today was with the range extender on and connected to my phone with the Vision app open the camera option (within the app itself) was greyed out. This was with the power to the Pv turned off (so camera is powered off). When I power on the Pv (camera now powered on as well) the camera option with the app on my phone is no longer greyed out and is able to be selected. However when you select it, it still says un able to connect, and still no status light on the camera.

Some type of communication must be taking place since the app populates, however there is still no connection or signs of life from the camera.
I've been going back and forth with the vendor to hopefully get a replacement sent out.

 

[phantomman]

You need to bind the wireless range extender to the camera. This is done in the settings/ binding menu.

Its relatively straightforward - you need the QR code from your box. (And if you don't have that send your dealer the serial number off the top of the camera and he can send that to DJI who will send back a new QR code).

All the best

Simon

 

[AHill]

You need to bind the wireless range extender to the camera.

I don't think it is the binding. I just turned on my Phantom with the range extender and transmitter turned off and with camera switch on Wi-Fi; the camera light was orange for a second and them went to green. It appears to be a problem of power not getting to camera.

 

[redrick]

Simon thanks for your suggestion as well.

I have gone through the reset and binding process a few times hoping that this would do the trick.
After resetting the wireless extender and re binding with the app/qr code the camera is still dead.

 

[iDrone]

We all know how frustrating not being able to fly & fully enjoy the PV is, so I thought I'd run a few tests to see what results we might get:

1) As mentioned by others when you first boot up, the LED on the back of the camera glows orange for a split-second then turns solid green (later as you access the microSD card, it'll blink).

2) The gimbal will reset & move to mid-tilt position.

3) The miniature cooling fan inside the camera head (yes it has one) will startup. If you listen closely, you'll be able to hear it blowing & feel it's exhaust coming out the top vent of the camera. FYI, the sound of the fan is distinct and different from the sound of the gimbal servo holding its position.

4) If I disconnect the camera connector, boot up the PV and search for the range extender's Wi-Fi address on my iPhone, i'll see Phantom_xxxx eventually appear. If I try to connect to it, the iPhone will report "unable to connect to Phantom_xxxx". After a while (less than a minute) Phantom_xxxx will disappear from the list.

I believe this is because the range extender is unable to establish a link with the Phantom's Wi-Fi as the PV's antenna is located in the bottom of the camera (plug disconnected), so the range extender eventually gives up and turns off its own Wi-Fi address which then drops from the list.)

5) On one strange occasion I was able to connect to "Phantom_xxxx" with the camera plug disconnected. When I opened the DJI app "Phantom_xxxx" appeared at the top of the screen with a green indicator, however when I tried to open camera I got the same error you did: "Unable to connect to Phantom Vision 2".

I'm not sure how useful any of this information is to you, but hopefully it will give you a sense of "what's working & what's not" and where to go from here.

iDrone

 

[Studiowise]

ASIDE: my camera unit now sings a higher pitched tune since V1.05 - 200mhz i assume

 

[redrick]

Idrone,
Thanks for your comprehensive list of things to check and understand.

As I mentioned before i am not getting any kind of status light indication out of the Pv camera. I have checked several times power cycling the Pv and the camera on/off switch itself....no status light.

The servo/gimbal that controls the camera tilt seems to be working correctly. When powering on the Pv it moves the camera to its neutral position, and furthermore it operates and moves the camera if you tilt the pv back and forth as it should.

I am familiar with the high pitched noise that comes from the fan in the camera, the fan does not seem to be working either.... No noise and no exhaust coming from the vent.

And I am still experiencing the same app/range extender/camera error messages that I talked about in the above post.
From everyone's suggestions and my own test, everything seems to be pointing at a dead camera.

I'm curious if anyone knows if the servo/gimbal is powered from the camera plug or gets it power from its own plug. I'll start another thread for this..

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.
I now have a replacement Pv on its way.

 

[urgno]

servo/gimbal get power from the bottom of phantom
not from the camera jack plug

 

[Sidewinder]

Having the same problem. Camera worked for one short flight and hasn't come on since. Never was able to connect without 7-8 attempts, lost connection etc. Two weeks ... worked once. Been on the phone with distributor numerous times and they finally told me to e-mail DJI and get a return authorization. So far haven't heard a peep from DJI. This has been a real PITA experience.

Got two Blades both worked right out of the box and never acted up. like the QX 350 A BUNCH. Thought I'd like this phantom but it just sits there mocking me and my long gone $1200 bucks. Every time I look at that thing sitting on the work bench I begin to fry.

As I told the Distributor ... the camera's not getting power. I'm not going to take a new product apart and risk voiding any warranty. Make it right. Give me a new machine, fix this one as new or send my $$ back. At no additional cost to me.

as a side note, they should do something for all the trouble they've put me through. like one of them $160 dollar ...... $50 dollar batteries or something. Because, .... doing any further business with DJi and Distributor depends on how this is resolved.

I haven't been able to fly it enough to see if the battery problem shows up as at this time I have ZERO confidence in this machine.

 

[Dcarter]

Rick - what type of phone are you using to connect to the PV2?

D

 

[redrick]

Sidewinder glad to hear I'm not the only one that is having this problem. Much like you I only had one flight and haven't had a chance for the invalid battery problem to show up.

I have also heard a few people stating that whoever the purchased the Pv from are asking for the you the customer to get return authorization from DJI. Thankfully the vendor that I purchased mine from asked me a few general troubleshooting problems and then apologized for the problems and issued a replacement and even upgraded the replacement to express shipping, can't ask for much more from the vendor not their fault.

