Some of us get much lower GPS reception on the Vision+

Specially those who were used to the Vision or Phantom 1 & 2...

http://youtu.be/q31s6NDFUlA

I've heard rerouting the GPS cable, has the same effect... with or without the aluminium or copper tape with isolation.

What's your experience with this ?

I have the same problem with the gps connection. The phantom 2 vision plus found only 5 or max 6 satellites...

What can i do?

I just moved mine today and added some metal HVAC tape.  It seemed to get sat signals a little faster, but not sure if I really got more signals or not.

A good habit to get into before going out flying is check how many satellites are in the area in the location you plan on going flying. This information is readily available. I use two websites to do this they are as follows: http://www.spectraprecision.com/support/gnss-planning/ & http://satpredictor.navcomtech.com Initially I preferred the satpredictor website then someone suggested the spectraprecision site. At this point I like to take the average of the two sites although I am starting to lean towards the spectraprecision site as my preference. Upon arriving at my flying site I use an app on my phone to track satellites as well. I am using an Android mobile and the app I use is GPS Status & Toolbox. In addition it also pays to monitor solar storms. When the K-Index is at higher levels it has a direct impact on GPS and radio signals. To monitor the K-Index you can use the following website: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov In addition I have a K-Index monitor on my Android mobile. The name of the app is: K-Index monitor. Last weed we had a severe Solar Storm and the K-Index was a 7. That is high an certainly can cause issues in obtaining lock in regards to satellites.

josephbobowicz@ Posted at 2014-9-19 04:55
A good habit to get into before going out flying is check how many satellites are in the area in the ...

This is great, thanks for it. I always noticed problems getting 7+ in the evenings and I just confirmed it is because they are NOT THERE TO GET! haha

tony@capturevid Posted at 2014-9-19 08:00
This is great, thanks for it. I always noticed problems getting 7+ in the evenings and I just conf ...

Tony it also pays to keep an eye on the K-Index. Before I got into monitoring the K-Index I had something strange happen. I was out in one of my usual flying spots and did my regular routine of tracking satellites and there were 10 in the area. Managed to lock into 9 of them on the ground and thought nothing of it. During my flight my satellite lock was all over the place in a wide open area with no obstructions at about 200 feet in altitude. My satellites jumped from 9 to 7, up to 9 and then down to six in flying in a straight line for about 400 feet. I threw it into ATTI mode flew back and landed with 8 satellites locked in during final approach. I figured my GPS was whacked out. When I got home I logged into one of the forums I am a member of (Phantom Vision+ Owners group on Facebook). Someone put up a warning that there was a solar storm going on and the K-Index was a 6. So in my opinion there is a direct connection when the K-Index is on the high side it certainly has an impact on GPS. To be honest I have flow with it being at 4 and never had an issues. I am just glad I am at the level of experience that should I loose GPS I can safely get my bird back home in ATTI mode. I love the HOME lock feature in being in NAZA mode however it depends on GPS. Its good to know that COURSE lock depends on the compass. So providing everything is calibrated properly COURSE lock could come in handy if you get somewhat disoriented. Elevated K-Index levels also effect radio transmission. If it gets extremely high it can cause brown outs / effect power grids. Now that I track satellites and monitor the K-index I have never had any unexpected surprises when going out flying.

This is really great info and will come in handy if the need should ever arise. And the bit about Course Lock and Compass, I had never given it much thought but makes perfect sense. Thanks for the great advice!

Hey all,
I had problems obtaining satellites for long periods of time here. So I had to make a decision in whether or not to put additional shielding using 50mm copper tape just under the GPS sensor and moving the cable to the other side were the GPS connects to the main board. So with that said, it has been working very well. I went from 3 to 5 satellites to 7 to 9. The most I have gotten was 13 at a different location. I not telling anyone to do this, just sharing my story. Also if you do this you are possibly voiding a warranty. I had to weigh my options here, Not Fly or To fly.
So I tried it and it works for me.
This is were I got the Idea Also.
Since the factory shielding is made of copper winding to shield the interferance, Copper was the logical choice for me. I also used the tape silicone to keep any copper from coming into contact with any circuit boards.
YOUTUBE VIDEO SHOWING HOW TO MAKE THIS MOD


Kapton Polyimide Film Tape with Silicone Adhesive
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product ... 3_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

EBAY: Copper Tape
  http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-FEET- ... hash=item33959aa65b


This is a video of the Vision app.

hd_ultra@msn.co Posted at 2014-9-22 23:14
Hey all,
I had problems obtaining satellites for long periods of time here. So I had to make a decis ...

