Fast Blinking Yellow lights, Solid Red Receiver Light

[surftonga]

Hello forum members: Last week I crashed my Phantom 2 V 2.0 with First Person View, and 3D Zenmuse Gimbal. Physical damage appeared limited to my Hero 4 plug and a broken propeller.

Now the Phantom powers up normally but I am unable to start motors because it now has constant a continuous fast yellow blinking lights and a solid red receiver light (I have tried to re-link to transmitter by pushing and holding receiver until it blinks but it always returns to solid red). I opened Phantom body and all components seemed connected and undamaged (but I cannot see the receiver board as it is partially covered).

I have connected to Phantom 2 Assistant and checked the following:

1) GYROSCOPE mod shows 0.1 to 0.5
2) ACCELERATION mod is .99 to 1.0
3) COMPASS mod is 760 to 790
4) I also performed an advanced calibration and got the green check indication (when I plugged in to Phantom Assistant later, it asked to re calibrate again)
5) GPS reads 0,0,0 (indoors).

My best guess is that the treceiver may be damaged and will not link to the transmitter (remote), or a possible GPS issue? Any suggestions other than replacing the transmitter board and antennas???

Many thanks for any guidance/help!

 

[J Dot]

I had a recent issue at camp Disney, with my P2v fast yellow lights,
Would not start, ect. Some kind of interference?

Have you tried booting up in a different spot?
Maybe a neighbor got new wifi or something?

I came home from no go at Disney , working fine here?
Also check batteries in controller, mine was blinking fast yellow on ground,
But if I picked it up a foot off the ground, it went to normal slow yellow!

BEWARE: mine took off on its own, at Disney, luckily I was able to grab the landing gear in time
Before it flew away, when you are testing, especially if it is acting up PROPS OFF, PROPS OFF, PROPS OFF!
We don't need any more fly a ways. Once you are comfertable it is ok, and working fine, props back on, fly on safely...

Don't know if something might be broken, or loose, but fast yellow indicates loss of signal from controller to receiver!

Hope this helps!

Take care, fly safe!

J Dot

 

[surftonga]

Thanks for input Jerry! I will try withourt props again. But doubt it is interference as I've tried in various places (2 countries) with the same result. Yes, it definitely seems to be an issue with a loss of signal from the controller to receiver.

Best!

 

[PhantomFanatic]

Welcome to the forum!!

 

[J.James]

were you are seeing the 0,0,0 for the gps in the naza assistant are you also seeing any thing else such as the firmware and hardware id number like 1.0.2 or 6.0.3 or just the 0.0.0 ?

If so then you have one of two things going on with the gps. 1 and the most hopeful is that the plug came unpluged in the crahs OR the worse case of all is if the gps busted.

I have my p2v open right now and if i unplug the gps It the firmware # and the hardware id number switches to 0.0.0 and then I get the yellow leds on the back legs. Well actually I get one yellow and one red but there is some thing wrong with the leds on one of my escs from a crash over the summer. and I always get the wrong colors on that one.

When the gps is either disconted or busted it will also not let the motors start so that it dont go and fly away to never never land or were ever it is they go when they flyway never to be seen again.


You going to have to open the shell and check the black plug on the board and pry its just that came lose. OR its a busted gps antenna which is up in the top of the shell under the gray foam/ shielding which is real common esp if it landed on its back at all. Some times you can take the gps unit out of the shell and look at the square ceramic antenna on the top of it and it will be shattered. Then there is only two options 1 you have to bust out $165 and buy a whole new gps unit OR you need to find a replacement ceramic 25x25mm gps antenna and try to resolder it in place of the busted one. and thats usually about a $5 part but dont always fix them. Im at about a 50-50 ration of any busted gps that were able to be fixed. Some times the ublox gps chip unit in them also goes and then there toast and thats a real sob to desolder in and resolder a new one in

usually bust out

 

[jason]

Hello forum members: Last week I crashed my Phantom 2 V 2.0 with First Person View, and 3D Zenmuse Gimbal. Physical damage appeared limited to my Hero 4 plug and a broken propeller.

Now the Phantom powers up normally but I am unable to start motors because it now has constant a continuous fast yellow blinking lights and a solid red receiver light (I have tried to re-link to transmitter by pushing and holding receiver until it blinks but it always returns to solid red). I opened Phantom body and all components seemed connected and undamaged (but I cannot see the receiver board as it is partially covered).

I have connected to Phantom 2 Assistant and checked the following:

1) GYROSCOPE mod shows 0.1 to 0.5
2) ACCELERATION mod is .99 to 1.0
3) COMPASS mod is 760 to 790
4) I also performed an advanced calibration and got the green check indication (when I plugged in to Phantom Assistant later, it asked to re calibrate again)
5) GPS reads 0,0,0 (indoors).

My best guess is that the treceiver may be damaged and will not link to the transmitter (remote), or a possible GPS issue? Any suggestions other than replacing the transmitter board and antennas???

Many thanks for any guidance/help!

Are those the compass reading for Y & Z If so they are high should be around -324 Y & 345 Z. Whit those 700 reading the mod reading is around 1500 - 1600 which makes calibrating the compass impossible. You may have demagnetize the compass before you can do an advance IMU calibration.

Sorry after Colin left dji the video he had on how to demagnetize the compass was removed and there have been none since.

 

[J.James]

Here is a copy of Colins video on how to fix a way messed up compass when its to out of whack to do a calibration using a magnet http://vimeo.com/103634940

This technique works but some times it can take a lot of trial and error playing around with a magnet on the compass to get it back in to a range were you can then get it to calibrate.

