GPS Foil Mod - Cable Only?

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Since it appears the main issue with the GPS and interference seems to be with the cable that sticks out of the shielded area, has anyone tried to just shield the cable itself? vs. applying foil to the whole area and re-routing the cable?
 
It depends on which version of the Phantom you have. If you have version 3, the cable is already shielded. If you have an older version, you should do the copper foil mod or send your Phantom back to DJI to get it fixed (which might take a long time).
 
msinger said:
It depends on which version of the Phantom you have. If you have version 3, the cable is already shielded. If you have an older version, you should do the copper foil mod or send your Phantom back to DJI to get it fixed (which might take a long time).


It is a v2. And I am going to do the foil mod, was more curious whether just sheilding the cable portion (wrapping in foil and elec. tape) would be as good.

From everything I have read here, the issue is only the unshielded cable running through the body right above the other electronics. To me just shielding the cable portion seems like a much safer alternative than sticking conductive copper foil above all the other electronics. Being just tape I would be worried that changes in environment (heat, humidity, etc) could cause the foil tape to unstick and sag, causing it to come in contact with the other electronics and possibly short them or interfere with them.
 
wfxdrone said:
msinger said:
It depends on which version of the Phantom you have. If you have version 3, the cable is already shielded. If you have an older version, you should do the copper foil mod or send your Phantom back to DJI to get it fixed (which might take a long time).


It is a v2. And I am going to do the foil mod, was more curious whether just sheilding the cable portion (wrapping in foil and elec. tape) would be as good.

From everything I have read here, the issue is only the unshielded cable running through the body right above the other electronics. To me just shielding the cable portion seems like a much safer alternative than sticking conductive copper foil above all the other electronics. Being just tape I would be worried that changes in environment (heat, humidity, etc) could cause the foil tape to unstick and sag, causing it to come in contact with the other electronics and possibly short them or interfere with them.

Just a thought...
If you're got it open and doing just the cable, then heck, why not just take the extra time and do the whole mod.
Just use any non conductive (packing) tape over foil and that should prevent it from shorting.
 
Mako79 said:
wfxdrone said:
msinger said:
It depends on which version of the Phantom you have. If you have version 3, the cable is already shielded. If you have an older version, you should do the copper foil mod or send your Phantom back to DJI to get it fixed (which might take a long time).


It is a v2. And I am going to do the foil mod, was more curious whether just sheilding the cable portion (wrapping in foil and elec. tape) would be as good.

From everything I have read here, the issue is only the unshielded cable running through the body right above the other electronics. To me just shielding the cable portion seems like a much safer alternative than sticking conductive copper foil above all the other electronics. Being just tape I would be worried that changes in environment (heat, humidity, etc) could cause the foil tape to unstick and sag, causing it to come in contact with the other electronics and possibly short them or interfere with them.

Just a thought...
If you're got it open and doing just the cable, then heck, why not just take the extra time and do the whole mod.
Just use any non conductive (packing) tape over foil and that should prevent it from shorting.

The existing shielding seems way more durable than some .02" thick copper tape, that is why. It looks to be 2 thicker sheets of copper encased in some sort of foam tape.
 
wfxdrone said:
The existing shielding seems way more durable than some .02" thick copper tape
Actually, that is in fact the problem. The existing shielding does not cover enough area.

.02" thick copper tape is better than bare plastic.
 
msinger said:
wfxdrone said:
The existing shielding seems way more durable than some .02" thick copper tape
Actually, that is in fact the problem. The existing shielding does not cover enough area.

.02" thick copper tape is better than bare plastic.


Perhaps I am not "getting it" than. According to this photo:http://postimg.org/image/mukt4qccv/ , from the link on the website posted in your signature, the foil tape only actually covers a little bit or area beyond the factory shielding, perhaps a a 0.75"x0.75" square. And they are actually also covering the factory shielding. I guess I am not sure why you would want to break the adhesive seal from the factory shielding to relocate the cable vs. just shielding the cable, and then also applying tape to the 4 small additional areas.

Too me this seems like creating a problem to solve a problem. Perhaps if the factory shielding was being removed it would make more sense as you are losing some weight. I guess I just am curious what else I am missing.
 
wfxdrone said:
I guess I just am curious what else I am missing.

See, its questions like this that make things better. You've come up with a possibly simpler fix for the GPS issue: Simply wrapping the wire in foil with a non-conductive coat of tape.

But questions need to lead to answers... get out the hexdriver and have at it! See if your performance improves with the mod you suggested, then report back your findings.

We KNOW that the foil mod as originally described improves things quite a bit. I'd be very interested to know if YOUR idea works.
 
I originally had just wrapped the wire and it seemed to work fine. I did this out of the box, so I can't compare the results to no cable wrap. Never had a sats issue. Since then, I figured it couldn't hurt to add the full GPS foil mod also -- so now I have a foil wrapped wire insulated with electrical tape under the full foil mod on my P2V+v2. I thought everyone had originally tried that wrapped wire method early on.
 
wfxdrone said:
the foil tape only actually covers a little bit or area beyond the factory shielding, perhaps a a 0.75"x0.75" square. And they are actually also covering the factory shielding.
If the OEM shield was good enough, then why did DJI increase the size of it?
 

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msinger said:
wfxdrone said:
the foil tape only actually covers a little bit or area beyond the factory shielding, perhaps a a 0.75"x0.75" square. And they are actually also covering the factory shielding.
If the OEM shield was good enough, then why did DJI increase the size of it?

Perhaps to increase the surface are of the adhesive area? I have no clue and DJI has not chosen to enlighten us either.

The point of my post, one which you have done nothing but try to derail, is shielding the cable only sufficient to increase GPS sattelite count?

The point of this would be to make it more user and newbie friendly. Not all of us are comfortable tinkering around expensive sensitive electronics. IMO anything that can be done simply with less perceived risk makes it a more attractive option.

I have modded my phantom to just shield the cable, once I get my phantom re-assembled and flying I will update this post with results.
 
wfxdrone said:
The point of my post, one which you have done nothing but try to derail, is shielding the cable only sufficient to increase GPS sattelite count?
Sorry -- I'm not trying to derail your topic. Just pointing out a well known solution.

If you're not going to reposition the GPS cable, then you might want to cover the hole where it comes through the OEM shield.
 
I have vision 2+.
Yesterday I followed these insturctions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q31s6NDFUlA.
I used alumium foil tap that I ha purchased at Lowe's.
Pretty impressed with the result.
First tried it in my driveway where I would generally get fluctuation between 6 and 7 sats.
After a minute or less I had 8 and 9.
Then I went to a waterfall that I tried once before, but backed out when it bounced between 6 and 7.
Again within about a minute I had 8-10.
I cut the tape in strips and cut the strips in half. They were easy to shape in the shell.
 
So I wrapped the cable in copper tape, and then electrical tape, all the way from plug to the board. Reinstalled the top cover and my satellite count in the park went from 5-7 to 6-9. In my garage it went from 1-3 to 2-6. Much simpler process, don't have to remove the factory shielding and no worries about the copper tape losing adhesion and coming in contact with other electronics.
 
Nice mod. The next time I have to pop the shell, I am going to remove my foil mod and try the cable-only mod. I'll report the results when that happens.
 
wfxdrone said:
no worries about the copper tape losing adhesion and coming in contact with other electronics
If anyone does the full mod and is worried about this, just cover the copper tape with Kapton tape.
 
Kapton is OK if you have some already but not required and regular electrical tape is more that suffice.

It's main attribute is wide temperature range applications but does nothing special in a Phantom.
 

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