Making my phantom 3 standard more crash resistant and efficient.

[yawnalot29]

Sorry I'm not being clear. I lose RC and I have it on return to home so it comes back and I regain control at that point, the video is cutting out but for short internals not my main concern I would like to fix the distance problem and I am in GPS mode.

I understand what you are trying to achieve and where you have indicate the symptom of the issue.

"short distance" is a symptom of likely issue with your antenna / reception. So look there.

You have 2 sets of antenna. Check both or check the one you are losing connection first.

You lose control of bird at 600 feet. Therefore you conclude the bird now has a 600 feet problem where it used to go 1200 feet. Is that correct? IF SO,

Question 1: why do you lose control of bird at 600 feet?
Question 2: what's allowing you to control your bird?

That's why we are talking about the antenna. Hope that's clear.

1. GPS issue does not impact how far you can control your bird.

2. Flight controller (NAZA) isn't the issue seeing you are controlling your drone fine up until 600 feet.

3. Battery issue DOES impact, but the short distance is not due to running out of battery.

4. Damaged transmission circuit boards could potentially weaken the signal strength and thus reducing your distance. For this you would need specialized equipment to measure the RF output strength. Do you have one?

5. I assume you've check all of your app settings to remove any distance limit.

6. Lastly, it could be a lose antenna or damaged antenna.

Those are the possible cause that I can think of on what might impact the distance you can control your drone. So you can go down the list and check all of them.

 

[riverphantom3]

I understand what you are trying to achieve and where you have indicate the symptom of the issue.

"short distance" is a symptom of likely issue with your antenna / reception. So look there.

You have 2 sets of antenna. Check both or check the one you are losing connection first.

You lose control of bird at 600 feet. Therefore you conclude the bird now has a 600 feet problem where it used to go 1200 feet. Is that correct? IF SO,

Question 1: why do you lose control of bird at 600 feet?
Question 2: what's allowing you to control your bird?

That's why we are talking about the antenna. Hope that's clear.

1. GPS issue does not impact how far you can control your bird.

2. Flight controller (NAZA) isn't the issue seeing you are controlling your drone fine up until 600 feet.

3. Battery issue DOES impact, but the short distance is not due to running out of battery.

4. Damaged transmission circuit boards could potentially weaken the signal strength and thus reducing your distance. For this you would need specialized equipment to measure the RF output strength. Do you have one?

5. I assume you've check all of your app settings to remove any distance limit.

6. Lastly, it could be a lose antenna or damaged antenna.

Those are the possible cause that I can think of on what might impact the distance you can control your drone. So you can go down the list and check all of them.

3. The battery was dying incredibly fast
4. I do not have specialized equipment to measure the RF output strength
5. I never use distance limits
6. I think the bird would be where the problem is due to its recent crashes I have not dropped or any other way damaged the controller.

 

[yawnalot29]

Are you saying you are also getting much shorter flight time per fully charged battery?

If that is what you are indicating, there could be a hosts of other potential issues that's causing the 600 ft limited range. Damaged control board for example.

The strength of your signal (both RC and Video) and how much battery you have is what ultimately dictates how far you can fly.

If you are getting 600 ft now compare to 1200 ft before, what I am trying to figure out is what is causing you to lose your signal strength.

So saying the same thing I said above in a different way. Can't tell you what you should do because I don't have enough information and because you have your bird (I can't perform diagnostic on it to eliminate possible causes, you need to do this since you have the drone), you know what's going on and what happened, best you learn the how so you can figure out the why yourself.

- environmental. moisture in air can absorb signal. trees, buildings, in between your drone and your controller can reduce your signal strength. Other signal in the same frequency (e.g. wifi routers, wifi on your device, etc) range can interfere with your signal.

- antenna. what kind of antenna and the orientation (how you position your antenna) has a big impact on signal strength. Make sure your antenna is positioned optimally. If you place a imaginary round doughnut on your antenna, the radio pattern of your omni directional antenna is where the doughnut is. That is to say, have the side of your antenna point toward your drone. The weakest signal on omni directional antenna is at the tip. So don't point the tip of your antenna toward your drone. The antenna should also be not damaged. Your drone suffer a crash, so possible the antenna is damaged or knock lose.

- transmission power. switching between FCC and EC mode changes the transmission power of your radio frequency. A damaged RF module would potentially reduce transmission power. Transmission power can also be set via hacks into the firmware.

One of more of those 3 things I have listed above have changed since your crash. You'll need to figure out which and rectified it to get back to 1200 ft.

 

[riverphantom3]

Are you saying you are also getting much shorter flight time per fully charged battery?

If that is what you are indicating, there could be a hosts of other potential issues that's causing the 600 ft limited range. Damaged control board for example.

The strength of your signal (both RC and Video) and how much battery you have is what ultimately dictates how far you can fly.

