Hey forums,
So, I have been exeperiencing a serious problem on my Phantom 4. Recently, in the middle of flight my gimbal fails, and my screen seems to do what I would call a siezure. All of my telemetry and statisitics go to "N/A", my screen goes black, and I get really confused. Just now I was up shooting some fog that was rolling in, and this happened again. I always maintain VLOS when flying so it was no problem getting it back. It seems as though the Phantom 4 frame is solid, but the gimbal was acting up. Moments after this failure I regained my video stream, and the gimbal was moving all around. By the time I had landed, it appeared as though the gimbal had returned to its original orientation. This has happened other times and each time has been different. Sometimes the gimbal just goes limp whereas some times it locks up staring at the underside of the landing gear. Usually, if I restart the craft the gimbal boots up like normal.
I have owned this Phantom for over a year and a half and I have had zero issues with it. All of my sensors have had full clean resets, so i dont think that's the problem. Is there a way for me to look deeper into my flight logs and see what was recorded? Perhaps this could guide me to the root of the problem. It also seems that after the newest firmware my Phantom seems more finicky. Much smaller and quick adjustements that I am not used to. My overall impression of my phantom has shifted because of this.


Any suggestions are sincerely appreciated.

Thanks,
Dronin Adventures

If you're recording in 4K at the time, try dropping it down to 1080 and see how it goes. If the gimbal/video works as it should, then it's a known problem with the current P4 firmware and you can either request DJI Susan, Diana or Thor to give you access to the .0600 beta or wait until the next firmware is released.
There's another "limp gimbal" issue which strikes under rare flying conditions, but if it's a consistant occurrence then it's probably this issue.

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-11-6 13:29
If you're recording in 4K at the time, try dropping it down to 1080 and see how it goes. If the gimbal/video works as it should, then it's a known problem with the current P4 firmware and you can either request DJI Susan, Diana or Thor to give you access to the .0600 beta or wait until the next firmware is released.
There's another "limp gimbal" issue which strikes under rare flying conditions, but if it's a consistant occurrence then it's probably this issue.

Ahh yes, I finally got a computer to process 4k, and these issues began happening when I started recording in 4k. Thanks for the reply.

Would you happen to know why my phantom seems to fly more aggressively and unstable? After the most recent firmware update I began seeing these flight characteristics. I have a lot of time flying with the P4, and I noticed it immediately after my firmware update and sensor refresh. Is this also a reoccurring problem? I didn't update my firmware for the longest time until they made it so I could only fly like 50 feet away.

Again, thanks for your reply. I will try filming at 1080, and see what happens.

Thanks,
Dronin Adventures

DroninAdventure Posted at 2017-11-6 13:48
Ahh yes, I finally got a computer to process 4k, and these issues began happening when I started recording in 4k. Thanks for the reply.

Would you happen to know why my phantom seems to fly more aggressively and unstable? After the most recent firmware update I began seeing these flight characteristics. I have a lot of time flying with the P4, and I noticed it immediately after my firmware update and sensor refresh. Is this also a reoccurring problem? I didn't update my firmware for the longest time until they made it so I could only fly like 50 feet away.

Hi. Again the instability and aggressiveness was introduced in the latest prod firmware - there's a number of threads here on the forum about that. This has also been improved in the .0600 beta.

DJI have offered no advice as to why, but then they normally don't indicate when they have identified the cause of faults. I'd certainly love to know what they'd done in the first place myself.

Regardless, as per my original post, I suggest you request access to the Beta. It seems pretty solid without risk. I beta tested an earlier 2.x firmware back in January (which was actually quite solid too), but it took DJI 4-5 months only to release this defective prod version - so I'd get the Beta while you can.

Edit: Also, if you get access to the beta, I suggest that you update your P4 with it, reset the craft to factory defaults, and then refresh the beta firmware again, and then again for each battery you have i.e. install it a minimum of TWICE for the craft and once for each battery. My first update resulted in a dodgy craft, but doing the above got it working the way it should. There's a reason why DJI always suggest you refresh the firmware if you have an issue...

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-11-6 13:57
Hi. Again the instability and aggressiveness was introduced in the latest prod firmware - there's a number of threads here on the forum about that. This has also been improved in the .0600 beta.

DJI have offered no advice as to why, but then they normally don't indicate when they have identified the cause of faults. I'd certainly love to know what they'd done in the first place myself.

But there isn't any battery changes in this firmware?

Vendex Posted at 2017-11-6 15:25
But there isn't any battery changes in this firmware?

If you're going from the latest prod firmware to beta .0600, I believe that's true, Vendex.

That being said, if you're updating the P4 from the prior prod release (1.2.602 November 2016) to this Beta (2.00.0600) then, yes, the batteries Will be updated.

Regardless, battery firmware is updated intermittently. The only way you know when is to watch the two middle LEDs of the battery each time you upgrade, and if you see them blinking during update then you know to refresh the firmware for every other battery also. My instructions are based on this scenario - less confusing that adding lots of IF and OR caveats.

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-11-6 15:43
If you're going from the latest prod firmware to beta .0600, I believe that's true, Vendex.

That being said, if you're updating the P4 from the prior prod release (1.2.602 November 2016) to this Beta (2.00.0600) then, yes, the batteries Will be updated.

