Standard 3 project

[Travis5049]

Ok , its Christmas and a time for giving. Hopefully this will help someone.I bought a Standard 3, used, in Oct. and the first problem that I stumbled upon was that it needed a firmware update. Somehow I figured it out and didn't brick it after only having it for 2 days. The first flight out was just a test to figure out the controls, I left it on Beginner mode for at least 6 short flights. Read a lot also. I loaded the Litchi app on my tablet, found a secure place to try a distance flight and got a RTH after only 400ft. At this point everything was still stock and I was waiting on 2 batteries that I had ordered, (not DJI batteries).A couple of flights later in different locations and I realized that I had and issue with the bird or the remote only allowing me to fly short distances, also I was getting real familiar with Litchi. Ordered the Argtek antennas, (it was a clone and not original), lesson learned. Flights improved to 600ft, still sucked. Added the tablet holder.

 

[Travis5049]

I made a homemade sun shield which helped. I used sign material that you can get from Lowes. Its a wafer looking plastic material and picked up some plastic outside molding, Home Depot, that gripped the sign material on one side and I gorilla glued the other.Since the new antennas didn't help much I decided to add a bird side antenna upgrade for 5.8ghz . At the time I thought that the AC had to TRX and RCV and I later found out that the bird only RCV's for control inputs, I probably could've left out that upgrade. For those interested I bought a cheap peace of 1/8th inch plexi and cut the shape out with a dremel. Found the plexi on Amazon. I ordered clover leaf antennas and 8 inch pre-made jumpers. I made leg spacers from the plexi also for the legs that didn't have antenna's mounted to them.

 

[Travis5049]

Flight distance, 700ft. Can you say SUCKS,real loud??!!! Double checked all my antenna connections on the RC several times. BTW don't glue your antenna connections on the RC if you do an Argtek upgrade until you know for a fact that everything is working. In the mean time I had been getting lots of flight time/practice. Visited all the forums for Phantom 3's and watched a lot of videos through this whole process. I added the Magic app just to be able to see what my db output was and to turn down the db if I wanted to add a 5.8ghz antenna amp. I set the TX to 27db. Not much change on distance
I found another used Standard 3 that was fairly cheap and everything seemed to work on it and I grabbed it and brought it home. After checking to see if it needed an update and charging everything I took it out for a test flight. It flew 1100 feet from the back of my house in the middle of a subdivision out to the local Elementary school and back. What?? I pulled up a video on how to pair the RC to a bird and paired the new to me RC to my old drone that only flew 700 ft.

Both birds fly out to 2500 ft with the new RC. So now I know I have a bad RC with maybe a bad 5.8ghz wireless card or a bad solder point or ....whatever. BUT!, it is the RC and not the bird and not the new antennas. Troubleshooting 101 , if you're having distance issues see if you can find another Phantom pilot close to you that's getting good distances ask see if he/she will allow you to pair up their RC to your bird. Good luck everyone!!

 

[Travis5049]

UPDATE!!!!! Ok, so I had ordered some extra coaxial jumpers back when I ordered an ALFA flat panel directional antenna,(5.8GHZ).I drilled a hole into the new/latest RC and added the omni ARGTEK antenna , from the other RC, everything works. Flew out past the local elementary school at 1800 ft. Im going to do a distance flight later this week before winter weather blows in which will be on the 24th.I have an amplifier and battery that I ordered for the 5.8 ghz antenna and sometime after XMAS I'm sure I'll get it mounted and tested.

Ive been draining my funds and time for XMAS, BUT, I did add some cool graphics. This decal really isn't for the Phantom Standard 3 but I think it still looks cool.Next up will be to move the 2.4 ghz antennas over to the new/latest RC and test. Merry Christmas to all you Christians out there and to everyone else have a good extended weekend.