Awesome! Man, you're making it really hard not to do this mod. haha.   I have to ask, I assume you are using something like air squirrel reflector to record the iPad screen, correct? Are you noticing any performance issues while linked to the macbook or whatever method you are transferring the live feed?

I am sure this is suitable for an entirely new thread, sorry to hijack this one. Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.

I am using Camtasia and Reflector to record my screen off of my Macbook Pro. You have to be within thirty feet or so that not to loose the connection to the Wi Fi to the computer. I have not seen any issues as of yet. So far it has worked out really good.



Reflector:   http://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/
Camtasia:  http://www.softwarecasa.com/camt ... F9cACFcRzMgodz1IALwhttp

hd_ultra@msn.co Posted at 2014-9-23 03:23
I am using Camtasia and Reflector to record my screen off of my Macbook Pro. You have to be within t ...

Awesome, thanks!

Last night connected to 8 satellites. Motor up to take off- drops to 4, 3, or less.
Power down, sat. count goes back up to 8 or 9. Power up to take off- yellow lights blink, back down to 3 or 4.
Tried this 4 times. Every time the same thing. Direct correlation between powering up and poor GPS performance.

So today I did the mod with a layer of aluminum ventilation duct tape, and a layer of regular non-metallic duct tape over that.

One day later.
Same equipment.
Exact same location.
Same time of day.

8-9 satellites. Never dropped below that during 30 minutes of flying.

josephbobowicz@ Posted at 2014-9-19 04:55
A good habit to get into before going out flying is check how many satellites are in the area in the ...

Very useful info, thanks a lot.

I have never notice any problems with my sats but in case it happens this is a great thread!

HI everyone,

I did the GPS improvement from the video on the top of this thread.  http://youtu.be/q31s6NDFUlA They don't use the Kapton Polyimide Film.  When I started the Phantom one of the motors just "studders" and won't spin correctly.  Does anyone know if I shorted it due to the lack of the Polymide film?  The motor worked flawlessly the last flight id did before.  I did have some crashes but the motors where always working after.   I'm ordering a new motor and new ESC board and hopes this will fix the problem.  Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Did you open the shell?  Should be easy to see if it shorted out

swomilan Posted at 2014-10-20 23:16
Did you open the shell?  Should be easy to see if it shorted out

Hi Swomilan.  Thanks so much for the reply.  I know nothing about electronics but I'm guessing owning a drone will change that.  . I did open it and checked but didn't see anything different.  I'm guessing that if it shorted I would see some burn marks?  I did order the Poly tape and plan to apply that before I eh, try to solder the new motor on.   I've also read that some people forget and use the long screws when they take of the prop guards and the screw goes into the motor.  Maybe I tightened the screw to hard when I put the guards back.  New motor and esc board are on the way and hope one or both of the items will fix it.  Thanks again!  

Just a note on shielding. To be fully effective, the shield needs to be grounded so the collected signals can be bleed off. Also the GPS is shielded from factory (but without any ground) but the long connection cable is exposed, acting like an antenna for interference. That is why most of us that are moving this cable to under the shielding or adding shielding over it are getting better GPS reception. There is still a small part of the cable exposed which could still pickup interference. i am surprised that DJI didn't make this a shielded cable in the first place and also not providing a bleed off ground as well. I will be working on proper shielding of the GPS in the months ahead to see if I can improve on this.
My background includes 10 years experience designing and building high end MilSpec electrical systems for the racing industry and have worked with shielding extensively.

rethuringer@icl Posted at 2014-10-22 23:07
Just a note on shielding. To be fully effective, the shield needs to be grounded so the collected si ...

