Phantom goes into failsafe after about 5 mins

[RogerClark]

I originally posted thinking this was an interference issue.

But it now looks like after 5 or 10 mins the Phantom 2 looses contact with the RC Transmitter, and goes into fail safe, and auto lands.

If I reboot on the spot, it stays in failsafe and the receiver light under the Phantom 2 stays red.

I'm not sure if this is caused by a Transmitter or Receiver problem, or whether the LED right in the middle of the Phantom 2 can mean something else if its red not green.

Leaving both the TX and the Phantom to cool down seems to fix it for a while.

Whatever is the problem seems to occur even if I don't fly the Phantom, just leaving both the TX and the Phantom turned on seems to do it.

I've yet to establish if its the TX or the Phantom


Note. I've only had the Phantom 2 for a couple of weeks and the TX and RX have always been a bit dodgy but I thought initially it was wifi or other interference, But I don't now think thats the case


Can anyone shed any light on his problem.

 

[RogerClark]

Just to update my last posting.

The problem seems to be in the Transmitter unit.(Tx)

If I leave it on for 10 mins, then turn the Phantom 2 on, it wont connect lights yellow lights flashing and small red led under the middle of the Phantom, rather than green.

Turn the Tx off for a minute or two, turn it back on, OK for 30 secs then goes back into failesafe.

Put absolutely brand new batteries in Tx, still no good. (So it doesnt look like its a power related issue).

I took the back off the Tx to see if I could see anything loose, but everything is OK, and re-seating the RF module didn't help.

I guess I have a defective Tx unit that fails when some internal component heats up (after about 5 to 10 mins)

Although I've only had the Phantom for a couple of weeks, I suspect that getting a warranty claim may be problematic, though I'll try contacting the importer on Monday (as its already Friday night here in Australia)

Is one alternative to buy a separate TX and RX unit, e.g a Futaba
If so could someone recommend which Futaba would be suitable, and also if I wanted to use the Futaba on other different multi-rotors, is there anything I should bear in mind ???

Thanks for reading this very long posting

 

[Seahorse]

Fresh batteries make any difference?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[RogerClark]

Hi Seahorse

New batteries was one of the things I tried, but it didn't fix the problem

Now that you mention it, I looked at the voltage listed in the RC Assistant software and I think it was 5.4 volts.
Which is roughly right for USB powered devices.
But thinking about it, 4 x AA batteries should be 6V or more

Can someone tell me what voltage they get displayed in their RC Assistant software.
Ie should it be higher

Thanks

Roger

 

[Mosleyh]

Are you using alkalines (1.5v) or rechargeables (typically 1.2v)?

 

[RogerClark]

Tried both types.

Doesn't seem to make any difference

Ie left the tx on for 10 mins.
Turned on the Phantom, and phantom reported no contact with tx.

Took brand new AA batteries out of packet and tried them
Still no good


But I will double check in case there is some sort of connections fault.
What voltage should be displayed in the RC assistance software with normal AA batteries?

 

[RogerClark]

Just checked again.

Absolutely brand new non-rechargable AA's seem to show 6.1V, in RC Assistant 1.1
TX is running firmware 1.0.1.12 (the latest)

Rechargable batteries seem to show around 5V.
TX unit seems to initially connect using re-chargables, at least to start with, i.e on 5V.

So unless my other new AA cells that I put in after the TX fails, are below 5V it seems odd that they would have not fixed the problem.

I'm not seeing any sort of warning on the RC TX to say its got low voltage (is this feature built into the TX unit, I presume it is)??

The beeper and the LED work fine in the TX.

BTW. Can someone tell me what the small button on the PCB inside the TX does. I presume its some sort of reset, but it only seems accessible from inside the TX unit, i.e its not a button you can press with a paperclip via a hole in the case as far as I can tell

Update.
Tried to fly again today, with another set of brand new batteries, which were reading 6.1V in the RC assistant.
Got between 5 to 10 mins and same the same thing happened :-(

Unfortunately it looks like I've definitely got a RC TX fault of some kind.
I'm going to take a close look at the PCB, and then contact the supplier (Digital World International) on Monday in the hope they honor their "12 month Australian Warranty".