Fixing and recalibrating broken X1 Channel on DJI Phantom 2

    When I first got my DJI Phantom 2 with the H3-2D Gimbal everything worked fine at first, then it seemed that intermittently the X1 channel wouldn’t calibrate right. I could sometimes get -1000 to 1000 movement but to get that movement I had to quickly move the lever and try to hold pressure on the base of the Camera movement lever to get it to move the whole range. This was frustrating, to say the least. At the first occurrence of this issue, i took the Remote Control apart to see if it was just the lever not making contact with the pot on the PCB Board. The pot is the little device that turns the movement of the lever into a signal which in turn moves the camera once received by the Phantom.

    The first time this happened I messed around enough to somehow get it to work again. I just had this same thing happen again and finally figured out how to fix it.

    Note: I know the RC Assistant is only used to calibrate the normal control channels and not the X1, but this, in my opinion, is what causes this fix to work!!

    Steps:

    1. Turn on the Remote Control and launch the RC Assistant Software (not the Phantom 2 software)
    2. Plug in the Remote Control with the supplied USB cable
    3. Calibrate the normal Control Channels. (after step 1 is complete read on)
    4. After you move the control levers in all directions don’t click Next yet. Move the X1 channel to both extremes a few times slowly. For this step, I had the remote taken apart and moved the pot (the little electrical box with a philips style yellow top) with a philips screwdriver, but you should be able to achieve the same with just moving the lever. Once again: I know that the X1 channel isn’t calibrated officially at this point but it needs to be moved at this point just like you would during a calibration.
    5. Click next and finish the calibration.
    6. Turn off the remote control and quit the RC Assistant Software.
    7. Unplug the remote control.
    8. Plug in the USB cable into the Phantom 2 quadcopter.
    9. Now start the Phantom 2 Config App (the one used to upgrade firmware for the actual Phantom 2 quadcopter).
    10. After turning on the Phantom 2 plug it into the computer.
    11. Calibrate the remote control again.
    12. Calibrate the X1 channel.

    Now you should have a working X1 channel again!!

    These are the steps I followed to get my X1 channel working again, I hope they worked for you as well. I would have had to send my DJI Phantom 2 with remote control and Gimbal to the store where I bought it from and waited for them to send it to DJI which takes weeks.

    If this helped you leave a quick comment or shoot me a quick email.

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    Author: Felix

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    24 Comments

    1. Dude this worked perfect. I have the Phantom Vision 2+ 3.0 version, with the camera tilt rocker on the side of the new controller. The camera functions were all screwy before and I couldn’t get it to smoothly tilt up or down.. tried these steps and the rocker works great now! Thanks!

      Post a Reply
      • Hi Kris,

        Thanks for taking the time to share your success :). Glad it helped you out. I know how frustrating it was when the X1 channel just doesn’t work as expected.

        Cheers,

        Post a Reply
      • I have a Phantom 2 with H3-3D gimbal and a newer RC (version 3) with the thumb wheel. I developed a gimbal problem after recently updating firmware and nothing seemed to work to fix it. The gimbal motion had become jerky when I started to move or stop it. Your suggestion and your excellent instructions solved that problem. It is great when something actually works. Thank you ever so much.

        Post a Reply
    2. Thank you thank you thank you :)

      I have the new RC with the rocker on the side.

      I tried to calibrate the X1 only with the phantom app but it was all over the place – the gimbal would “stutter” and the footage was ugly, after reading your article i am good to go :)

      Thanks again mate.

      Post a Reply
      • Hi Ivan,

        Thanks for taking the time to let me know that this helped you out! Glad I could be of help. After trying everything possible i got these steps to solve my problem with the X1 Channel Range Problem, i knew i couldn’t be the only one.
        Cheers,

        Post a Reply
    3. Dude… worked like a charm! DJI support sucks. Thank you.

      Post a Reply
    4. Thank you! My gimbal has been all over the place and within the Phantom app it just got worse. This has really saved me :)

      Post a Reply
    5. Wow!!! This process worked perfectly. I was very close to sending my P2 back to the shop where I had purchased. I called their technical support, and they said my only option was to pack it up and send back to them. I’m glad I found your site. Thank you very much!!!

      Post a Reply
      • Bill thanks for posting, and I’m glad I could help you out :)

        Post a Reply
    6. wow! u r the man… my x1 dial working normal now… thanks a ton :D

      Post a Reply
    7. I just wanted to thank you for the helpful information. I have spent days trying to figure out what was happening and just figured I must have shorted out the gimbal POT in the radio. Then I saw your post and it finally fixed my problem. Thank you very much for sharing this with everyone….

      Post a Reply
      • Geoffrey, thanks for taking the time to let us know! Enjoy your quadcopter :)

        Post a Reply
    8. What a life saver, I had given up on it thinking the remote itself was busted. Thank you!

      Post a Reply
    9. Thank you! My X1 channel was going nuts. I was searching for a replacement pot for transmitter and stumbled upon your post. I tried it and it worked like magic. Thank you so much!

      Post a Reply
      • Super Dork, thanks for letting us know it helped you out! Fly safe.

        Post a Reply
    10. hallo Super Felix, greets from the Netherlands, almost 4 years later, this still works like a charm, thank you very much …
      you said : I know the RC Assistant is only used to calibrate the normal control channels and not the X1..
      but for real it is for both also the x1, i didn’t have this rc assistant because i had phantom 1 (fc40)
      but it did come with a dj6 transmitter, so great work, very creative and inventive i like that in people ;- )..

      Post a Reply
      • Hi Mono, thanks so much for dropping by and letting us know it worked out for you! Glad to hear.

        Post a Reply
    11. I have a phantom 1 with a control remote DJ6. I do all what you say.But when i turn x1 in the rc software don’t move. and after don’t move also in the software naza-m v2.
      WHY ?

      Post a Reply
      • Hi there, thanks for your comment. It sounds like you may have a hardware issue where the X1 channel isn’t being moved at all. Perhaps try to find another Remote to Test.

        Post a Reply

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