RC Plus Faulty Antennas

[srandall25]

I emailed [email protected] regarding the faulty RC Plus antennas antennas how there is a systemic problem with them breaking. Please see their response in the screenshot attached. Apparently I'm the only one so far who has filed an official complaint on this. The message back on this is basically saying "unless we hear more complaints from others, they're not going to do anything to fix it".

If you've experienced issues with your RC Plus antennas breaking, as I'm sure a lot of you have from the reports I've seen, please send an email to [email protected]. If we can get enough people to report this issue, then maybe they'll do something to fix it and provide a more quality antenna. Thank you.

 

[Donnie Frank]

I emailed [email protected] regarding the faulty RC Plus antennas antennas how there is a systemic problem with them breaking. Please see their response in the screenshot attached. Apparently I'm the only one so far who has filed an official complaint on this. The message back on this is basically saying "unless we hear more complaints from others, they're not going to do anything to fix it".

If you've experienced issues with your RC Plus antennas breaking, as I'm sure a lot of you have from the reports I've seen, please send an email to [email protected]. If we can get enough people to report this issue, then maybe they'll do something to fix it and provide a more quality antenna. Thank you.

View attachment 34284

The antenna looks replaceable to me. Is that not the case?



D

 

[SymonG]

Good luck with this.
A typical excuse not to do anything and disappointing to hear DJI will not take responsibility for poor hardware design.

 

[srandall25]

The antenna looks replaceable to me. Is that not the case?
It is the case.
View attachment 34305

D

 

[Donnie Frank]

Well if the antenna is replaceable, why not just replace it? How expensive could they be? I mean, how often could you possibly break those antennas? Once or twice in your life?? What do you mean by "systematic problem?" I don't think I've ever broken one in well over 10 years of quadcopter flying and 10 years of helicopter flying before that. YMMV.

D

 

[srandall25]

Well if the antenna is replaceable, why not just replace it? How expensive could they be? I mean, how often could you possibly break those antennas? Once or twice in your life?? What do you mean by "systematic problem?" I don't think I've ever broken one in well over 10 years of quadcopter flying and 10 years of helicopter flying before that. YMMV.

D

I did replace it. It's not expensive. I'm identifying a problem with the RC Plus antennas specifically. Until the RC Plus (which hasn't been around for 10 years!) I've never broken an antenna either, and now all the sudden I have two broken antennas within the first year of use. Along with that, I've noticed many other people reporting antennas breaking with this system. Systemic means this is an ongoing problem with this system and not an isolated incident. Do you own an RC Plus remote controller? The company I ordered replacement antennas from, CloudCity Drones, even admitted to me that they have received an unusual amount of orders for these because of how cheap they’re made and how often they're breaking and so they're getting tons of orders for them. If you've been involved with the Inspire 3 Facebook Groups for any real length of time, you would have seen people complaining about this as well. Obviously I'm not complaining about having to replace a $40 antenna because of the price when I paid over $20K for the Inspire 3 system.. Actually bought two of them.

 

[Donnie Frank]

I did replace it. It's not expensive. I'm identifying a problem with the RC Plus antennas specifically.

Copy that.

Until the RC Plus (which hasn't been around for 10 years!) I've never broken an antenna either, and now all the sudden I have two broken antennas within the first year of use.

Interesting.

Along with that, I've noticed many other people reporting antennas breaking with this system. Systemic means this is an ongoing problem with this system and not an isolated incident.

I understand the definition. I was asking about the threshold. I would call 100 broken antennas systemic....not 5 or even 10.

Do you own an RC Plus remote controller?

No sir.

The company I ordered replacement antennas from, CloudCity Drones, even admitted to me that they have received an unusual amount of orders for these because of how cheap they’re made and how often they're breaking and so they're getting tons of orders for them.

So...to understand the problem better... They are breaking because they are fragile? It's not an inherent design flaw like location or angle, right? It's simply because they are fragile?

If fragility is the issue, have you considered third-party antennas? The photo looks like a standard screw on antenna.

If you've been involved with the Inspire 3 Facebook Groups for any real length of time, you would have seen people complaining about this as well.

Copy that. I do not own an Inspire 3. But, as you can imagine, I do own a bevy of quadcopters.

Obviously I'm not complaining about having to replace a $40 antenna because of the price when I paid over $20K for the Inspire 3 system.. Actually bought two of them.

Copy that. I think in your situation I would look into aftermarket antennas. They could probably be had for half the price of the OEM. Have you looked into that solution?

D

 

[srandall25]

Copy that.




Interesting.




I understand the definition. I was asking about the threshold. I would call 100 broken antennas systemic....not 5 or even 10.




No sir.





So...to understand the problem better... They are breaking because they are fragile? It's not an inherent design flaw like location or angle, right? It's simply because they are fragile?

