lightbridge on SE?
- Thread starter P3$E pilot
- Start date
What would you do with the existing lightbridge? Your better bet would be to investigate upgrading the GPS for glonass support (if that’s possible).
Not possible, if you want lightbridge just buy p3 adv\pro or p4.
SE already have glonass support
Ask yourself what “lightbridge” is. Do some research and you may find it is almost certainly a very well executed implementation of the wifibroadcast protocol (part of the wifi standards). The clues are in the performance and the FCC compliance test results. A raspberry Pi with a wifi dongle in promiscuous mode will give similar range and performance as lightbridge. DJI are the masters at expertly packaging the latest best performing tech in their products, why develop something from scratch when it is already available.
Yes it is true but still SE does not have lightbridge but standard wifi (maybe slightly optimized for specific use) just boosted/amplified.
Please share whatever it is you may rely on to support your belief here. If you look at the FCC test results you will see it definitely isn’t “boosted” wifi. At less than 400mw without high gain antennas there is no way you will get 4km without implementing wifibroadcast on the video downlink. It seems you are placing too much faith in the marketing delartment spin.
My q was motivated by a comparison I saw between an SE and a P4P. The biggest take away was that the FPV fell apart earlier on the SE than on the P4P. I actually thought about mounting a RPi on the copter with enhancements, hence my thread about weight and balance effect of accessories. Thanks for your thoughts so far...
I have to agree with With The Birds. It's undocumented, of course, but I believe the SE uses DJI Lightbridge between the AC and the controller. The signal is converted to wifi and sent to the mobile device. This explains the significantly long distance FPV/telemetry, and also explains the significantly long control signal relative to wifi Phantoms - all without significant increase in transmitter power or antenna.
Phantom 3 Advanced controller has 3,5 km range with CE standard,
Phantom 3 SE controller has 0,5 km range with CE standard,
First can 7 times more as second. It's clear that these two devices uses different technologies
The DJI specifications for the SE claim 4km range. It seems they duplicated the standard/4K CE spec for the SE. People are seeing 3km range in CE mode with the SE in practice (1.3 to 1.5km in built up areas). This is typical of P3P/A performance.
I have seen a video, where somebody was able to fly 8 km with a p3 standard... Can happen. But the fact is, that DJI specification promises seven times bigger range in CE mode for Advanced as for SE. And in most cases you will not have stable, good quality FPV over 400 meter. Perhaps can fly with luck and ideal circumstances, but there is a reason, why DJI specification says this big difference.
Can I ask, what is your own experience with SE range?
Last edited:
I don’t have any direct experience with the SE, I am relying on the accounts of many who have posted experiences here and elsewhere and further persuaded by the DJI claim of 4km range in FCC mode to suggest they have misquoted the CE spec.
I'm an SE owner, and have the same experience as the 90% of other SE owners in Europe. If you are near to city, you can't fly over 300 meter. If you travel far from every human creation, video signal start to drop over 400 meter.
See Andrewrok 's experince in
"Phantom 3 SE Remote drops WiFis when batt levet under 50%"
Hi experienced the same - can fly multiple distance with Advance as with SE
Just wanted to say, that one case doesn't mean, that it is true for all cases
Here are some vids I found- these are all stock flights...
This vid the guy goes 3 km - that's 9800 feet - looks like he's in China - he turned around because he was worried about battery, not because he lost signal.
This guy went just under 8000 ft in usa
This guy went 8800 feet - looks like USA
This guy went 7600 feet, I believe he's in Thailand or Taiwan. Shoot to the 2 min mark and watch him successfully switch "Wi-Fi" "Channel Mode" from 2.4 ghz to 5 ghz. There is some confusion about what exactly is happening here. It seems the signal from AC to controller and also controller to mobile device is switching freqs, but an administrator on the DJI site claims that when the latter freq is indicated in the Go app "the image transmission and RC signal between aircraft and RC is 5.8 GHz, while the working frequency between RC and mobile device is 2.4 GHz." So this has led to some confusion. But her wording seems to hint at the possibility that the AC-RC connection is lightbridge (contradicting what's indicated in the app), which makes sense when one takes into account the distance and the quality of the signals. See post 25 here: 2.4 and 5 Ghz - DJI Phantom 3 SE
This guy went 4,250 meters - that's nearly 14,000 feet - in Italy - which means CE mode, but he also has the most ideal conditions flying from a mountain over water...
This guy went 3,835 meters, 2.4 miles, appears to be USA. But he never lost signal, he accepted the low battery Smart RTH prompt...
DJI Phantom 3 SE flight distance 3835 meters 2.38 miles
I suspect many of the pilots above are not experienced distance pilots and don't know the nuances of maximizing their distance...
This vid the guy goes 3 km - that's 9800 feet - looks like he's in China - he turned around because he was worried about battery, not because he lost signal.
This guy went just under 8000 ft in usa
This guy went 8800 feet - looks like USA
This guy went 7600 feet, I believe he's in Thailand or Taiwan. Shoot to the 2 min mark and watch him successfully switch "Wi-Fi" "Channel Mode" from 2.4 ghz to 5 ghz. There is some confusion about what exactly is happening here. It seems the signal from AC to controller and also controller to mobile device is switching freqs, but an administrator on the DJI site claims that when the latter freq is indicated in the Go app "the image transmission and RC signal between aircraft and RC is 5.8 GHz, while the working frequency between RC and mobile device is 2.4 GHz." So this has led to some confusion. But her wording seems to hint at the possibility that the AC-RC connection is lightbridge (contradicting what's indicated in the app), which makes sense when one takes into account the distance and the quality of the signals. See post 25 here: 2.4 and 5 Ghz - DJI Phantom 3 SE
This guy went 4,250 meters - that's nearly 14,000 feet - in Italy - which means CE mode, but he also has the most ideal conditions flying from a mountain over water...
This guy went 3,835 meters, 2.4 miles, appears to be USA. But he never lost signal, he accepted the low battery Smart RTH prompt...
DJI Phantom 3 SE flight distance 3835 meters 2.38 miles
I suspect many of the pilots above are not experienced distance pilots and don't know the nuances of maximizing their distance...
Last edited:
With the P3SE in CE mode I have already covered a distance of 1.1 km (in open field). But at various (open) locations I regularly have a distance of 700 meters to 900 meters on a high of 85 m. And my P3SE has not been modified
I'll never fly in an urban environment. I avoid the attention of the habitants, but sometimes I pass just near a residential area.
Last edited:
Similar threads