 

[jason]

Here is a copy of Colins video on how to fix a way messed up compass when its to out of whack to do a calibration using a magnet http://vimeo.com/103634940

This technique works but some times it can take a lot of trial and error playing around with a magnet on the compass to get it back in to a range were you can then get it to calibrate.

Thanks J.J. didn't think of looking on Vimeo. Since Colin left DJI all his videos were removed and DJI has never replace that one no how to demagnetize the compass. I lost the YouTube copy I had when my hard drive took a dump. Must upgrade my backup drive now.

 

[J.James]

I'm not surprised dji would want that one esp down being that video has saved a lot of people from having to go buy a new compass any time there's gets whacked.

 

[jason]

I'm not surprised dji would want that one esp down being that video has saved a lot of people from having to go buy a new compass any time there's gets whacked.

I don't believe that's the case. But it would be nice if DJI put up a similar video for those just starting out in this hobby understand how it works. Personally I don't do the dance each and every time I fly or change locations. If there is a problem with the compass calibration the mini iOSD will notify me with a flashing diamond icon in bottom center of my monitor. I also check the compass calibration setting while discharging my batteries in the assistant software.

 

[J.James]

lol I dont know if that's really the reason they particularly dont like that video about the compass fix. Tho I do know there standard response as well many other peoples response to a compass that needs to be degaussed is OH its broken and you need to buy a new one. Tho I really think a lot of it is DJI's techs not having as much actually experience with there products as one would assume they do. and just going threw a flow chart which is probably a lot easier then telling some one over the phone how to fix the compass. and for some people busting out $20 might be a lot easier then spending an hour with a magnet trying to fix a whacked out compass.

But it would be nice if they made more videos esp for those starting out. But the ones they do seem to have sense parting ways with Colin are now with some other guy that just covers some of the basics and who dont seem as dedicated about getting people going and in the air like colin seemed to be.


I dont do the compass dance either unless there seems to be a problem and I always check the mod values in the assistant when Im checking my battery's to. In fact I dont usually every fly any battery's will out checking them to be sure they really are o being the leds will lie if a cell falls it will say its fully charged when it could only be 1 or 2 cells that are charged. Then end up with an early auto landing a few minutes after take off. But the compass dance for some reason near were I live and one other place I fly a lot in the summer had very weird magnetic anomaly that actually screw my mod values up if i do a compass dance outside. I think its some thing in the ground esp in the one area I fly from a lot at my camp cause there is no electric lines wifi or any metal around that should be screwing any thing up but even a regular compass acts strange there to. and cheap metal detectors to. The only time I can get the compass dance to give me good mod values there is to hold it up high over my head and do it then I plug in to my laptop to check.

 

[surftonga]

Thanks so much Jason and James for your time! The readings were from the Phantom 2 assistant. I have thoroughly inspected the hardware and nothing seems damaged in the shell and all plugs seemed intact. I originally had all four lights flashing fast yellow so thought was the receiver. But I did not peel the grey pad off the top of the shell to inspect the GPS unit.

I gave up on doing myself and have sent the phantom 2 back to Drones Made Easy, where I purchased. The staff said they thought may be the GPS. As a new flyer, I'm not confident in doing myself.

Again appreciate your help!

Rod

 

[J.James]

Well if you were able to send it in. Thats a lot better then if you had to replace the gps your self. Technically speaking just taking out the GPS unit and replacing it with a new one is fairly easy if you happen to have a very small philips screw driver to get them 4 tiny screws out. But its one of the most expensive parts there is to replace and some times unless the ceramic part on top is is shattered and obviously visibly broken it can be hard to know for sure if its working or not with out either having another phantom to plug it in to or having another gps unit to plug in to see if a new one fixes the problem. Which not every one has extra parts or an extra phantom laying around intill they are in the more advanced stages of drone addiction. lol

 

[jason]

lol I dont know if that's really the reason they particularly dont like that video about the compass fix. Tho I do know there standard response as well many other peoples response to a compass that needs to be degaussed is OH its broken and you need to buy a new one. Tho I really think a lot of it is DJI's techs not having as much actually experience with there products as one would assume they do. and just going threw a flow chart which is probably a lot easier then telling some one over the phone how to fix the compass. and for some people busting out $20 might be a lot easier then spending an hour with a magnet trying to fix a whacked out compass.

But it would be nice if they made more videos esp for those starting out. But the ones they do seem to have sense parting ways with Colin are now with some other guy that just covers some of the basics and who dont seem as dedicated about getting people going and in the air like colin seemed to be.


I dont do the compass dance either unless there seems to be a problem and I always check the mod values in the assistant when Im checking my battery's to. In fact I dont usually every fly any battery's will out checking them to be sure they really are o being the leds will lie if a cell falls it will say its fully charged when it could only be 1 or 2 cells that are charged. Then end up with an early auto landing a few minutes after take off. But the compass dance for some reason near were I live and one other place I fly a lot in the summer had very weird magnetic anomaly that actually screw my mod values up if i do a compass dance outside. I think its some thing in the ground esp in the one area I fly from a lot at my camp cause there is no electric lines wifi or any metal around that should be screwing any thing up but even a regular compass acts strange there to. and cheap metal detectors to. The only time I can get the compass dance to give me good mod values there is to hold it up high over my head and do it then I plug in to my laptop to check.

I not only use the assistant software to check the system but also to discharge my batteries to 8% or 10.6 v before recharging them. For one thing it doesn't take that long to discharge them and if you're doing something else on the computer you monitor the batteries progress while editing footage.

I some times fly in my backyard where there are primary high voltage lines running east/west and north/south below that are the secondary lines. Then there are cable and phone line non of which bother the P2 except when you fly into them and since depth perception is a problem when flying even with a monitor or goggles its best to stay clear or above them.