DJI P3S disconnect anomoly

[Papadawg766]

Just purchased a refurbished DJI Phantom 3 Standard from Amazon Prime that arrived last week. Already having problems with "disconnect" issues which show up intermittently. I installed the firmware update as required prior to the first flight. Read today that my 60'X40' steel building might be causing interference with the aircraft transmitter. I have owned a few "toy" quadcopters in the last couple of years and have had no problem with them, but when I got a bigger drone from another company it failed on the first flight and after replacing it with one that also failed decided to go with DJI P3S and am glad I did as it flies perfectly, records excellent video and pictures but is having this recurrent disconnect problem that is more annoying than a problem. Have contacted DJI Tech support and am awaiting answer, however if anyone out there knows what is causing this and how I can correct it, I would appreciate the input. I know that teaching old dawgs new trix is sometimes difficult but not impossible!

 

[RodPad]

Welcome to the forum!

Please stay on this thread for your problem, why?
Because everybody tends to leave clues of there problem in different threads, us that try to help, have to search your history.

"I get intermittent "disconnected" and "signal weak" on each and every flight."

"I have gone a quarter mile away from my metal barn and still get the same result. Irritating to say the least!"

"I have only lost control once, and when that happened the aircraft landed at that spot which was close to the steel building."

#1 Lost control, what happen, message on screen?, you landed it, or it landed itself?
#2 Disconnected, try's to RTH, or you loose video and or Telemetry?

Rod

 

[RodPad]

Load up your flight from your mobile device to this websight.
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Copy and paste the url here.
It may have some clues.

Rod

 

[RodPad]

The post you had replied to "The magnetic interference will cause the drone to lose signal"
Disconnected
Has nothing to do with your problem, and is incorrect.

Metal building will block your signal, but is not creating interference, and it has been said more that 10' or away from a metal object is usually enough not to mess up the compass.

Rod

 

[RodPad]

"I installed the firmware update as required prior to the first flight."
You are not required, it just says that.

I have had to send in two P3S do to firmware causing weak remote control signal, and disconnects and the unit does a RTH. If its working correctly in clean air it will do what the box says, if you can't go 200' up 200' away send the unit back.

Couple of past threads..
Standard - RC Signal Loss at Only 100 Feet
Phantom 3 standard Rc signal lost

Here was some others, this book mark list has doubled.
Terrible signal performance

Your turn.
Need some details from you.

Rod

 

[Papadawg766]

"I installed the firmware update as required prior to the first flight."
You are not required, it just says that.

I have had to send in two P3S do to firmware causing weak remote control signal, and disconnects and the unit does a RTH. If its working correctly in clean air it will do what the box says, if you can't go 200' up 200' away send the unit back.

Couple of past threads..
Standard - RC Signal Loss at Only 100 Feet
Phantom 3 standard Rc signal lost

Here was some others, this book mark list has doubled.
Terrible signal performance

Your turn.
Need some details from you.

Rod

Okay, here are the details; in the DJI GO app when drone and controller are on and Camera is enabled I get the message in red at the top of the frame that the signal is weak and then it will say disconnected in grey, then it will turn green and say it is good to fly, and this continues to happen every few minutes (but flight controls are not affected). This happens even when the drone is in the air. My guess, and that is all it is - just an uneducated guess, is either I have a faulty transmitter in the drone or in the controller or both. If DJI tech tells me how to replace those transmitters I could probably do that as I have built and repaired some digital equipment in the past and do still have most of my tools for that sort of thing. However, if I am advised by DJI tech to return it, then I will send it back to Amazon Prime and exchange it for another one. Another disturbing problem is that the DJI GO app causes my cellphone to get EXTREMELY hot when it is enabled and hooked up to the drone. I have an Android cellphone, a LG G3 I got through Verizon Wireless (this is unusual since I am of the generation of rotary dial telephones and only got a "smart" phone so I could keep in touch with Grandkids via texting). Yes, I am an old dawg, but I ain't dead yet and have no intention of doing so anytime soon.

 

[120CCPM]

About the phone getting hot: try putting it in airplane mode (you will have to turn WiFi back on, to connect to the RC). Also, you might want to uncheck the option to cache videos locally. Finally, close as many apps as you can, so that only GO is running.

As for the intermittent warnings, you might have a faulty unit, but make sure to keep the RC pointed toward the AC: the WiFi patch antennas (two of them) are inside the RC, to the left and right of the external antenna (which is for the 5.8GHz control signal and should be kept more or less vertical to the ground, NOT pointing straight toward the AC).

 

[BourgeoisSJC]

Disconnected in grey?? That message tells you you have lost connection between your mobile and your RC not between RC and drone. You confirm this in you post above by stating you can still control your drone when you get the Disconnect message. Loss of connection between the RC and Drone and you would get "Signal Lost" message. The fact your mobile is getting hot raises my suspicion there is something awry with this device. What model is it? Is it a device on the DJI approved list??

 

[RodPad]

"That message tells you you have lost connection between your mobile and your RC not between RC and drone."
Correct but can be misleading?

Lost incoming connection from the Phantom to the remote, The mobile is still connected to the Remote. The remote is still transmitting to the Phantom.

Unless I'm missing something?