Just a quick question.....Would adding some of the shielding tape directly around the GPS cable provide the additional shielding that is needed?  If one did this, would one need to add additional shielding over the current shielding and down the arms?  I have no experience with electronics so I could use some help understanding this issue.

Yes, adding shielding foil to cable right up to the connector would help, be sure to use the insulating tape to cover it as you do not want the possibility of the bare metal foil coming in contact with any other electronic circuits. I do not see any benifit in adding shielding down the arms. The GPS is in the center of the top shell and the factory shield is all that is needed. it's the GPS cable that seems to be the issue. those of us that simply routed the cable under this shielding instead of over it have seen significant improvement in GPS reception. Also a Biggie in GPS reception, knowing what satellite's are visible and the K-Index as mentioned in other posts. I have GPS Plan on my iPhone, this tells me how many satellite's are overhead based on my location any time of the day. Doesn't matter what you do to your Phantom, it will only see satellite's that are above your location wether it's 4 or 12. for me right now, peak satellite coverage is 10;30am-12;00am with 11, the low is at 4:00pm-6:00pm with 5-6. Fliers think poor satellite lock is bad GPS reception, Yes and No. it is dependent on what is available overhead and your GPS receiver. i found that when my app was saying i had 10 satellite's overhead, my PV2+ was only seeing 6-7. after moving GPS cable under factory shielding i was consistently getting full lock on all visible satellites overhead. Get the APP and know your skies. The number of available satellites varies throughout the day for any given location. All we can and are trying to do is make the GPS receiver be the best it can be so we can lock in all available satellites. Like I said above, I don't believe there is any benefit in shielding the arms, there is nothing there GPS wise and the factory shielding over the GPS is sufficient. A co worker and i have identical PV2+ machines and he did the full foil treatment and i only moved the wire to under the factory shielding and we consistently get the same satellite lock so I don't see any bennifit to adding the additional foil shielding. I am going to work on grounding and shielding the cable better. One thing i did find when I opened up my machine was that the factory shielding was not stuck down very well, it was stuck to the GPS but loos around most of the edges, after I routed the cable under, I made sure it was firmly stuck down all around with no gaps.
Hope this helps.

I'm interested in seeing if soldering a grounding wire to the GPS shield and applying a ferrite choke on the GPS antenna cable to filter out the RF interference would improve GPS performance?

If I had the equipment, I'd perform an RF scan to identify what frequency the interference is and where it is coming from (likely the camera).

I have done this and yeah it really helpen a lot. Went from 5 sats to 7-9 instantly so I would recommend this MOD to anyone who wants to fly safe.

nicodevries1983 Posted at 2014-11-4 15:36
I have done this and yeah it really helpen a lot. Went from 5 sats to 7-9 instantly so I would recom ...

I get it, about grounding the shielding.  Have you any idea where you can find 'common'?
I am so tired of losing satellites while my Phantom is way out.  I'm afraid to fly.  
I really need to be able to trust the nav sats so I can have some fun!

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... age%3D1&lang=en

jonnylakewood@y Posted at 2014-11-4 18:55
I get it, about grounding the shielding.  Have you any idea where you can find 'common'?
I am so t ...

I suggest seeing if you can ground the GPS shield to the negative terminal of your battery power connection on the board. This is the common reference for the entire aircraft.

I'm going to install the second GPS shield and ground it when my tin-plated copper tape arrives in a couple of weeks.

Joseph... what is a "good" K-index and a "bad" K-index?

I've been using the  GPS PLAN  iOS app. it shows how many satellites are available at your location at any given time.  I thought everyone knew about this.

I put the GPS cable inside the shield that protects the GPS.
I used an empty milk carton, which is coated with aluminum.
Before caught with difficulty 6 satellites can now 8.9 and up to 10!I Noticed also that the low GPS signal when active video recording in high resolution.

