satellites drop slightly when recording video - SOLVED

[andersonpaac]

I took delivery on a new Phantom V2+ Thursday to replace one that DJI decided to have issues.

This particular unit seems to have a hard time getting GPS and toggles between 4-6 satellites and takes 5 minutes to get that. I usually hover at about 15' trying to get 6 and wait for lock.

The problem is around my land I often lose GPS and end up in ATTI. Record video pretty much guarantees that. In all fairness our acreage sits in a valley.

I called DJI and their only suggestion was the replace it. They had me do a calibration which at the time seemed to help and it got me to 6. That or it was just the extra time while I did the calibration. Basically they told me it was logged and to go fly it and see how it did.

As it turned out the calibration did not help so today I ran to my local big box store and grabbed some aluminum tape.

WOW ! 7 satellites on the ground in quick order and jumped to 9 as soon as I lifted off and then to 12.

I really think its more the exposed cable than anything. If I had it to do over I would have just taped the cable down and tried that.

Great news , good luck

 

[davephantom]

Does anyone else already have shielding in place (instead of 1 layer of soft sticky, there is 3 layers with 2 copper shield layers? I posted here as well: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=19402&p=196330#p196330 but it seems we have two threads on the same topic.

 

[TeeJayN]

Do you think this product will work? Thanks
http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/shop/materials/specialty-media/item-number/media-svr-adh

This looks like great stuff but, having seen many all plastic materials that have a shiny metallic like appearance, I sent the following query to their Customer Support:

"Are the printable silver foil sheets actually made with foil metal or is it all plastic material made to look like silver foil? "

Their response:

"The Printable Silver Foil is a plastic material made to look like Silver Foil.
Let us know if we can assist you further.
Silhouette Support Team
[email protected]"

Given this product has no metal foil, I'd be wary of its effectiveness.

 

[ToThePoint]

Does anyone else already have shielding in place (instead of 1 layer of soft sticky, there is 3 layers with 2 copper shield layers? I posted here as well: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=19402&p=196330#p196330 but it seems we have two threads on the same topic.

Yes i have it to and i own mine almost 2 months. The same in the wifi extender.
I also did the alu mod with alu that they use to make trays out of it when you buy a lasagna or take away food.
They have trays in different sizes made out off thick alu.
I glued it using hobby glue that you can spray on things and it adheres quiet good.
I guess it made a slight difference ( wishful thinking ? )
Anyway i never noticed a substantial drop off satellites when initiating video ( maybe i state maybe 1 before this mod ).

 

[ircphoenix]

I registered on these forums for 1 reason and 1 reason only.

To thank EVERYONE here who has posted about the foil trick. I almost killed my Phantom yesterday. I couldn't figure out why the thing would lose it's mind after starting to record video, and why in an otherwise open space, it would be unable to connect to GPS satellites in the area. I would have 6 satellites MAYBE after several minutes, and when I would turn on the camera, it would drop to 3-4. Upon immediately turning off the camera, the GPS satellites would pick back up, but never got above a very unstable #7.

Today I did the foil trick and as soon as I powered 'Buzz' up, he found 7 satellites. Two seconds later picked up #8. Turned on the camera, no change. Lifted off, up to 11 satellites. What a difference. All with a 9 dollar roll of HVAC foil tape... that I used 7 inches of. Incredible.

So thank you so much!

... now if I can resolve this FPV live video issue...

 

[garrock]

... now if I can resolve this FPV live video issue...

Move the DJI WiFi Range Extender module away from your transmitter. Try mounting it on a camera tripod and locate it 50 or 100 feet away from where you are holding the transmitter.

 

[ircphoenix]

... now if I can resolve this FPV live video issue...

Move the DJI WiFi Range Extender module away from your transmitter. Try mounting it on a camera tripod and locate it 50 or 100 feet away from where you are holding the transmitter.

No dice. 90 seconds of video then freeze. Every time. Already did the GPS fix, so it is going to be annoying if it IS a hardware issue and I have to send it back to DJI.

 

[garrock]

No dice. 90 seconds of video then freeze. Every time. ...

The camera system uses ribbon cable for the high speed video signals. The ribbon cable is not shielded.

I wonder if that has something to do with video freeze ups?

I have freeze ups but not as often as others.

 

[ircphoenix]

I sincerely wish I knew. TBH it is bad enough that the shielding on the GPS receiver passed QC... to also think that I and probably a hundred other people all received bad wifi transmitters makes me truly disappointed. Software glitch I can understand. But continued hardware flaws... just reinforces the stereotypes about QC and customer service in China, ya know?

 

[dronebandit]

I am going to do GPS shield fix in near future as I have also problems with sat drop when recording.
So far my observations are that GPS drop happens mostly when recording 1080i/p video, 720p60 seems to less interfere with GPS.
As a temporary fix I put metal foil (from HDD packing bag) in beetween camera and gimbal, seems to help a little bit (+1 sat). My phantom is quite new and I do not want to open it yet to avoid problems with RMA ....

