I have a charging icon appear, but havent tested if it charges, this behaviour is however the same for both controllers, it cant be the case that I1 controllers dont do this, as the original is defo an I1 controller.
That interesting and weird. I have 3 iPads. When plugged into the P4P, clearly they are charging. When plugged into the Mavic Pro or the Inspire 1, clearly they are not.
Here's a screen shot of my Air Pro Gen 3. My other two iPads - an Air 1 and an Air Pro Gen 2 - net the same icon.
You should screen shot your iPad so I can see what your icon looks like. I'm running iOS 12 on all 3 iPads. The two older iPads are running iOS 12.1.xx and the newer one (in the screen shot) is running the latest iOS 12.3.1.
Ive looked for corrosion on all pins, cleaned all ribbons with 97% alcohol and even lightly sanded the usb pins, no difference.
At this point I would open up the controller and look for internal issues like corrosion or burned components on the PCB.
I tried the HDMI output on both controllers the other day and nothign is there either.
The HDMI port can be tricky. How are you testing it? Are you testing it with a known-to-be-working set up? Like FPV Goggles, for instance? Even if the bird isn't connecting to the RC, you should still get telemetry icons on the screen.
is there any way to check the video signal etc is actually leaving the bird?
Not really. LightBridge™ is a proprietary Tx protocol.
although at this point im assuming its simply a comms issue between the controller and phone.
If you get the green light on the controller, then your controller is connected to the bird. Otherwise, no.
The iphone 6 has had ios updated since it was a known working phone, so perhaps the new ios isnt compatible?
Not likely. My first iPad - the Air 1 - started off on iOS 9, I believe. Everything has worked well from iOS 9 up to today's latest iOS.
perhaps the android phone I have isnt compatible?
Possibly. But that wouldn't explain why your iPads don't connect. Which iOS version does your phone run?
im trying to get a known working ipad and phone to test with.
Switching out components with a known-to-be-working rig is really the best troubleshooter. Maybe take out an ad in craigslist to find another Inspire 1 in Galacia.
Wish I could be of more help.
D