And i have tried 3 different devices to connect to the Pv. My personal iPhone 5s (which worked great for the first flight), my ipad 3 generation with lte (also had success in connecting prior to my first flight) and then i tried my friends android phone (galaxy something not sure of exact model) thinking maybe on some weird chance it wouldn't connect to an iOS devices. No luck with any of the 3, all acted the same way when trying to connect ...

 

[Sidewinder]

My connection problems were from the first attempt. It would log on with the phantom then just about the time I got back to open the camera it would sever the connection. It would take as many as 10 attempts to get connected. The one flight I had, it took about 4 minutes to get the camera to operate. It worked flawlessly for about 10 minutes then never worked again. No light on the camera ... nada. when connected to the computer and running Phantom Assistant it does not see a camera.

All this coupled with them shipping without access to IOC and the Battery fault problem have just about burned me out on DJI and the vendor. What vendor did you use that gave you a prompt return authorization? That convinces me that I've been given the run around ....... (and the blood pressure rises).

I did send the e-mail the DJI us.support over the weekend but have yet to get any response.

Still having a lot of fun with my other quads but every time I return to the work bench to charge up batteries I see that $1200 brick sitting there and start fuming again. LOL

 

[urgno]

at least you can watch it in one piece ... mine falled from sky and broke so i'm fuming too :evil:

 

[redrick]

I'm dealing with B and H.
They have always been excellent to deal with if any problems arise. I have bought allot of equipment off of them over the years. And being located in PA It takes forever to get shipments from all the west coast companies. B and h is in NY and I typically get stuff a day or two at most after I order with ground shipping.

 

[Sidewinder]

After about two weeks of dealing with DroneFly they called and gave me an email address for DJI US support and said to write and describe the problems to them. I did. This is the reply to a lengthy letter describing the problems in detail.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Dan,

Please kindly upgrade the firmware of the Phantom 2 Vision by a new version assistant software.
Should you have iPhone 5S, please kindly us it to test the APP for Phantom 2 Vision.
If you need more help, please kindly let me know.

Thank you,
Dealer Technical Support | DJI | http://www.dji.com

In the letter I described the fact that I had ALL the upgrades and that the camera was recieving NO power.

Here's my reply.
From the screen shot you can see that the Assistant software doesn't even see the camera ..... That's because the **** thing isn't working. It gets NO power. I know they deal with plenty of people that have no clue about these kind of things but dad-gum-it I've told them over and over the camera's not powering up. How much more can a consumer do. It's probably a bad solder or loose connection but I'm not about to crack the case to fix a brand new machine. Besides if I did they'd probable say I voided the warranty.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have all the latest software upgrades and have gone through this numerous times with Trent at DroneFly.com……
Below are screen shots from the vision assistant.

As you can see all this is up to date. The software see everything but the camera. The CAMERA IS NOT WORKING. There is no indication of power getting to the camera. There IS power to the gimble and the gimble works but no indication of power getting to the camera. There is an SD card inserted.

NO POWER TO THE CAMERA …… SD CARD OR NOT. It makes no difference what position the camera switch is in, either simply on or in wifi position THE CAMERA GETS NO POWER….. IT DOES NOT WORK.

ADDITIONALLY: I do not possess an Iphone I use a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. When I first received the PV I logged onto the camera and it functioned, however, it kept loosing connection. I disabled my home router thinking that was a problem. NO CHANGE. I went into the field away from any wifi I have ever used an after 10-15 attempts over 5 minutes I was able to maintain a connection to the camera. I flew the Phantom about 10 minutes (all batteries and accessories were fully charged) and lost the connection. So, I landed and never got another connection to the camera since. That was TWO WEEKS ago. TWO WEEKS! I have been trying to rectify this problem ever since.

Please do the right thing and replace this POS or give me my money back! Sorry for the bad attitude but I get the feeling I’m getting the run around about your new “product”.

The labels on the Phantom and the controller have a place for the serial number. Neither have a serial number fixed to the label. There is a QR code on the box along with the QR code.



NUMBERS ON THE HARDWARE:
CAMERA ---- AJ221845354582
RANGE EXTENDER - AJ250906399433 MAC – 60:60:1F:10:10:CF SSID – PHANTOM_1010CF
CONTROLLER BAR CODE - PT635716467 V 1.4
PHANTOM BAR CODE – PH635716467 V 1.4
NUMBERS ON THE BOX
CAMERA ---- AJ221845354582
RANGE EXTENDER - AJ250906399433
PHANTOM S/N: AG112242325769
Below are latest screen shots from Phantom Assistant.

 

[mitchsden]

Sorry to hear about your problems with the camera connection.

Just looked at a screen shot from my Vision from the other day, and the
camera does not show up in the assistant software. I think the camera/version only
shows in the App.

I expect you have already done so, but you could delete and re-install the app
on your Galaxy 3 to see if it makes any difference.

 

[Sidewinder]

Thanks, Mitchsden

Yep, already did that but hey, won't hurt to try again. Alas, I fear the camera is simply DOA.

 

[Sidewinder]

at least you can watch it in one piece ... mine falled from sky and broke so i'm fuming too :evil:

Man, sorry to hear that. I suspect you are not alone but that doesn't help when you take your bird home in pieces.

Document everything including saving any film or captured telemetry information. You might need it.