So you are ready to fly your Phantom drone and you power on the unit and connect the DJI GO app to the aircraft. Unfortunately, the only thing you see on the screen is just a black screen and a “Camera Sensor error”. According to DJI forums, many Phantom users had to deal with the same situation as I explained above.
As responsible members of the drone community, we are here to explain to you why you are getting this error and how you can fix DJI Phantom camera sensor error with this simple article.
Causes of DJI Phantom camera sensor error.
Most of the time, the reason for DJI Phantom’s camera sensor error is the faulty ribbon cable (The ribbon cable that connects the camera to the main circuit). Besides that, start-up glitches and DJI app issues could cause the error.
1. Faulty ribbon cable.
I think this could be the main reason for the error in most cases. Once the ribbon cable connected to the camera is faulty, Phantom aircraft won’t be able to receive data and causing the camera sensor error.
2. DJI GO app issues.
If your installed DJI GO is outdated or not downloaded from the DJI Downloads center (except Appstore), the DJI GO app could malfunction and cause this kind of error.
3. Start-up glitches.
Sometimes, temporary aircraft start-up glitches also could cause the issue. And in that situation, you won’t get the error once you restart the drone.
How to fix DJI Phantom camera sensor error.
Now it’s time to walk you through step by step to troubleshoot the DJI Phantom camera sensor error.
Step 1: Restart the Phantom unit.
As I said above, startup glitches also could cause temporary error pop-ups. Once you restart the Phantom and it system restarts properly, those error messages would be gone.
- Power off the Phantom aircraft and controller. Close the DJI Go app and restart the mobile device to clear the cache data of the app.
- Then power on the Phantom 3/ 4 aircraft and the controller.
- Launch the DJI Go app and connect to the DJI Phantom aircraft and enter the camera view. Then check whether the error is gone and the camera view is showing. If not move to the next step.
Step 2: Make sure the DJI GO app is updated and fine.
If the installed DJI GO/ GO 4 app is faulty it could malfunction and cause different kinds of issues as this one. So it’s so important to ensure you have installed the proper latest DJI GO/ GO 4 application to your device. Follow the below steps to update/ install DJI GO/ DJI GO 4 application to your mobile device.
How to update DJI GO/ DJI GO 4 app.
- First, uninstall the currently installed DJI GO/ DJI GO 4 app version from the device. This would clear app data and cache data.
- Visit the DJI Downloads center using your mobile device.
- Choose the mobile application for your Phantom drone (DJI GO/DJI GO4). 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.
Step 3: Replace the ribbon cable.
The next step is to replace the ribbon cable. Many users were able to fix the camera sensor error by replacing the existing ribbon cable. So don’t be shy to follow this step. If you are not comfortable with that, get some professionals to help.
Accessories
- Buy DJI Phantom 3 flex ribbon cable – Amazon
- Buy DJI Phantom 4 Pro flex ribbon cable- Amazon
- Also, you need Allen key wrench set to dissemble – Amazon
- And T7H star bit – Amazon
How to replace Phantom gimbal ribbon cable.
- Remove the battery from the aircraft.
- Flip the aircraft over and remove the SD card.
- Take the 8mm Allen key and unscrew eight screws connecting the camera section to the drone.
- Use a small flathead screwdriver and gently pry off the bottom section.
- Use a Phillips head screwdriver and unscrew and disconnect the ribbon cable that connected from the bottom section to the main circuit.
- Then use a flathead screwdriver and pry off the cable from the main circuit.
- Then move the Phantom out of the way because we just need the bottom section to replace the ribbon cable.
- Unscrew four screws that connect the circuit to the bottom section.
- Then gently flip it to the side. Now you’ll find two flippers located under the circuit board.
- Then use a flat-head screwdriver and flip them up.
- Remove the yellow tape running on the ribbon cable.
- Also, unscrew the cover that covers the ribbon cable.
- Then gently pull out the ribbon cable from the flippers.
- Then unscrew the four screws that connect the gimbal to the bottom section.
- Then separate the gimbal and bottom section.
- Remove these two screws right here.
- Take the 8mm Allen key and remove these four screws.
- Then remove that cover.
- Then flip up the flipper located side of the circuit and use a flathead screwdriver and pry off the cable.
- Then remove these screwdrivers and take the cover off.
- Then remove these two screws. Then slide out its bottom cover.
- Use a T7H star bit and remove four screws of the camera.
- Then take the cover off.
- Unplug the ribbon cable connected to the bottom of the circuit.
- Then flip that circuit to the side.
- Then remove the tape covering the ribbon cable connection port.
- Then pry off that ribbon cable from the circuit.
- Now you have disconnected the ribbon cable from the gimbal and it’s time to remove it.
- Then take out the new ribbon cable.
- We would start connecting the ribbon cable when we finished disconnecting the ribbon cable.
- Take the single port end of the cable.
- Remove the adhesive tab on the ribbon cable.
- Connect that ribbon cable end to the gimbal circuit.
- Make contact with the adhesive tab with the arm. Then wrap one time around the arm.
- If you do it right, then the shape of the ribbon would match the arms shape.
- In this part, you would find another adhesive tab on the ribbon cable. Peel that off and attach it to the arm.
- Before going further, let’s set up the gimbal section as it was. Flip the circuit board back to the position and connect the bottom ribbon.
- Then install the cover.
- Then install these parts back.
- Then keep placing the ribbon cable as the old one was.
- You’ll come to this part and you’ll find another adhesive tab on the ribbon cable. Peel that off and attach the ribbon able to that arm as the shape matches.
- Then connect that ribbon port to the circuit. (You can temporarily disconnect the bottom ribbon cable to ease connecting the ribbon cable to the side port)
- Then install the cover.
- Keep placing the ribbon cable as the previous one was.
- Then you’ll come to the connection point of the gimbal. In this part, you’ll find another adhesive tab on the ribbon cable. Peel that off and attach it here.
- Then insert the ribbon cable end to the bottom section of the Phantom drone.
- Then attach the gimbal back to the bottom section.
- Connect the ribbon’s two cables end to the flippers and flip them down.
- Install all the removed parts and screws.
- Insert the disconnected ribbon cable back into the drone circuit board.
- Then install the bottom section of the drone.
- Insert the battery back into the Phantom drone and power it on. Then connect the DJI GO app to the Phantom and go into camera view. Now you won’t see any camera sensor error and you’ll see the camera view perfectly.
Step 4: Contact DJI or profesionals.
If the camera sensor error still exists, there must be a serious hardware issue with your Phantom drone. So in this situation, the advisable action to take is to contact DJI and request repair or meet professionals. If you desire to request a repair from DJI, I have written an article about how you can request a repair online from DJI to fix your issues. Below is the link for that article and it would help and instruct you.
Read the Detailed Article: How to get DJI support to repair your DJI unit’s issue.
