"Aircraft Signal Interference"

[michaeldallen1]

Flying from my parking structure rooftop for 8 months now, well over 40 flights, and have flown 3.5 miles at night to confirm Firehouse V strobes (Yes! I could still see the strobes). However today, daytime with full battery, same spot could only fly out 700 feet and got "AIRCRAFT SIGNAL INTERFERENCE" in upper left of screen (DJI RC controller flying Mavic 3 Classic). All signal bars went red. Loss of communication with controller. RTH took over and bars came back about 300 feet away and all was fine. So I went in opposite direction..... same result... bars went from full white, then amber then all red within 100 feet of travel distance then RTH and l landed it fine. Scary. Then Just for giggles, I changed battery and problem gone. I flew the same route I had just flown 5 minutes earlier. I really don't think the battery was the issue but I thought I should mention it. Nowhere in searching the forum threads could I find anything specific to "AIRCRAFT SIGNAL INTERFERENCE". Any Ideas, comments, observations, feedback???

 

[old man mavic]

@michaeldallen1 ,from the sounds of it ,the battery for some reason, was not communicating correctly with the drone ,so the battery data was not being sent to the RC
check the battery terminals for damage or debris ,this would appear as signal interference

 

[Ralph thompson]

Try G-Series DeoxIT Gold G5 & clean the battery and drone contacts. Not sure if its necessary but I do this as part of the full maintenance check.

 

[michaeldallen1]

@michaeldallen1 ,from the sounds of it ,the battery for some reason, was not communicating correctly with the drone ,so the battery data was not being sent to the RC
check the battery terminals for damage or debris ,this would appear as signal interference

Thanks, Old Man... I'll check my contacts and the 'tripple' charger for debris. Charger sits out on desktop and can collect dust, and batteries are stored in Fly More case with contacts facing downward in case and can be collecting fibers from case lining. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!

 

[michaeldallen1]

Try G-Series DeoxIT Gold G5 & clean the battery and drone contacts. Not sure if its necessary but I do this as part of the full maintenance check.

Good idea, Ralph! I have plenty of contact cleaner here at work I'll try. I own a Video Lab and have plenty of cleaner on hand. I didn't even think that battery contacts could be the issue. Thanks again!

 

[Kuiper Denizen]

I’ve had similar problems with signal interference. It’s mainly in the video feed getting ”fuzzy”, but I recently had an incident that froze the feed and for a few moments made me believe that I was about to lose my drone.

I’m in a very rural area at least a mile away from a cell tower and several miles from a high voltage power line. I do have a neighbor within a quarter of a mile who has several security cameras on his Wi-FI. I’m not sure if that has a potential for interference.

I wonder if the idea about the battery losing communication could be the problem. I’ve taken notice that there are ten pins on Mavic 2 batteries. Does this mean there are ten separate circuits in the drone? If so, there would seem to be a lot of independent activities going on during a flight. A battery malfunctioning would explain a lot about what has so many scratching their heads.

I have two RC1B controllers and am experimenting to see if there’s a difference in their performances.

The problem I expect we all have after a near loss of drone is flying much more tentatively on distances.

I’d appreciate any feedback.