Phantom 3 Advanced Owners with the bad 2 - 6 second video lag [FINALLY FIXED!]

[Digdat0]

Put it back together and now the gimbal doesnt move. Took it apart a few more times and made sure all the connections were sitting tight and put it back together and nada. That double section ribbon cable seems awfully flimsy but I have no way to figure out where I screwed up. Looks like its back to DJI and a huge bill for me unless someone has a suggestion

Did you make sure to leave enough room for th gimbal arm to swing? When you say it won't move, can you elaborate? Does it power on at all and do its dance? Specifically how does it not move? I'm sure the guys here can help, please be a tad more specific to help ya.

 

[MILLER4PRESIDENT2020]

Did you make sure to leave enough room for th gimbal arm to swing? When you say it won't move, can you elaborate? Does it power on at all and do its dance? Specifically how does it not move? I'm sure the guys here can help, please be a tad more specific to help ya.

doesnt even do an alignment dance when I power it on, just hangs there and immediately goes into error lights. I can swing the gimbal freely by hand so nothing is bound up inside

 

[MILLER4PRESIDENT2020]

I presume that ribbon cable that splits into a Y and has two connections on the gimbal board?....once connection is for video feed and the other for control of the gimbal? Because I get neither. It is a funny connection getting that ribbin cable back in, there is no clamp or anything to use to push it, you just kind of shove it in by holding it close to the end and then putting some pressure on it with a finger and trying to slide it in a little more. If I had messed that up I would have thought that I would at least get one side back in correctly and see either some video feed or have the gimbal do its dance, but neither? That suggests the problem is elsewhere and maybe I got both of those ribbon cables back in fine and there is another gap in the flow of information somewhere else.?

 

[NRJ]

Put it back together and now the gimbal doesnt move. Took it apart a few more times and made sure all the connections were sitting tight and put it back together and nada. That double section ribbon cable seems awfully flimsy but I have no way to figure out where I screwed up. Looks like its back to DJI and a huge bill for me unless someone has a suggestion

It could be that the round bearing is not flush with the shaft. See the picture.

 

[Wingfan04]

Put it back together and now the gimbal doesnt move. Took it apart a few more times and made sure all the connections were sitting tight and put it back together and nada. That double section ribbon cable seems awfully flimsy but I have no way to figure out where I screwed up. Looks like its back to DJI and a huge bill for me unless someone has a suggestion

It's a tedious and nerve racking process. Sorry to hear you broke it. I was worried every step on mine. You may want to consider buying a new camera after you price out what the repair bill will be. The whole camera goes for $250.00 on eBay brand new.... Good Luck

 

[Wingfan04]

I presume that ribbon cable that splits into a Y and has two connections on the gimbal board?....once connection is for video feed and the other for control of the gimbal? Because I get neither. It is a funny connection getting that ribbin cable back in, there is no clamp or anything to use to push it, you just kind of shove it in by holding it close to the end and then putting some pressure on it with a finger and trying to slide it in a little more. If I had messed that up I would have thought that I would at least get one side back in correctly and see either some video feed or have the gimbal do its dance, but neither? That suggests the problem is elsewhere and maybe I got both of those ribbon cables back in fine and there is another gap in the flow of information somewhere else.?

btw you didn't need to remove the ribbon cables from the connections to do the repair. Probably where this went north for you. I hope someone posts a step by step video on You Tube showing the process

 

[Digdat0]

doesnt even do an alignment dance when I power it on, just hangs there and immediately goes into error lights. I can swing the gimbal freely by hand so nothing is bound up inside

that sounds like wiring, did you crimp the connections on that main Y ribbon cable in the socket part? on the underside of the gimbal board, both of the connections are still plugged in? both of the grey plugs are in good and snug, where the camera attaches to the aircraft?

 

[MILLER4PRESIDENT2020]

that sounds like wiring, did you crimp the connections on that main Y ribbon cable in the socket part? on the underside of the gimbal board, both of the connections are still plugged in? both of the grey plugs are in good and snug, where the camera attaches to the aircraft?

I have taken apart and replugged in the Y ribbon and the grey cables with the latches several times to no luck. They are very small and there is really no defining "click" that tells you everything is seated properly, but I have tried taking apart and rewiring 10 times now. I don't see any damage, but it might be possible I loosened some of the wires from their connecting harness on one of the first attempts. If that is the case you practically need a microscope to examine the harnesses.

