P3S issues.. Please Help!

[drock02]

So I've been trying to find some help but can't seem to find the issue I am having.

I got a P3S from a family member. I was crashed and the gimbal stopped working. I did some troubleshooting and found the ribbon cable had been torn. I replaced the cable and now when everything is plugged back in and I turn the drone on I can connect to the Go App but still "no transmission signal" is showing up and it says the gimbal is disconnected. There is a very faint sound that just beep 3 times consistently.

If I disconnect the gimbal the drone will not connect to the controller or the Go App. I cant fly the drone with the gimbal disconnected or connected. Not sure what the issue can be or if anyone has had this issue before.

If anyone has had this happen before please let me know so I can try and get this thing flying again.

I was looking at getting the:
DJI Phantom Brushless Gimbal Camera Mount w/ Motor & Controller for Gopro3 FPV Aerial Photography Black $46.71 Free Shipping @GoodLuckBuy.com

After seeing that the drone will not connect without the gimbal i dont want to waste money on buying this if it wont work.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated.

 

[DaveD]

When you turn both the AC on and the TX, is there a green light on the transmitter or red? You may just need to relink the TX and AC.

 

[DaveD]

There is a lone gray wire and black wire that come out of the AC that plug into the gimbal on both sides. These are antennas. Sometimes those wires get pulled out or broken when the drone gets crashed. Post a photo if you could of the front of the gimbal where the gray ribbon cable plugs in.

 

[drock02]

On the controller if the gimbal is plugged in with the grey multi wire connector the drone will connect to the controller and be green and connect to the Go App but will not fly still and the gimbal is dead, will not move or show video even after the new ribbon cable was installed.

The grey and black wires I checked i have unplugged them when i replaced the ribbon. they are plugged in an look to be good,

Do i need to replace the three wires coming from the drone to the gimbal?

Why can i not just take the gimbal off totally and fly the drone?

 

[DaveD]

You should be able to fly with no gimbal installed. Have you tried re-linking the TX an AC? You can do it without the app.

 

[drock02]

it wont link with the gimbal disconnected. just one of my issues.. I try to link the controller and it just keeps searching but without the gimbal connected it will not connect for some reason. ive been beating my head over this for a few weeks now.

 

[DaveD]

I am out of ideas. Sorry. Hopefully someone else will chime in here.

 

[drock02]

ya this thing has stumped me. ive been messing with this and trying to figure out what is going on. Ill be taking the top off the drone tomorrow and looking to see if any connections in there are messed up as well.

the weird thing is that i got it to fly once and then nothing sense then.

 

[drock02]

took the gimbal off unplugged and when i get to the go app with drone and controller on, the lights are red on controller and the connection light on the drone is green. the app above the camera button say remote controller connected. connect your aircraft. can not get the two to connect and find each other for the life of me.

 

[gbmarsh64]

Telemetry/flight data is transmitted/received through the video antennas that are connected to the gimbal controller, the black and grey single wires. Check those and the grey multiwire cable closely and replace them if they are suspect. Also re-check the camera ribbon cable again to be safe.

 

[drock02]

I've checked the wires and they look good. I haven't seen under the top of the drone yet to see what they look like on the other side yet but the side that connects to the gimbal looks good. All connections on the ribbon cable are secure and look good as well.

So if it is transmitted through the gimbal that means that I can only use the gimbal to fly the drone? I can't switch for a GoPro or just fly without a camera?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Phantom-Paul]

You can fly the Phantom S without the gimbal. The radio it contains is used for the telemetry and camera feeds back to the smart device. The control signal is completely separate. To link the controller and aircraft do the following - Turn on the controller and hold the gimbal dial in the down position ( rotate dial fully to left) while toggling sw2 several times. The controller should start beeping. Turn on the Phantom and press the link button located on the underside of the bird. It should start blinking red then shortly after the lights on both AC and TX should go green.
Turn everything off. Put in fully charged battery , turn everything back on and go fly. You will be totally blind and have no battery information etc. but it will fly. You need to watch the led navigation lights for aircraft status information.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[drock02]

Phantom-Paul
I have tried that the controller just beeps non stop and will not connect to the drone. The red light is blinking on the underside of the drone where you push the button to link. But when the gimbal is unplugged it won't connect. I'm not sure why. I've tried this concept multiple times and still no luck.

What could cause that?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Phantom-Paul]

Other than a hardware failure the usual cause of non linking is a mismatch in FW between the AC and TX but if it was working ok up until it was crashed you can count that out. The gimbal should have no effect on the controller binding to bird. Sorry can't offer any more ideas there.
RE the gimbal what condition is the grey ribbon cable and plug in? Its not uncommon for the wires to be pulled from the white plastic plug in a crash .

***EDIT***
It appears after a quick search that you need the gimbal to get the controller and Phantom to link but once they are linked you no-longer require the gimbal.

Sent from my SM-G900I using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Cloudraker]

Phantom-Paul
I have tried that the controller just beeps non stop and will not connect to the drone. The red light is blinking on the underside of the drone where you push the button to link. But when the gimbal is unplugged it won't connect. I'm not sure why. I've tried this concept multiple times and still no luck.

What could cause that?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

Silly question, but when you initiate the link between the controller and the drone, are you using the app or the switch on the controller? When i first purchased my drone, for some reason the AC and TX weren't synced. I tried 4 time using the switch method and it would sit there and beep at me and never sync. Then, i went into the app, hit the sync button and it took all of 10 seconds to sync.

 

[RodPad]

So, I recall from the past, you need the gimbal to re-link, do you get green on the Phantom and the remote then?

Without the gimbal, you should be able to fly, but you may have a red light on the remote then, and of coarse no information or video from the Phantom... You don't even need the app to fly.

Rod

 

[RodPad]

Silly question, but when you initiate the link between the controller and the drone, are you using the app or the switch on the controller? When i first purchased my drone, for some reason the AC and TX weren't synced. I tried 4 time using the switch method and it would sit there and beep at me and never sync. Then, i went into the app, hit the sync button and it took all of 10 seconds to sync.

I don't think the app sync button is going to work, but.

Let us know..

Rod

 

[drock02]

So with the gimbal attached all wires going to it look good as ive said. nothing looks out of place.

when plugged in the drone and controller will connect no problem. only problem is when i try to take off it does nothing. and gimbal is unresponsive. no video and doesnt even seem like its plugged in with the app.

with the gimbal unconnected. and trying to link i have tried both ways. App and controls. both can not find the drone at all if it is not plugged into the gimbal. seems pretty stupid if i have to connect the gimbal every time to try and get the **** thing to work. I just want to use a gopro seeing how it has better video quality anyways but im not going to waste money if i have to go through a dumb process every time i want to fly.

as of now the thing wont fly wont connect. wont update firmware. stuck on 1.7.90 and cant update. DJI support is no help at all they just want me to ship it to them so they can charge me out the *** for who knows what.

 

[RodPad]

You never say how you try to take off, the app or the RC sticks?

Rod

Added: You will never be able to update with out a gimbal and camera.

 

[drock02]

I have tried to take off using the app. I just learned about the RC sticks method but am unable to connect the two to even try this method of flying.

with the gimbal connected the update would always fail. not sure what else to try to fix the gimbal. new ribbon cable that was torn didnt fix the issue so now im on the part of things trying to see what is next to replace