If you are getting 600 ft now compare to 1200 ft before, what I am trying to figure out is what is causing you to lose your signal strength.

So saying the same thing I said above in a different way. Can't tell you what you should do because I don't have enough information and because you have your bird (I can't perform diagnostic on it to eliminate possible causes, you need to do this since you have the drone), you know what's going on and what happened, best you learn the how so you can figure out the why yourself.

- environmental. moisture in air can absorb signal. trees, buildings, in between your drone and your controller can reduce your signal strength. Other signal in the same frequency range can interfere with your signal.

- antenna. what kind of antenna and the orientation (how you position your antenna) has a big impact on signal strength. Make sure your antenna is positioned optimally. If you place a imaginary round doughnut on your antenna, the radio pattern of your omni directional antenna is where the doughnut is. That is to say, have the side of your antenna point toward your drone. The weakest signal on omni directional antenna is at the tip. So don't point the tip of your antenna toward your drone. The antenna should also be not damaged. Your drone suffer a crash, so possible the antenna is damaged or knock lose.

- transmission power. switching between FCC and EC mode changes the transmission power of your radio frequency. A damaged RF module would potentially reduce transmission power. Transmission power can also be set via hacks into the firmware.

One of more of those 3 things I have listed above have changed since your crash. You'll need to figure out which and rectified it to get back to 1200 ft.

There are always trees between my drone and controller
I moved the antenna in every direction but it did not help
I still don't think you can change from CE to FCC mode on standard and I have not hacked the firmware and I'm about to update to the latest version.

 

[Illina]

Gimbal savers are a crap shoot. I had a P2V+ fall after topping a tree. The camera didn't separate or break the cable but the gimbal saver went up and bent the round portion of the arm that houses the gimbal motor. Might have been better with a separated camera. I do like to use the plastic, carbon fiber, or whatever they want to call it that goes between the legs. This helps keep the area under the camera clear when taking off and seems to give it a little more support when hand catching.

 

[riverphantom3]

Gimbal savers are a crap shoot. I had a P2V+ fall after topping a tree. The camera didn't separate or break the cable but the gimbal saver went up and bent the round portion of the arm that houses the gimbal motor. Might have been better with a separated camera. I do like to use the plastic, carbon fiber, or whatever they want to call it that goes between the legs. This helps keep the area under the camera clear when taking off and seems to give it a little more support when hand catching.

Your thinking of a gimbal guard Carbon Fiber Gimbal Camera Guard Protective Board & Strap For Phantom 3 hot I've purchased that and a Gimbal Crash Protector Ribbon Cable Saver For DJI Phantom 3 Pro Advanced CNC Alu , do you think this would help with a hard crash or landing?

 

[riverphantom3]

Please post your suggestions here -> Distance problem.. | DJI Phantom Forum

 

[Frank McKenney]

Before my first flight, ...Gimbal guard, quick release prop guards and extended legs. So far, no regrets!

 

[riverphantom3]

Before my first flight, ...Gimbal guard, quick release prop guards and extended legs. So far, no regrets!

You got a recommendation for affordable prop guards.

 

[riverphantom3]

Before my first flight, ...Gimbal guard, quick release prop guards and extended legs. So far, no regrets!

Removable Propellers Prop Protectors Guard Bumpers for DJI Phantom 3 - All White

 

[ChrisRN]

My gimbal saver setup. Purchased the CNC saver from eBay for about $9 shipped. The cf crash guard wasn't that much either, but did need some slight modding in order to sit right below the gimbal.

 

[riverphantom3]

My gimbal saver setup. Purchased the CNC saver from eBay for about $9 shipped. The cf crash guard wasn't that much either, but did need some slight modding in order to sit right below the gimbal.

Have both ordered.

 

[TheTanger]

Speaking of which, does anyone have a link for a gimbal guard that ACTUALLY fits the P3S and allows full camera movement? The SKYREAT one from Amazon does not-the notches don't line up properly.

 

[riverphantom3]

Speaking of which, does anyone have a link for a gimbal guard that ACTUALLY fits the P3S and allows full camera movement? The SKYREAT one from Amazon does not-the notches don't line up properly.

Carbon Fiber Gimbal Camera Guard Protective Board & Strap For Phantom 3 hot it will take a while to get here.

 

[Jesse_M]

This one works well for me.

DJI Phantom 3 Gimbal & Camera Protector Landing Gear Crash Guard Carbon Fiber

 

[Frank McKenney]

You got a recommendation for affordable prop guards.

Ebay Bro.....the ones I got from China work great and were cheap!

 

[Frank McKenney]

Similar, but I got the two black and two orange color so I can see where the front end is facing at a distance. Sorry about the late post...been busy.

 

[Jfasig]

Fixed mine (great post)


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