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Phantom 4 Advanced - Weak Signal & Aircraft Disconnect Issues
12072 27 2018-6-20
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sidbueddro
lvl.3
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United States
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After working with DJI Support on an issue with Weak Transmission Signal/Aircraft Disconnect Errors, I was sent a completely new drone and controller this week.  However, I am still experiencing the same issue.  I have repeatedly recalibrated the gimbal, compass, and IMU, but to no avail.  In as little as 1500 to 2000 feet away, I begin to receive the Weak Transmission errors, then Aircraft Disconnect. Luckily I am still able to retrieve the drone by using the Return To Home function.  Prior to purchasing the PF4A, I was using a Mavic Pro, with none of this happening, and achieving distances from any Home Point of up to three miles away.  Primarily, I am flying and taking home from outside my home, which is in a suburban neighborhood, but flying high enough and nowhere near any tall building or trees......there aren't any.  Repeated calls to DJI have resulted in my checking the firmware, (which is at the latest), reinstalling the DJI Go4 app, turning off the Max Distance function, just to mention a few.  Is there anyone else out there having the same issue with the PF4A, or any Phantom model.  I originally purchased the drone back in April, and through returns and sending it into DJI for repair, have not been able to use it, and the way that it should work.  Any help, advice, or commentary would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.
2018-6-20
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ALABAMA
Captain
Flight distance : 10442687 ft
United States
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Has this always happened, or something that just started?
2018-6-20
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sidbueddro
lvl.3
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United States
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Has been happening from the very beginning.  The original drone I purchased back on April 4th from Best Buy...exchanged that one for a new one about three days later. Over the course of the next two months, I sent either the drone and controller back to DJI for repair, then the drone itself, followed by the controller itself, and finally the both to DJI for an exchange for a new drone and controller.  
2018-6-20
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DJI Natalia
Administrator

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sidbueddro Posted at 2018-6-20 08:08
Has been happening from the very beginning.  The original drone I purchased back on April 4th from Best Buy...exchanged that one for a new one about three days later. Over the course of the next two months, I sent either the drone and controller back to DJI for repair, then the drone itself, followed by the controller itself, and finally the both to DJI for an exchange for a new drone and controller.

Hello. I am sorry to hear about what happened to your aircraft. May you please share with us the case id? Thank you.
2018-6-20
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sidbueddro
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Case #:  CAS-1876466-H8H7R0.  I am very appreciative of what the third level manager Jason was able to do in getting me an exchange/replacement well after the original purchase date back in April. However, there is still something clearly wrong here with the Phantom 4 Advanced and the issue with range.  As I stated in the initial post, I had a Mavic Pro, flying from the very same take off position, that flew without issues. As I discussed with Jason, I am a leukemia patient currently in remissiond and had this drone purchased for me as a way to help reduce the amount of anxiety that I am experiencing with my diagnosis.  Instead, this has led to more stress and anxiety.  I am only asking for a drone that works.  Thank you in advance for looking into and hopefully resolving this once and for all.  
2018-6-20
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KEJ
First Officer
United Kingdom
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sidbueddro Posted at 2018-6-20 08:27
Case #:  CAS-1876466-H8H7R0.  I am very appreciative of what the third level manager Jason was able to do in getting me an exchange/replacement well after the original purchase date back in April. However, there is still something clearly wrong here with the Phantom 4 Advanced and the issue with range.  As I stated in the initial post, I had a Mavic Pro, flying from the very same take off position, that flew without issues. As I discussed with Jason, I am a leukemia patient currently in remissiond and had this drone purchased for me as a way to help reduce the amount of anxiety that I am experiencing with my diagnosis.  Instead, this has led to more stress and anxiety.  I am only asking for a drone that works.  Thank you in advance for looking into and hopefully resolving this once and for all.

Hi

I am glad to hear you are on the mend.

Can I ask have you tried the obvious regarding the orientation of the antennas and possibly checking which channel you are on to minimise any interference, I believe auto is meant to automatically switch channels, which may help.

I know all of this might be totally unrelated to your issues, but on the other hand may help.

some good examples (stating the obvious) & 2.4 only for us.









