Phantom 2 Vision+ V3.0 - Can not get above 630 feet altitude before Tx signal breaks.

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So I bought a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ (V3), second hand for a decent price.

Everything works like it should. It takes off. It hovers. It moves up, down, left, right, 360 degrees, whatever I tell it to do it does it... but it wont go past about 650 feet without losing Tx signal.

I am using the DJI vision app on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

The receive and wifi extender have been modified to accept 3 9dbi Omni directional antennas. 1 on the remote. 2 on the wifi extender. I have only had one hiccup on the video feed since I have flown it where it lost feed for a brief moment. But as a novice phantom flyer and being a little nervous I never got real high in the air, altitude wise. But as time has gone on I get braver and depend more on my video feed rather than physically watching where the phantom was flying and obviously with this I got higher...

I finally found out that at around 500-550 feet I loose tx signal but I can regain it with flicking the S1 and fly a little higher and then loose it again. Flick the S1 and get the signal back and fly a little higher before I loose it again. So and so forth fighting my way to about 630 feet before it tries to fly home and wont let me take control back until it gets back down to 600 or so but its a never ending battle. But it seems 630 is my cap right now; whether I am flying right on top of myself or 250 feet away. I have tried orientating the antenna different ways. Point the receiver different direction. Nothing changes. I am not sure where to start on this because technically there is not anything wrong besides range of reception.

I have tried this on my grandparents farm with clear land and 120 acres, in my rural neighborhood with generally flat ground, as well as open space around a near lake. Same result every time.

I have logged into the software and checked the settings. I have reset them to default values and made sure everything was up to date. I set the max altitude and distance at 5000 feet. Set the S1 and S2 switches. Its set in NAZA mode. Everything appears to be calibrated. I am not flying in a no fly zone seeing as my buddy with his Vision 2+ can conquer 1000 feet in the same neighborhood without a modified receiver.

I have 3 batteries. I can slap a fully charged battery in it, and directly go straight an altitude test and its the same result with a full battery.

This is all pretty new to me so I am not sure where to check or what to start with or even how to trouble shoot it.

Any tips, tricks, advice, and help is greatly appreciated.
 
Have you checked to see if the controller is set to FCC mode? As for the distance are you having issues with distance or altitude? I'm a bit confused there. You should also factor linear distance as well as altitude. This will give you slope for an accurate distance from the control point. Distance = Square Root ( (X2-X1)2 + (Y2-Y1)2 ) For this assume your start point is (0,0) and the distance away from you on the ground is x2 and the height being y2. Then you can find the actual distance from the controller.
250 feet away at 650' altitude gives you an actual distance of approx 697' total from the control point.

As a safety note, if you're in the US the maximum altitude currently allowed is 400'
 
Its in FCC mode.

Its altitude issues im having problems with. Like my post suggest whether im flying from Home Point to straight in the air or fly out about 200 feet i can not break about 550-600 feet altitude without loosing control signal.

400 feet altitude in the US? Perhaps on a default setting? My buddy is doing almost triple that in the same neighborhood as me with no modification. I'm doing better than 400 feet altitude myself just not better than 630ish. The guy i bought this from claimed he was seeing 1300 feet altitude.

Have you checked to see if the controller is set to FCC mode? As for the distance are you having issues with distance or altitude? I'm a bit confused there. You should also factor linear distance as well as altitude. This will give you slope for an accurate distance from the control point. Distance = Square Root ( (X2-X1)2 + (Y2-Y1)2 ) For this assume your start point is (0,0) and the distance away from you on the ground is x2 and the height being y2. Then you can find the actual distance from the controller.
250 feet away at 650' altitude gives you an actual distance of approx 697' total from the control point.

As a safety note, if you're in the US the maximum altitude currently allowed is 400'
 
The 400' altitude is what is mandated currently by the FAA not the limit for the aircraft. (not judging just sharing the legal restriction)

As for the loss of signal or control is it possible to borrow your friends transmitter to see if maybe the modifications made to the Phantom are the cause? Are you hitting a wall at distance and lower altitude with that set up?
 
Yeah pretty much the same outcome whether its up or out. I was flying the farm the other day and got out in front of me 150-200 feet altitude and about 500 feet-ish out and lost control signal with no obstruction or interference.

I would use his controller but he just sold his to buy an inspire...

The 400' altitude is what is mandated currently by the FAA not the limit for the aircraft. (not judging just sharing the legal restriction)

As for the loss of signal or control is it possible to borrow your friends transmitter to see if maybe the modifications made to the Phantom are the cause? Are you hitting a wall at distance and lower altitude with that set up?
 
Hopefully someone with more knowledge about the mods completed can chime in. was the Phantom modified internally at all? Have you checked for loose or faulty connections within the transmitter? These are probably things you've already checked just trying to help diagnose. It's strange it hits a ceiling. You can also check the controller firmware.
 
I opened the receiever up today and the internal antenna cable was secured and tight. I plugged the receiver into computer and checked the software and it said it was up to date. So i am at a loss.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge about the mods completed can chime in. was the Phantom modified internally at all? Have you checked for loose or faulty connections within the transmitter? These are probably things you've already checked just trying to help diagnose. It's strange it hits a ceiling. You can also check the controller firmware.
 
Can you show me how the antenna is pointed? take photo please...
 
