Lost video feed

gow7 · May 8, 2017

Hi,

Yesterday I took my drone out for another flight session. I've practised launching and landing Mavic in my hand and it worked very well. I've disabled the landing sensor and the landing operation went pretty smooth.

Apart from that I also bought a new battery and the strange behaviour started here (I guess). When I switched batteries and start flying again, I've noticed that randomly the video feed was lost and the controller behaved like the drone was landed because when I tried to change flight mode I received a warning saying that the drone needed to be flying to change modes. Every time I landed the drone the video feed came up again. While the video feed was lost I could start/stop video recording and pilot the drone without any problem but I didn't try to reset the app, I was afraid of what could happen.

Does batteries have firmware and need to be updated? That could be it because I bought the battery and I've used in the field without testing it at home (I've only recharged it to 100%).

gow7 · May 8, 2017

Humm batteries do have firmware: Told to Hold off on update?

Maybe an update will solve this

gow7 · May 8, 2017

So now that I got home, I've tested powering up Mavic with both my batteries and DJI Go 4 says firmware is up to date (for both).

Any ideas of what could have caused this behaviour? Have any of you experienced this?
Thanks.

Michael Ainsworth · May 8, 2017

Cable between RC and Phone is one of the most overlooked pieces of the whole unit. If your cable is either faulty or not getting a good plug into both ends then you will get intermittent faults.
Try totally disconnecting the side connections both ends of the RC and your phone and connect through the bottom USB that way you could eliminate one possible fault.
The other thing is to delete your app and reinstall on the phone and make sure all other Apps are closed and not running in the background.

MrMavic · May 8, 2017

This has been a constant problem with me too. I have tried different cables, re-installed app, but nothing has worked.

Cerberus · May 8, 2017

Did using the original battery resolve this problem for you?

gow7 · May 9, 2017

Hello,

I haven't tried yet, I'll this weekend, but this behaviour happened while I was using the new battery (bought separately). They are both from DJI.

However I don't think it's related to the cable because my phone was always connected I did not touch it since I first use it.

What happens to Mavic if we close the DJI GO app while flying?

gow7 · May 14, 2017

So today I took my bird for another flight session. Everything went well, I'm getting more confident and happy with Mavic.
Regarding the video feed issue I think I have a clue. Lately I used to fly Mavic in zones with intermittent cell phone signal (3G/4G) and I guess that drop of signal is what's causing this trouble. In the first flight of today Mavic stopped transmitting video feed seconds after taking off and I've noticed that my iPhone 6 lost cell phone signal. So I moved myself 5/10m from original point (same flight zone for Mavic though) and I did not experience any loss of video feed.
And now that I think of it, last time I had this issue I was in an area where we've poor cell phone signal.

Could this be it, or it's just a coincidence? Can I fly Mavic in airplane mode (with wireless on)?

Thanks.

alpha_mavic · May 16, 2017

gow7 said:
So today I took my bird for another flight session. Everything went well, I'm getting more confident and happy with Mavic.
Regarding the video feed issue I think I have a clue. Lately I used to fly Mavic in zones with intermittent cell phone signal (3G/4G) and I guess that drop of signal is what's causing this trouble. In the first flight of today Mavic stopped transmitting video feed seconds after taking off and I've noticed that my iPhone 6 lost cell phone signal. So I moved myself 5/10m from original point (same flight zone for Mavic though) and I did not experience any loss of video feed.
And now that I think of it, last time I had this issue I was in an area where we've poor cell phone signal.

Could this be it, or it's just a coincidence? Can I fly Mavic in airplane mode (with wireless on)?

Thanks.

Are you sure that it is the cause? Could you go back to that exact location and repeat the fault?

I have similar problem at 1 location, and I am not able to return there to test it again. And I haven't had a chance to test flight another time. Party because i am inside a no fly zone area.....

gow7 · May 16, 2017

appha_mavic said:
Are you sure that it is the cause? Could you go back to that exact location and repeat the fault?

I have similar problem at 1 location, and I am not able to return there to test it again. And I haven't had a chance to test flight another time. Party because i am inside a no fly zone area.....

