Well, I found myself asking one of those "gee, I wonder what..." questions.  Since the updates for the Phantom 3 are now done through the camera's SD card then what the heck is the Aircraft Micro-USB Port used for now?  I found an interesting paragraph in the manual.   So I tried connecting the Phantom to a PC.  But how do you install the DJI App on a PC?!?!  

This is like getting to know a new girlfriend. Full of pleasant surprises. Explore away!!!

You can use it to upgrade the RC firmware.

Not tried it yet but with my inspire that is how I pull flight logs from the quad off to send in if you have a problem in flight.  The logs show everything that took place in that flight.

Interesting good find

I beleive it lets you access the data log files.  Log files are in bin format.  You can decode them onto a CSV file using this web site: http://www.flylitchi.com/logs

Isn't the connection to the SD card done with the gimbal connector ???

tchavalas@panos Posted at 2015-5-10 04:24
I beleive it lets you access the data log files.  Log files are in bin format.  You can decode them  ...

Good to know.  Took me awhile to figure out how to actually get ACCESS to the data log files.  Couldn't find it in the manual, just looked around on the various screens until I found something that said "Flight Data".  Finally figured out how to do a screen capture on a tablet so I did a step-by-step to show how to get to the Flight Data option.
Now the info from my 1st post is starting to make sense.  (The box at the bottom is what the list of files actually look like -- I've only done 3 actual flights so I'm not sure why there are so MANY files!)

tchavalas@panos Posted at 2015-5-10 04:24
I beleive it lets you access the data log files.  Log files are in bin format.  You can decode them  ... [with the flylitchi/logs program...]

Actually no, that's not quite right.  While you can access the data log files (in bin format) but those are NOT the files you can put into the http://www.flylitchi.com/logs program.  The flylitchi program will only take the *.txt files, in the android/ios device.  Currently, the only use for this bin format log files are to send into DJI in case of problems, and they can decode them there.

- tj.

Ulysse Posted at 2015-5-10 04:59
Isn't the connection to the SD card done with the gimbal connector ???

I think this is a common mis-understanding....

The Phantom 3 has TWO microSD cards.  One is in the camera gimbal, and you put that in, and take it out, and you can access that microSD card by a microUSB cable plugged into the gimbal.

But there is a second "hidden" microSD card that most people don't know about it.  If you look into the battery bay, on the bottom of the motherboard, you can just barely see it.  You can't easily remove it (it would be even harder to put back in) but that probably contains the "FLY???.BIN" binary log files, which we need to send to DJI in case of suspected warranty related malfunction.  We can access that data through the microUSB cable on the front of the phantom (under the little rubber cover) but first we have to use the DJI Pilot application to turn on "flight log transfer mode" as discussed above.

Make sense?

- tj.

Hey I also need the telemetry data. The .txt file that I can get from the app only gives gps position, speed, distance etc. The other values (roll, pitch, yaw angles, etc) must be at the .dat files but I don't know how to access them. Is there a work around? I really need them

tejones777 Posted at 2015-5-15 20:17
I think this is a common mis-understanding....

The Phantom 3 has TWO microSD cards.  One is in th ...

Mostly correct. That semi-hidden drive was not meant to be accessed directly. As you stated, after entering Flight Data Mode in the Pilot app, you can connect a USB cable to the micro-USB port on the front of your Phantom (hiding under the rubber flap below the Phantom label) and download the FLY???.DAT files - the only .bin file involved is the one for the firmware update/tracking, and that .bin file should only appear on the SD card that stays in the USB slot on your gimbal.

Those .DAT files can be utilized by DJI to assess flight telemetry in case of a malfunction/crash. As more and more capabilities appear, there is already at least one site that *can* read those files and create either a CSV file or a geographic display file, i.e., a flight path overlay on a map. Flylitchi can apparently only use the .txt version, but there are a couple of more sites now that can also use the .DAT files.

Hi Gents,
  I have a recently bought used P3P that will not load the new firmware by the camera micro SD slot.  No text files get written about the firmware load, just gets the P3P folders re-written to it.  The camera and SD card slot seem to work fine otherwise.  Videos and photos are saved normally to the SD card. The SD card is a 16GB c10 that is formatted (tried both FAT32 and extfat) before I put on the 1.1.9, 2.6.0, 1.3.2, or 1.4001(tried them all) P3P firmware which I have re-downloaded several time to try to get it to update.  The file is unzipped on the SD card  It just goes into normal flight mode when the firmware SD card is in the P3P and then the model powered on. Also I noticed that if the camera cables are connected, the Go app About firmware states firmware unknown for the aircraft.  If the camera cable are removed it will show the aircraft firmware as 1.8+  The Go app is version 2.41 and the RC controller was updated to 1.3.2 normally.  I have also tried to use the service.bin to correct this issue but no joy with that either...  It flies and works fine except for not being able to get updated firmware on-board.

Does anyone know of an alternate way to load the aircraft firmware?  Has anyone tried to load it via the micro USB on the Phantom or the micro SD on the bottom of the centerboard?

Any thoughts or suggestions welcomed.  

Cheers,
Jim

Hello, I have purchased Phantom 3 SE and after the update I made it by the radio link, the Dron transmitter was unlinked. to turn on the led is red and does not link with any of the known procedures. the application screen prompts me to press the button on the dron when trying to connect the radio to the dron, but the dron does not have any buttons for this function.

You should see a red glow on the underside of the ac. That's what you push but you need a small thin tool such as a bent paper clip.