satellites drop slightly when recording video - SOLVED
- Thread starter smokiespliff
- Start date
Wahhhheeyyyyyyy!
Aluminium foil applied on top of copper and this time I bound the GPS cable too.
Now I get no drop WHATSOEVER!!!
I'm a VERY happy man and all this just before we go to the coast for a week.
Aluminium foil applied on top of copper and this time I bound the GPS cable too.
Now I get no drop WHATSOEVER!!!
I'm a VERY happy man and all this just before we go to the coast for a week.
So is this a common problem? Or do you have a cabling issue in your bird? From what you wrote above, it sounds like you have a high impedance in a cable (which could be a loose connector or a mis-crimped pin/wire) that the shielding is helping protect from. Has anyone else experienced this at all?RPA said:
Read the previous posts , seems to have helped a lot of people out. I think it's from the camera , as you can see dji actually shields the gps. Seems to be working. Some of these cameras give off a lot of rf noise. My möbius action cam on my F450 interfered with my gps so much I kept loseing sat lock until sheilded it.
I can confirm this mod worked for me. Where I previously had 8-9 satellites I now have 11-12 satellites and the phantom acquires them much faster!!
I noticed there already are multiple layers of what appears to be copper shielding already on top of the GPS unit. I used aluminum tape http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A7I ... UTF8&psc=1 and covered it with clear tape. I wonder if it's the aluminum that is offering the benefit along with the copper?? I saw some posts in this thread that suggests using a copper sheet, would that offer the same benefit as there are already several layers of copper shielding?
I noticed there already are multiple layers of what appears to be copper shielding already on top of the GPS unit. I used aluminum tape http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A7I ... UTF8&psc=1 and covered it with clear tape. I wonder if it's the aluminum that is offering the benefit along with the copper?? I saw some posts in this thread that suggests using a copper sheet, would that offer the same benefit as there are already several layers of copper shielding?
So copper doesn't work so well.
Judging by the exposed colour and the malleability, it seems the original DJI shielding (I assume) is copper.
Or maybe they haven't shielded enough.
So many benefits in the aluminium foil mod.
I think they should sticky this.
Less flyways (assumed)
More accuracy in flight and RTH.
Faster GPS acquisitions.
More places to take off with home lock point recorded.
Able to record vids without dropping into auto ATTI.
Judging by the exposed colour and the malleability, it seems the original DJI shielding (I assume) is copper.
Or maybe they haven't shielded enough.
So many benefits in the aluminium foil mod.
I think they should sticky this.
Less flyways (assumed)
More accuracy in flight and RTH.
Faster GPS acquisitions.
More places to take off with home lock point recorded.
Able to record vids without dropping into auto ATTI.
Re: Recording video makes the phantom loose GPS connection
The fact that the shield is there is a clear indication DJI is aware of a shielding issue, certainly. I wonder if it's so much the added foil or the first step where the unshielded GPS cable was run under the existing GPS shield instead of having so much of it exposed to noise going over the top? That seems like something simple to try first, which I will do next time I have my P2V bird open for minor surgery.
Cloudconnect said:
The fact that the shield is there is a clear indication DJI is aware of a shielding issue, certainly. I wonder if it's so much the added foil or the first step where the unshielded GPS cable was run under the existing GPS shield instead of having so much of it exposed to noise going over the top? That seems like something simple to try first, which I will do next time I have my P2V bird open for minor surgery.
Timtro said:
If you follow my progress on this thread you'll notice that when I tucked the cable under AND added copper sheet I still had a drop.
When I added aluminium AND wrapped the remaining exposed cable I negated the problem.
So I'd suggest the solution is not the tucking under but either the complete shielding of the cable or the addition of aluminium sheet in addition to the existing DJI copper shielding.
So I just tried this modification on my bird. In my backyard at a location I normally get no more than 4 satellites I now get 6. In another location of my backyard where I normally get 6 satellites I now get 9. This is on the ground and jumps to 12 in the air. Thank you Droneexpert! No change with turning on the motors or starting video recording. As a previous poster suggested that simply placing the cable under the DJI copper shielding should be sufficient, I can also attest that my experience shows that it is not. Like others here, I used aluminum HVAC tape followed with a layer of packing tape. As for why some people haven't had success with another layer of copper foil, could it be because since copper is a better RFI shield and aluminum is a better EMI shield, the combination of the two properties provides the best results? Regardless, this is a simple mod that any beginner can do that yields dramatic results. Agree with other posters that this should be a sticky.
Just did the mod using alum duct tape. Haven't flown it yet but in my hobby room by a window I got 7-8 sats ! Normaly I would get maybe 4. , pretty effective ! How long before someone starts making these things ? Wouldn't surprise me.
I can also confirm that the foil mod significantly improved my GPS reception. Where previously I would get 6, maybe 7 sats before takeoff, I now get 8 almost immediately and 11-12 while in the air. This was definitely worth the 1/2 hour of effort.
RPA said:
Hi, I appreciate your reporting on your experience, especially how you have found that one foil works better then another. I do have a idea, what do you think about removing the shelding around the cable to see if that is really necessary. Any overkill in this mod adds weight to our birds, so I am interested in the best but lightest cure for this issue. And I don't think this is the entire gps puck that is getting hit by the radio waves but some connector or wire that is exposed and if we figure out exactly what it would be good. When you watch droneexperts video and he just moves the gps away from the camera a couple inches and that makes a difference. I also do not think is is just a Phantom 2 vision issue but is for all the Phantom's including fc40 and v.1 etc.. thanks. What do you think of that idea? This thread has developed a proven fix to what could be a very big issue when using gps mode. Thanks to all of you for taking the time to share your experiences. Now we should see if we can publish this finding so it will get back to manufacturing. This might also make, what some thought was an out of warranty crash, into a warranty issue for DJI. Perhaps the AMA can provide us with some legal assistance in this regard.
Just another data point:
Used 3M Metal Repair 3381 aluminum foil tape with an insulating layer of Scotch Box Sealing polypropylene tape on top. Previously got 7 satellites before take-off with video recording on, and yesterday evening, I had 10 satellites before take-off with video recording on and 12 satellites thereafter. The mod appears to be well worth the effort.
Used 3M Metal Repair 3381 aluminum foil tape with an insulating layer of Scotch Box Sealing polypropylene tape on top. Previously got 7 satellites before take-off with video recording on, and yesterday evening, I had 10 satellites before take-off with video recording on and 12 satellites thereafter. The mod appears to be well worth the effort.
I was thinking, gets me in trouble all the time. Is there some kind of radio wave tester that could see the signal that the camera sends. See how the signal changes when record is hit and that information might give more clues as to exactly what we are doing this mod for. Actually I don't look at this as a mod, but as a manufacturing defect that we are fixing. Like that attorney advertises for people who got cancer from asbestos, people who were depending on gps to protect their quad from crashing might have had a crash actually caused by the drop in sats when they hit the record button. My Phantom 2 Vision plus crashed after record was turned on. The number of sats was not noticed prior to the crash so this could have been the reason mine is at DJI or repair. They have had it for about a week and a half and I have not yet heard when it will be repaired and what the cost might be. I do understand that the company is busier then that one legged man at the *** kicking contest so I am being very patient.
Similar threads
