Wires pulled out

[Leo Sweeney]

Hi, I have a phantom 3, small crash that broke gimbal mount, and pulled two wires out of somewhere. Ones gray and ones black. They are still connected to drone where the 4 or 5 pin connector wire come out. Not sure where they were connected or if I can fix myself. Any help please.
Thanks

 

[Forgotten_Fox]

Sounds like you’ll need some soldering, but I’d need some pictures to be sure.

 

[With The Birds]

Sounds like you’ll need some soldering, but I’d need some pictures to be sure.

No soldering. OP will need to buy new antenna assemblies and replace. The cables feed patch antennas next to the battery box inside the phantom standard body.

 

[WV. Rootman]

The hard part is fishing those little coaxial cables(black and grey wires) down through the bottom body after you take the top off.

 

[Leo Sweeney]

Sounds like you’ll need some soldering, but I’d need some pictures to be sure.

 

[Forgotten_Fox]

No soldering. OP will need to buy new antenna assemblies and replace. The cables feed patch antennas next to the battery box inside the phantom standard body.

I don’t think the antenna is inside the gimbal... see picture.

 

[With The Birds]

Who said the antennas are inside the gimble? The gimble doesn’t have a battery box either.

If you follow the broken cables you will find two patch antennas inside the phantom body. Inside the gimble top housing you will find the miniature SMA connectors that were torn off the other ends.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

And you have to be very very careful when mating up the antenna coax and the female connector....as the center pin in the coax IS very very small GOOD Luck.don't leave US hangn let us all know what you did !

 

[Psmith221]

Leo, Look closely at the picture, you posted. The vent slots right above the gimble mount. Thru the vents you will see the square ceramic antenna that is attached to the other end of that gray wire. The black wire leads to another disk antenna on the other side of the bird.
You will indeed need to take the top of the bird off. But be very careful when taking the top off, as the GPS is glued to the underside of the top, and it has a very short cable linking it to the main board. The connector on the main board can be ripped off of the PCB very easily! And if you do rip it off, you have turned your beautiful bird, into a pile of junk.

Start watching you tube videos.

 

[Psmith221]

 

[Leo Sweeney]

View attachment 107418

So are these antennas for wifi connection to phone or notebook? if they are, is there a better more powerful replacement? I have a very hard time staying connected to phone, for taking video and photos.

 

[Psmith221]

they are the 2.4ghz antennas for your video feed. The 5GHz antennas located in the legs are for flight control and connection to your remote. There are all sorts of 2.4ghz wifi antennas out on the market
Loss of video feed is usually a range issue. the 2.4ghz is a fairly weak wifi signal, and subject to electrical interference, cellular interference, distance, LOS, trees, buildings etc.
When you reach the edge of range limit of the P3S , its probably completely out of sight. Which technically is against the law anyway.
You could upgrade your antennas on the P3S but finding a method and place to put better antennas is going to be difficult at best. Then your are left with the trancievers and antennas on the remote. You can buy a variety of range extenders for the RC. But they are all going to be subject to the same type of flight environment.

The Phantom 3 standard is a pretty good bird and on a relative basis is pretty tough. But it just wasn't designed for long distance flight especially out of visual site.

I have 3 of them among others and I love them.

 

[Leo Sweeney]

they are the 2.4ghz antennas for your video feed. The 5GHz antennas located in the legs are for flight control and connection to your remote. There are all sorts of 2.4ghz wifi antennas out on the market
Loss of video feed is usually a range issue. the 2.4ghz is a fairly weak wifi signal, and subject to electrical interference, cellular interference, distance, LOS, trees, buildings etc.
When you reach the edge of range limit of the P3S , its probably completely out of sight. Which technically is against the law anyway.
You could upgrade your antennas on the P3S but finding a method and place to put better antennas is going to be difficult at best. Then your are left with the trancievers and antennas on the remote. You can buy a variety of range extenders for the RC. But they are all going to be subject to the same type of flight environment.

The Phantom 3 standard is a pretty good bird and on a relative basis is pretty tough. But it just wasn't designed for long distance flight especially out of visual site.

I have 3 of them among others and I love them.[/QUO

I am talking about losing signal anywhere from 10' away and up. this particular crash was maybe 30' away with a tree between me and the drone (I know u should fly with no obstacles) was just trying to get video of snow in my yard.

 

[Psmith221]

10 to 30 feet? That may point to another problem. However A good dense tree will completely block that signal. I would say, just replace the two 2.4g antennas, then go back to troubleshooting.
While your waiting on new antennas, pull the flight logs from the crash flight. Chances are they will tell you the cause or at least point you in the right direction.

 

[Leo Sweeney]

Hi all, UPDATE: I replaced the video wifi antennas and added a wifi extender to the radio, extender came with 3 stick antennas and 3 panel, I used the 3 stick. As u can see from video, very open area, I got about 60' away and like 30' up and lost video to my phone again. Been having this issue ever since I bought the drone. I bring up my wifi setting on phone and says CONNECTED. Any help please.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

IF......you have had bad issues from the start : you should have exchanged it for another one...or sent it back to Dji for a replacement ! Now with the mods Oh well.
By the way did you buy it used or new in a sealed box ?

 

[Leo Sweeney]

IF......you have had bad issues from the start : you should have exchanged it for another one...or sent it back to Dji for a replacement ! Now with the mods Oh well.
By the way did you buy it used or new in a sealed box ?

USED

 

[Psmith221]

A. Check your Phone. Try it with another
B. Check all the connections on the Drone. Check the flat ribbon cable very carefully.
C. Ask this question of yourself. Is the flight time the same before failure(relative) Could be a heat related failure
If the flight time is similar before failure, check the drone for hotspots on the camera/wifi/gimble controller.

The camera and its wifi transmitter is located on the Camera controller below the drone at the top of the Gimble