What is your distance to Loss of Connection?

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What distance between the ground-end and air-end is normal before loss of connection?

I would expect a stable connection as long as the Phantom and ground-end are within line of site, which could be a half mile or more. I am having problems with PC GS, I loose connection at distances as little as 50 feet. I'd like to know what is "normal".
 
Simon,

Thanks for the reply. I consistently loose connection between my PC GS and Phanton 2 almost immediately upon take off. Loss of connection can be as little as 100 feet (30 meters). I have even lost connection in the Simulate mode where the Phantom is stationary. The odd part is that I can disconnect the USB cable and re-connect to PC and I have a connection for another few seconds.

It seems to me there are many folks like you with good connections and many like me that loose connection fairly quickly.

Thanks again,
 
I normally maintain a connection for several hundred meters (iPad version) but on a few occasions the connection was lost within 100 meters. But... I've flown quite a few missions so an occasional glitch is probably within "normal".

Can you return your Ground Station to the vendor?
 
I assume you are using the 2.4 Ghz version of the ground station? Are there any other 2.4 Ghz signals if your immediate area that could interfere? Home wifi maybe? What about a problem on the computer end, maybe with the USB. Tried different USB ports? Just using the cable that the datalink came with? Tried a different computer to verify it's not a computer issue? Just throwing some things out there that came to mind. So much easier to troubleshoot hardware when you have a 2nd unit, unfortunately that's not so easy to do with this kind of device... Hope you get it figured out.
 
Thanks to all that replied.

As a professional test engineer, I think I have tried just about everything. Different computers, different USB ports, different locations (hundreds of miles apart), different environments, reinstalling software and drivers, verifying all firmware is up to date, making sure the RC controller is separated from the ground end data link, and much more. All missions loose connection within seconds of hitting GO. It varies a bit, 10 to 60 seconds before disconnect. This even includes the SIMULATE mode where the Phantom is stationary so it is NOT a matter of distance or loss of signal.

I have recently decided to give up and live with the fact that I can upload the mission and hit GO. After that, PC GS is useless. I know of at least one other person (in New Zealand) that has the exact same problem.

I believe the only way to trouble shoot this further is to have a second unit for comparison or tens of thousands of dollars of RF and protocol test equipment.
 
This is a problem with the latest version of the Phantom 2 firmware....every since 3.04, 3.06 and now 3.08 the range and reception of the DJI datalink are terrible. Only firmware 3.0 and 3.02 work well with the datalink. Unfortunately ever since 3.08 we can no longer downgrade to 3.02. I submitted another support request with DJI regarding this...I will let you know what i hear.
 
Scotystl,

If what you say is true, I am surprised there isn't more of an uproar from customers. If it were a firmware issue, I'd would expect everyone would have the problem and that doesn't seem to be the case.

I upgraded to 3.08 just last night, hoping the issue were fixed, I guess not.

Thanks for your feedback, it is nice knowing the root cause since I have spent a great deal of my time troubleshooting this. I wait and hope for a fix in 3.09?
 
I am not sure why DJI hasn't fixed this....I know it is indeed the firmware, because a few months back I ugpraded 2 phantom 2's I have (both with DJI datalink) from 3.02 to 3.06 and that;s where I noticed like night and day, the poor reception. So i downgraded them both back to 3.02 and they were fine. 3.08 is the same as 3.06 as far the poor reception is concerned. I guess there are not a ton of Phantom 2 w/ Data link users out there..or at least not a lot that have upgraded from 2.0 or 3.0 firmwares.
 
Scottystl,

I hope you are right, it means it might be fixed someday. I'm heading out now to try 3.08. I am not expecting anything to be fixed, just want to see if the new version works and I didn't break anything during the installation.
 
Thanks....if it's not a fix to the Phantom 2 firmware that will correct this issue, maybe DJI will release a firmware update to the datalink itself (ground and air ends) that will fix it.

-Scott
 
richparry said:
Thanks to all that replied.

As a professional test engineer, I think I have tried just about everything. Different computers, different USB ports, different locations (hundreds of miles apart), different environments, reinstalling software and drivers, verifying all firmware is up to date, making sure the RC controller is separated from the ground end data link, and much more. All missions loose connection within seconds of hitting GO. It varies a bit, 10 to 60 seconds before disconnect. This even includes the SIMULATE mode where the Phantom is stationary so it is NOT a matter of distance or loss of signal.

I have recently decided to give up and live with the fact that I can upload the mission and hit GO. After that, PC GS is useless. I know of at least one other person (in New Zealand) that has the exact same problem.

I believe the only way to trouble shoot this further is to have a second unit for comparison or tens of thousands of dollars of RF and protocol test equipment.

Just out of curiosity, what device are you using the app on, and have you tried switching the device? Seems like you've tried swapping everything except the second most important one, the device that actually receives and processes the wifi signal. Not all smartphone or iphone wifi technology is the same, some just work better than others. If this doesn't work, you may have an issue with your wifi module, which is not uncommon. Do a search... see if you're experiencing the same symptoms as these folks.
 
Rubin,

Thanks for offering a suggestion, but I'm using PC GS, I don't use a phone.
 
i flew my Pv2+ 3 times today... distance of 336 meters at altitude of 86 meters... my aircraft advice to Return to Home.. i have 2 beeps in my RC means my phantom record is 1500 meters radius distance and 500 meters altitude, how come i can't reach that record? please advice what should i do?. just upgraded to 3.08
 
richparry said:
Scottystl,

I hope you are right, it means it might be fixed someday. I'm heading out now to try 3.08. I am not expecting anything to be fixed, just want to see if the new version works and I didn't break anything during the installation.

after upgraded to 3.08 ... 336 meters RTH ... big problem
 
I get great range, but close range I always drop. I have to fly it up to 75m altitude and then make ground station connection and waypoints.
 
Hi all,

Looking at the connection symbols in my iPad groundstation App I have good reception on the ground.

But as soon as the engines start the Symbol shows zero Connection-Bars and soon After that it breaks down completely. Also no Upload of waypoints is possible.

No matter how fast the Motors are spinning. Idle Power or liftoff doesn't make a difference. Does anybody else have this behaviour?

Regards,Kent
 
Kent, are you on Firmware 3.08 (or even 3.06)? I am willing to bet you are. Ever since upgrading to 3.06/3.08 I have the same kind of behavior as you are describing. It is like there is some kind of new interference with the datalink cause by the firmware, or the power distribution to the air-end receiver for the datalink has lessened since the new firmware....DJI still won't confirm this problem after a few support requests I have made.
 

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