Phantom 3 Standard range mod , let's do it together...

I too had this problem with that chip on circuit board.. I ended up ordering a whole motherboard and it solved the signal issue . Now only thing is I’m scared to update . And it never says homepoint set check it on map anymore .. makes me nervous .. anyway just figured I’d post in here and see if anyone has come up with a solution . I brought my drone to a man here in Memphis to try to do the modification. But it was so little he couldn’t do it
 
FTP hmm. Who would have thought it was still useful today. Vely interesting indeed!
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I'm pretty sure this is the part that keeps failing. Markings on it are a match. Look at the datasheet.....

SKYWORKS : Products : SKY13320-374LF


And, FWIW, the datasheet describes the capacitor on pin 2 as 47pf for ops above 1Ghz. the output blocking caps are listed as the same.

and the absolute maximum power rating is +37dbm (5 watts) so I find it unlikely that this is damage due to the radio overwhelming the part. More likely that the antenna ports are simultaneously switched open or closed during transmit, and while the datasheet says this shouldn't result in damage, it is not optimal....
 
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if anyone has a board they've given up on, I'd be happy to try swapping the part and confirm that it's a fix, provided the traces on the board haven't been destroyed. I do this kind of work all the time. Have a hot air pen at home.


Doing the wire mod only gets you one antenna back. This is a diversity system, and unless you replace the chip, you'll never get max range back. I think that the RC antennas are in the legs, and the video{wifi} are patches inside the body. there is some risk that you could fly out to a "safe" range, and then yaw so that the only active antenna is body masked by the gimbal assembly. not good.
 
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I made an account simply to say that this mod worked for me! The top capacitor came off after a few attempts at attaching a wire, and I ended up chipping away at the chip as I couldn't pull it off cleanly. However, I attached a small wire from the first capacitor to the bottom capacitor and flew one test flight with 500 foot range, which is 5x what I had before this mod! I'm so happy that I was able to salvage this $500 paperweight.

My advice to anyone who tries this:
Use the right equipment. I've never soldered with flux but from what I've heard it would have made this job much easier. Getting the solder to stick is the hardest part as you don't want to overheat anything. Also, tweezers are a must. These components are smaller then any of the pictures make it look. Good luck to anyone attempting this.
 
I made my connection between the contacts in the center of the red circles, and I left the chip in place.
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Hi everybody,

I also let you guys know that it worked for me. I jumped the switch by myself, the work is disgusting, my hands were shaking, I was doing this with a classic soldering iron. I was pretty sure I burned some resistance or jumped something I didn't have to, but it actually worked ! I cannot say what is my actual max distance now, but I just tried, I went 2X further than before and the signal was pretty strong. For the first time the image signal was weaker than the RC signal.

Thank you guys for everything !
 
Hey all, anybody got a good ohm reading on a chip that is not fried... Mine is about 50ohms on both readings.. but im having lost signal on 100m on RC
 
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Hello

How can I downgrade the remote with my Phantom 3 standard?

Currently I have the FW 1.7.9 on it and have no FTP access.

Thanks in advance for helpful answers.
 
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Hello! Great news. Now you can fix low rc signal trouble. Its hardware ac trouble. The receiver 5,8 module. There is small chip, and its damaged. Needs to remove this chip, and replace new. But, if you have not new one - you can connect by wire 2 points on board, and rc range will be great as before trouble. This is my little video of fixed P3S, and picture of receiver board.
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So after trying to increase my distance with antenna and amps I still couldn't get more than 300m in an open field so taking the plunge to do the chip fix.. So far opened it up now to "practice" my soldering before trying to fix.
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Did the same wire mod two months ago, but didn't notice any improvements. The drone could fly about 90 meters away on an interference free field. In city area it loses video signal in about 40 meters. Also it doesn't reconnect the video feed back. The screen on the mobile goes just gray. I tried to use IOS based device rather than Android to connect to the drone and got better range up to 300m, but I would rather not buy another phone just to use with the drone.
 
So, I've recently done this mod. Been having range issues for a while. Long story short, the other day drone took a crash, had to replace shell and various other parts, did the jumper mod while I had it apart. Got it all back together, and downgraded firmware back to 1.5.7. Now at about 100ft out, Remote Signal Loss, RTH. I'm clueless. Also, AC won't auto takeoff. It tries, but only gets about 6" off the ground before settling back down. Am I down to having to replace the mainboard?
 

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