 

[dronebandit]

short video of my GPS problem, and temporary fix with shielded bag from HDD
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hKcUcZPWww[/youtube]

at the end I cut T-shape out of the bag and put it above camera to test it in real life

temporary conclusion - when your drone out of sight begin to drift away and radar position jumps, turn off recording asap

 

[Wedeliver]

I am making a little log of my satellite reception, number and how long it takes to reach 6 or 7 satellites and after getting in the air how many. Then I am going to do the mod. I am trying to do the tests at the same time everyday and under the same conditions as far as I can tell. Such as K-Index. I am doing this with a Vision Plus. If it does help with satellite aquiring I will see about doing with with my Phantom V1.2 I can also do a log thing with that quad so that I can gauge the effectiveness of this mod on that quad. Has anyone else had luck by doing the "Tin Foil" mod? and are there any other variables that I should be considering as I create a log of how the machine currently functions in this one area.

 

[ircphoenix]

I think most of us in this thread have done the foil tape mod. I did. Works FANTASTIC. Would struggle to get 6-7 satellites... turned on the camera and I'd drop to 4. In flight I might get 8... turned on camera and dropped to 4 with loss of GPS mode.

Did the foil tape mod and I instantly have a minimum of 6 satellites connected almost instantaneously. Once I get airborne, easily 11 satellites.

I did foil tape under the GPS receiver (after folding the cable under the OEM shielding), then clear thin crappy packing tape under the foil to insulate it. Could not be happier with the ease of the mod or the results.

 

[Wedeliver]

I think most of us in this thread have done the foil tape mod. I did. Works FANTASTIC. Would struggle to get 6-7 satellites... turned on the camera and I'd drop to 4. In flight I might get 8... turned on camera and dropped to 4 with loss of GPS mode.

Did the foil tape mod and I instantly have a minimum of 6 satellites connected almost instantaneously. Once I get airborne, easily 11 satellites.

I did foil tape under the GPS receiver (after folding the cable under the OEM shielding), then clear thin crappy packing tape under the foil to insulate it. Could not be happier with the ease of the mod or the results.

The statement " clear thin crappy packing tape under the foil to insulate it" I want to make sure I understand. So this packing tape is just a non-conductive material so the tin foil does not cause a short? and "under" the foil means between the foil mod and the guts of the phantom. thanks for your help

 

[Mako79]

I think most of us in this thread have done the foil tape mod. I did. Works FANTASTIC. Would struggle to get 6-7 satellites... turned on the camera and I'd drop to 4. In flight I might get 8... turned on camera and dropped to 4 with loss of GPS mode.

Did the foil tape mod and I instantly have a minimum of 6 satellites connected almost instantaneously. Once I get airborne, easily 11 satellites.

I did foil tape under the GPS receiver (after folding the cable under the OEM shielding), then clear thin crappy packing tape under the foil to insulate it. Could not be happier with the ease of the mod or the results.

The statement " clear thin crappy packing tape under the foil to insulate it" I want to make sure I understand. So this packing tape is just a non-conductive material so the tin foil does not cause a short? and "under" the foil means between the foil mod and the guts of the phantom. thanks for your help

Look at this thread and the youtube vid by Drone expert. It's the very first thread.
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=19402
Essentially what you need to do is block the signals from the phantom innards, gimbal and camera.
And yes, packing tape can be used to prevent shorting.

 

[M.Tigelaar]

I think the problem is the wifi unit in the vision plus, because the GPS cable goes right over it and on it.
I have the mod also on one vision plus, on the other vision plus (the black one) I have only turn the cable and aluminium tape on the little cable end.
So I wil test the difference between the two mod's one of these days. (If there is a difference)
.

 

[darren0405]

just done the foil mod this morning and found it made it worse i normally get9-10 satellites on the beach where i live but drop down to 6-7 when recording so i followed the instructions and returned to the beach and low and behold 6-7 satellites no more ,the only thing i didn't do was to foil the cable.
and when i pushed the clip back in it didn't click in just pushed in, I tried a few times is this right??

 

[Fourblade]

I'm waiting for some free time before attempting this but can I just ask when I unscrew all the screws will the top section come "right off" on my P2V+ (bought within the last 2 weeks from an authorised dealer)

Or will there be a ribbon or something that remains attached even after unplugging the GPS cable?

 

[rrmccabe]

just done the foil mod this morning and found it made it worse i normally get9-10 satellites on the beach where i live but drop down to 6-7 when recording so i followed the instructions and returned to the beach and low and behold 6-7 satellites no more ,the only thing i didn't do was to foil the cable.
and when i pushed the clip back in it didn't click in just pushed in, I tried a few times is this right??

You REALLY need to do the cable too. And Satellites change by the minute and day. So its hard to make an assessment based on the first time out.

I don't remember my connector clicking. It doesnt seem like that type.

Once again, do the cable !

 

[Panamon Creel]

Fourblade there is just the cable from the GPS module, nothing else