Hello!

So i have had about 5 flights now with my inspire and since i live in texas obviously right now its about 102-105 during the day.

With that being said i have noticed that about 75% into the flight the video gets choppy and video becomes slightly distorted no matter if i am hovering near myself or 1km out.

I am guessing this is because the aircraft is overheating? I am going to test it tonight and see if the heat is a major issue. I just figured for the price of this thing that the cooling would be more effcient since i am about 100% sure its overheating.

Any thoughts or fixes?

Also the video is smooth as butter and perfect until this 75ish% mark in which it starts to get choppy. I have used latest gen ipads and a iphone 6 and 6 plus so its not a issue on that end.


Thank you for any input!

I had similar issues although nothing to do with 75% in my case. I traced the problem to heat affecting my iPad Mini 2 Retina. Once that gets hot, the video becomes laggy, pixelated, then useless.  You can test it for yourself. Leave the Inspire and RC in the heat and cool your ipad. I just held it in front of my car's AC vents.

The iPads do run hot, that would be the most likely cause.

DJI specs max operating temp at 40C (104F) so, you are at the edge but I would expect you should be okay to fly.

Can you hear the cooling fan on the Lightbridge running?

The Inspire is not supposed to be run over temperatures above 102. We have not got there yet but I have noticed that even flying in the high 90's makes the battery very hot as well as other components. I have been restricting my flying to the early morning hours until we drop back below the mid 90's at least.

As far as the video, I have noticed this with heat or no heat. Also signal drop off as well. But I was between 2 large power lines but they were at least 300 feet on one side and 1/4 mile on the other so I am not sure that I can blame it on that.

Houston

I just want to add that it is not as hot around here. (DC area) I lose the video when it gets into the low 90s or so. Also at lower temps when the iPad is in direct sun for a while.

doctrrf Posted at 2015-8-5 01:12
The iPads do run hot, that would be the most likely cause.

DJI specs max operating temp at 40C (104 ...

Yes the fan is for sure running, I will try on my iphone 6 and see if the problem is reduced at all. Also i will fly tonight we it gets back down in the low 90's and see how its goes.

I have not had alot of time with the new bird so i need to really test and see whats up and pin point it exactly.

Ill post if i see any improvements

I have had same problem . I believe it's camera overheating, cause if u record during this ,even with iPad cool ,recorded video is distorted when u play it back . On play back, if it shows it .that's what camera has recorded . I thought my tablet but it's not . My opinion

Same problem as well . I noticed when u play back recorded video it's doing it there as well ,even with iPad cool . I believe it's overheating camera it gets sorta hot. My opinion

bfraleigh83 Posted at 2015-8-5 09:14
Same problem as well . I noticed when u play back recorded video it's doing it there as well ,even w ...

Don't know how I double posted . Lol

bfraleigh83 Posted at 2015-8-5 09:14
Same problem as well . I noticed when u play back recorded video it's doing it there as well ,even w ...

so last night i used my iphone 6 plus and it was much better then using the ipad and there was much less distortion towards the end of the flight! I am starting to lean towards its a ipad overheating issue.


also i will add that it was still about 98-99F and that is hot enough for it to mess up on the ipad.

ive only noticed this problem when the video display device is getting hot, they throttle back their processing abilities when they overheat to prevent permanent chip damage.  Although perhaps it could be signal quality in your case too if youre using latest firmware with only 8 channels.  Im on older version and have 30.  Have you looked the the video transmission signal quality when this issue occurs?  If youre in a highly populated area there could be lots of signal interference and all the transmission quality bars on your channels if you touch the video signal meter at the top of the app could be long and red which means they are unstable and may be the cause though based on your provided information if its always around 75% into the flight id say its more likely a tablet overheating issue.  Even the top end tablets will get hot if its 102 degrees and youre standing in the sun working their processors steadily for extended periods of time.  Especially if any other apps are running in the background.  I close all my apps except dji pilot but i leave the cell, gps, bluetooth and wifi stuff turned on, some people use airplane mode which may help you save a little heat output.  Ive read a thread where a guy rigged up some sort of cooling pack to the back of his ipad to combat this problem but forgot what he used exactly though.

  I use my samsung galaxy note 4 and while i dont live in 100 degree climate ive noticed some slight chop about 2 or 3 batteries in if im standing in the sun when its 80-90 degrees out and my phone is quite hot to the touch every time the video chop occurs.  I have a black plastic case on it and the foam padding on the remote control mounting plate both probably act as an insulator holding in the heat while flying for extended periods.  i like to let the edge of the screen where the front camera is be in the sun but try and shade the rest of the screen with my head as when it detects bright conditions it significantly brightens up the screen making it easier to see in the sunshine, which probably also increases device heat output.  Standing in the shade, flying on cooler days or taking a break letting it cool a bit between flights and i dont have any issues at all.  At around 70 degrees ive flown 5 batteries back to back with no video chop issues.   Id say thats likely your problem as well rather than the inspire side of it.  even in 100 degree weather the inspire should stay sufficiently cool from the moving air around it id think.  Pretty bad design if it cant cool itself enough to fly in 100 degree weather if you ask me.   Even the remote control sounds like it has a fan in it, though i dont see any air holes on it.   

Depends what tablet/device youre using as well, the cheaper ones with slower processors will be working harder and running hotter making this issue more likely to occur than a top end device with better specs but even those will have the problem if its hot enough.  I tried a cheap android tablet when i first got mine and it was nothing but chop even when cold due to the significantly lower specs of the older cheaper tablet.  

Im not a crapple fan since they are far less functional and more hobbled than android devices and they have issues as well but people seem to have the best luck with the air 3 i think, or whatever is the newest one with the best specs.  The older/slower ipads have the same issue as the older/slower androids with the nvidia shield being the android tablet of choice. There are a ton of sub par android devices out there with their own tweaked versions of the android OS which sometimes also cause problems so looking at the specs and buying the top end models is very important where apple makes it easier for non tech inclined people and doesnt give you a choice.  

With my note 4 i really have zero need of a tablet and while a larger screen for flying would be nice I dont really wanna spend $500 on a 10 inch tablet as thats all i would use it for so I just use the note 4 which works great for the most part.  If I win the lottery id like to put a 50+ inch 4K tv in the back of my truck running off an inverter and use that for the screen, how sweet would that be? Probably a few years off of becoming a reality, but a fella can dream!