2018-6-20
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sidbueddro
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Thanks for the reply.  Antenna orientation was one of the first things I tried, and believe me that too has not resolved the issue.  The channel frequency was set to auto, although I read a post from a user with a similar issue who set his to 20 with some success.  I tried this, but again the same result.
2018-6-20
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DJI Susan
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sidbueddro Posted at 2018-6-20 08:27
Case #:  CAS-1876466-H8H7R0.  I am very appreciative of what the third level manager Jason was able to do in getting me an exchange/replacement well after the original purchase date back in April. However, there is still something clearly wrong here with the Phantom 4 Advanced and the issue with range.  As I stated in the initial post, I had a Mavic Pro, flying from the very same take off position, that flew without issues. As I discussed with Jason, I am a leukemia patient currently in remissiond and had this drone purchased for me as a way to help reduce the amount of anxiety that I am experiencing with my diagnosis.  Instead, this has led to more stress and anxiety.  I am only asking for a drone that works.  Thank you in advance for looking into and hopefully resolving this once and for all.

Hi there, may I have the version number of the RC, Aircraft and APP? Are the channels stable or not when the weak transmission signal appears? It will be better to offer the screenshot of About page and image transmission page at that time for further assistance.
2018-6-21
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sidbueddro
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Where do I find the version numbers of the all of these?  How do I take a screenshot of the About and Image Transmission Page?
2018-6-22
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djiuser_OYOXddVCGV8h
lvl.1
Flight distance : 829810 ft
United Kingdom
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Did this issue get sorted?
2018-12-17
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Crysac
lvl.4
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Brazil
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I have the same problem. one way it works is by resetting the RC, it goes back to the previous version and everything works. But it asks to update the database constantly. Once updated the error returns so I think the error is the firmware.
2018-12-17
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Crysac
lvl.4
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Paraguay
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Thanks to a member I could solve it in the following way.
download the firmware for the RC from the dji page, update it and you're done. It works perfectly.
2018-12-19
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meowmeow888
Flight distance : 212011 ft
Hong Kong
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I just purchased a Phantom 4 Advanced+. I am getting weak signal/no signal/aircraft disconnected warnings even when the aircraft is very close. Sometimes this happens when the aircraft is just a like 50-75 feet away. Sometimes I can get out as far as 2500 feet. When the aircraft gets disconnected it has always activated RTH and returned to me. I have recalibrated the compass and IMU but not joy.  I have also tested the drone at various locations to make sure radio interference is not an issue. FYI i am trying to fly on very rural parts of Lamma Island in Hong Kong where interference from Wi-Fi is not an issue. The same problems pop up no matter where I fly.  I also get intermittent maximum altitude reached warnings as low as 30 feet and as high as about 150 feet. Oddly, I can hit the stick to increase altitude and the aircraft will usually resist a bit and then go as high as I want or as high as my weak RC and video signal will allow.  This drone is brand new and I have had these problems from day one.  Thank you in advance for your assistance.
2019-1-28
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meowmeow888
Flight distance : 212011 ft
Hong Kong
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FYI the maximum altitude/maximum distance problem has been dramatically reduced. I recalibrated the controller, the controller compass IMUs, AC compass, and gimbal. Something took and this aspect of the problem is pretty much a non-issue now.  Unfortunately, the signal quality, range issues are still there. I can lose connection to the aircraft when I have the antennae set-up properly with the drone lined up between them with VLOS. Sometimes this happens dozens of feet away, sometimes hundreds of feet away, and sometimes a few thousand feet away. The best range I have been able to get out it so far is 7,000 feet and that was under absolutely ideal conditions in an ideal location. Of course, the controller lost all contact at that point and the drone initiated automatic RTH.  I noticed one strange thing, which may or may not be relevant, if I stop the AC and let it hover to take some pictures when I come across something interesting, I will often lose contact or get a weak signal warning when I start moving the drone moving again.  FYI, I was able to achieve 15,000 feet to 20,000 feet distances until loss of signal with my plain old Phantom 4 that was replaced by the Phantom 4 Advanced+. I thought I was getting an upgrade!
2019-1-28
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DarkZero
Second Officer
Flight distance : 923127 ft
Australia
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Don't forget the Advance doesn't have the radio ranges to reduce the cost... Personally i will never go a cheaper version again. The 2.4ghz and 5ghz help so much to keep connected to the craft.
Maybe that is the reason i know its the reason for me not getting mad distance or heaps of interference around certain objects. But you do seem to be getting even worse distance. Warranty an option?
2019-1-29
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Psst Air 2
lvl.1
Flight distance : 163304 ft
United States
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No Image Transmission Signal, Weak Image Transmission Signal, No Signal Red Warning Messages.  In addition, Disconnected Grey Warning Message.
Sure wish someone would actually find the solution.  My P4P has been sent in four times now.  It is all getting very Old!  The workarounds such as SD card, relinking Controller, format SD card, relinking without the SD card inserted, Turn On Airplane Mode, 5.8 and 2.4 MHz, its all a big guess because NONE of it has corrected The Problem.
I had to Turn Off my Controller just to Force a Return Home.  Fortunately that worked fine.
DJI U.S. and the repair sites need to communicate with DJI In Shenzhen, China/Hong Kong, those who actually have the answers!  Have flown phantom 4 and Phantom 4 ADV in same flying area, open field, in the country along with Mavic Pro and have never experienced the Image Transmission Signal Warning Messages with those aircraft.  My P4P was just sent in again.  Just need to wait and see what they end up doing this time!  SMH, endless hours of actual hands on research and testing!!!!!
2019-2-2
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fullspeed
lvl.1
United States
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Same here for me- haven't even been able to fly in the 12 days since I got it...even the So Cali, DJI Store said it was a remote problem.
2019-2-3
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fullspeed
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United States
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Crysac Posted at 2018-12-17 05:19
I have the same problem. one way it works is by resetting the RC, it goes back to the previous version and everything works. But it asks to update the database constantly. Once updated the error returns so I think the error is the firmware.