Pardon me, you are absolutely right, i've watched this battery leds blinking when I updated firmware in the beginning

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-11-6 13:57
Hi. Again the instability and aggressiveness was introduced in the latest prod firmware - there's a number of threads here on the forum about that. This has also been improved in the .0600 beta.

DJI have offered no advice as to why, but then they normally don't indicate when they have identified the cause of faults. I'd certainly love to know what they'd done in the first place myself.

Ok, thanks so much for the information. I haven't browsed the forums much as of late. I guess I could have looked myself instead of asking about it.

My running theory is that DJI may have tried to hybridize the P4P firmware with the P4. Ive flown the newer P4P'and I saw the slight difference between the P4 and the P4P. It seemed like the P4P had lower rates, and was much quieter as well as it made different in-air adjustments.  Especially when I arm the motors on the P4, the motors spin up much slower than before. I also noticed that while in air, the P4P would drop the rates really fast at random intervals while making passes.  I feel like I have seen this happen several times now on my P4, which prior to this update I had never heard or seen. However, that still would not explain why it acts so erratically. I know nothing about how firmware is created and maintained so I'm probably way off, but its fun to spitball around.

Anyways, thanks again for the information I sincerely appreciate it,
Dronin Adventures  

DroninAdventure Posted at 2017-11-7 11:38
Ok, thanks so much for the information. I haven't browsed the forums much as of late. I guess I could have looked myself instead of asking about it.

My running theory is that DJI may have tried to hybridize the P4P firmware with the P4. Ive flown the newer P4P'and I saw the slight difference between the P4 and the P4P. It seemed like the P4P had lower rates, and was much quieter as well as it made different in-air adjustments.  Especially when I arm the motors on the P4, the motors spin up much slower than before. I also noticed that while in air, the P4P would drop the rates really fast at random intervals while making passes.  I feel like I have seen this happen several times now on my P4, which prior to this update I had never heard or seen. However, that still would not explain why it acts so erratically. I know nothing about how firmware is created and maintained so I'm probably way off, but its fun to spitball around.

Thanks for your feedback!

DroninAdventure Posted at 2017-11-7 11:38
Ok, thanks so much for the information. I haven't browsed the forums much as of late. I guess I could have looked myself instead of asking about it.

My running theory is that DJI may have tried to hybridize the P4P firmware with the P4. Ive flown the newer P4P'and I saw the slight difference between the P4 and the P4P. It seemed like the P4P had lower rates, and was much quieter as well as it made different in-air adjustments.  Especially when I arm the motors on the P4, the motors spin up much slower than before. I also noticed that while in air, the P4P would drop the rates really fast at random intervals while making passes.  I feel like I have seen this happen several times now on my P4, which prior to this update I had never heard or seen. However, that still would not explain why it acts so erratically. I know nothing about how firmware is created and maintained so I'm probably way off, but its fun to spitball around.

Hey, you're right about the P4 series having a common code-base. If you've seen a firmware .bin pulled apart you'll note that it's a combined set of controller modules (presumably for each of gimbal, VPS, motors, battery, GPS, etc). Some modules are in common (e.g. GPS), but some will be different or non-existent (e.g. no infrared sensor support required for the P4 and P4A). It's very possible that DJI came unstuck when releasing a firmware for the P4 with flight logic to be guided only by IMU, compass, two forward sensors and VPS sensors only, with no input from rear and side sensors (as they don't exist), for example.

So perhaps the erratic flying issue on the latest P4 prod firmware was due to the flight logic expecting input from sensors which weren't there so it was over-compensating, and the video reset issue due to an input received thinking it was the advanced camera so it spat the dummy? Just conjecture of course...

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-11-7 16:52
Hey, you're right about the P4 series having a common code-base. If you've seen a firmware .bin pulled apart you'll note that it's a combined set of controller modules (presumably for each of gimbal, VPS, motors, battery, GPS, etc). Some modules are in common (e.g. GPS), but some will be different or non-existent (e.g. no infrared sensor support required for the P4 and P4A). It's very possible that DJI came unstuck when releasing a firmware for the P4 with flight logic to be guided only by IMU, compass, two forward sensors and VPS sensors only, with no input from rear and side sensors (as they don't exist), for example.

So perhaps the erratic flying issue on the latest P4 prod firmware was due to the flight logic expecting input from sensors which weren't there so it was over-compensating, and the video reset issue due to an input received thinking it was the advanced camera so it spat the dummy? Just conjecture of course...

Thats what I'm saying. I have only flown the P4P once, but I noticed it also made much quicker adjustments compare to my P4. They were much smaller, and much more seemingly under controlled. The best way to word it is on the P4P the small adjustments seemed much more natural and controlled.  Whereas now my P4 makes these corrections but it seems to over compensate too often and you get this domino effect after. So who knows?

I have faith that DJI will come through with a fix soon. Will just have to fly with extra caution! It doesnt seem as stable but it always remains where i need it to be haha.

Thanks again for the response,
Dronin Adventures

Could you PM me your DJI Account(the email address when you login DJI GO)? I'll help you get the latest beta and try again. Any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks for cooperation.