Icarus for latest firmware
- Thread starter Olsen Petrus
- Start date
I took my P3S on a European vacation and quickly ran into the limitations of the CE power mode, so I got Icarus. Couple notes (I'm on the latest 1.09.200 firmware):
- after installing Icarus on my Android tablet and making sure it could connect to the P3S network (which it did, right away), I set the AC/RC power levels to 27dBm (default settings) but decided not to enable Telnet, as I was trying the less-intrusive route. The patching process failed on the AC side with a checksum error and a rather scary message, on the tunes of "things didn't go as planned, your equipment could be in an unusable state, do not turn it off or it might never recover". So, without turning anything off, I retried with the Telnet option enabled, and this time Icarus was able to do its job and patch correctly both AC and RC.
- after rebooting (as required), DJI GO gave me tons of warnings about poor video feed, even with the AC a couple meters away. I then realized that by default - again, I believe on the AC side - the power level was set to "limit", so I toggled that to "fixed" (this whole thing is very poorly documented, but I have read about it here on this forum so I was a bit prepared) and at that point the warnings disappeared and everything seemed to work as it should.
- video feed, from that point on, was good and never had an issue with it
- unfortunately, Icarus does nothing for the 5.8GHz control signal (same for Magic Power, they only work on the 2.4GHz side) and that turned out being a limitation, as I struggled to send the AC more than 600m away from me, even with a windsurfer.
Long story short: Icarus does what it promises and it's still worth the $5 they ask, but it would be perfect if they could find a way to bump the 5.8GHz control signal, at least to FCC levels.
- after installing Icarus on my Android tablet and making sure it could connect to the P3S network (which it did, right away), I set the AC/RC power levels to 27dBm (default settings) but decided not to enable Telnet, as I was trying the less-intrusive route. The patching process failed on the AC side with a checksum error and a rather scary message, on the tunes of "things didn't go as planned, your equipment could be in an unusable state, do not turn it off or it might never recover". So, without turning anything off, I retried with the Telnet option enabled, and this time Icarus was able to do its job and patch correctly both AC and RC.
- after rebooting (as required), DJI GO gave me tons of warnings about poor video feed, even with the AC a couple meters away. I then realized that by default - again, I believe on the AC side - the power level was set to "limit", so I toggled that to "fixed" (this whole thing is very poorly documented, but I have read about it here on this forum so I was a bit prepared) and at that point the warnings disappeared and everything seemed to work as it should.
- video feed, from that point on, was good and never had an issue with it
- unfortunately, Icarus does nothing for the 5.8GHz control signal (same for Magic Power, they only work on the 2.4GHz side) and that turned out being a limitation, as I struggled to send the AC more than 600m away from me, even with a windsurfer.
Long story short: Icarus does what it promises and it's still worth the $5 they ask, but it would be perfect if they could find a way to bump the 5.8GHz control signal, at least to FCC levels.
Last edited:
Going to try the app today.When you use Icarus is it just the remote you power on to apply patches or the remote and drone too.Also,whats the best wifi channel to set it on,it shows 6 now.
Last edited:
RC and AC.
Best channel is the one less crowded... you can use a WiFi analyzer to figure out which one it is.
Thanks for the lesson.
I just installed Icarus on my Android tablet. Everything went as expected. I did toggle from limit to fixed. Not sure what the differance is. An explanation would be great. I was able to connect to DJI GO in both limit and fixed modes, no problem, no warnings. To hot now in Vegas to test. Will give it a try in the morning.
Thanks again...
I just installed Icarus on my Android tablet. Everything went as expected. I did toggle from limit to fixed. Not sure what the differance is. An explanation would be great. I was able to connect to DJI GO in both limit and fixed modes, no problem, no warnings. To hot now in Vegas to test. Will give it a try in the morning.
Thanks again...
Fixed vs Limit... best explanation I could find was this post: Icarus for Phantom 3S
Maybe the warnings I was getting were completely unrelated to this fixed/limit thing, but certainly they stopped once I switched to Fixed (and that was the only variable that changed).
Not sure if Icarus would do anything - range-wise - if you're in the US, as on this side of the pond we're already enjoying higher power levels than CE...
Just reading the thread I couldn't help but be reminded of the Craig Ferguson - Late Late Show several years ago when they had a running gag through the program between Craig and Geoff the Robot..... "Careful Icarus".
Check it Out on You Tube
Check it Out on You Tube
Im in Fl with a P3S and Icarus increased my output as observed with an Immersion RF watt meter I have. For some reason mine was only +17dbm / 50mw and increased to 20dbm/100mw with Icarus.
Maybe by default the RC doesn't go full power unless needed (similar to the "limit" mode explain above). Watt readings aside, did you notice any actual improvement after you installed Icarus, being in US (Florida)?
Haven't had the guts to max range test only because I have read all the mishaps on this forum. I'm a RF engineer by trade so I wanted to make sure the AC performed to specs RF wise (with all the conjecture there is out there). I started with a P2V+ and still have it. Darn glad I still have it too. My P2V+ 2.4ghz both ports are 400mw/ +26dbm each and the 5.8ghz AC control output is 50mw/17dbm unlike my P3S's 2.4ghz output only 25mw/14dbm and 5.8ghz AC control signal only 5mw/7dbm. I suspect DJI was feeling the heat so drastically reduced the rage capabilities of the P3S their low line model. Why not their higher line models? AGAIN THE LITTLE GUY GETS THE SHAFT.
Last edited:
Is anyone having a problem in changing the wifi ch.I have been trying to get it to stick on ch 11,the app reports it on 11,I run wi-fi analyzer and it shows ch 11.Turn off the RC and back on and it reverts back to ch 6 where it was originally..Is there any special way in making it stick on the ch you choose in the app.
You keep repeating the same thing, comparing your RF readings with DJI specs, but you keep avoiding the fundamental question: are you having range issues with your P3S? How far can you go? What gives up first, video feed or control?
Guess the other guy in another post of mine has a good point. Ill just go for it in spite of all the strong interference warnings. Id feel better if I had the extra RF power to over ride the interference like my P2V+ does.
