Plethora of Problems

malebel · May 25, 2017

I have the Phantom 4. I was using it for about an hour yesterday (by switching out batteries as they charged) when I 1) lost camera transmissions, 2) gimbal not working & 3) fails to recognize the SD card. I've tried reformatting cards & tried different ones, uninstalled & reinstalled DJI GO 4 app to no avail.

What on earth could cause these problems? I never crashed, but did land in a dusty area as the return to home missed my starting target.

Can a anyone offer suggestions to fix it?

msinger · May 25, 2017

Do all of those problems still occur if you remove the memory card from your Phantom before powering it on?

malebel · May 25, 2017

msinger · May 25, 2017

By gimbal not working, do you mean it's completely limp (like it's powered down) when you power on your Phantom?

malebel · May 25, 2017

Well it does nothing when I power it up. Don't recall the expected behavior of the gimbal when powering it up...

msinger · May 25, 2017

When you power on your Phantom, your gimbal should point forward and rotate around a few times. If it's easier than explaining, it would be helpful to see a video showing what happens when you power on your Phantom.

malebel · May 25, 2017

msinger said:
When you power on your Phantom, your gimbal should point forward and rotate around a few times. If it's easier than explaining, it would be helpful to see a video showing what happens when you power on your Phantom.

It does nothing. I'm downloading an app to compress my video as this site indicates it's too large.

malebel · May 25, 2017

msinger said:
When you power on your Phantom, your gimbal should point forward and rotate around a few times. If it's easier than explaining, it would be helpful to see a video showing what happens when you power on your Phantom.

It's still too large. It's still uploading to my dropbox: Dropbox - IMG_3725.mp4

msinger · May 25, 2017

Your video shows your gimbal is not powering up.

That issue is sometimes caused by a bad memory card and/or bad data on the memory card. You already ruled that out as a potential cause by removing the memory card before powering on your Phantom.

It looks like you're facing some kind of hardware issue. I'm thinking the black ribbon cable on the outside of the gimbal is damaged or a gimbal/camera cable is damaged and/or disconnected inside of your Phantom. If that's the case, you're likely going to need to send it in to be repaired.

When exactly did the camera/gimbal stop working? Did that occur while you were flying, after you landed and before powering down your Phantom, or after you powered it down and inserted a new battery?

malebel · May 26, 2017

While I was flying, all of the sudden the camera transmission stopped. It was windy outside with the clear skies - could the wind cause this?

msinger · May 26, 2017

malebel said:
could the wind cause this?

I doubt it. Problems like this are most often caused by crashes and/or hard landings.

WV. Rootman · May 26, 2017

malebel said:
While I was flying, all of the sudden the camera transmission stopped. It was windy outside with the clear skies - could the wind cause this?

My camera stopped also on a windy day. I was panning left of a flag at sunset. The propellers hit some leaves from a nearby tree. No crash. I flew away from the tree just fine with video. About 30 seconds later the video went out. I tested the performance of my phantom and it was fine. I used the flat smooth end of a screwdriver and pushed on the ribbon connection at the camera. It works fine now after 6 flights later. I'm sure he is right about the ribbon connection.

malebel · May 28, 2017

My son bought this for me at Christmas as a refurbished unit. I found one loose gimbal cable, which I reattached as best I could, but still not really tight. But then I opened the larger compartment underneath it (looking for 2 tiny screws I dropped!), and I definitely found a problem with one cable connecter; it was totally cracked off and that piece fell into one of the arms & I couldn't get it out. The connector had a plastic receiving end that *was* glued onto the plain with that white gummy stuff... :-( I find it hard to believe I caused this damage since I did not crash it or run it into anything. The hardest landing I did was via Return to Home!

WV. Rootman · May 28, 2017

If you got the phantom from DJI I would ask them about it.

Crack The Sky · May 28, 2017

malebel said:
My son bought this for me at Christmas as a refurbished unit. I found one loose gimbal cable, which I reattached as best I could, but still not really tight. But then I opened the larger compartment underneath it (looking for 2 tiny screws I dropped!), and I definitely found a problem with one cable connecter; it was totally cracked off and that piece fell into one of the arms & I couldn't get it out. The connector had a plastic receiving end that *was* glued onto the plain with that white gummy stuff... :-( I find it hard to believe I caused this damage since I did not crash it or run it into anything. The hardest landing I did was via Return to Home!

I'm not the technical guru here, but from the looks of it, that unit was refurbished and resold, due to a crash. Now, problems are starting to show up from the original damage.

malebel · May 28, 2017

Crack The Sky said:
I'm not the technical guru here, but from the looks of it, that unit was refurbished and resold, due to a crash. Now, problems are starting to show up from the original damage.

Not directly from DJI... do you know which cable this is?

Crack The Sky · May 28, 2017

malebel said:
Not directly from DJI... do you know which cable this is?

I did not imply that it came from DJI. I could not imagine the factory making a repair like that.
No, I'm sorry, I have never had to tear into mine. MSINGER, (above), should be able to steer you in the right direction.

malebel · May 28, 2017

Crack The Sky said:
I did not imply that it came from DJI. I could not imagine the factory making a repair like that.
No, I'm sorry, I have never had to tear into mine. MSINGER, (above), should be able to steer you in the right direction.

That part of the reply was meant for WV Rootman - sorry.

malebel · May 28, 2017

So the unit was purchased from a DJI authorized dealer & repair center, Drone Nerds. That is where I *was* going to send it in for repair, but now I'm not so sure I should...

msinger · May 28, 2017

You definitely won't just be able to buy a new cable. It looks like the connector needs to be re-soldered to that board. That of course would only work if the connector is not damaged.