Need help with 501s

[starvu]

I purchased the Hubsan 501sx4 in the begining of June this year. Have tried flying this quad 4 times with not much success .Follow me mode and headless
mode not working. Quad wont respond all the time. After more testing I have discovered that the drone wont respond if i am more than 25 feet away from it.

On the transmitter , distance to quad allways show 0 no matter how far I move from it.
Both transmitter and quad pick up more than 6 sats.
When hovering if I move more than 25 feet away the leds all turn red. If in I move closer to the quad leds turn red and green rth will work.
I have tried rebinding but nothing has changed.
Any suggestions as to what I can try next?

[SomeGuy]

I purchased the Hubsan 501sx4 in the begining of June this year. Have tried flying this quad 4 times with not much success .Follow me mode and headless
mode not working. Quad wont respond all the time. After more testing I have discovered that the drone wont respond if i am more than 25 feet away from it.

On the transmitter , distance to quad allways show 0 no matter how far I move from it.
Both transmitter and quad pick up more than 6 sats.
When hovering if I move more than 25 feet away the leds all turn red. If in I move closer to the quad leds turn red and green rth will work.
I have tried rebinding but nothing has changed.
Any suggestions as to what I can try next?

First thing I need to know is what Transmitter (Controller) you have. Is it the Std. Controller or the Advanced. I have both but in order to help you I need to know which one. For starters, forget about Headless & Follow Me Modes for now. Do you have the manual to refer to?

[starvu]

Hi I have the std controller and I have the manual

[SomeGuy]

Hi I have the std controller and I have the manual

Is your controller unmodified with no external antennas or are the antennas attached to the outside? I also want to know what version Firmware is running on both the quad and controller. For all the testing I recommend you take the props off.

To find firmware version you need to bind the quad and controller and go through the Cal 1 and Cal 2 calibration process by rotating horizontally then vertically. To get Firmware version follow steps on page 18, Frequency Selectable 5.8GHZ but scroll down to Show Version. Are you familiar with Controller Mode 1 and Mode 2 as this determines how the control sticks function. Are you familiar with some basic electronics troubleshooting? Do you know how to use an Ohm Meter and do you have one. Your problem could be something as simple as antenna leads not connected internally or broken wires. In order to trouble shoot, it might be necessary to open up the controller, would you be comfortable doing that? It appears you have a problem with both the 5.8GHZ video side as well as the 2.4GHZ transmission which controls the quad. I will keep checking back for your next post.

[starvu]

The controller is un modified .Im not in front of my quad now but I did check the firmware when I got it and I believe its the latest, but I will check later.Yes I have a multi meter and have knowledge of electronics. I did open up the controller to look for anything obvious but didn't want to anything that might void warranty. yes familiar with mode 1 and 2.

Strangely the coarse heading seems to work at any distance but distance between controller and quad is very sporadic.

[magicmannst]

sounds to me like either a bad antenna or cable, which on standard controller everything is internal


also have you tried to rebind the quad and transmitter?

[starvu]

yes, I re-bind the 2 but no change

[SomeGuy]

The controller is un modified .Im not in front of my quad now but I did check the firmware when I got it and I believe its the latest, but I will check later.Yes I have a multi meter and have knowledge of electronics. I did open up the controller to look for anything obvious but didn't want to anything that might void warranty. yes familiar with mode 1 and 2.

Strangely the coarse heading seems to work at any distance but distance between controller and quad is very sporadic.

First, I wouldn't worry about warranty because for all practical purposes, there is no warranty. Besides, opening up the controller as you have stated on this forum would likely void warranty in Hubsan's eyes. Almost anything you do voids warranty.

I would suggest opening the controller and follow each antenna lead back to the circuit board making sure the lead is fastened down on the circuit board tight. If it were me I would carefully pull the connector off the circuit board and examine that the center pins on the antenna lead connectors are in tact and re-connect. I have attached a link to a YouTube that shows where these leads attach just for reference purposes. I am not suggesting you do this antenna mod at this time but simply to use the video as a reference. With the controller upside down the FPV antenna will be on the right and flight controller antenna on the left. If you check these antenna lead connections, on the circuit board side the center should have a center pin (Male) side and on the connector side there should be a center receptacle (female) side to accept the pin. During initial assembly it is not too difficult to mess up these connections and if so you would essentially have no antennas and would have very limited range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd8iVFt1wFs

[starvu]

The controller is un modified .Im not in front of my quad now but I did check the firmware when I got it and I believe its the latest, but I will check later.Yes I have a multi meter and have knowledge of electronics. I did open up the controller to look for anything obvious but didn't want to anything that might void warranty. yes familiar with mode 1 and 2.

Strangely the coarse heading seems to work at any distance but distance between controller and quad is very sporadic.

First, I wouldn't worry about warranty because for all practical purposes, there is no warranty. Besides, opening up the controller as you have stated on this forum would likely void warranty in Hubsan's eyes. Almost anything you do voids warranty.

I would suggest opening the controller and follow each antenna lead back to the circuit board making sure the lead is fastened down on the circuit board tight. If it were me I would carefully pull the connector off the circuit board and examine that the center pins on the antenna lead connectors are in tact and re-connect. I have attached a link to a YouTube that shows where these leads attach just for reference purposes. I am not suggesting you do this antenna mod at this time but simply to use the video as a reference. With the controller upside down the FPV antenna will be on the right and flight controller antenna on the left. If you check these antenna lead connections, on the circuit board side the center should have a center pin (Male) side and on the connector side there should be a center receptacle (female) side to accept the pin. During initial assembly it is not too difficult to mess up these connections and if so you would essentially have no antennas and would have very limited range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd8iVFt1wFs

Thanks I will work on it tomorrow and let you know what I find. I did notice when I had it apart that they had silicone on the connections for both antennas and silicone holding the antenna in place but the antenna wasn't setting in its proper space.

[SomeGuy]

Thanks I will work on it tomorrow and let you know what I find. I did notice when I had it apart that they had silicone on the connections for both antennas and silicone holding the antenna in place but the antenna wasn't setting in its proper space.

That's interesting, those antenna connections to the circuit board are very tight when pressed down properly and shouldn't need any silicone. I have both controllers and have had both open and there isn't any silicone on any of those connections. They did use hot glue to secure the actual antennas in place but that's it. The fact that you are getting some signal through on both 2.4 & 5.8 would lead me to believe that the actual modules are good but without a good antenna connection the range is minimal. If by chance the connectors on the antenna side are messed up then the antenna mod would be the way to go.