Yeah that sounds right and the problem still has not been addressed and now they're  discounting them and selling cheap - but a buggy quad copter that doesn't fly is no good at any price. Now 1 week after I bought mine on Jan 20th ,2019 , the ad says its discontinued.. so this should be fun trying to get them to make things right. Even the Local DJI store in So California said its probably a firmware issue and wanted to charge me $50 to look at it . Its brand new and under warranty and they want $50 to tell me the firmware is f'd up?  They handle waranty work  for DJI but said I would have to send it back to B&H to get it warrantied . Wow this is really confusing... They really wanted to take my money for nothing...I got it working ,then it didn't work , then it did , then it didn't, and it still hasn't flown.... I'm too scared to evenfly it from what everyone else has said

I really had to save for this one because I'm on disability from working - and now I have a drone that doesn't stay connected to a beautiful screen that doesn't stay  sychenched.
2019-2-3
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fullspeed
lvl.1
United States
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Crysac Posted at 2018-12-17 05:19
I have the same problem. one way it works is by resetting the RC, it goes back to the previous version and everything works. But it asks to update the database constantly. Once updated the error returns so I think the error is the firmware.

Yeah that sounds right and the problem still has not been addressed and now they're  discounting them and selling cheap - but a buggy quad copter that doesn't fly is no good at any price. Now 1 week after I bought mine on Jan 20th ,2019 , the ad says its discontinued.. so this should be fun trying to get them to make things right. Even the Local DJI store in So California said its probably a firmware issue and wanted to charge me $50 to look at it . Its brand new and under warranty and they want $50 to tell me the firmware is f'd up?  They handle waranty work  for DJI but said I would have to send it back to B&H to get it warrantied . Wow this is really confusing... They really wanted to take my money for nothing...I got it working ,then it didn't work , then it did , then it didn't, and it still hasn't flown.... I'm too scared to evenfly it from what everyone else has said

I really had to save for this one because I'm on disability from working - and now I have a drone that doesn't stay connected to a beautiful screen that doesn't stay  sychenched.
2019-2-3
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Skweres
lvl.1
Poland
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Hi guys,

I've had exactly same problem with my P4A, tho it got disconnected and RTH didn't work as well. I've flew over the woods, about 300m away from me, still in line of sight. Then, all of a sudden, it got remote disconnected. I've punched RTH and waited. Nothing was happening, it was hovering there.
It's winter here, especially in mountains where i was flying,  so my friend waited on RTH spot, and I went to the woods to look for it, in case it tried to land, or crash, no idea, because failsafe was RTH.
After 20 min of struggle in deep snow, I've stoped to hear it, so I went back. It didn't return to RTH, as my friend stand guard there. No luck, soaking wet, we went to borrow some rackets and searched for it until it got dark. Day after, I've borrowed PH3Pro, to scout the are from above, no luck, as well.
I've sent the logs to DJI Support, but they said it's "unable to judge" and offered me discount for new one. It felt like a joke to me. The drone was still in warranty, it flied away, I delivered logs, photos of location, everything, and it seems like Support tries to shift responsibility to me, because logs in moment of disconnect shows that drone was hovering. It's not a cool thing to do.

