Frequent Disconnects

[nedcampbell]

After about a year of hassle free flying my M2Z w iPhone 8, I now suffer every flight with 1) difficulty to connect camera 2) frequent disconnects in flight. Nothing has changed that I know of and I fly with Bluetooth off and not around potential WIFI interference. Any ideas or experience is greatly appreciated.

 

[kilomikebravo]

Probably a foolish question, Ned, but have you tried a different cable from the phone to the RC? And, I presume you're using the bottom USB-A port and not the Micro USB port on the upper left?

 

[nedcampbell]

Not a foolish question at all!
1) I am using the micro USB on the top left to my iPhone
2) I’ve never used the USB-A port (didn’t even know about it!)
3) I’ve not tried a different cable (don’t have one right now).
Are there known issues with this setup?
Thx.

 

[nedcampbell]

Kilomikebravo
Thanks for your good questions. It led me down this path:
- Unlinked my RC and Bird and relinked
- Used a USB-A cable that I know works
Seems I can now connect! Will be interesting to see if it helps with my disconnect issues tomorrow.
Appreciate your help!

 

[blackbeemer]

Another dumb question but do you have your antennas oriented correctly? I had an issue just like this even with short range like 200ft away. Once I fixed the antenna orientation on my Smart controller everything was great again.

 

[MKC-UK M2P]

I have to say the smart controller is not cheap but its massively better than the phone version

 

[nedcampbell]

I’m looking to buy an SC. Tired of the startup process and my iPhone battery sucks.

 

[ff22]

I’m looking to buy an SC. Tired of the startup process and my iPhone battery sucks.

Here's a pretty thorough review just posted on DJI's forum:

DJI SMART CONTROLLER after 5 months of heavy usage

It has been 5 month since I put my hands on the DJI Smart Controller. I did a quite extensive review about it back then.https://forum.dji.com/thread-182773-1-1.html. Using it for almost half a year has been just pure joy. I remember getting some comments that owning and using an iPad as a screen...

forum.dji.com

 

[MKC-UK M2P]

I would say it transforms the Mavic, it has been far, far better since I have had mine. Logged a lot of hours getting ready for my flight test and I fly it several times a week. We 2 USAF bases here, transport at Mildenhall, F15 fighters out of Lakenheath and F35s out of Marham, so a flyaway over any of those is not a good experience I guess.

Start up is almost instant, under a minute. Had no disconnects yet but sticking at 500m / VLOS, which is law in UK
It is far superior to any iphone / Ipad setup I have ever had on P4P or Mavic 2 Pro.

Highly recommended

 

[kilomikebravo]

Seems I can now connect!

Ned: Most happy to hear that my suggestion helped and that you're connected again. That darn top port on the RC has been a problem for about a zillion people so you're not alone.