After Crash, Getting "No Signal" Message on Remote App

[BoneMan]

I've had my Inspire since Feb. and flown it many times without a problem. I finally had a crash today and I'm trying to figure out exactly what needs to be fixed or replaced. The visible damage was confined to a broken carbon fiber motor mount and the camera/gimbal was knocked off the drone. The drone hit a tree at low altitude, so I was optimistic that I could repair and fix it. The camera detached by pulling off the shock absorbers and ripping out the two ribbon connectors. There was no visible damage to the camera or gimbal. The wires visible in the cracked carbon fiber motor tube appeared intact.
When I reattached the camera, battery etc., the arms automatically "came down" and the camera did its usual "dance". I was optimistic until the DJI Pilot app showed no camera image at all, and the message in red "No Signal" showed at the top of the app. Also, the LED on the remote stayed red as well. BUT, when I used the joystick "startup move", I was surprised to see that all 4 motors wound up and worked! However the landing gear did not respond to any switch inputs.
Why the "No Signal" message? Does that mean the camera is broken? Does it only refer to a "video signal" since there is obviously a "control signal" going to the motors? What does the red LED really indicate?
I obviously don't want to spend $550 on a new camera/gimbal if I don't have to.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DavidB]

I've had my Inspire since Feb. and flown it many times without a problem. I finally had a crash today and I'm trying to figure out exactly what needs to be fixed or replaced. The visible damage was confined to a broken carbon fiber motor mount and the camera/gimbal was knocked off the drone. The drone hit a tree at low altitude, so I was optimistic that I could repair and fix it. The camera detached by pulling off the shock absorbers and ripping out the two ribbon connectors. There was no visible damage to the camera or gimbal. The wires visible in the cracked carbon fiber motor tube appeared intact.
When I reattached the camera, battery etc., the arms automatically "came down" and the camera did its usual "dance". I was optimistic until the DJI Pilot app showed no camera image at all, and the message in red "No Signal" showed at the top of the app. Also, the LED on the remote stayed red as well. BUT, when I used the joystick "startup move", I was surprised to see that all 4 motors wound up and worked! However the landing gear did not respond to any switch inputs.
Why the "No Signal" message? Does that mean the camera is broken? Does it only refer to a "video signal" since there is obviously a "control signal" going to the motors? What does the red LED really indicate?
I obviously don't want to spend $550 on a new camera/gimbal if I don't have to.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I had a crash some time ago and had the camera pulled off from the mounting plate. Careful inspection showed the plug, which is part of the connector plate into which the smaller of the 2 ribbon cables attached was damaged. I was able to replace this with purchasing a DJI kit (listed as DJI Inspire 1 Gimbal Mount & Mounting Plate Part 41). This was around AUS$99 and was relatively easy to fix. I note a few YouTube videos are now available that take you through the necessary steps. Been flying since with no problems. Not sure if this helps but may be cheaper than a new gimbal or camera.

 

[Aviator]

First thing to do after a crash (if you are able) is an IMU calibration, can you do that?

 

[Kilrah]

"No signal" indeed means no video signal, so there's likely something with the camera's connections.

 

[BoneMan]

I had a crash some time ago and had the camera pulled off from the mounting plate. Careful inspection showed the plug, which is part of the connector plate into which the smaller of the 2 ribbon cables attached was damaged. I was able to replace this with purchasing a DJI kit (listed as DJI Inspire 1 Gimbal Mount & Mounting Plate Part 41). This was around AUS$99 and was relatively easy to fix. I note a few YouTube videos are now available that take you through the necessary steps. Been flying since with no problems. Not sure if this helps but may be cheaper than a new gimbal or camera.

Thanks very much. I'll order one right away. At least I have some hope that I won't have to spend $550 for a new camera

 

[BoneMan]

First thing to do after a crash (if you are able) is an IMU calibration, can you do that?

I haven't tried that, but I don't think the remote is communicating with the drone well enough to do that. I couldn't get any of the menus to work on the DJI pilot app, but I'll give it another try. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Aviator]

If the think the camera is stopping your RC from communicating with the AC, just remove it.
You will still see the no signal error but you will have eliminated the possibility of the camera or its connections from causing the communications error.
EDIT
If you want to remove the camera gimbal and cables for inspection, here is a good video showing how to do that..

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