Phantom 3 A Video Issues

[Chopper Al]

Purchased my Phantom 8 months ago brand new and have not crashed her or even given her a hard landing. I complete the updates as they pop up and have recently seen a reduction in range. I did not fly her for 2 months and she was fine when I put her away inside my room in a cool dry place. Last week I went to fly and got the red error message "No Video Signal". Everything worked fine except no video or picture. I tried exchanging the SD card, connecting cable to the I-Pad Mini 2, tried an I-phone 7+, inspected the ribbon cables and plugs, re-linked the transmitter etc etc. I spoke to a tech at DJI and he confirmed it needs to be seen by a tech. I mailed it in and within 3 days had a message the Gimbal Video Down Link Main Board was bad. First - how did that happen? Like I said, this aircraft has not seen combat. This will cost me $200.00 to have repaired. Of course just 2 months out of warranty too. I am quickly loosing faith in DJI and the Phantom - seems to me each time I do a update something bad happens. Either the IMU or compass needs recalibrating or my settings get cleared. Any one else have similar issues???

 

[Oso]

Purchased my Phantom 8 months ago brand new and have not crashed her or even given her a hard landing. I complete the updates as they pop up and have recently seen a reduction in range. I did not fly her for 2 months and she was fine when I put her away inside my room in a cool dry place. Last week I went to fly and got the red error message "No Video Signal". Everything worked fine except no video or picture. I tried exchanging the SD card, connecting cable to the I-Pad Mini 2, tried an I-phone 7+, inspected the ribbon cables and plugs, re-linked the transmitter etc etc. I spoke to a tech at DJI and he confirmed it needs to be seen by a tech. I mailed it in and within 3 days had a message the Gimbal Video Down Link Main Board was bad. First - how did that happen? Like I said, this aircraft has not seen combat. This will cost me $200.00 to have repaired. Of course just 2 months out of warranty too. I am quickly loosing faith in DJI and the Phantom - seems to me each time I do a update something bad happens. Either the IMU or compass needs recalibrating or my settings get cleared. Any one else have similar issues???

This exact scenario including the symptoms and the fix has been reported here numerous times. In fact, as soon as you said you hadn't used it in two months I suspected your gimbal board. Once you said that everything worked other than no image it was nearly certain that your post would end with needing a new gimbal board. That being said, it does seem to be reported more often with P3Ps.

 

[DanMan32]

"Purchased my Phantom 8"
DJI only went up to P4 so far.
J/K

They should honor that under warranty. 6 months is pitiful. I always thought it was a year, and 3-6 months for the battery.

 

[Chopper Al]

I strongly agree - the whole aircraft should come with a 1 year full warranty, with the exception of severe crash damage.. What becomes especially concerning to me is when the relatively young aircraft has NO physical damage nor any evidence of abuse yet an internal curcuit board went south within 8 months for what ever reason and they bang me $200.00... Then to read this is a very common problem, and how DJI seems so comfortable sending out updates that cripple our aircraft or create failures that will result in repair costs. I built my first hex copter many many years ago using a DJI Woo Kong controller and have NEVER updated the software - guess what, she flies with zero issues.. If this Phantom develops another further internal board issues or develops unsafe flights I will sell it and not look at DJI again.