 

[GodFear17]

okay, i made this mod to my phantom 3 pro. all is good .. all of the chips got new thermal pads. Took a 25 minute flight today, absolutely no lag. Need to fly when its hot later.

Nice I figured this could happen to a pro as well. Looks great


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[Andrea]

I finally decided to give it a try and opened my top plate yesterday. All went smooth, it was pretty easy. The only thing to pay attention to (in my experience) is that the flat cable that goes from the plate to the gimbal is glued to the cover of the top plate (the one you have to unscrew) with some biadhesive, and it took some time for me to realize it. Therefore, don't pull too hard and look carefully.

Now the top plate is waiting open till the thermal pads will arrive (I ordered them only when I was able to open the electronic apart).

 

[Andrea]

Sooo... I received my thermal pads this morning (yeah I waited three weeks for a bunch of thermal pads, that's crazy...) while I was in the office.
As soon as I arrived home I removed the old ones (the bird was open already), put the new ones, closed up everything (it was quite easy I have to say) and immediately switched on my bird. Everything was looking fine.
After dinner I flown an entire battery without any issue.

I have to say that it's now colder (3-5 degrees less)... but having my bird flying high in the sky again (after almost a couple of monthes parked in mygarage) was simply great.

And: thank you all guys.
This forum IS amazing.

 

[Trinimon]

Good to know! I'll keep this in the old memory bank for future reference. Thanks!


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[CornPopper]

Had the issue GF described. Installed the sggested pads. Problem resolved. Thanks GF!

Took 15 min, but gimbal wouldn't rotate freely. Needed to move the bearing down a smidge, as described above. All good now. Total time: 25 min.

 

[MT1984]

Hi All,

I am currently in living in Tonga, an absolute tropical paradise, with a new P3A. I had the first few months of lag free bliss and then after the update, 4-5 second lag. It's killing me not being able to film, tonnes of great filming opportunities have gone begging. I have tried different devices, installing the old app, re installing firmware, nothing has helped. DJI has been unable to help and suggest sending it in for warranty repair. I am reluctant as mail services here aren't to crash hot and who knows how long DJI would have my drone or if they would even fix anything (My fear from preivious experience)

I am interested in going down the thermal pad path, the weather has been warming up here and could be what is causing the lag. My question is could I put my P3A in the fridge first to bring the temp down, would this simulate what the thermal pad would do? My drone is still under warranty but am torn between the long return time and missing footage vs a potential DIY voided warranty issue.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[Freebird1]

Glad I'm finding these posts cuz mine started lagging in the last few months when previously there was no lag at all. Guess I'm going to order some thermal pads cause it looks like this is the fix and the lag is terrible 3-5 seconds. Difficult to fly like that.

 

[Mozzie67]

This is a great thread!!
I received my quad earlier this year end of our summer and had no probs all year,soon as it warmed up yep 6 sec lag.
Read this thread and the how to article bought the pads and woo hoo no lag hottest day so far was 41.8 deg didn't fly stupidly in these temps but no lag at all....
All I could say about this repair is take your time be very carful with the ribbon and do a step at a time take a photo so you have a reference to look back on..The results are worth it...
Thanks to the OP for this these forums are invaluable to us hobbyist

 

[Freebird1]

I'm going to make a video on how to do this step by step soon.


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Is that video available? Sure could use a good one right about now. Halfway there and going slowly. Not sure what to do to get the plate off

 

[Freebird1]

Mine is done. I'll test in a few minutes

Go slow. Take pictures, go slow, the worse was where the ribbon cable is slightly glued to the plate. I just kept working at it and used a small tye wrap to get in between there and break the adhesive free.

The existing thermal pad was a little mushy so I replaced it too

Hope this fixes it. I think it will

 

[Freebird1]

So I have no lag whatsoever none, but I did get a gimbal motor overload error a couple times. Not sure what's causing that as everything went smooth and all is working great.

Next weather break I'll go fly it. Hopefully the gimbal motor overload is a false negative and will go away.

 

[Mozzie67]

So I have no lag whatsoever none, but I did get a gimbal motor overload error a couple times. Not sure what's causing that as everything went smooth and all is working great.

Next weather break I'll go fly it. Hopefully the gimbal motor overload is a false negative and will go away.

When you did the grub screw up on the gimbal arm to camera you have left a small gap so as the camera moves freely left to right
Any slight obstruction will give a gimbal error