As you can see, you can pretty much set the antenna orientation however you like. The tx antenna i always point it with the long end (not the tip) pointed in the direction of the drone, whether horizontally or vertically.
20150527_061027.jpg 20150527_061047.jpg 20150527_061133.jpg 20150527_061201.jpg
 
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As you can see, you can pretty much set the antenna orientation however you like. The tx antenna i always point it with the long end (not the tip) pointed in the direction of the drone, whether horizontally or vertically.
View attachment 20144 View attachment 20145 View attachment 20146 View attachment 20147

Your antennas look the same. Please be very aware that you cannot mix the antennas. 2.4 antennas are different than 5.8 even though they look exactly the same on the outside.
On the controller side, you should switch back to stock to test.
 
I don't know for sure of there is a difference but two say TP link and i was told to use those for the wifi extender and one has no writing and to use it for the remote. But over all length and diameter they are the same.

Your antennas look the same. Please be very aware that you cannot mix the antennas. 2.4 antennas are different than 5.8 even though they look exactly the same on the outside.
On the controller side, you should switch back to stock to test.
 
Update: I downloaded an app that piggy backs the vision app and boosts the dbm Of controller and wifi signal. I increased dbm signal all the way to 24dbm and was able to get 834 feet altitude before losing control signal. Impressive but i should be able to achieve this without the app. Suggestions?
 
Update: I downloaded an app that piggy backs the vision app and boosts the dbm Of controller and wifi signal. I increased dbm signal all the way to 24dbm and was able to get 834 feet altitude before losing control signal. Impressive but i should be able to achieve this without the app. Suggestions?

The app only boosts for FPV (2.4Ghz). I have never heard of an app that boost the 5.8GHz controller signal. The controller signal is all hardware modded if want gain range.

What exactly is happening on your smart/device display? Is it blacking out and losing fpv - "wifi connection broken"? Or is it "controller signal lost" - returning home? These are 2 separate systems.

I can tell you now the antenna on your controller is a tad too long for 5.8ghz and that is probably a 2.4ghz and probably jeopardising your control signal. A 5.8Ghz antenna usually isn't that long.
 
After careful inspection of the 3 amtennas. The 2 I use for the wifi extender have a smaller antenna incaseed in the plastic housing. The one for the remote has a thicker antenna incased In its plastic housing. Not sure of the difference.

Im not losing video feed..its not blacking the screen out. I am losing control signal and shortly there after if i can't get it back it returns home.

The app is called :
DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ Booster

Now this app without a doubt boosted control signal. I purchased it, and first run with it up and running, boosting to 24dbm, in the background of vision app, i got 834 feet altitude and then i came back a little later and ran it again boosted to 24dbm i was able to hit 1000 feet altittude. So I would say without a doubt the application is helping. Problem remains is that it is helping me achieve what i should be able to achieve without it.

I did nothing different other than download the app. I flew without resetting home from the exact same spot in my front yard where i was only able to achieve 500-600 any other day.

The app only boosts for FPV (2.4Ghz). I have never heard of an app that boost the 5.8GHz controller signal. The controller signal is all hardware modded if want gain range.

What exactly is happening on your smart/device display? Is it blacking out and losing fpv - "wifi connection broken"? Or is it "controller signal lost" - returning home? These are 2 separate systems.

I can tell you now the antenna on your controller is a tad too long for 5.8ghz and that is probably a 2.4ghz and probably jeopardising your control signal. A 5.8Ghz antenna usually isn't that long.
 
The 400' altitude is what is mandated currently by the FAA not the limit for the aircraft. (not judging just sharing the legal restriction)

The 400' is the default set by DJI based on FAA recommendations for "commercial operations". As a hobbyist I don't believe there is any restrictions. I have heard of guys flying 13k, 15k feet FPV miles and miles away from their base. Very much like the military does, from the comfort of their living rooms. Of course I don't know of a copter that would do this. But 800' with a Phantom, very impressive. I may have to try myself.
 
Well to update. I finally was able to boost my Dbm on my antennas and got up to 1200 feet altitude and lost transmitter control but i did have tall pine trees, power lines, about 10 different wifi signals in range from near by homes, a cell tower about 1/2 mile away that i was flying past as well as a power easement with high voltage power lines. And then from the same spot i went up to 450-500 feet altitude and then flew straight out in front me approximately 2500 feet before i broke the transmitter signal and it returned home. Both all while maintaining video feed. Keep in mind this is an suburban neighborhood with postage stamp sized lots, houses right on top of each other, tall pine trees, narrow steeets, and above ground utility lines. When i did the 2500 feet i had to stand in the middle of my road, hold the transmitter as if i was giving it as a sacrifice to the heavens and keep the drone centered directly in front of me hovering between the houses, trees, and power poles that lined the street as if i was kicking a field goal over the distant homes and trees about 1/4 mile out directly in front of me so that i maintained line of sight (even though I couldn't see or hear it at this distance) with the drone and kept decent altitude to clear any tall trees.


The 400' altitude is what is mandated currently by the FAA not the limit for the aircraft. (not judging just sharing the legal restriction)

The 400' is the default set by DJI based on FAA recommendations for "commercial operations". As a hobbyist I don't believe there is any restrictions. I have heard of guys flying 13k, 15k feet FPV miles and miles away from their base. Very much like the military does, from the comfort of their living rooms. Of course I don't know of a copter that would do this. But 800' with a Phantom, very impressive. I may have to try myself.
 
For safety if you are in the U.S. I would stop at 400 ft and be safe. Other wise we may read another bad report in news paper where another drone was in restricted air space giving more juice to the politicians to shut us down with more restrictions. Sorry but it is what it is. I would love to try the limits too but not at safety or other people's expense. Other countries even have more limits and other less. Fly within your countries limits
 

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