Hi,

Today I had the proper test flights with Mavic and while I love the whole experience and technology, I had the issue mentioned in the subject.

In two seperate locations, Mavic lost connection to the app while I still had the RC control with it.
In fact, I had no problems with RC control and I was loosing app connection with Mavic when 1-5 meters from the quadcopter!

Before I describe the worst case scenario, here are the specs:

- Mavic and RC updated to the latest .500 firmware,
- iPhone 7 Plus ios 10.3, Flight mode/offline mode not enabled

1) In one location, about 20-30 seconds after establishing connection between iphone-rc-Mavic and preparing for takeoff, I suddenly lost transmission from camera,
2) After 2-5 more seconds, application lost all the live data from Mavic and was showing nothing.
3) I force closed the application, and opened it again,
4) It was not showing Mavic or any connection to Mavic, so I repeated step 3 again,
5) Same thing happened, so I did it once more,
6) Application was all of a sudden showing me Phantom 4 Pro picture... I don't have one so I have no idea what happened there, but this got me confused so I turned RC off, Mavic off, force closed the application and took the battery out of Mavic.
7) I repeated procedure of turning on Mavic and RC again, everything worked fine.

On earlier occassion, in the middle of forest with lots of branches, me flying in tripod mod and having to rc connection lost set to hover instead of RTH.
Imagine my surprise, when standing no more than 3 meters and pointing RC antennas towards mavic... All of a sudden I get picture lost on the app, live data lost on the app and prompt on the screen if I want to start RTH procedure.

To be honest, because of that, I lost a bit of faith in this equipment because if that happened not in line of sight, I would have to rely on RTH only. And those two events happened not further than 5 meters away from Mavic.

I will try to dig some logs later on but before I do, maybe someone can tell me if those issues were reported before by others? I could not find anything.

Thanks!

I got same problem couple of times, lost signal from mavic, controller. I came to conclusion that it was bad cable connection to phone. I checked phone lightning socket and found lot of debris from pockets probably built up over time. After cleaning never got lost signal so far.

simis Posted at 2017-4-2 11:28
I got same problem couple of times, lost signal from mavic, controller. I came to conclusion that it was bad cable connection to phone. I checked phone lightning socket and found lot of debris from pockets probably built up over time. After cleaning never got lost signal so far.

I don't think it is related to cable connection but I will check that. I was loosing connection as well when behind an obstacle but it was reappearing when in sight again.

Any other theories?

Similar issue?:
http://forum.dji.com/thread-90648-1-1.html

StigNygaard Posted at 2017-4-2 22:44
Similar issue?:
http://forum.dji.com/thread-90648-1-1.html

Thanks for that link.

It seems to be similar in certain regards, but I have IOS not Android.

Anyway, the cable connection might be my first suspect as well. Next time I fly, I will use original cable that came with iPhone and connect it to the bottom of Mavic's RC.

We will see if that makes any difference. The original short cable, while well integrated and looking nicely, is a pain for me to put in and out of iPhone. The long white cable will be less elegant, but I suppose a bit easier to set up for me.

Will report next time I have successful flight

I have exactly the same setup, but haven't had any problems. But the furthest I've travelled is just over 1km.

PHL Posted at 2017-4-2 23:50
I have exactly the same setup, but haven't had any problems. But the furthest I've travelled is just over 1km.

That is the thing, I got those app connection problems when very close to mavic, 1-5 meters, not a couple of hundred or more...

That is why I was a bit sceptic about problem with cable, but then again, those problems were occurring within the first 1-2 minute of me setting up mavic or beginning to fly.

I hope it is a problem with cable connection.

My iPhone 7 loses also transmission. It keeps doing it every second flight or so and when I remove USB micro connection side from the remote and putting it back the video comes back. Last time it was so fustrating, every 5 seconds video feed dropped and I was forced to use my charge cable pluged from the bottom of RC. At least from there it worked 45 minutes straight on with 2 batteries.

way wrong Posted at 2017-4-3 02:45
My iPhone 7 loses also transmission. It keeps doing it every second flight or so and when I remove USB micro connection side from the remote and putting it back the video comes back. Last time it was so fustrating, every 5 seconds video feed dropped and I was forced to use my charge cable pluged from the bottom of RC. At least from there it worked 45 minutes straight on with 2 batteries.

