Losing FPV from PV2+

[diverjeb]

Hello all-
Just joined the forum today. Been flying the PV2+ for almost a year with no issues at all. Usually connected to my iphone 4S but just upgraded to the 5S and possibly coincidentally I began having issues with video feed freezing up and "phantom connection lost" coming up on the screen while still being able to control the Phantom.

Thought it was a phone issue so I switched back to the 4S and same thing again. Intermittent loss of signal, sometimes permanent. I found that if I shut the phone off and restart it I would get signal from the Phantom again but a big PITA while in flight and thank god for return to home feature or it would have been lost several times over.

I thought it might have been interference from other wifi sources but not possible in the remote areas I fly.

I decided to go with a stage 2 upgrade but still, the problem exists. I lose FPV but the Phantom controls are still operable (now with extended range!)

If anyone has experienced this or has a fix it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[flyNfrank]

You been flying your vPlus for almost a year now?

What altitude & distance are you when you experience this problem?

 

[burlbark]

You may be experiencing the "wifi module failure". I did allot of research on this and there is more to come.

How long have you been flying your Vision 2+?

 

[diverjeb]

You may be experiencing the "wifi module failure". I did allot of research on this and there is more to come.

How long have you been flying your Vision 2+?

Over 1000 flights on my PV2+ and it only started recently. Altitude and distance are NOT a factor. It can happen at 10 feet or 1000. Orientation of the UAV are also not important as it happens when it wants to happen. I was hopint that it wasn't a wifi module as they are just under $200 but it seems that it has to be replaced. I see others have had the same issues.

 

[RichWest]

I would first check your antenna connections; bird and extender. Not that they pop off on their own, but found a loose connection in the bird when first trouble shooting my FPV issue.

Curious, what has your temperature been during your flights?

 

[Meta4]

Something else to eliminate is the grey cables that pass in front of the battery on their way to the gimbal.
I had an intermittent problem that made no sense till I checked and found that the cables were in a position that allowed them to be pinched when I slid the battery in. Close examination showed damage and replacing the cable fixed it.

 

[TheOperator]

I've been getting this issue off and on myself. Sometimes the FPV just gets blurry. Maybe 2/3 of the screen just looks smeared. But there are usually patches of the screen that still vaguely show what it's supposed to show.

Does this sound like the wifi issue?

 

[burlbark]

I've been getting this issue off and on myself. Sometimes the FPV just gets blurry. Maybe 2/3 of the screen just looks smeared. But there are usually patches of the screen that still vaguely show what it's supposed to show.

Does this sound like the wifi issue?

How long does it take before it get blurry? If it takes 5 minutes or so you may still be able to save most of your range with internally heatsinking the wifi module.

 

[TheOperator]

It takes a few minutes, maybe 5-8? It did it the last time I flew but it had been quite some time since it had happened before that.

Until I started browsing this forum more, I thought it was some kind of wifi interference. I have seen your thread about heatsinking it. What shims do you recommend? I'd like to look into doing this soon.

Thanks!

 

[burlbark]

It takes a few minutes, maybe 5-8? It did it the last time I flew but it had been quite some time since it had happened before that.

Until I started browsing this forum more, I thought it was some kind of wifi interference. I have seen your thread about heatsinking it. What shims do you recommend? I'd like to look into doing this soon.

Thanks!

After I did further testing I found that arctic silver performed just as well without shims in place. I tried a couple different thermal pads and arctic silver performed better than any I tested and that included spanning gaps.