troubleshooting Stage 2 FPVLR install

[Bountyhunter]

After reading many topics on how good this kit is and its improvement in both 2.4 and 5.8 distances I picked one up. After the installation I tried a couple test runs. First one resulted in skipping FPV around 1100' away and then control signal lost around 1600'. I have made this same flight a couple times with a stock set up plus the FPV booster app and got 3100' before I lost control and video signal. During both flights I got a message on my phone that it could not connect to the network a couple different times. I had 8 satellites and line of sight the whole time.

The install went pretty good with the exception I am not sure how the spherical antenna is to attach to the range extender. Does it just kind of hang in front of it?

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[flyNfrank]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

So you don't have everything installed yet?

Either way, I installed the same parts and got the same results. Problem was my install on that setup, sucked! I basically had a bad connection which robbed all my performance. It was the one inside the controller where you have the white glue to deal with. You can get all the glue off and end with a perfect connector at that point, then add the antenna wire and know things didn't fit together that great. At this point most add their own glue and get lucky, and some don't. Or, they add the glue with everything working great, but a week or so later they end up having the trouble you are now. Of coarse the easiest way to tell where the problem is would be to try another controller that you know is working ok.

 

[kondorfpv]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

After reading many topics on how good this kit is and its improvement in both 2.4 and 5.8 distances I picked one up. After the installation I tried a couple test runs. First one resulted in skipping FPV around 1100' away and then control signal lost around 1600'. I have made this same flight a couple times with a stock set up plus the FPV booster app and got 3100' before I lost control and video signal. During both flights I got a message on my phone that it could not connect to the network a couple different times. I had 8 satellites and line of sight the whole time.

The install went pretty good with the exception I am not sure how the spherical antenna is to attach to the range extender. Does it just kind of hang in front of it?

Thanks for any and all help.

Yes, this is TOny from FPVLR, in the past 5 months we have had between 4 and 8 of these problems , can be too sure about the exact number, out of the several hundreds kits that went out.
Luckily, each and every problem has been addressed and now the owners are happy with the stage 2 performance. So I am here to help you fix the problem.

1st I am going to ask you to please share a picture of the installation, both the inside of the extender, then the inside of the rc transmitter so that I can have a better look and finally a picture of the full install , that will help me determine if the antennas are being aimed properly, have the correct distance and if they are attached correctly.

the n.1 mistake seems to be pointing.

Pleople have no clue how to point these, so they install the helix pointing at the sky, while they should be pointed at the aircraft.

The n.2 mistake is that they get sloppy with the installation of the rp-sma female to u.fl cables, the thread should fully come out of the plastic, there should be enough thread to allow the pins to mate.

Also the sma connectors of the antennas should be screwd in tightly, using a wrench to get the right amount of torque, to get a proper ground connection.

In one case the u.fl cable was rotating together with the antenna because it was not well secured with the lock nut. Lock nut should be tightened with a wrench as to not allow any movement, hand tightening will not do.

THis allowed the u.fl to come loose inside the transmitter. Please do secure the u.fl cables with a drop of hot glue.


The half sphere should be attached using double sided Velcro, the strong kind, in the back of the half sphere and on the face of the extender.

A new version of the stage 2 is being designed where everything sits perfectly in one plane, so it's one single unit. This will probably be rolled out next week, and it's aimed at making the install easier for the non-technical people.

Please if you have questions we can address them via email at [email protected]

 

[Bountyhunter]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

I was hoping you would be around Tony. I've heard nothing but good things about your products and even more so with your support. Here are the pictures you requested. I added a small dab of caulking to the connection inside the transmitter as you can see. The one suggestion you had about tightening the locking nuts could be my problem on the transmitter connection as when I tighten it too much it separates the case and just pull through. Seems like I almost need a hose clamp around it to keep it pulled together, but not sure what that would do to the signal.

As a side note, even before the install when I would loose FPV I would almost immediately also loose controller signal too. This is still the case, as the picture starts to get choppy I soon then loose controller signal and the RTH activates. I never do regain FPV signal even after I retake control and land the bird. It still is frozen from 1000' feet away.

Thanks Tony!

 

[DBS]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

The one suggestion you had about tightening the locking nuts could be my problem on the transmitter connection as when I tighten it too much it separates the case and just pull through.

If you're having issues with the case halves separating... just bail on that whole idea and drill your own hole so you can lock it down tight... i didn't like that whole setup so i went off to the side... makes it a lot easier to get it tight and a whole lot easier when you need to take the controller apart for other things.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

Here are the outside pictures

 

[rrmccabe]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

Have to agree with dbs. Better off just drilling a new hole. The center oem location is a pain.

And Tony glad to hear you are making something to hold the antennas.

 

[DBS]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

also... looking at that one specific bend in the range extender cable... that could cause some issues ... especially if you are plugging your longer range directional antenna into that particular SMA jack... try to get that looped out in a larger arc so it's not so much of a kink in the cable.

 

[kondorfpv]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

I have to thank Rich ad DBS here for chipping in. They did point out in great detail what problems seem to be with your setup there.
I will also cover a couple more points.

1. in the last install I have done I did drill a new hole in the bottom half of the shell at the very top and towards the left , about half way between the center and the top left corner seems to be pretty good.

Also what I did is cut a new channel just to hold this coax cable rather than have it go around other cables, you can easily do this with needle nose pliers and chop away the 2 plastic flashing stripes going across the bottom half of the shell. Securing the cable with 2 drops of hot glue so it won't move.