Yes, I know very well how frustrating this can be. I lost connection like this in the middle of the forest, trees and branches around me... Bam, connection lost and application asks me if to initiate RTH

I will see if changing cable helps and if so, try getting a new one from DJI.

un hombre Posted at 2017-4-3 04:12
Yes, I know very well how frustrating this can be. I lost connection like this in the middle of the forest, trees and branches around me... Bam, connection lost and application asks me if to initiate RTH

I will see if changing cable helps and if so, try getting a new one from DJI.

Thankfully I was near my car and Mavic was LOS so I managed to fly the drone nicely back and took charging cable and again off I was
I will try RC left side USB port with my micro USB to Lightning cable and post results afterwards was it stable or lost connection.

way wrong Posted at 2017-4-3 05:50
Thankfully I was near my car and Mavic was LOS so I managed to fly the drone nicely back and took charging cable and again off I was
I will try RC left side USB port with my micro USB to Lightning cable and post results afterwards was it stable or lost connection.

Actually that is not a bad idea, because I'd rather use the side micro usb than the botton usb...
I have never seen a micro usb to lightning cable. Can't find it anywhere on Amazon, only micro usb to lightning adapters. Can you show me what cable you have and where you bought it?

DJI wants 20 Euro + for their short cable...
I Just realized that using original lightning cable from iPhone is a bad idea. It makes holding the rc uncomfortable as the cable is sticking out.

un hombre Posted at 2017-4-3 06:16
Actually that is not a bad idea, because I'd rather use the side micro usb than the botton usb...
I have never seen a micro usb to lightning cable. Can't find it anywhere on Amazon, only micro usb to lightning adapters. Can you show me what cable you have and where you bought it?

I have this adapter soldered and then capped with heat shrink tube to Lightning male USB side. It works nicely, no problems for now.

USB to Micro USB Male OTG Adapter


Fitting is like on this picture:


One site from Australia sells these cables but haven't ordered from there:
Micro USB to Lightning 0.25m

way wrong Posted at 2017-4-3 10:27
I have this adapter soldered and then capped with heat shrink tube to Lightning male USB side. It works nicely, no problems for now.

USB to Micro USB Male OTG Adapter

Looks like too much hassle for me.

I have found some old topics on the issue I am having with some solutions. It seems that those small Mavic cables are prone to phone interferences and advised solution to the app disconnection problems is putting your iPhone in airplane mode. Alternatively you can use rc lower USB slot with apples original cable.
I will stick with the airplane mode for convenience

Just a random thought; how much free space is left on your phone?

PHL Posted at 2017-4-4 00:43
Just a random thought; how much free space is left on your phone?

You mean memory capacity? 46GB out of 256 used. Why?

I usually lose connectivity once in every battery. Yesterday I tried turning off Bluetooth and WiFi and had no issues. I'll fly a couple more batteries to see if this solves it. If not, next is trying with Airplane Mode.

fans41327a75 Posted at 2017-4-4 09:39
I usually lose connectivity once in every battery. Yesterday I tried turning off Bluetooth and WiFi and had no issues. I'll fly a couple more batteries to see if this solves it. If not, next is trying with Airplane Mode.

I had those issues with Wifi and Bluetooth turned off, as always. I only had Phone Data on.

But I have a suspicion, that if coverage is bad, phone may be trying more and more to get any signal - that may be producing interference with RC.

un hombre Posted at 2017-4-4 03:09
You mean memory capacity? 46GB out of 256 used. Why?

Just wondering if you were running low on space, and the app wanted to write with low storage.

I assume you have also closed out of other apps.

PHL Posted at 2017-4-4 18:22
Just wondering if you were running low on space, and the app wanted to write with low storage.

I assume you have also closed out of other apps.

I can confirm that the problem goes away if you use stock Mavic cable with iPhone 7 plus IN AIRPLANE mode.

Hi,
I have the same problem with loosing the live preview signal.
Using iPhone 5s with Edge-Mode and WiFi on. WiFi off doesn't help, but airplaine mode does!

If I have 3G on my iPhone everything works fine.