Suddenly..nothing? Transmitter issue?

[Hans Groover]

I've seen similar posts so apologies if this is the same issue, but I'm still new to this so I don't know if the other questions answer mine. I flew the Phantom yesterday, got some more flight time in again today and everything flew fine. Take off, compass calibration, etc, all went well and it seemed my battery flight time was pretty nice. When the low battery lights came on, I shut the transmitter off and tried out the GPS return landing mode, which went off without a problem. I took the battery out, put in a new one, went through the pre-flight procedure, and once I got the green light, I pulled the sticks down to start the engine. Nothing. I thought maybe the batteries were dead on the transmitter, so replaced them, and again, nothing. My backup battery that was now in the Phantom was not from DJI but rather a similar power battery that I got from my local hobby shop (that sells Phantoms).
I've read many posts saying to upgrade firmware, make sure to test the transmitter or reset it. I've not done any downloads before my flights and up until the moment I changed batteries today, everything was working perfectly fine. Would it just shut down like that out of the blue without any changes?

 

[tanasit]

First mistake is when you turn the TX off when the battery is low but fortunately your Phantom must not be very far off.
The RTH function is for emergency like you lost sight of it or you drop the TX and the TX went dead, etc.
Of course the CL and HL will also help you out when you lost orientation or it goes behind the tree or the wind caught it.

However, when you connect the second battery, you get the GREEN, so this means everything is in order: TX is connected, GPS locates 6 or more satellites. The only reason I can think of is that you have to re-calibrate your TX. This is because you chose to turn the TX off when you see the low battery signal (flashing RED) to activate the RTH.

 

[Hans Groover]

Ok, so how do I re-calibrate?

 

[tanasit]

Ok, so how do I re-calibrate?

With NAZA Assistant, in the RC Tab of the BASIC section: you will see Command stick calibration. Move the mouse over the diagram, then on the left pane the instruction of how to calibrate will pop up. Also make sure that the receiver type is set to PPM.

Off the computer as below:

1. Set the switch S2 at the OFF position, and the switch S1 at the GPS position
2. Push the Throttle stick to the top position, and push the Pitch stick to the top position. Keep the Pitch
stick at the top position manually since it can return to the central position when released.
3. Turn on the Power Switch of the transmitter, you should hear the indicator sound of “Di—Di Di” from
the transmitter repeatedly. Toggle the switch S2 to the CL position, you should hear an indicator
sound of “Di” from the transmitter, in this case, the transmitter has entered the calibration mode.
(During this period, the Throttle stick and the Pitch stick must be kept at the top position all the time.)
4. Release the Pitch stick and pull the Throttle stick to the central position. Toggle the switch S1 to the
ATTI position; you should hear an indicator sound of “Di” from the transmitter. Then move all of the
sticks throughout their complete range several times. After this, put the Throttle stick to the bottom
position, and toggle the switch S2 to the HL position, you should hear an indicator sound of “Di” from
the transmitter, in this case, the transmitter has been calibrated successfully.

 

[Hans Groover]

This is the link I found if anybody else has this problem.
http://wiki.dji-innovations.com/en/inde ... alibration
Does the Phantom have to be on while you're doing this? Nothing says it but maybe it's assumed to be a given?

 

[tanasit]

This is the link I found if anybody else has this problem.
http://wiki.dji-innovations.com/en/inde ... alibration
Does the Phantom have to be on while you're doing this? Nothing says it but maybe it's assumed to be a given?

That is EXACTLY what I posted above!
No the Phantom does NOT have to be on.

 

[Hans Groover]

Yep, exactly, minus the pic, just posting the link in case anybody needed it, have seen it around a lot on these forums. Thanks for the response, took care of it this morning, and found out that the copter doesn't need to be on. Got some night flying in this evening. Thanks again!!

 

[Hans Groover]

Ok, now I'm having the same issues again. Tried to re-calibrate again, this time, nothing. I took the props off to balance them, and I did put them on properly. Took the landing gear off to fit time in a pack, just folded them in, all the wires still connected with tape, still in place. Put drummer's Moon Gel under the fitting for the GoPro. Took it out to fly, and nothing. All the pre-flight looks fine, I even tried re-calibrating the compass which worked fine, but when I pull down the sticks, no power, nothing. I've been flying fine all of this week. What changes all of a sudden? I've not installed any new firmware, etc, because it worked great right out of the box. I'm stumped.

 

[tanasit]

You may want to tell us the unusual beeps or color flashing LED when you power up etc.
Those might help diagnosis the problems.

 

[Rob Crevecoeur]

Suddenly nothing!

I just had a similar experience. Fortunately there was a high hedge which stopped the phantom on it's way to the north pole. After looking into the assistant software I saw that the RC was switched from PPM into d-bus. And that doesn't work! I have no idea how it could have happened, I have send the question to DJI and may be, they have a clue.

 

[PTCX]

Suddenly nothing!

I just had a similar experience. Fortunately there was a high hedge which stopped the phantom on it's way to the north pole. After looking into the assistant software I saw that the RC was switched from PPM into d-bus. And that doesn't work! I have no idea how it could have happened, I have send the question to DJI and may be, they have a clue.

If you updated the firmware the RC settings could have changed from PPM to d-bus then.That's why they say to check all settings after doing an update.

 

[Mikkiii]

Suddenly nothing!

After looking into the assistant software I saw that the RC was switched from PPM into d-bus. And that doesn't work! I have no idea how it could have happened, I have send the question to DJI and may be, they have a clue.

If you updated the firmware the RC settings could have changed from PPM to d-bus then.That's why they say to check all settings after doing an update.

Same here... after upgrading firmware to 4.0, mounting the Zenmuse and going trough all the Calibration cycles, RC is into d-bus and and wont go to PPM. also x1 does'nt function, so my GoPro is tilted down... :? Dealer is emailing DJI because of many similar issues with other clients, so I hope they soon will fix this.

 

[Hans Groover]

I got it all up and running again with firmware updates, calibration, etc. It kept giving me error lights (lots of green blinks) and error 29 message. Got it up and running again but it flies really shaky now, not stable at all. I got a prop balancer, seems like the props are balanced. I did the advanced cal after watching the video on the DJI site, but yeah, still feels really hard to fly, almost like a combination manual and gps mode. Gonna try another calibration just to give it a shot, make sure it's all in alignment.

 

[Alvinvw]

Anyone solved this issue?