Thank you for this post. I've been digging around the posts to see if anyone else has been having issues with GPS as well. I noticed with mine that while I'm on the ground I get 7-8 satellites, but after launching, I'd lose signal. For that reason alone, I've avoided trying to plot a course and see if it would fly it!

I'm going to Lowe's today to find a hex kit and some metal tape to work on my quad's GPS!

couchie Posted at 2014-11-27 00:59
Thank you for this post. I've been digging around the posts to see if anyone else has been having is ...

I just purchased my PV2+ last night and I noticed that satellites would come and go. I did this [/url]     
It worked like a charm and took me about 30 minutes. Also DJI said is does not void your warranty.  I was getting 3-5 satellites right in front of my house before  did this. I went out this morning and got 8-9 and it never dropped below 6. I'm pretty happy with the results since I didn't have to buy anything! I honestly can't believe that it worked so well.

hd_ultra@msn.co Posted at 2014-9-22 23:14
Hey all,
I had problems obtaining satellites for long periods of time here. So I had to make a decis ...

Everyone who putted something add on phantom won't get repair service from dji..... just fox urself or send it to the dealers they will fix for u

ramey510@gmail. Posted at 2014-11-28 03:50
I just purchased my PV2+ last night and I noticed that satellites would come and go. I did this mo ...

Hi Team - How do you know how many satellites your DJI Phantom 2 is connected to?

I have opened up my vision+ v3 and noticed that DJI is expanding the GPS shilding an and the connector is routed under the unit. I always maintain 9 to 11 sats in my location.

Hello, I'm from Brazil and I have a P2 vision +, I've installed the aluminum foil and I put the GPS wire inside the protector, like the video instructions, but my GPS reception continues bad, variating 4-5 sats. I tried many times, with clear sky. Can you help me?

I used copper shielding, more effective.

So, I think my latest mod has solved completely the dropping of GPS. It is rather a bother to do, but now get 9-10 sats while recording in 60fps mode. Had to completely disassemble to get the cable out from the camera to the board. Used copper tape in strips to cover all section of the flat cable, then covered again in the kapton tape to insulate. Also did the small jumper on top of the board between the small PC board and connection to the main pc board. Fired it up and GPS lock is so fast is amazing. This is not a mod for the feeble, but if you can do neatly, it should solve all the GPS locking issues. I have also done the mod at the top of the copter to shield over the GPS as others mentioned, but that produced poor results for me. Now we are flying with 9 sats and even got 12 tonight during test run. Turned recording on/off/on, etc. and no issues at all.

I have a P1, P2 v1, and A P2 Vision Plus. Went crazy first week with the Vision Plus trying to get more than 5 -6 sat in my drive, time of day did not matter.
Did the foil addon, but also wrapped the gps wire from plug to under the foam sticky GPS shield.
This helped somewhat
Then I installed a 5.5db gain 4mm antenna on gps.
End of story, I can get 7 and 8 sat in my kitchen and now often I have all green lights before I get my phone and wifi connection done.
less than 6 shipped and 30 minutes.
as NIKE says : just do it
and I did to my P2 v1 a couple days later.
I can go out any time day or nite even cloudy and snow covered and get lock, its actually dangerous because now I do fly in the snow(light snow in evenings is beautiful)
I just feel so much safer when flying now!
have fun flying.

Hi guys,
Does anyone know any app that monitors Satelites on Apple products. Cheers

dejikale.yahoo Posted at 2015-2-7 08:51
Hi guys,
Does anyone know any app that monitors Satelites on Apple products. Cheers

The Dual GPS app for their Bluetooth GPS receivers has a satellite monitor which shows satellite positions in the sky. It gets this information from the module though so it is not a lot of good without it. Apple does not provide the GPS satellite information to developers unfortunately. If you have internet access, you could use a web based solution:
https://in-the-sky.org/satmap.php

can anyone help me i have this problem with my dji phantom 2 vision+

looks like i cant get any satellite but in the phantom lights shows gps signal

i cant upload pictures but on my iphone shows 0 satellites and after the calibration i got like in a minute a steady green light on my phantom