josephbobowicz
lvl.4
United Kingdom
Offline
|
Tony I initially rerouted the GPS cable under the factory copper shield and noticed a big jump in holding and acquiring satellites. Prior to that what was bothering me is I was dropping 2+ at times when I turned on my video record in 1080p. In tracking satellites I usually head out when 10 are in the area. Usually I would get all 10. However when I was out and had 9 during a high speed pass in GPS mode and turned on 1080p video record and my satellites jumped from 9 to 8 to 7 back to 9 then 8 within seconds I was concerned. This occurred prior to putting the GPS cable under the factory shield. My wife keeps an eye on my telemetry while I am flying and was reading the satellite numbers out, this happened within seconds. I told her to turn off the video and sure enough it jumped right back up to 9 satellites. For the heck of it I stayed close and took pictures in .jpeg and raw formats and had no issues. Once I rerouted the cable at most I would drop 1 satellite every now in then in turning on video record in 1080p. At that point rather than send my Phantom to DJI for from what I gather takes months to have checked out I opted to add the foil steering clear of the vent holes. All I used was a piece of standard kitchen aluminium foil. Cut out the foil, put it into place, cut quarter inch strips of a knock off duct tape from a shop around the corner and secured it into place around the edges. The tape was 1.75" wide so I took a good size strip to cover the large piece of foil in the center. Then I took several smaller pieces to cover the rest of the center and curved surfaces with one layer. The reason I applied tape was to add a non conductive layer of protection. I was concerned about electrical noise and potential electrical shorts. During my last couple of flights I was shocked! I had solid GPS hold and no satellites dropped no matter what I did. Turning video on in 1080p taking pictures in raw mode had zero impact. The day I flew was calm out, slight wind at best. Hover wise it was rock solid. When I brought my bird down to ground level to do a hand catch landing I almost giggled. It just sat there like it was frozen in space. Several hundred feet up and out i had the same result, rock solid! Of course after adding the foil I did an advanced calibration and the dance before liftoff and am amazed at the difference. My concern are the newbies out there that take off with lets say 7 satellites. During flight they drop to 5 and there bird goes into ATTI mode. Oh no its a flyaway! Is it really, not in my opinion. A newbie that can't fly in ATTI more than likely will panic and sadly ultimately lose control. I would like to think DJI is aware of this issue and hope they will address it soon. Have I lost faith in DJI? Not at all, I love there products and as time goes by I am sure things will get better and better. Lastly during my last 2 flights there were 11 satellites in the area. I captured all 11 on the ground prior to liftoff and held solid lock while flying. At one point at a couple of hundred feet in altitude I picked up 12 satellites. In tracking them using an online source there were 11 in the area. |
|