Yes I'll try to do some tests regarding cell signal loss and see what I get.

gow7 · May 27, 2017

Today I went back to the same zone where I've experienced video signal loss and I was able to reproduce it.
When I start flying Mavic with 3/4G if I lose phone signal I lose video signal too and a few seconds latter a popup shows asking if I want RTH due to video signal loss. I've pressed "No", moved to a better phone signal zone, and video feed came up again.

gavcuk · May 29, 2017

Interesting. I'm pretty sure each of the locations I've had this would be sketchy signal areas. Is this because DJI GO4 then cripples the functionality in line with the recent activation requirements. Is it because it then cannot update NFZ in real time?

gow7 · May 29, 2017

I don't think it's related with the latest update nor NFZ because I've experienced this with prior firmware versions, same goes for the DJI GO app.
I've updated the DJI GO and I didn't flown yet.

I have GEO turned off, I don't know the impact of it (I guess NFZ still works even if off right?) but the warnings are gone. Those warnings are pretty annoying. I always fly away of NFZ and I don't want to fly inside or near NFZ, so I've turn it off (at least warnings are off). I'm always checking UAV Forecast, they also provide a good NFZ map.

ps: also had this problem with GEO on

Michael Ainsworth · May 31, 2017

Your phone gets its video feed from the controller which gets it from the Drone.
Shouldn't have anything to do with cellphone coverage.
Strange.

gavcuk · May 31, 2017

Michael Ainsworth said:
Your phone gets its video feed from the controller which gets it from the Drone.
Shouldn't have anything to do with cellphone coverage.
Strange.

I guess it could if it were a software issue

gow7 · May 31, 2017

Michael Ainsworth said:
Your phone gets its video feed from the controller which gets it from the Drone.
Shouldn't have anything to do with cellphone coverage.
Strange.

You're right, it makes sense, and there's people flying in airplane mode, so it shouldn't happen.
But I managed to reproduce it. Next time I'll try flying in airplane mode at the same place.

gavcuk said:
I guess it could if it were a software issue

Maybe the problem is starting with signal and then losing it, because in airplane mode you will not have signal ever (when you start and during the flight) So maybe changing states its the problem ...

CashCache · May 31, 2017

I wonder if there is something in this area that is causing all radio signals to suffer. For example, if that area has a lot of microwave (or some other) interference, it could cause cell service to suffer - including your Mavic radio. Just a thought...

dwallersv · May 31, 2017

Guys, always turn off your call service when flying -- Airplane Mode is the simplest, but you lose data connection -- so you DON'T get interrupted by a call. Believe me, you don't want to go through that.

Chun · May 31, 2017

gow7 said:
Hello,

I haven't tried yet, I'll this weekend, but this behaviour happened while I was using the new battery (bought separately). They are both from DJI.

However I don't think it's related to the cable because my phone was always connected I did not touch it since I first use it.

What happens to Mavic if we close the DJI GO app while flying?

If the app closes mavic will hover in place , allowing you to reopen the app, as long as rc still connected. If rc disconnect mavic will rth or hover in place depending on your setting's. Rth is most preferred. I suffered similar problems with Android devices not saying that is your problem,but an iPad fixed all my issues.

gow7 · Jun 1, 2017

CashCache said:
I wonder if there is something in this area that is causing all radio signals to suffer. For example, if that area has a lot of microwave (or some other) interference, it could cause cell service to suffer - including your Mavic radio. Just a thought...

Well I guess not because only video feed is lost, I can perfectly control mavic, start/stop recording, etc... It's odd, because the controller thinks Mavic it's disconnected/has landed (doesn't let me switch modes) but I can manoeuvre it.

dwallersv said:
Guys, always turn off your call service when flying -- Airplane Mode is the simplest, but you lose data connection -- so you DON'T get interrupted by a call. Believe me, you don't want to go through that.

I'll try that next time

Chun said:
If the app closes mavic will hover in place , allowing you to reopen the app, as long as rc still connected. If rc disconnect mavic will rth or hover in place depending on your setting's. Rth is most preferred. I suffered similar problems with Android devices not saying that is your problem,but an iPad fixed all my issues.

Recently I'm using hover because I'm below tree line, but yes, usually I set it to RTH.