I have a new P4P and I'm doing "quality control" checks on it.  I'd like to know if these are normal or if I have possibly a faulty unit.

I'm flying in a wide open park surrounded by water.  The RC defaults to 5.8 Ghz and when I select 2.4 Ghz, the RC says that I have poor reception but have been able to fly it about 250 meters without any issues.  I've set my tablet and phone to airplane mode.  I've flown my Mavic in the same location and don't have this warning message.  I was able to fly it using 5.8 Ghz upto 400 m away and the connection seems fine however, I did notice that the video transmission got cut off.  This warning makes me wary about flying the P4P any further.  I have tried relinking the RC as suggested in another post, but it did not help.

Tap to focus has also been difficult under various lighting conditions, even when I select high contrast parts of the image.  I would tap an area and keep getting a red box, instead of a green box.  Sometimes it would focus, but tapping it again would result in non-focus.  It would take me maybe 5 or 6 times to focus a shot.

Thanks.

Aloha yoengel,

     Sorry to hear that your P4 Pro is giving you grief.  Mine is amazing and I do fly regularly at 5.8 GHz so friends can fly near me at 2.4 GHz.  But, that is not your problem.

     You need to start from scratch.  Load DJI Assistant 2 v1.1.0 (2017-03-02) on your computer and refresh your firmware.  DJI has videos on how to do that.  There are a number of ways, so look through as much as you can until you find each one that you need for the Aircraft and Remote Controller.  Once they have been refreshed, or updated to current firmware, uninstall and reinstall DJI GO 4.  Shut everything down for a minute or two and go over the start-up procedure.  Then restart your system in the proper order.

     The downloads page for the P4 Pro has a number of .pdf documents that can help as you figure out your DJI skills.  The manual does not cover all issues but is a great starting point and will teach you many things you probably have not even thought about.  The video page has many supplemental videos that can really help.  

     I know that this can seem like a lot of humbug, but if you are going to use cutting edge technology you will need to independently resolve most of the issues you encounter.  Doing what I have suggested will get you on that road and you will soon learn that it is not all that hard.

     Part of the fun with DJI products is what I have described and the eventual feeling you get that you know what you are doing.  Those of us on this Forum are always willing to help you if you get stumped on issue.  We also have further information and a lot of first hand experiences that can be helpful.

     This is what seasons and weather are for.  When things prevent you from flying, your DJI product can still keep you entertained!

     Hope this helps!

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetacean Posted at 2017-3-25 15:01
Aloha yoengel,

     Sorry to hear that your P4 Pro is giving you grief.  Mine is amazing and I do fly regularly at 5.8 GHz so friends can fly near me at 2.4 GHz.  But, that is not your problem.

Thank you for the tips!  I will try these out.

Cheers!

Maybe it helps playing around with the antennas.
I used to have a lot of transmission issues. Now I keep the antennas always straight up unless the AC is above me and I don't have issues.
According to the manual I had the antennas always at 60° but by looking at the graphic it makes no sense to me if the AC is further away.
Who would hold a remote like that?

Cetacean Posted at 2017-3-25 15:01
Aloha yoengel,

     Sorry to hear that your P4 Pro is giving you grief.  Mine is amazing and I do fly regularly at 5.8 GHz so friends can fly near me at 2.4 GHz.  But, that is not your problem.

Very good post, Cetacean!

Couple of things, the antennae should be at different angles for 2.4 and 5.8. The quote max range for 5.8 I think is quoted as 800 metres. 5.8 ghz the antennas should be vertical so they are at ninety degrees to the AC, as shown in the drawing by Eric 13, at 2.4 ghz they should be leant forwards towards the AC so they are at about 60 degrees. If you have heavy interference on the standard channels for 2.4 ghz, you may want to do the 2.4 ghz 32 channel modification. You can search for that on this forum, there are tutorials on how to carry out this mod, which is only replacing one file, and a link to file that you need to replace the standard one with.

Antonio76 Posted at 2017-3-28 00:40
Very good post, Cetacean!

Aloha Antonio,

     Mahalo for the kind words!  I hope this finds you in the air and having fun!

Aloha and Drone On!

