WHATS HAPPENED, Nothing changed

[Stazz]

I copied pasted this from a reply I made earlier, I just thought I would start a new thread with it,hope that’s ok,so.., I’ve been getting terrific altitude and distance with my P3s .I generally fly out in some open fields and I’ve flown over 2000 meters away(Canada) that’s almost 1.3 miles.
Until today... First thing I did before my flight is do a IMU calibration, it’s asked for it before but the request always disappears and I get the green strip with lots of satellites so I’d just fly, never had an issues. Anyways after the calibration in my usual field,I noticed that the usual auto take off height is alot higher than usual, in the past it always lifts off to about 2-3 ft and hovers, today it goes up to about 7 feet and hovers,
My distance is terrible now, I get it to about 100-200 meters and it loses signal and RTH,
I cancel and try to push out a bit farther and it losses signal and again RTH.
I was flying yesterday no problem. Nothing has changed since then , no crashes, full batteries all around. The only change is I did an IMU calibration,and I did it exactly as told.
Could that be it ?? Before I open my controller to see if the antenna wire has separated Id like some opinions from you more experienced flyers.
Thanks in advance

 

[Meta4]

My distance is terrible now, I get it to about 100-200 meters and it loses signal and RTH,

I was flying yesterday no problem. Nothing has changed since then , no crashes, full batteries all around. The only change is I did an IMU calibration,and I did it exactly as told.
Could that be it ??

The IMU should have no effect on flight distance.

 

[Stazz]

That’s what I thought aswell, but like I said that is the only change I’ve made

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Calibrate the IMU again and see if things improve.

 

[Stazz]

Calibrate the IMU again and see if things improve.

I did another calibration, no change,

 

[LuvMyTJ]

I did another calibration, no change,

That is strange... Compass too?

 

[Stazz]

That is strange... Compass too?

Yup, compass too, I did open the remote but unfortunately the antenna was still intact.
I think I’ll try uninstalling the go app and reinstall, really sucks

 

[JazzAir]

 

[LarBear360]

These things are so weird sometimes. I used to fly 600 - 700 feet out without any problem. I won't fly beyond line of sight so never really pushed it any further. Now I'm only getting 300 - 400 feet before RTH kicks in. I think it's something in the receiver as my RC power checks out OK. The RC and AC are going back to DJI next week.

 

[RodPad]

These things are so weird sometimes. I used to fly 600 - 700 feet out without any problem. I won't fly beyond line of sight so never really pushed it any further. Now I'm only getting 300 - 400 feet before RTH kicks in. I think it's something in the receiver as my RC power checks out OK. The RC and AC are going back to DJI next week.

Its not firmware related?

Rod

 

[Stazz]

After work I’m gonna reinstall the 1.5 firmware, maybe I accidentally updated the last firmware, changing something

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Let us know if you find (or don't find) a solution to this problem.

 

[Stazz]

Let us know if you find (or don't find) a solution to this problem.

Sure will, unfortunately won’t be flying till the weekend, if it’s nice enough out

 

[LarBear360]

Its not firmware related?

Rod

I suppose that's possible, but there are thousands of P3S AC out there that seem to be running just fine and this board is not flooded with complaints. Everything is still under warranty so I'm going to let them take a look.

 

[RodPad]

I suppose that's possible, but there are thousands of P3S AC out there that seem to be running just fine and this board is not flooded with complaints. Everything is still under warranty so I'm going to let them take a look.

"suppose that's possible," So you don't know or recall?

"thousands of P3S AC out there that seem to be running just fine and this board is not flooded with complaints." Yes I agree, but I seen this problem with P3S's. Since Aug 2015.
Remote control poor / lost signal after firmware update. It comes in flurries.

If your sure you didn't not do a firmware update between,
When it was good, and now its bad.
Then ignore the following.

Rod

This issue is and still so frustrating, and I still see it happening.

Please look for any incorrect information in my posts.
Search Results for Query: signal | DJI Phantom Drone Forum

Terrible signal performance

My first thread on this forum.
Phantom 3-Std Weak Remote Signal

 

[LarBear360]

"suppose that's possible," So you don't know or recall?

"thousands of P3S AC out there that seem to be running just fine and this board is not flooded with complaints." Yes I agree, but I seen this problem with P3S's. Since Aug 2015.
Remote control poor / lost signal after firmware update. It comes in flurries.

If your sure you didn't not do a firmware update between,
When it was good, and now its bad.
Then ignore the following.

Rod

This issue is and still so frustrating, and I still see it happening.

Please look for any incorrect information in my posts.
Search Results for Query: signal | DJI Phantom Drone Forum

Terrible signal performance

My first thread on this forum.
Phantom 3-Std Weak Remote Signal

Thanks for posting the links to those threads. I've already read most of them. Seems like most are from 2016, prior to my purchase and are related to firmware I never had. I've had one upgrade since July 2017 and I think I upgraded out of the box.

I have an Immersion Power Meter and the RC checks out which is why I think it's on the AC. There is another thread I read, still going I think, about opening up the AC and soldering a part or something. Basically voiding my warranty. No thanks. I'll just send it in and see what DJI thinks.

I don't need or want even the half-mile as advertised, I just want it to stay within line of sight without losing signal.

 

[BanditsRoost]

Check your solar weather and Aurora activity. There was a nice little geomagnetic storm on the 22nd with a spike in the K index.
Those things do affect communications in the microwave bands. (S and C specifically) Being in Canada you could be more susceptible than lower latitudes....

 

[LuvMyTJ]

This comes up every so often but I do not know of any situations where a high K index had any effect on an RC aircraft. If you know of someone having a real issue due to K index, please post about it. I feel the K index would need to be so high that it would also affect other electronic devices along with RC aircraft to be an issue.

 

[stuka75]

Thanks for posting the links to those threads. I've already read most of them. Seems like most are from 2016, prior to my purchase and are related to firmware I never had. I've had one upgrade since July 2017 and I think I upgraded out of the box.

I have an Immersion Power Meter and the RC checks out which is why I think it's on the AC. There is another thread I read, still going I think, about opening up the AC and soldering a part or something. Basically voiding my warranty. No thanks. I'll just send it in and see what DJI thinks.

I don't need or want even the half-mile as advertised, I just want it to stay within line of sight without losing signal.

Probably redundant, but be sure your cellphone wifi is off is using a tablet, especially if the phone has been connected to the ac at any time. More than one device can connect to the controller at the same time weak and errant signal.

 

[LarBear360]

Probably redundant, but be sure your cellphone wifi is off is using a tablet, especially if the phone has been connected to the ac at any time. More than one device can connect to the controller at the same time weak and errant signal.

Great advice which I had read before and as such I started leaving my cell phone in the car (turned off) just to be sure ii wasn't the problem. I use a dedicated NVIDIA K1 or ASUS Zenpad.