- Joined
- Aug 17, 2020
- Messages
- 327
- Reaction score
- 212
Today I took delivery of a used Ebay Phantom 3 Standard, to replace the last one that racked up 1,200 miles of Litchi missions, before inexplicably losing all power and slamming onto the deck from 140 feet AGL.
This replacement Ebay drone took an interminable 5 months to arrive in my jungle lair, having crossed a few oceans aboard a container ship that took its sweet time reaching its final destination. My primary concern with a drone that had spent so much time idle was that the batteries would be ruined, and would not take a charge, so it was a relief to see that all 3 flight batteries, and the controller battery, charged up without a hitch.
Having modified the controller of my previous Phantom 3S with Argtek antenna that gave me a nice mile-long range, I set aside the stock controller that was sold with the drone and then linked my Argtek modified controller with the P3S. All this went well, and then I took the drone outdoors to launch it on its first flight. I noticed right away on the Litchi screen that there was NO camera image visible. I was however able to tilt the gimbal up and down with the left thumb-wheel on the controller, suggesting that there is a link between the controller and the camera. I exited Litchi, and fired up DJI Go, whose settings screen informed me of a "Gimbal Disconnect" error in red letters, with no camera view image, save for a black screen.
Checked to ensure that my WiFi link was to the Phantom3S and not to the house WiFi signal, and nothing seemed amiss there. I then launched the drone and flew a couple of line-of-sight circuits, to ensure that it flew and handled as expected, which it did. This absence of a camera view didn't alarm me initially since the previous Phantom3S would on rare occasions fail to show the camera view, yet recorded footage perfectly during Litchi mission launched with that black screen present instead of the camera view. I merely ensured the camera was tiled downward at a 20-degree angle, to leave a narrow sliver of horizon in the resultant footage
Finally, on launching the drone with Litchi, the usual "Recording Started" announcement is not sounded at takeoff, nor is the "Recording Stopped" alert called out at the point of landing. Manually pressing the red record button on the Litchi screen has zero effect. Any pointers that can be offered as to how I can bring the camera life, and get a camera view image in either the Litchi or DJI Go screens, would be enormously appreciated. Thanks in advance. I will now resume pulling out my hair in clumps for the next ten minutes.
This replacement Ebay drone took an interminable 5 months to arrive in my jungle lair, having crossed a few oceans aboard a container ship that took its sweet time reaching its final destination. My primary concern with a drone that had spent so much time idle was that the batteries would be ruined, and would not take a charge, so it was a relief to see that all 3 flight batteries, and the controller battery, charged up without a hitch.
Having modified the controller of my previous Phantom 3S with Argtek antenna that gave me a nice mile-long range, I set aside the stock controller that was sold with the drone and then linked my Argtek modified controller with the P3S. All this went well, and then I took the drone outdoors to launch it on its first flight. I noticed right away on the Litchi screen that there was NO camera image visible. I was however able to tilt the gimbal up and down with the left thumb-wheel on the controller, suggesting that there is a link between the controller and the camera. I exited Litchi, and fired up DJI Go, whose settings screen informed me of a "Gimbal Disconnect" error in red letters, with no camera view image, save for a black screen.
Checked to ensure that my WiFi link was to the Phantom3S and not to the house WiFi signal, and nothing seemed amiss there. I then launched the drone and flew a couple of line-of-sight circuits, to ensure that it flew and handled as expected, which it did. This absence of a camera view didn't alarm me initially since the previous Phantom3S would on rare occasions fail to show the camera view, yet recorded footage perfectly during Litchi mission launched with that black screen present instead of the camera view. I merely ensured the camera was tiled downward at a 20-degree angle, to leave a narrow sliver of horizon in the resultant footage
Finally, on launching the drone with Litchi, the usual "Recording Started" announcement is not sounded at takeoff, nor is the "Recording Stopped" alert called out at the point of landing. Manually pressing the red record button on the Litchi screen has zero effect. Any pointers that can be offered as to how I can bring the camera life, and get a camera view image in either the Litchi or DJI Go screens, would be enormously appreciated. Thanks in advance. I will now resume pulling out my hair in clumps for the next ten minutes.
