New P3P new cooling fan on 4K camera

[KyleMaxxUAV]

Got rid of my P3A ans I just got a p3p today! It has new revision of motors, shell with the x-bracing under the motors, large vents (I think), and I just noticed that the fan on the camera looks different from all the photos I have seen online. Anyone care to chime in?

Also any recommendations in regards to stopping the shell from cracking ? Or has that been rectified on the latest batch of shells?

I have been searching & reading but haven't really found definitive answers.

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[micosqwrll]

My Phantom 3 Pro has that same fan also. Also has the upgraded motors and the shell is fine.

 

[KyleMaxxUAV]

Have you loosened the screws and then hand torqued them or anything like that?


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[KyleMaxxUAV]

No one else with any info regarding the new shell cracking


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[Davphys]

Just wondering- how did you get rid of your P3A?

 

[KyleMaxxUAV]

Sold it ? Why do you ask


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[Davphys]

Curious as to how much of a loss someone would take for just 4K video.

 

[KyleMaxxUAV]

I got it through a friends and fam sale and sold it for what I had paid so I came out clean. Otherwise I would have stuck with the P3A


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[deuter]

I got it through a friends and fam sale and sold it for what I had paid so I came out clean. Otherwise I would have stuck with the P3A


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Seems like you didn't like the P3A


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[KyleMaxxUAV]

It's not that I didn't like the Advanced, it just seems the more I read the less sense it made for me personally to keep it over the pro.
Lower live stream bandwidth 2mb down vs 10mb down on the pro
The pro has a dedicated processing chip that handles recording pictures and video rather than the shared chip on the advanced
Better charger on the pro
Etc




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[Andy Boyd]

It's not that I didn't like the Advanced, it just seems the more I read the less sense it made for me personally to keep it over the pro.
Lower live stream bandwidth 2mb down vs 10mb down on the pro
The pro has a dedicated processing chip that handles recording pictures and video rather than the shared chip on the advanced
Better charger on the pro
Etc


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That's really interesting.
I damaged the gymbal on my P3A last week and decided to use that as an excuse for a complete camera replacement.
I believed that if I put a 4k camera on it then I would effectively have a P3P.
So I am hoping that dedicated processing chip vs shared chip you mention is on the video board that gets swapped out with the camera, and not the main board.
Do you know?

And that 5x improvement in live streaming bandwidth, I doubt if I get that from just swapping the camera and its circuit?
I've not seen any problem with video rate on the P3A displaying on an Ipad Mini, but for anyone live streaming to Youtube I guess it could be important.

 

[bbfpv]

Do you know?

Camera

And that 5x improvement in live streaming bandwidth, I doubt if I get that from just swapping the camera and its circuit?

That'd be the Lightbridge module, located in the VPS box behind the camera, so no.

 

[KyleMaxxUAV]

I'm 90% sure that if you put the pro camera on an advanced it turns it into a pro: firmware updates for the pro/ etc.

the chip is definitely on the camera .. Phantom 3 4k camera dissasembled - Phantom Guide
The 4K has 2 chips that the advanced is missing

So you should effectively have a pro with silver stickers


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[KyleMaxxUAV]

Camera

That'd be the Lightbridge module, located in the VPS box behind the camera, so no.

What makes you think that the lightbridge module is different ?? Just wondering ?

I'm almost sure they are the same part # etc and it's the camera that throttles the bandwidth due to lack of cooling & dsp chips


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[bbfpv]

What makes you think that the lightbridge module is different ?? Just wondering ?

I'm almost sure they are the same part # etc and it's the camera that throttles the bandwidth due to lack of cooling & dsp chips


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Ooh, interesting point. You might be right.

edit: In fact, you probably are.

 

[Andy Boyd]

Thanks Canada,
Certainly after the camera swap the firmware upgrade from Advanced to Pro appeared simple and faultless.
I was a bit shocked to find my frame rate had dropped from 50 to 48. Then spotted the settings had defaulted to NTSC rather than the PAL I wanted.

Slight problem remains. My fan does not spin. Even when I record 30 minutes of 4k.
On my bench the aluminium case got up to 40degrees above ambient before the SD card filled up. But still no sign of life from the fan.
I did check for stuck blades as mentioned by another poster, but it spins easily by hand.
From postings on this site I understand that the fan should start immediately that the battery is switched on.
So I am afraid I will have to return my shiny new 4k camera.
Actually that fan looks very small, fragile and ineffective to me. But I guess DJI wouldn't have bothered to squeeze it in if they thought it was not necessary.

 

[George Race]

Got rid of my P3A ans I just got a p3p today! It has new revision of motors, shell with the x-bracing under the motors, large vents (I think), and I just noticed that the fan on the camera looks different from all the photos I have seen online. Anyone care to chime in?

Also any recommendations in regards to stopping the shell from cracking ? Or has that been rectified on the latest batch of shells?

I have been searching & reading but haven't really found definitive answers.

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My P3P has the same cooling fan, purchased it about 6 weeks ago. Also has the updated motors.

 

[Andy Boyd]

Yes, that's the same fan as mine.
So does yours spin continuously?


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[KyleMaxxUAV]

I actually haven't looked to see if mine is spinning but I would venture to guess that it should be running constantly ?

That's a bummer Andy .. Where did you get it from ? All the plugs are in securely ? (I mean the cables from the phantom to the gimbal assembly ..There is no plug for the fan specifically it's soldered right to the board in the camera )


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[Andy Boyd]

I have just received this earth-shattering response from DJI European technical support team:

Jan 7, 23:39

Dear Phantom,

Thank you for contacting the DJI technical support.
The phantom 3 advanced is not compatible with the pro camera.
There is no driver to activate the fan in the gimbal.

Thanks for choosing DJI
With kind regards,
DJI NL Technical Support

If that is true, this gimbal fan is not functioning for anyone who has retrofitted a Pro camera onto their P3A.
After my search for 'gimbal fan' on this forum, it seems a lot of users have hardly noticed the presence of the fan, let alone checked whether it is working.
It would be great if someone who has upgraded the camera on a P3A can confirm that their fan is actually spinning.

And I would love to know how the fan behaves on a real P3P. Does it really just switch on and off with the battery power, or only when shooting 4k, or only when a thermal limit is reached on the video board. It might even have speed control like a proper PC graphics card.
I would also not be surprised to hear that the gimbal fans on a number of P3P are no longer working (due to crashes, debris getting into the tiny unguarded fan, etc), and that it is not having any adverse effect (in the short term anyway).