Camera flickering and freeze problem

Jakub Kosaristan · Dec 19, 2016

Hello,

I have a problem with Dji Phantom 4 Pro camera. Today my camera suddenly started to flicker and freeze. First I thoght it's just signal problem, but then I checked recordings and I was wrong. I tried to downgrade the drone and it was ok for few minutes, but then it started again (i tried different versions). Camera image on youtube and sorry for quality, I wanted to make this video as fast as possible.

Little background story:
Few days ago I bought new battery, which was corrupted. Dji app 4 told me: "Low battera voltage error" and I couldn't fly with this battery. Next 2 days I was using just original battery and everything was ok.
Today I started the drone and camera problem slowly started. Rest is in video.....

Do you have any ideas what is wrong? Maybe corrupted battery could mess up my drone?

Keith Mitchell · Dec 19, 2016

Hmmm. That does not look good, Jakub. I also have a new P4P and have only flown it 3 times. So far I have not had this problem. My first thought is that the camera broke (whether due to the faulty battery or some other cause). But before contacting DJI I would do some testing at all of the settings (4K, 2K, 1080, etc.) and shutter speeds to see if the problem occurs at all settings. That could possibly help you determine if the problem is physically in the camera. Maybe that's what you did when you say you "downgraded" it, I don't know. But that would be my first troubleshooting step. And that is assuming you are at the latest firmware release. I wish I had more thoughts to offer but I'm sure other will follow. Let us know what you find. Good luck!

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

Alexbar · Dec 19, 2016

the fan is working well? see the temperature of the drone when that start to happen

Neon Euc · Dec 19, 2016

How is the ribbon cable? Is it damaged or slightly out?

Neon Euc

Jakub Kosaristan · Dec 20, 2016

"Maybe that's what you did when you say you "downgraded" it"
Sorry I wasn't clear. By downgraded I mean firmware downgrade. When I tried different resolution problem still occured (I tried just few resolutions, today I will check all possible resolutions/frame rates/ shutter speeds etc.). I also tried different drone firmwares and camera problem started again sooner or later.

Weird thing is, later this night I downgraded drone firmware again to old firmware from 12.10.2016 and camera was ok again for 5 minutes (like on video I posted). Then happened maybe one little flicker every minute. Today morning I checked that again and still no flickering. So this is really weird that after firmware downgrade problem is solved for some time but then it slowly starts again. (if it was HW issue and camera is broken, it would be broken all the time or not?)

the fan is working well? see the temperature of the drone when that start to happen
When it first started, it was in the morning right after first start of drone and I saw that flickering on tablet. I thought it's just some signal interference and I moved drone on another place and it stoped. After flickering stopped I turned it off and went to work. Later that day I went outside to fly and flickering started again and then I made first recording to check if it's signal issue or camera issue.
So I think temperature is not the issue, because camera image was broken after first start in day and also after one hour of firmware upgrades/downgrades when drone was warm.

How is the ribbon cable? Is it damaged or slightly out?
It's that black cable in gimbal/camera? I tried to move it little bit but it didn't move at all, so I think it's ok. I was using gimbal protector all the time and also no crash with drone but I will inspect cable later even more.

This is video when camera image was completely broken: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mdm0h5 ... 0breakdown.MOV?dl=0
I can upload even more recordings if needed (with little flickering etc.).

Thanks a lot for help, hope I will fix that somehow before holidays, I had so many plans with phantom.

Jakub Kosaristan · Dec 21, 2016

So I have an update. Yeasterday I updated firmware again to newest one and problem somehow stopped. I was flying today for about 10 minutes in the morning and about 50 minutes in the evening with 2 batteries and not a single camera flicker or freeze. I am little bit scared to turn it on again and check camera again, because finally I am in better mood that it's working again.

PS: Dji support made me so angry. I wanted some advice what could I try to solve this problem, but their response always was: "just send Copter and RC.". Omg, I was waiting for it so long and few days after I got it I should just send it back? Maybe try some troubleshooting first not just "send the compter" and close the ticket .

F3honda4me · Dec 21, 2016

Jakub Kosaristan said:
So I have an update. Yeasterday I updated firmware again to newest one and problem somehow stopped. I was flying today for about 10 minutes in the morning and about 50 minutes in the evening with 2 batteries and not a single camera flicker or freeze. I am little bit scared to turn it on again and check camera again, because finally I am in better mood that it's working again.

PS: Dji support made me so angry. I wanted some advice what could I try to solve this problem, but their response always was: "just send Copter and RC.". Omg, I was waiting for it so long and few days after I got it I should just send it back? Maybe try some troubleshooting first not just "send the compter" and close the ticket .

To their credit issues like this can be hard to diagnose. But I too had an odd issue that was fixed by downgrading and then upgrading to current firmware again. Glad it is resolved.