DJI Phantom 3 was released with crazy upgrades and a clean design. I think that’s why it is still in use and popular in the drone community. When going through DJI Phantom 3 users have faced, there are some common DJI Phantom 3 problems many users have faced.
In this article, we are going to talk about what are those common DJI Phantom 3 problems and how to troubleshoot them. This article would be definitely helpful for Phantom 3 users to fix issues related to their Phantom 3.
Common DJI Phantom 3 Problems.
Here is the list of common DJI Phantom 3 problems. Click on your issue to jump to that part of the article.
- Problem 1: DJI Phantom 3 not connecting to the controller.
- Problem 2: DJI Phantom 3 not taking off.
- Problem 3: DJI Phantom 3 not updating firmware.
- Problem 4: DJI Phantom 3 not charging.
- Problem 5: DJI Phantom 3 is not stable.
- Problem 6: DJI Phantom 3 app (DJI GO app) not working
Problem 1: DJI Phantom 3 not connecting to the remote controller.
Most of the time, DJI Phantom 3 won’t connect to the remote controller when the Phantom 3 aircraft is not paired with the remote controller.
Solution: Pair the Phantom 3 aircraft with the controller.
- First, turn on the Phantom 3 and the controller.
- Connect the phone to the remote controller via Wifi.
- Open the DJI GO app and select the Aircraft and tap camera view.
- Go to the main menu and go to remote controller settings. Then scroll down and tap on the “Linking RC”. Then the remote controller will start beeping.
- Then tap “OK”.
- Then find the linking button located behind the camera and battery near to the little LED indicator of Phantom 3. Use a pin or screwdriver and press that button.
- Then the controller would stop beeping.
- Phantom 3 would connect to the controller successfully.
Problem 2: DJI Phantom 3 not taking off.
In many cases, DJI Phantom 3 won’t take off because of improper propeller installation. If you don’t follow the correct order to install propellers to the aircraft it won’t be able to take off (even though the propellers are spinning) or it would flip. Also, if you are in a restricted Noflyzone, you won’t be able to take off the drone.
Solution: Install propellers in the correct order.
- There are two types of pairs in the Phantom 3 propeller set. One propeller pair has a silver mark and the other has a black mark on it.
- Place the silver mark propellers on the motor with silver threading. Then spin clockwise to lock them.
- Place the black mark propellers on the motor with black threading. Then rotate counterclockwise to lock them.
Problem 3: DJI Phantom 3 not updating firmware.
Most of the time, DJI Phantom 3 not updating the firmware, and the Phantom3 aircraft keeps beeping because of rebooting the aircraft before the firmware update process is succeeded. Besides that, if the aircraft battery is low, the system would refuse the firmware updating process.
Solution 1: Charge the Phantom 3 battery before the firmware update.
- Charge the Phantom 3 battery level above 50% before updating the firmware.
Solution 2: Update the firmware properly and patiently.
- Power on the aircraft and controller.
- Connect to the mobile device to DJI Phantom 3 and open the DJI GO app. Then enter the camera view.
- Then enter settings and format the SD card.
- Power off the Phantom 3 and remote controller.
- Visit DJI Downloads and download the latest DJI Phantom 3 / Standard firmware Zip file. Then extract the bin file from the downloaded Zip file.
- Take out the SD card from the aircraft and connect it using an adapter to the PC and move the extracted bin file to the root directory of the SD card.
- Then insert the SD card into the Phantom 3 aircraft and power on the aircraft.
- Once you turned it on the aircraft would start beeping as usual and the indicator LED near the SD card slot would blink green and red which indicates the firmware update process.
- You have to wait patiently while the aircraft keeps beeping, for a few minutes until the firmware update process completes.
- After a few minutes, the beeping noise would stop and would start a smooth double beep. But the firmware updates process is not done yet. So don’t reboot the aircraft right now. Many users have faced this beeping issue after updating the process because of rebooting the aircraft before the firmware update completes (including me).
- Wait until the LED indicator near the SD card slot turns green and the gimbal stabilizes.
- Power off the Phantom 3 aircraft and connect the SD card back to the PC.
- Go to the SD card directory and check the created TXT file. If the txt file shows “Result: Success”, the firmware update process is successful and the problem is solved. If it’s not retry the process again.
Problem 4: DJI Phantom 3 not charging.
Most of the time, DJI Phantom 3 battery won’t charge if the battery has gone into hibernation or the battery is dead.
Solution 1: Wake the battery from hibernation.
Once the battery discharged to a certain level, it would go into hibernation to prevent further discharging.
- Plug the battery into the charger and leave it for a few hours to wake from hibernation and get charged.
Solution 2: Follow the hack.
I saw this hack on youtube. I thought that would be worth it to try this hack safely to fix the issue.
Problem 5: DJI Phantom 3 is not stable.
Usually, DJI Phantom 3 won’t be able to fly stably, if the propellers are damaged, or the IMU is not calibrated well.
Solution 1: Inspect propellers.
Propeller damages definitely could unstable the drone. So it’s worth paying attention to them.
- Take a propeller and run it through your fingers and feel whether there are some cracks or bents on the propellers.
- If you found that some propellers are damaged, replace the existing propeller set with a new Phantom 3 propeller set.
Solution 2: Calibrate the IMU.
- Place the DJI Phantom 3 on a flat surface.
- Power on the Phantom 3 aircraft and the remote controller.
- Then connect the remote controller to the mobile device via Wifi.
- Open the DJI GO app and connect to the aircraft.
- Then enter the camera view. Then tap the more icon at the top right corner.
- Then click on the drone icon (MS Settings) and scroll down and tap on Sensors.
- Scroll down and tap on the “IMU Calibration” button.
- Tap “OK”.
- Then wait until the IMU calibration is done.
Problem 6: DJI Phantom 3 app (DJI GO app) not working
In most cases, the DJI Go app not working and keeps crashing when its version is outdated or the installed app is faulty. Most of the time, users face this issue after installing the DJI Go app from a different source instead of the DJI download center (IOS users are okay to use Appstore to install the DJI GO app).
Read the complete article: DJI App Not Working And Responding (Why, How to Fix)
Solution: Download and install the DJI GO app from the DJI Download center.
- First, uninstall the currently installed DJI GO app version from the device. This would clear app data and cache data.
- Visit the DJI Downloads center using your mobile device.
- Choose DJI GO 4 app. Then you’ll be directed to the app’s download page.
If you are an IOS user,
- Tap on the IOS icon and the app would be open in Appstore. Tap on the “GET” button and install the app.
If you are an Android user,
- Tap on the Android icon and the apk file would be downloaded to the mobiles downloads directory. Once it is downloaded visit your downloads directory and click on the downloaded file. Then follow the simple steps prompted by the device and install the app.
