P3S Intermittently Ignores Controller Inputs

[Billie Nelson]

My trusty P3S, which covered over 2,000 miles of autonomous Litchi waypoint missions, fell into disuse when I moved with the times and bought used Mavic drones that I then began to fly exclusively.

When I recently went back to the P3S and sent it on a 6-mile round-trip Litchi waypoint mission, all went well right up until the moment when the drone returned to a hover above the launch point. I usually prefer to hand-fly my drones to a soft landing so I don't get rusty at the controls, but when I attempted the landing at the end of the waypoint mission, the drone began to drift, as it suddenly became unresponsive to my control inputs.

After a few tense seconds in which the drone came close to flying into a tree, I regained control and brought it in for a landing. It is baffling that the drone flies perfectly when it is under the control of Litchi as it flies waypoint missions, yet on two separate occasions now, the P3S controller seemed to momentarily lose connection with the drone while I was hand-flying it.

After another long hiatus, I'll be flying this P3S again tomorrow, so I thought I'd better ask here whether anyone has encountered this sort of momentary control loss with their P3S, and if so, how they were able to resolve it to restore reliable controllability to the drone. Any diagnoses that can be offered would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[captainmilehigh]

Only time my 'stock' (no mods) P3S has signal issues is directly overhead, when I fail to have the wimpy RC antenna pointed at the drone. Operator error in most cases.

My other P3S R/C has a Itelite DBS antenna, and birdside antennas to greatly increase signal acquisition..........especially at long distances or higher altitudes. It has never had signal dropout nearby or within VLOS.

You may have had the RC pointed away from the bird just enough to encounter a weak signal or intermittent signal drop out. Just try it again, and once in a stable overhead hover, move the RC around a bit, and watch for the signal strength to change on your screen. My 'stock' RC is very sketchy if not pointed correctly.

**stay clear of those Phantom Magnet Trees......**

 

[Billie Nelson]

First thing tomorrow morning, I'll give this idea a try, Captain Mile High, and I thank you kindly for this mention of a possible cause for the signal loss. I installed an ArgTex antenna mod on the controller of this drone, but it worked fine for years of trouble-free flying, so I'm pretty sure the antenna mod won't be the culprit.

Coincidentally, the drone was close to being directly overhead of the spot where I was standing on both occasions when I noticed it begin to drift, so your mention about the orientation of the antenna sounds plausible. I'll write back after I run the test you have outlined here.

I hope this problem can be resolved with a calibration or some non-surgical fix, because anything that entails opening the drone up will be difficult to pull off unless I stumble on a YouTube video that describes the procedure in layman's terms. Over and out for now.