Foot Antenna repair.

PiP_ · Mar 7, 2020

Hi All, i bought a Mavic air on the cheap, it had a few scratches and fly with the only real major damage being the front left foot/antenna, the retaining piece of plastic the the antenna hinges on was broken. The antenna cable was also still attached.
I was able to find a 3D printable replacement and went about fixing the drone. when trying to take off the remaining of the antenna retainer/hinge the antenna cable came out of the foot. I would guess the guy continued to use the drone hand launching and landing Eh, a simple solder job should fix it i thought. I separated the leg to get at the antenna but it looks like the solder pad came off.
Any one carried out a repair on the antenna board in the foot?
On the upside, the 3D printed part works pretty good.

Mrmund · Mar 7, 2020

Haven't changed out the foot but congrats on a great drone. The Air is a beast, I absolutely love mine

Old Cajun · Mar 8, 2020

If the solder pad on the circuit board is intact, just solder the antenna back on.

PiP_ · Mar 8, 2020

The solder pad is intact , just not on the board.

Detritalgeo · Apr 20, 2020

Position the cable where it should be on the antenna board and solder the inner coax lead. Then glue the cable down since the main retaining solder pad is ripped off.

You will then need a thin jumper wire from the outer coax lead to the outer antenna element, you should be able to scratch-off some of the coating and make a new solder connection.

This is the cheap fix... the more involved fix is to replace the entire arm piece for ~$40..

I have tried to show in images below.

PiP_ · Apr 21, 2020

Ya, i had a go at soldering it Detritalgeo, didn't work out too well ? . There was so little slack it the cable it was very difficult to solder in place, ended up making a hames of it. In hindsight, i should have stripped down the arm and tried to pull the antenna cable out so i could have more room to do it but i taught at that stage i would be better to just replace the arm, which is what i'm doing now. Once i have the old arm off i will try and fix again.

gooberfish · Dec 13, 2020

Detritalgeo said:
Position the cable where it should be on the antenna board and solder the inner coax lead. Then glue the cable down since the main retaining solder pad is ripped off.

You will then need a thin jumper wire from the outer coax lead to the outer antenna element, you should be able to scratch-off some of the coating and make a new solder connection.

This is the cheap fix... the more involved fix is to replace the entire arm piece for ~$40..

I have tried to show in images below.

There's a QR code on the antenna board? Did you scan it to see where it goes?