Seriously short signal

[George McCann]

Hi to all!

I have posted recently on the website regarding the troubles i have been having with my video signal

I have a Phantom 3 standard that i cannot get any video feed after around 30m high.

I have recently changed the video down-link 2.4ghz antenna's within the drone as these were damaged by the previous owner after a 'gimbal crash' also changed the cable to the gimbal camera and mount. (with genuine replacement dji parts)

Pictures on my other thread and a bit more in depth.

Anyhow i have tried relinking the remote, downgrading the firmware, flying in a different location etc..

any other ideas?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
George

 

[ryantrax]

Do you have another mobile device you can try (tablet or phone)?

 

[George McCann]

i do and shall give that a go, have a iphone and a ipad mini so will give it a go on that or even a amazon fire.

thanks for the suggestion

 

[RodPad]

Welcome to the fourm!

I don't think its your mobile device it hooks to the remote not the Phantom.
Are you getting telemetry, and or does it fail at the same time. I posted a link to your other thread.
Standard - Video Signal Loss - Nightmares!

Sorry nothing to help you out.

Rod

 

[George McCann]

Thanks rod, i had just tried the drone with a different device and its the same problems loss of video signal (screen goes blank) the rc signal has never dropped for me but yes telemetry fails too.

I have also just modified the controller to take to some standard omni directional 6dbi gain Antennas. to see if this helps atall and it has with connection time but as far as range is concerned its not going any higher than 30ft without video signal loss.

i have attached a signal map from healthydrones to help give a idea of whats happening

 

[RodPad]

Thanks rod, i had just tried the drone with a different device and its the same problems loss of video signal (screen goes blank) the rc signal has never dropped for me but yes telemetry fails too.

I have also just modified the controller to take to some standard omni directional 6dbi gain Antennas. to see if this helps atall and it has with connection time but as far as range is concerned its not going any higher than 30ft without video signal loss.

i have attached a signal map from healthydrones to help give a idea of whats happening View attachment 65373

Share the link instead,
When you first click on a flight, main screen, when you have an option to delete it, right beside the Trash click on that button, then share the link here.

Rod

 

[RodPad]

Yeah, that worked, looks like your GPS is good.
Since you loosing signal so close, I would try leaving the Phantom fixed hover or just on a table, not even with motors on. Walk away from it or go a distance away, and stand still or walk around it. What I'm thinking if you have worked on the antennas. If the drone is setting still and not moving in the air. This would show you if you have a loose connection or not. On the sensors tab, signal map, I guess that is related to remote control signal that the phantom is receiving, I have seen errors on mine and others but on a farther distances, the one at 3 mins wow.

Anybody else?

Rod

 

[RodPad]

No mods, about as far as I can get.
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Rod

 

[George McCann]

Very interesting, a loose connection could be possible.... when opening the remote dji put glue/silicon on the antenna cables to stop movement. within the gimbal housing (birdside) they do not so i assumed when replacing the antennas not to use glue on the birdside just as it come out the factory.

it wouldn't take me 2 minutes to throw some glue (hot glue gun) on the antenna cables within the gimbal housing but as this wasn't done in the first place i never thought of trying it.

Ive also sent a email to drone doctor (uk) as they are a authorised dji repair agent to potentially look at it, as im now getting to the point of spending so many hours repairing or trying the think what could be wrong im starting to give up.

i must of taken the drone to complete bits about 4 times now

thanks for all your help rod!

 

[George McCann]

UPDATE!

So after speaking to Drone doctor (uk) who i highly recommend simply as they have been nothing but helpful without any payment!

They had suggested to downgrade the firmware to 1.5.7 with the new antennas i installed from RC geeks...(previous post)

so i did this and also used the fcc/ce hack to change the output of the antennas to 24dbm as i thought this would help too

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

the signal is far better than it has been

HOWEVER

as you can tell its still not stock in my opinion. it should be going a lot further with no issues to the video feed at that distance Especially with the modifications!

So im kinda back to square one.

although ive done LOTS of research in this product i am determined to fix this drone even if it costs me the price of the drone over again.
Things like this should be fixed not given up on, if one man finds a solution than others can benefit

If anyone has any further suggestions i would HIGHLY appreciate it!


id even donate some form of a payment for the right answer!!

Thanks
George

 

[George McCann]

No mods, about as far as I can get.
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Rod

This is how i would expect mine to perform without the mods at minimum

 

[jnix]

Thanks rod, i had just tried the drone with a different device and its the same problems loss of video signal (screen goes blank) the rc signal has never dropped for me but yes telemetry fails too.

I have also just modified the controller to take to some standard omni directional 6dbi gain Antennas. to see if this helps atall and it has with connection time but as far as range is concerned its not going any higher than 30ft without video signal loss.

i have attached a signal map from healthydrones to help give a idea of whats happening View attachment 65373

I did a mod to mine and when I opened it up to get the stock antenna wires out the one that's the furthest away was not even attached properly. When I barely touched it the **** wire pulled out of the SMA plug. If I wouldn't have mod the antenna who knows when it would have flown away. After that mod it made a HUGE difference on the bird. The mod was a DBS ELITE.....