If fragility is the issue, have you considered third-party antennas? The photo looks like a standard screw on antenna.




Copy that. I do not own an Inspire 3. But, as you can imagine, I do own a bevy of quadcopters.





Copy that. I think in your situation I would look into aftermarket antennas. They could probably be had for half the price of the OEM. Have you looked into that solution?

D

I had a feeling you didn't own the RC Plus. I feel like it's a part fragility and part design flaw. The RC Plus has a propriatary connection, unlike all the other DJI remotes. The DJI Cendence remote which also has removable antennas will not work with the RC Plus. Other aftermarket antennas I have will also not work with the RC Plus. There isn't any third party antenna on the market that will work out of the box, without modification, with the RC Plus. From the reports I've seen online and from CloudCity Drones has told me, I'm quite certain there have been more than 100 antenna failure/replacements, way more. This is not a handful of bad antenna issues. If it was, I wouldn't have had two failures already under normal use, not to mention all the other reports in the groups about it. I'm not sure why you're questioning my post so much on this when you haven't even owned the device for which I'm posting about.

 

[Donnie Frank]

I had a feeling you didn't own the RC Plus. I feel like it's a part fragility and part design flaw. The RC Plus has a propriatary connection, unlike all the other DJI remotes. The DJI Cendence remote which also has removable antennas will not work with the RC Plus. Other aftermarket antennas I have will also not work with the RC Plus. There isn't any third party antenna on the market that will work out of the box, without modification, with the RC Plus. From the reports I've seen online and from CloudCity Drones has told me, I'm quite certain there have been more than 100 antenna failure/replacements, way more. This is not a handful of bad antenna issues. If it was, I wouldn't have had two failures already under normal use, not to mention all the other reports in the groups about it. I'm not sure why you're questioning my post so much on this when you haven't even owned the device for which I'm posting about.

My objective is to learn about the problem and possibly provide a solution...not to doubt your veracity. So probing questions are necessary. That said...

I worked in RFID many years ago, so, with all due respect, there's almost no such thing as a "proprietary antenna." If I had the the RC in hand, I would learn the interface and the frequency and then go on the hunt. There are a limited number of attachment options (< dozen based on my experience). And while I concede there exists many radio frequencies to choose from, the RC industry is limited to only a few. So, instinctively, I would say that there DOES exist an aftermarket replacement. The replacement antenna may not *look* the same as the OEM, but it should function as well.

Again, not doubting your veracity, but I don't know your background, so I assume a standard level of ignorance on the subject (NOT insulting you, using the word "ignorant" in its literal sense). As a person who has worked with antennas, I just wanted to open you up to some possibilities you may be unaware exist.

So you know, I haven't purchased antennas in 20 years. So I don't know which company I would start with. Like you, I would start with Google searches. I've actually had really good luck with Perplexity.ai.

D

 

[srandall25]

My objective is to learn about the problem and possibly provide a solution...not to doubt your veracity. So probing questions are necessary. That said...

I worked in RFID many years ago, so, with all due respect, there's almost no such thing as a "proprietary antenna." If I had the the RC in hand, I would learn the interface and the frequency and then go on the hunt. There are a limited number of attachment options (< dozen based on my experience). And while I concede there exists many radio frequencies to choose from, the RC industry is limited to only a few. So, instinctively, I would say that there DOES exist an aftermarket replacement. The replacement antenna may not *look* the same as the OEM, but it should function as well.

Again, not doubting your veracity, but I don't know your background, so I assume a standard level of ignorance on the subject (NOT insulting you, using the word "ignorant" in its literal sense). As a person who has worked with antennas, I just wanted to open you up to some possibilities you may be unaware exist.

So you know, I haven't purchased antennas in 20 years. So I don't know which company I would start with. Like you, I would start with Google searches. I've actually had really good luck with Perplexity.ai.

D

When I say proprietary, I'm speaking of the connection. Yes, the core of the antenna itself is standard. There is no aftermarket antenna that will connect without modification to the RC Plus, unless someone made one specifically for the RC Plus which I have not seen.

 

[Donnie Frank]

When I say proprietary, I'm speaking of the connection. Yes, the core of the antenna itself is standard. There is no aftermarket antenna that will connect without modification to the RC Plus, unless someone made one specifically for the RC Plus which I have not seen.

None of these, eh?


D

 

[srandall25]

None of these, eh?
View attachment 34306

D

Nope, not without modification. The very inner actual antenna part is standard. The connection part around it is not, as you can see from the photo. You would not be able to attach any of those antennas you listed. This connection is proprietary.

 

[Donnie Frank]

Nope, not without modification. The very inner actual antenna part is standard. The connection part around it is not, as you can see from the photo. You would not be able to attach any of those antennas you listed. This connection is proprietary.

Touché. Point taken. Geeze...leave it to DJI to reinvent the wheel...<:^/

D