14 satellites to 0

[snowghost]

I was flying the Phantom yesterday with no issues for the first 4 flights. The next one (compass recalibrate after battery change), I had 8 satellites on the ground and then 10 feet or so after launch it was 14. Then out of nowhere zero. It was slightly breezy so immediately she drifted. Never flying in anything but GPS mode, thank god I trained many hours with the X5C.

As I was bringing her back down, the satellites came back. I landed, rebooted, recalibrated and the same exact thing happened. Does this sound like a defect? I could see dropping a few, but all 14 to zero is pretty scary. What if I was doing a Ground Station loop or something.

 

[aartsf]

The only explenation I can think of is a 'losely' connection of the gps-cable to the controller unit. It is known that connection is not secured in the design and can easely get (a little) loose. Therefore, I would advice to check that connection and secure it with some tape or silicon.

 

[Larry L]

The only explenation I can think of is a 'losely' connection of the gps-cable to the controller unit. It known that connection is not secured in the design and can easely get (a little) loose. Therefore, I would advice to check that connection anf secure it with some tape or silicon.

+1

 

[snowghost]

Yes thanks. I found another discussion where a picture of the connection was posted. The remedy was putting a plastic wedge to keep it tight. Since I bought mine only a month ago or so, I'll see if the place I bought it from will do the mod for me.

 

[msinger]

You could also do this mod to tighten the connectors on the GPS plug:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=33453

 

[Meta4]

I was flying the Phantom yesterday with no issues for the first 4 flights. The next one (compass recalibrate after battery change),
I landed, rebooted, recalibrated and the same exact thing happened.

Of course it's not related to GPS issues but that's a lot of compass calibration going on.
Why are you recalibrating after changing the battery? DJI never recommended that.
Too frequent calibration introduces the possibility of getting a bad calibration.
If you have a good compass calibration, just leave it.

 

[burlbark]

Wedging plastic in there is not going to cause the terminal to close back up and is a stop gap measure that should be put in place after the loose terminals are corrected. I applaud FlynFrank for his ingenuity.

Jeremy James