Rod

 

[RodPad]

@Papadawg766,
At this point, as far as I can tell, you do not have the same problem as the links I shared.
I had started book marks on the issues related to losing video and telemetry, but I didn't keep on it, and think it was on my garage computer and don't recall which browser.

A simple search:
Search Results for Query: loosing image | DJI Phantom Drone Forum

"I have only lost control once, and when that happened the aircraft landed at that spot which was close to the steel building."
#1 Lost control, what happen, message on screen?, you landed it, or it landed itself?

Couple threads on remote signals, frequencies

Question about Radio, uplink, downlink, frequency, & telemetry
Lost signal (but not really)

Let us know what you come up with.

Rod

 

[120CCPM]

"That message tells you you have lost connection between your mobile and your RC not between RC and drone."
Correct but can be misleading?

Lost incoming connection from the Phantom to the remote, The mobile is still connected to the Remote. The remote is still transmitting to the Phantom.

Unless I'm missing something?

Rod

I think @BourgeoisSJC was saying that the grey "Disconnected" message appears when DJI GO loses connection with the RC (for example if you turn off the RC while connected), not when the RC loses connection with the AC. I'm not near my P3S to confirm that, but his point is: if that is what happens, then maybe the problem lies with the mobile device.
The OP was also reporting some "Signal Weak" warnings at short range, hence my previous response about proper antenna / RC orientation.

EDIT: originally attributed the quote to @Papadawg766 when it was from @BourgeoisSJC

 

[RodPad]

I think @Papadawg766 was saying that the grey "Disconnected" message appears when DJI GO loses connection with the RC (for example if you turn off the RC while connected), not when the RC loses connection with the AC. I'm not near my P3S to confirm that, but his point is: if that is what happens, then maybe the problem lies with the mobile device.
The OP was also reporting some "Signal Weak" warnings at short range, hence my previous response about proper antenna / RC orientation.

You and @BourgeoisSJC are probably correct, there is just to many general terms that keep us all confused.

Rod

 

[Macphreak4evr]

go to some large graveyard and fly there, very little interference at these locations, if it works great, you know your problem

 

[RodPad]

Yes, Phantoms and Graveyards

Rod

 

[RodPad]

Hum, for the rest of you that want to try to help out @Papadawg766 with this problem, he has failed to end his original thread with the fix and started a new thread.

Standard - Intermittent disconnect issue solved

If actually the simple Rc relink solved it, I will be surprised.

Rod

 

[120CCPM]

Disconnected in grey?? That message tells you you have lost connection between your mobile and your RC not between RC and drone. You confirm this in you post above by stating you can still control your drone when you get the Disconnect message. Loss of connection between the RC and Drone and you would get "Signal Lost" message. The fact your mobile is getting hot raises my suspicion there is something awry with this device. What model is it? Is it a device on the DJI approved list??

I know this problem has been resolved (by the way, @Papadawg766 should have reported the solution here, not elsewhere...) but since I had a chance to do a quick test: you get a grey "Disconnected" message if GO loses connection with the RC (I tested it by turning the RC off while connected), but you also get it when the RC loses connection with the AC (I tested it by turning off the AC while connected). I just wanted to set the record straight, as what @BourgeoisSJC stated does not seem completely correct from my observations.

 

[Macphreak4evr]

hey i had a crazy issue in my other threads that the P3s did not like iPhones, i had to F with firmware downgrades back to .79 then its been fantastic. so who knows, these things are finicky.

 

[RodPad]

I know this problem has been resolved (by the way, @Papadawg766 should have reported the solution here, not elsewhere...) but since I had a chance to do a quick test: you get a grey "Disconnected" message if GO loses connection with the RC (I tested it by turning the RC off while connected), but you also get it when the RC loses connection with the AC (I tested it by turning off the AC while connected). I just wanted to set the record straight, as what @BourgeoisSJC stated does not seem completely correct from my observations.

Thanks for your testing, this stuff is so confusing, we need a spread sheet to make and save our observations.

Rod

 

[BourgeoisSJC]

I know this problem has been resolved (by the way, @Papadawg766 should have reported the solution here, not elsewhere...) but since I had a chance to do a quick test: you get a grey "Disconnected" message if GO loses connection with the RC (I tested it by turning the RC off while connected), but you also get it when the RC loses connection with the AC (I tested it by turning off the AC while connected). I just wanted to set the record straight, as what @BourgeoisSJC stated does not seem completely correct from my observations.

I stand corrected Sort of

Using DJI-Go app, just as 120CCPM says above
Using Litchi, just as I said above.

I have to say, Litchi messages make more sense or are more informative.. Losing connection between app and and RC is very different than losing connection between AC and RC. The former tells me I can still control the AC whereas the latter I should pray the bird will come home on its own

 

[RadRocket]

Just had a similar issue, flew my P3s out to max range over a golf course. Wifi started to break up then signal loss which I was expecting.
However, before RTH kicked in I got " disconnected" all in gray. I toggled the left switch and got a brief connection and was lucky enough
to confirm RTH was activated. Then "disconnected" again followed by an App crash. So, now I'm scared and not knowing if it's the best thing to do I restart the App and it actually connected and completed the RTH.
I'm thinking "disconnected" may come from losing the combination of 2.4 ghz and 5.8 ghz to the Air Craft simultaneously.