But, about a week ago, on borrowed P4Pro, same thing occured, but this time ( THANKFULLY) RTH worked and it came back. Also about 300m away from me. Different RC, different phone, but same case scenario, and also logs shows everything until disconnect, after that, nothing, nada.  I have send DJI Support logs, including ones from aircraft,  from the second incident with question, how is it hard to judge, what happened?

I'm really dissapointed that this issue is taking so much of my time. And they yet still offer me discount, to spend more money.
2019-2-4
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fullspeed
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United States
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Skweres Posted at 2-4 08:53
Hi guys,

I've had exactly same problem with my P4A, tho it got disconnected and RTH didn't work as well. I've flew over the woods, about 300m away from me, still in line of sight. Then, all of a sudden, it got remote disconnected. I've punched RTH and waited. Nothing was happening, it was hovering there.

Sorry about your nightmare--its unbelievable - I guess that's why there are so many dji drones for sale on Craigs List, etc. I've lost 2 flying over water - mcu went out on one and I saw it drop into the surf - got it back 4 years later after a girl found it under a jetty - it was all degraded and eaten up... I've give them almost $10 k and I don't even want to fly my new one, because it just causes too much anxiety
2019-2-4
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JA_Aerial
lvl.1
Flight distance : 130774 ft
Costa Rica
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Good to all, someone has been able to fix the problem of poor signal and interference with the drone? I have this problem in my phantom 4 advanced and is very annoying.
I would appreciate your help
2019-4-22
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MoralDK
lvl.1
Flight distance : 186880 ft
United States
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Actually, 2.4 GHz is a stronger signal and is best for distance. My P4A easily travels over 20k'.  I'd look for antenna connection issues with drone or controller. Do you know anyone with the same unit you can do some testing with?
2019-4-26
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JA_Aerial
lvl.1
Flight distance : 130774 ft
Costa Rica
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MoralDK Posted at 4-26 08:10
Actually, 2.4 GHz is a stronger signal and is best for distance. My P4A easily travels over 20k'.  I'd look for antenna connection issues with drone or controller. Do you know anyone with the same unit you can do some testing with?

Hi MoralDK I’m going to try that!
2019-5-1
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Hugh Jaynus
First Officer
Flight distance : 1204754 ft
United States
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My P4A is still on an older firmware and working great. This is why I will not update. It if ain't broke I'm not fixing it and introducing potential problems.
2019-5-20
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fans37fc6a2e
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1470968 ft
United States
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I have been getting a weak radio signal at startup but it goes away before I begain flight.  I seldom look at my screen but have not seen any disconnect alerts. I also checked my flight log warnings and there are no disconnect warnings/alerts listed. To my knowledge I am running the latest version of firmwear. I guess I am lucky if the problem is firmware.
2019-5-20
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Starfox
lvl.1

United Kingdom
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Hi guys.  I need some help regarding an issue with a P4 standard I have.

Back Story - I bought it used on ebay, knowing the seller was having issues with the video stream,  Aooarently he was only able to get it to stream to Facebook Live (I don't use FB)

Anyway, when it arrived I set it all up and got a stream from the P4 but it was all pixelated and green and many other colours.  Along with warning about poor radio signal.

I searched the forums and have upgraded, downgraded and re-upgraded firmware on both the RC and the P4.  

As it stands at the moment the details are as below

RC = 1.9.3
P4 = 2.00.0700(AC)
App = What ever the latest version on IOS and Android is.  1.6.3 i think.

With the app running connected to the RC it  says the P4 needs an update (i have updated the P4 to 2.00.0700 using assisstant 2 for Phantom and using DJI Go 4)
When i follow the instructions from the app to go update the P4 and connect the phone/tablet to the P4 it checks the firmware and says it is up to date (2.00.0700(AC)
Return the phone to the RC, guess what?, Aircraft needs updated.

What is going on here!  

Seem to me that although the RC is linked to the P4 (I have tested I have full control of motors and gimble) it is not able to receive some of the info from the P4.  Telemetry seems to work, just the video signal and the issue detecting the firmware.

Any help or suggestions that I can try would be great.

Thanks
2019-5-23
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Starfox
lvl.1

United Kingdom
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Hugh Jaynus Posted at 5-20 10:05
My P4A is still on an older firmware and working great. This is why I will not update. It if ain't broke I'm not fixing it and introducing potential problems.

If you don't mind, can you tell me what versions of firmware you are using so I can see if downgrading to the same combo as you fixes my issues.

I am on:
Phantom 4 Std = 2.00.0700
RC = 1.9.3

Thanks
2019-5-23
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