Normal behavior of wifi connection to range extender??

[johnb73]

Hello everyone,

First time with my Phantom 2+ here after learning on a Syma X1 and hours spent in Heli-X.

Doing preflight checks of everything this morning in a big open field... If I walk about 50 feet from my Phantom (always facing it) it loses wifi connection to my Iphone 5s. It will do this repeatedly -- can't ever get more than about 50 feet with it on the ground and keep a wifi connection. My iPhone is on airplane mode w/ wifi turned on, no other apps running, fresh restart -- and it works fine on my normal home router, etc. There's no other wifi signals at this location, no power lines, antennas, etc and to test this I've tried it in a few other locations and it's always the same. Walk 50 feet, it drops.

During these tests the System light on the range extender *does a constant, erratic flicker*, kind of like a home internet router would do when data is being transferred. However the instructions say if the range extender is working correctly I would be getting a normal blinking of the System light. I'm *never* getting a normal blinking of the system light.

I'll also lose connection to it from only 15 or so feet if I turn around and face the other direction, but I know the instructions say to always keep the range extender facing the direction of the phantom, I'm just kind of surprised it's *that* line of sight.

Anyway, DJI tech support doesn't open for a few more hours here so was hoping some of you may have some opinions on this.

Thanks,

John

 

[happydays]

I had the same issue (albeit with a P2V). I did a rebind of the extender to the camera and all worked ok.

CBS

 

[johnb73]

Thanks a lot, appreciate your response!

Just tried the rebind and still it loses connection at 50 feet while on the ground and facing it. Since I'm a noob I'm pretty leery about flying it with the wifi being dodgy as it seems to be.

Does your green system light on the range extender do a normal blinking when you're using the DJI app? Mine doesn't ever blink, it does a erratic flashing when I'm using the DJI app, such as taking test photos, etc.

 

[happydays]

From memory, the right hand one (viewed from above) stays constant and the left hander flickers ever so slightly. But I have a dodgy memory...

 

[johnb73]

I guess a better question would be -- should I be able to walk more than 50 feet with my PV+ sitting while its sitting on the ground and still maintain wifi connectivity under normal conditions? I certainly cannot...

 

[Dirty Bird]

I guess a better question would be -- should I be able to walk more than 50 feet with my PV+ sitting while its sitting on the ground and still maintain wifi connectivity under normal conditions? I certainly cannot...

Most definitely you should be able to maintain connection within 50', regardless of if you are pointing the Wi-Fi extender at the Phantom. Perhaps you might try rebinding the Extender to the Phantom per the instructions in the manual?

Note: I am assuming you have NO Wi-Fi connectivity and are getting the "Connection Broken" pop up? Sometimes at close proximity the video feed will geek out (telemetry still functions normally). It seems it might be signal overload because once you increase the distance or point away from the aircraft the video returns to normal within a second or two. I am running the 1.0.39 version of the Vision+ app...1.0.40 geeks my video.

 

[johnb73]

Yeah, I get the "lost connection" sign on my iphone the second I walk about 50 feet away and everything goes to b/w -- no data or anything is coming through.

Tried rebinding per the instructions, still the same. Updated the firmware on the PV+, still the same (this was new out of the box, so it was still on 3.0 I think). It's very repeatable and consistent -- walk 50 feet, drops with the lost connection message. And if I turn around and don't face it, it loses connection in about half or less of that distance.

 

[Bateman233]

Any thoughts that maybe it is your iphone's connection? We have uber fast internet at the office and when my phone is on wifi it is incredibly slow at the office. I feel it has something to do with my iphone 5 wifi connectivity...and this has been a problem with iphones before. Take it in to your Apple store and talk to them about it. [/b][/b]

 

[BlackTracer]

When I am connected to the Phantom_xxxxxx network the right light is solid green and left light is rapidly and erratically blinking green. I don't think the right light is anything but solid the whole time. There have been reports of this symptom being you are directly connected to the phantom rather than the extender which connects to the phantom. For me the Phantom_xxxxxx network becomes available about 30 seconds after turning on the phantom (extender already on). Is this the case for you?

 

[Gary567]

Try rotating the wi-fi extender on it's mount on the RC so the two lights are facing up instead of pointing at you. That seems to sometimes help improve my reception.

 

[johnb73]

When I am connected to the Phantom_xxxxxx network the right light is solid green and left light is rapidly and erratically blinking green. I don't think the right light is anything but solid the whole time. There have been reports of this symptom being you are directly connected to the phantom rather than the extender which connects to the phantom. For me the Phantom_xxxxxx network becomes available about 30 seconds after turning on the phantom (extender already on). Is this the case for you?

Well, spoke to DJI Tech Support and really the only thing it came to was to reinstall the app on my iPhone and try another device. My iPhone is pretty new and works totally fine with wifi on everything else, but I'll try a 4 in any case.

If I turn on only the Phantom and scan for wifi signals on my iphone w/ a wifi scanner program, it picks up a hidden network that has no name. If I shut off the Phantom and turn on and the extender and do the same thing, there are no networks seen. And finally, if I turn on the Phantom and the extender, my scanner will show the Phantom_06xxx signal along with the hidden network. So that looks like it's all working normally -- the extender ovbiously knows to search for a wifi point with a certain MAC address and connect to it. But apparently there's no range extension happening. It's raining now so later today I'll give it another shot with the freshly reinstalled app, but I have to admit this is looking like I have a bunk extender.