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-3-28 00:52
Couple of things, the antennae should be at different angles for 2.4 and 5.8. The quote max range for 5.8 I think is quoted as 800 metres. 5.8 ghz the antennas should be vertical so they are at ninety degrees to the AC, as shown in the drawing by Eric 13, at 2.4 ghz they should be leant forwards towards the AC so they are at about 60 degrees. If you have heavy interference on the standard channels for 2.4 ghz, you may want to do the 2.4 ghz 32 channel modification. You can search for that on this forum, there are tutorials on how to carry out this mod, which is only replacing one file, and a link to file that you need to replace the standard one with.

Aloha SPIKE,

     Mahalo for the help!  I was just going to post on your suggestion.  BTW, any idea where that concept comes from?  I use parabolics for image (jungle density) and range improvement (they work great) so angles are real important to me.  But, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why this slight angle change?  I use both 2.4 and 5.8 GHz for specific performance needs, so I am very interested in the benefits of angles.  Any ideas?

Aloha and Drone On!

Eric13 Posted at 2017-3-27 23:36
Maybe it helps playing around with the antennas.
I used to have a lot of transmission issues. Now I keep the antennas always straight up unless the AC is above me and I don't have issues.
According to the manual I had the antennas always at 60° but by looking at the graphc it makes no sense to me if the AC is further away.

Aloha Eric,

     Try look at this old thread I did a year or so ago.

http://forum.dji.com/thread-60563-1-1.html

Check out the images at the end and see the permutations that can be done with those antennae.

     Mahalo for the help!

Aloha and Drone On!

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-3-28 00:52
Couple of things, the antennae should be at different angles for 2.4 and 5.8. The quote max range for 5.8 I think is quoted as 800 metres. 5.8 ghz the antennas should be vertical so they are at ninety degrees to the AC, as shown in the drawing by Eric 13, at 2.4 ghz they should be leant forwards towards the AC so they are at about 60 degrees. If you have heavy interference on the standard channels for 2.4 ghz, you may want to do the 2.4 ghz 32 channel modification. You can search for that on this forum, there are tutorials on how to carry out this mod, which is only replacing one file, and a link to file that you need to replace the standard one with.

Aloha Spike,

     BTW, check out this old thread I did a year or so ago.  This is my world!

http://forum.dji.com/thread-60563-1-1.html

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetacean Posted at 2017-3-28 02:45
Aloha SPIKE,

     Mahalo for the help!  I was just going to post on your suggestion.  BTW, any idea where that concept comes from?  I use parabolics for image (jungle density) and range improvement (they work great) so angles are real important to me.  But, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why this slight angle change?  I use both 2.4 and 5.8 GHz for specific performance needs, so I am very interested in the benefits of angles.  Any ideas?

The info comes from the DJI proper setting of the antennas video that is on youtube, I think it is also in either the quick start manual or the full manual for the P4P. I would imagine it is to do with the extra range available in 2.4 ghz mode. The 60 degree angle for 2.4 ghz probably leads to a tighter cone of radiation horizontaly with the 2.4 transmission, it being half the wavelength of the 5.8. I suspect that the RC probably only creates 2.4 , and the 2.4 is converted to a harmonic at 5.8 ghz, hence the reduced range of the 5.8 if it were only a harmonic of the 2.4

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-3-28 04:14
The info comes from the DJI proper setting of the antennas video that is on youtube, I think it is also in either the quick start manual or the full manual for the P4P. I would imagine it is to do with the extra range available in 2.4 ghz mode. The 60 degree angle for 2.4 ghz probably leads to a tighter cone of radiation horizontaly with the 2.4 transmission, it being half the wavelength of the 5.8. I suspect that the RC probably only creates 2.4 , and the 2.4 is converted to a harmonic at 5.8 ghz, hence the reduced range of the 5.8 if it were only a harmonic of the 2.4

Aloha Spike,

     It is in the latest (and possibly the earlier one) manual.  Here is a screen capture of the diagram.  I did not realize it made a difference.

Aloha and Drone On!

When using 2.4GHz for long range with antennas at 60 degrees would you also recommend installing the windsurfers, or not?Any difference in an urban environment?

This is just my opinion,

I fly in an almost wifi free area, when ever i chech 2.4 i get almost no channels interference, on 5.8 I have no interference at all.

I love range tests, and my best on 2.4 was 3.7kms, on 5.8 was 3.2 kms

I live in gozo malta,  all my range tests are on stock antennas