2. your u.fl connector could be torn at the base, and at that point glue will only make it worse, giving you NO ground connection at all. Please do remove the u.fl cable inside the tx and please take a picture of the u.fl male connector on the board. In some cases people don't realize they have cut the ground portion of the connector, and only have the center pin sticking out. THAT would be a tough one to fix, and it has been done with a fine tipped soldering iron in the past, with good success. Of course all of the gunk you used, will need to be removed IF we see the connector being damaged

3. your 5.8ghz antenna should clear the half sphere helix, so the S-bend should be wider to the left and then out towards the front, as I see it now covers the path of the half sphere quite a bit. (THIS WILL BE FIXED BY THE NEW STAGE 2 KIT).

4. like DBS mentioned, the cable inside the extender makes a very tight U curve, that is a problem, it's best to keep the cables making L curves and with a sensible radius.

All these pointers should give you quite a lot to work on, and I know it can be frustrating at times but everything will fall into place. Just keep the communication up and the pictures coming.
To test if the cables in the extender are both installed right, you can switch the half sphere antenna between the 2 smas and fly with both, and you should get similar distances from both sma connectors.

Tony.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Re: Distance worse after Stage 2 FPVLR install

Here are the pictures you asked for in your last post after I moved things around. I think I may drill a hole in the controller to make that connection nice and secure. The ends look good on the transmitter. I did use some industrial velcro to secure the half spherical antenna to the range extender.

 

[kondorfpv]

troubleshooting stage 2

Here are the pictures you asked for in your last post after I moved things around. I think I may drill a hole in the controller to make that connection nice and secure. The ends look good on the transmitter. I did use some industrial velcro to secure the half spherical antenna to the range extender.

The pictures are looking much better, I see you have been able to clean the connector inside the rc tx nicely and I see no damage done to the u.fl connector.
That gives me confidence that we will be able to troubleshoot your install.

Please do go ahead and make a new hole inside the the tx shell and do secure that 4.25 turns nicely, same thing for4 the extender, things do look better in there.

Next time you fly you can also try swapping the half sphere between the 2 smas... and report back.
Tony.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Haven't had a chance to fly again since I made the changes. Hope to get a little time on Thursday if it's not too windy.

 

[Dom]

I recently installed a stage 2 FPVLR kit on my phantom vision 2+. I followed the instructions to a T and all appeared to have gone well until I turned everything on. Prior to the installation I would get 6-8 satellite's (but still have signal and video loss), now when I turn everything on I get 0 satellites and no video feed.

I have swapped everything back to the stock equipment and still 0 satellites and no video feed. I have even tried the following from a different Phantom vision 2+, Wi-Fi range extender (nothing) a different transmitter (nothing) I even tried a different GPS antenna and you guessed it (NOTHING).

If anyone can help I am in dire need of some guidance. This is driving me completely CRAZY!

Regards,

From WI.

 

[kondorfpv]

This is Tony from FPVLR.
Don and I have been talking over the phone, and the problem turns out to be with his phantom, nothing related to the antenna install.
In fact his extender was paired with another phantom and all worked well as expected.

The fact that the GPS module failure happened after the antennas were installed on the pilot's side was purely coincidential ,
after such a high success of our stage 2, with these kits being used by so many , some coincidences are going to happen.

It's like when you change your oil, and you discover at the same time that the break disks are cracked.

Of course an oil change cannot crack your break disks, unless to go to jiffy!

 

[Dom]

I recently installed the stage 2 FPVLR on my new phantom vision 2+ and the same thing happened. What I found out after many hours of trial and error is that for some reason the un-connecting and reconnecting of the new antenna's gave the (phantom) some error codes. This caused me to get ZERO satellite's and a dead camera.

The Fix:

1) Connect the Phantom to your computer using the DJI Assistant software to do a firmware update, even if it says no update required. Hit update and be amazed.

2) You will then have to recalibrate the transmitter using the DJI Assistant software for the transmitter.

3) Then comes the binding procedures go to you tube and look up how to bind the phantom/range extender. When it comes time to scan in your QR CODE, make sure to use the code that came on the outside of the ORIGINAL BOX that your phantom was shipped in. Once its bound shut everything off and then turn everything back on and you should be up and running with unbelievably good results from the FPVLR stage 2 upgrade.

The end results are amazing! prior to the update I had zero satellites registering while in my house now I have a minimum of 10. I have to sincerely thank Tony for accepting the relentless amount of text msg. and phone calls while trying to figure everything out. I must say that he and his products have my highest endorsement.

Dom in Wisconsin

 

[Bountyhunter]

Had a chance to fly this afternoon and am happy to report a boost in control signal and FPV signal. I made it to 5,800' before I lost control signal. I still had FPV at that time. This is the same flight path where I could only get 2800' before the stage 2 install. I should add that I am using the FPV booster app as well. I was hoping for the 8,000' many people are claiming, but I am not unhappy with the current 5,880'. Maybe there are some things I can tweak to increase a little more. I was at 500' elevation at the time as well. I had LOS with the bird the whole time as well since it was that high.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Second flight with the new Stage 2 kit and it looks like all is right with the world. I have never flown this path that I just did but I got to 7200' before I lost control signal and it initiated RTH. I could have flipped into Atti and back to GPS to cancel it and try to go further, but I wasn't in the mood to push my luck at this point. Chalk up another satisfied FPVLR Stage 2 kit owner.

Thanks for helping with the troubleshooting so quickly Tony!

 

[kondorfpv]

I am happy you like our stage 2 kits.
Just out of curiosity are you using RE700 or RE500 model wifi extender?

 

[Bountyhunter]

I have no idea Tony. Whatever came on the stock Vision +. Here is my chance to learn something. Go.

 

[allemtura]

The Vision+ has the RE700.