 

[Madwak]

I know this might be a stupid question but when you walk the 50 feet from the phantom you are taking the remote with you aren't you? :?:

 

[Dirty Bird]

Yeah, I get the "lost connection" sign on my iphone the second I walk about 50 feet away and everything goes to b/w -- no data or anything is coming through.

Tried rebinding per the instructions, still the same. Updated the firmware on the PV+, still the same (this was new out of the box, so it was still on 3.0 I think). It's very repeatable and consistent -- walk 50 feet, drops with the lost connection message. And if I turn around and don't face it, it loses connection in about half or less of that distance.

This is sounding like you either have a flaky extender, or flaky Wi-Fi in the Phantom itself. To be sure, I would first try connecting with another device if you have one available. If you get the same issue, then I would say my hypothesis is likely the issue. From what I can tell, your phone will not connect to the extender until AFTER it has already paired with the Phantom. You could try carefully opening the extender and verifying that the two antenna leads are securely connected to the circuit board, and you could open the Phantom and make the same check (in the Phantom, the antenna are in the battery compartment, one on either side, and they connect to the metal box in the chassis...two leads).

 

[Just_Satch]

I have the EXACT same issue!

I have tried to re-bind, tried on my iPhone 5 (re-installed app) and my iPad Mini - all giving me the same results. Connects fine, but 10-50' away and I lose connection. I reported a problem on DJI's site but haven't seen a reply yet. I'll be following this thread to see if anything gets figured out.

Good luck!

 

[johnb73]

I know this might be a stupid question but when you walk the 50 feet from the phantom you are taking the remote with you aren't you? :?:

I like to think there are only stupid answers, not stupid questions! I really wish it was a RTFM situation like that, but sadly no, I've been carrying the transmitter with me and just was doing a check before my first flight.

 

[johnb73]

I have the EXACT same issue!

I have tried to re-bind, tried on my iPhone 5 (re-installed app) and my iPad Mini - all giving me the same results. Connects fine, but 10-50' away and I lose connection. I reported a problem on DJI's site but haven't seen a reply yet. I'll be following this thread to see if anything gets figured out.

Good luck!

Do you have a new PV+ by any chance, that were just shipped in the recent batch?

 

[Just_Satch]

Do you have a new PV+ by any chance, that were just shipped in the recent batch?

I do have the P2V+ received May 2 - had a bit of a tumble out of the gate and it was out of commission for a week or two so I'm just starting to really follow up on this issue.

 

[johnb73]

Yeah, I get the "lost connection" sign on my iphone the second I walk about 50 feet away and everything goes to b/w -- no data or anything is coming through.

Tried rebinding per the instructions, still the same. Updated the firmware on the PV+, still the same (this was new out of the box, so it was still on 3.0 I think). It's very repeatable and consistent -- walk 50 feet, drops with the lost connection message. And if I turn around and don't face it, it loses connection in about half or less of that distance.

This is sounding like you either have a flaky extender, or flaky Wi-Fi in the Phantom itself. To be sure, I would first try connecting with another device if you have one available. If you get the same issue, then I would say my hypothesis is likely the issue. From what I can tell, your phone will not connect to the extender until AFTER it has already paired with the Phantom. You could try carefully opening the extender and verifying that the two antenna leads are securely connected to the circuit board, and you could open the Phantom and make the same check (in the Phantom, the antenna are in the battery compartment, one on either side, and they connect to the metal box in the chassis...two leads).

Yeah, I agree that it's flaky Phantom wifi. I used a wifi scanner where it lost a connection (60 or so feet) and the RSSI between my phone and the range extender was quite good. But the app was still showing loss of signal and/or the loss of connection message at 60 or so feet. This was with the app reinstalled on my Verizon iphone 5, as well as my AT&T iphone 4. Both had the same loss at about the same place.

I also tried turning on only the Phantom outside and used my wifi scanner on my phone to see what the RSSI was doing for its hidden wifi network -- and it's quite bad. At about 25 feet the scanner said it was -90 or something, then it would lose signal after a few more feet. So I'd say that's bad wifi coming from the bird. Oh well... At least I found out while it was safely on terra firma. Back to Heli-X I go.

 

[dannytroy]

Add me to the list with flaky wifi. I first used a Samsung Note 2 and later started using a Samsung Tab 3 tablet. Same situation. I just ordered the necessary adapters and will be installing a whip antenna on the extender, and might even install two antennas, since there are two antenna ports.

According to what you guys are saying, it won't help, or will it? If the wifi is weak out of the Phantom maybe a better antenna on the extender will improve reception. What is really needed is a better antenna on the Phantom, assuming the Phantom wifi is not defective.

I also have the Epson BT-200 glasses on order, and I'm anxious to see if it helps the wifi connection, since it will take the place of the tablet.

 

[Skynet1]

There has been a lot of good suggestions already given, and I can only admit to experiencing somewhat of a similar episode of loosing video at relatively short distances between the model and monitoring device. I ultimately decided to drop back to an earlier version of the camera app so graciously offered by one of the members of this excellent forum, and has since resolve the issue. This may have been already suggested to you, however, if I understand correctly you had already uninstalled and reinstalled the camera app, but to what version I'm not sure. I was simply thinking you may want to consider an older version as well. I had dropped back to 1.0.39. Again, not really sure this will get you any closer to a resolve to your present concern, but what the hey, it can't hurt. If you have already done that already, simply disregard.