P3S Question

[*T|2eVo|2]

Hello first I would like to say how this online community is unrivaled I'm pretty much a new member but have been reading for a while and trying to soak in any phantom knowledge I can . Superior for sure! I wish I could have the pleasure to fly with some of you guys/gals. Anyhow I'll shut up now and get to the question should be a pretty straightforward question. This is a P3S range/distance question and For the record this question is NOT about going against the laws or DJI recommendations or pissing anybody off. This is merely to ease my mind of confusion. I've read many posts of people discussing distances and crazier distances due to mods and what not... But in the same post stating the comparison without the mod... For example..---> ." The new mod is great flew 16,000 feet can't believe that before I did this I could only get 2000 feet if I'm lucky" ...ok why is it my Phantom 3 standard doesn't even get 300 feet and the weak connection light comes on 2000 feet what are they smoking I had my Vision Plus go about 600 feet mind you I never tried to go further because I didn't have GPS on that one but now I have a new P 3S I have all the settings in the app maxed but 300 feet isn't even the legal limit or do they just have to warn you that the signal is low but really it's not I'm going to try antenna modification but I would like to know more on the situation before attempting any modifications on something I'm unfamiliar with that would be silly. I'm just curious is it my bad luck or maybe I'm not flying in the right environment. Thank you for reading if you managed to stick through this post. Cheers

 

[Capt KO]

Are you flying in an area with a high amount of Wi-Fi interference. Surrounding homes, etc. The P3s Uses Wi-Fi and is very susceptible to that type of interference. If you haven’t already, try to get away from civilization and see what happens. I switched to Litchi, from Go, partly for that reason. There’s quite a few here that fly that model, they should be able to help you more. I am pretty new to the P3s myself, but learning fast. Have 2 P4’s, where range is no problem.

 

[Capt KO]

I thought for a minute you might be in beginner mode since that has a 300 foot range, but I don’t think the weak signal warning would come on.

 

[RodPad]

@*T|2eVo|2,

I'm confused what are you getting now, in clear air the P3S will do what it is advertised, about 3/4 of mile out of the box.

Rod

 

[LarBear360]

Hello first I would like to say how this online community is unrivaled I'm pretty much a new member but have been reading for a while and trying to soak in any phantom knowledge I can . Superior for sure! I wish I could have the pleasure to fly with some of you guys/gals. Anyhow I'll shut up now and get to the question should be a pretty straightforward question. This is a P3S range/distance question and For the record this question is NOT about going against the laws or DJI recommendations or pissing anybody off. This is merely to ease my mind of confusion. I've read many posts of people discussing distances and crazier distances due to mods and what not... But in the same post stating the comparison without the mod... For example..---> ." The new mod is great flew 16,000 feet can't believe that before I did this I could only get 2000 feet if I'm lucky" ...ok why is it my Phantom 3 standard doesn't even get 300 feet and the weak connection light comes on 2000 feet what are they smoking I had my Vision Plus go about 600 feet mind you I never tried to go further because I didn't have GPS on that one but now I have a new P 3S I have all the settings in the app maxed but 300 feet isn't even the legal limit or do they just have to warn you that the signal is low but really it's not I'm going to try antenna modification but I would like to know more on the situation before attempting any modifications on something I'm unfamiliar with that would be silly. I'm just curious is it my bad luck or maybe I'm not flying in the right environment. Thank you for reading if you managed to stick through this post. Cheers

I had the same problem with my P3S. Apparently there was a problem in the main board which DJI replaced under warranty.

 

[LarBear360]

Are you flying in an area with a high amount of Wi-Fi interference. Surrounding homes, etc. The P3s Uses Wi-Fi and is very susceptible to that type of interference. If you haven’t already, try to get away from civilization and see what happens. I switched to Litchi, from Go, partly for that reason. There’s quite a few here that fly that model, they should be able to help you more. I am pretty new to the P3s myself, but learning fast. Have 2 P4’s, where range is no problem.

The app has nothing to do with range. Could be a loose antenna connection in either the controller or the aircraft. In my case it was a bad main board.

The wi-fi on the P3S is used only for the video. The radio signal from the controller is standard 5.8 signal.

 

[solentlife]

The app has nothing to do with range. Could be a loose antenna connection in either the controller or the aircraft. In my case it was a bad main board.

The wi-fi on the P3S is used only for the video. The radio signal from the controller is standard 5.8 signal.

Actually WiFi is on TWO bands ... 2.4 and 5.8 .....

You would find that if you disconnect WiFi - you will lose both 2.4 Video / Telemetry and the 5.8 flight control connection.

 

[solentlife]

"
*T|2eVo|2"

I can say that my P3S was abysmal in range at home in the residential area ... sometimes I could get 60m ... other times 300m ... it was never a reliable steady figure.
If I flew other direction out of my grounds to the river and farmland - I could get sometimes up to 600m. My P3S was of course CE limited.

I resigned myself to having a close-in camera platform as out of box.

First thing I did was to add Parabolic Reflector - that seemed to bring the range more steady and about 200 - 300m over residential areas ... 600+ over open field.
Next - ICARUS to up my signal to FCA level instead of the clipped CE ... range increased to about 300m average urban, 700m rural. Which I found strange as Magic and Icarus do nothing for the 5.8 control signal.... it only affects the 2.4 Video / Telemetry.

After reading pages of mods and comments on various forums - I decided to swap out the antenna for the ARGTEK system. Note that this has had some poor reviews from some - but I would suggest that installation is the fault in most. I will explain this later.
I fitted ARGTEK to my system and later to another guys and BOTH produced well over 2000m rural and 1000m urban.
I tested with signal boosters combined with ARGTEK to both 2.4 and 5.8 .... which gave me over 5000m rural and 2000m urban.
Out of interest - I removed the boosters having basically reached maximum battery range - I tried twin Parabolic Reflectors on the 5.8 and had similar 5000m range etc.

Unfortunately one day I pushed her too far and wind increased on return home ... she fell short by just under 1000m from home into the river. She had reached nearly 6000m (there had been an about turn in the flight of about 1000m) ...

OK ARGTEK :

I found that the screw fittings for antenna to thread onto were slightly short due to the thickness of the plastic they passed through. This means that the central pin has to rely on side contact instead of being fully home. Using a fine file laid on the bench - I passed the antenna screw end over the file to remove a tiny bit of length - to allow the antenna to thread on fully and pin to contact properly. My friends ARGTEK did not have such problem and his antenna threaded on fully without this.
It is my opinion that this may be the cause of some poor results found by some.

Here's a video with ARGTEK .... 2063m

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A screen recording later at 1800m

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Here with twin reflectors : 4525m

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The two reflectors were simply double side tape end to end and slid over the antenna and then clear tape used to hold in position.



Boosters needed external power - I used a 2S LiFe battery pack to a 5V BEC ...