Mavic gimbal issue; you all need to read!

[Foxtrot Uniform]

You may find this video worthwhile.

It shows the difference in cooling (even after one minute of hovering) between having the cover on and off. Doesn't seem ridiculous to me.

I think you are confused. The video you posted backs up my stance. Lightspeed claims that the slits on the globe are designed for cooling purposes and that is what I think is ridiculous...

 

[Butterpuff 6]

I think you are confused. The video you posted backs up my stance. Lightspeed claims that the slits on the globe are designed for cooling purposes and that is what I think is ridiculous...

So what do you think the slits are for? Do you think if you taped over them that the airflow would stay the same and the Mavic wouldn't get hotter?


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[Foxtrot Uniform]

So what do you think the slits are for? Do you think if you taped over them that the airflow would stay the same and the Mavic wouldn't get hotter?


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Good question. There would certainly be more if they were intended for cooling. Just my opinion...

 

[fschilder]

So what do you think the slits are for? Do you think if you taped over them that the airflow would stay the same and the Mavic wouldn't get hotter?


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There is a fan behind those slits. There is another video by the same person where he actually opens up the body and the fan is very clear behind the vents. The video link I included shows an actual field test (cover off, then cover on) in which there is a ten degree difference after only one minute of hover-only flight. It is easy to imagine how much more the heat build-up will be with longer and active flight maneuvers. It is conclusive enough for me that the Mavic should not be flown with the gimbal cover on. Otherwise, the higher heat levels can progressively deteriorate the electronics over time increasing risk of failure down the road.

 

[Butterpuff 6]

There is a fan behind those slits. There is another video by the same person where he actually opens up the body and the fan is very clear behind the vents. The video link I included shows an actual field test (cover off, then cover on) in which there is a ten degree difference after only one minute of hover-only flight. It is easy to imagine how much more the heat build-up will be with longer and active flight maneuvers. It is conclusive enough for me that the Mavic should not be flown with the gimbal cover on. Otherwise, the higher heat levels can progressively deteriorate the electronics over time increasing risk of failure down the road.

So, do you think the slits in the cover are for ventilation based on that?

I don't see that test as conclusive at all. The temperature difference does not seem that significant and he didn't allow proper time for the Mavic to cool before doing the test with the globe on. Also, he started out with extreme confirmation bias in that he had already decided that the globe would cause overheating. He seemed surprised that the temperature difference was not greater. I'll stick with the assumption that DJI's engineers know better than YouTube guy unless I see something that I actually find conclusive otherwise.


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[TheLightSpeed!]

Guys I do t fly with it on. That's not the question here. The Mavic is advertised flying with it on. Everyone's taking drone valley's video like it's gospel. He's just another opinion. He don't know any better than anyone.

You are all highjacking my thread anyway. I say the cover is okay and the slit allows cooling air in. If you disagree walk away.


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[TheLightSpeed!]

There is a fan behind those slits. There is another video by the same person where he actually opens up the body and the fan is very clear behind the vents. The video link I included shows an actual field test (cover off, then cover on) in which there is a ten degree difference after only one minute of hover-only flight. It is easy to imagine how much more the heat build-up will be with longer and active flight maneuvers. It is conclusive enough for me that the Mavic should not be flown with the gimbal cover on. Otherwise, the higher heat levels can progressively deteriorate the electronics over time increasing risk of failure down the road.

Guys, the fan does what? Pulls air? Right? As long as there is a slit in the globe, it will pull cold air in. It's not that hard to understand.

No the slit isn't made to catch and direct air. The fan does that.


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[socalvn]

If the plastic cover was only for protection during storage it would not have the black piece to protect it from scratches, this thread was educational for the gimbal and also for the cover [emoji4]
I will fly with the plastic bubble on for protection of the gimbal

 

[John Shaw]

Guys, the fan does what? Pulls air? Right? As long as there is a slit in the globe, it will pull cold air in. It's not that hard to understand.

No the slit isn't made to catch and direct air. The fan does that.


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The cross sectional area of the inlets is critical. A fan can not get much air through a small slit. How many house fans do you have that only pull air through a small slit - none. DJI would not have put that big inlet screen behind the gimbal if they didn't need the inlet that big. They would have liked to put a few small slits - but it wouldn't work. That is what is not hard to understand. DJI is obviously worried about the heat at their electronics, that's why the relatively large fan and the huge heat sink that dominates the bottom of the Mavic. I would hope DJI would address this directly but until they do I don't want to take a chance on frying my electronics. I know there are a few DJI videos where it is flying with the cover on but those may be marketing guys, not engineers. The risk varies with the ambient temperature and the length of the flight etc. I imagine there could be a short suicidal mission on a cold day where putting on the cover could makes sense - but not normally. Every one flying the Mavic has to make their own decision. Best of luck.

 

[J-Dub]

Page 6 of DJI MP Manual: Preparing the Mavic Pro
"Preparing the Aircraft:
Remove the gimbal cover and gimbal clamp from the camera."

"The gimbal cover is used to protect the gimbal. Remove it when necessary.
Use the Gimbal Cover and Gimbal Clamp to protect the gimbal when the Mavic Pro is not in use."

So, remove when "preparing the aircraft" and "when necessary". Lawyers? Anyone?

 

[socalvn]

Page 6 of DJI MP Manual: Preparing the Mavic Pro
"Preparing the Aircraft:
Remove the gimbal cover and gimbal clamp from the camera."

"The gimbal cover is used to protect the gimbal. Remove it when necessary.
Use the Gimbal Cover and Gimbal Clamp to protect the gimbal when the Mavic Pro is not in use."

So, remove when "preparing the aircraft" and "when necessary". Lawyers? Anyone?

Well i'll interpret that as when necessary being to remove gimbal clamp other than that or service it stays on
But I'm sure this discussion will never end
I have noticed in some YouTube videos that the dome creates light fraction so for the professional photographer they might want to remove it , for me 90% of the time it's for protection

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

Yeah... ugh. So it's like saying the fan is pulling air, but the slit is too small to sufficiently pull outside air in.

Put the bubble around your mouth, seal it around your mouth, breath... zero resistance.

Plus, the manual says as necessary. Not "you must".


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[Sjez]

I brought this issue up on another forum and was told that the DJI rep said that it was ok to fly with the cover and that the guy in the video is not a an engineer.
So.. I guess we just have to make up our own minds up in the matter. However, I've also heard that depending on the attitude if the camera and the relative position of the sun you get reflections/flare. In any case, I suspect over time the scratches on the dome will worsen and the decision will be made for you.
I for one continue to enjoy and sometimes get baffled by the conflicting advice.
Happy flying... I'm still waiting for mine.

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[J-Dub]

I think most of the Gimbal problems caused by crashes or hard landings etc, etc, are due to massive forces on the gimbal. The Gimbal Cover does not protect the gimbal from violent movements, only the Gimbal Clamp can attempt to limit the movements, and of course that leads to fried circuits and gimbal motors....now what, bubble flyer?

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

I disagree. It does prevent from things hitting it either on the ground or in the air.

I never fly with it, I'm only debating this because I believe you can and it's okay.


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[duelingglove]

I've heard and read that the little bubble causes heat build up in the lil bird, anybody experience that?


Sent from [emoji211]

 

[Morawka]

Hey guys.. I got my mavic a couple of days ago and my gimbal is already broken.

The gimbal on the Mavic Pro is the worst thing about the drone.. It is super fragile, even small drops from 3 feet, can ruin the gimbal.

The Mavic Pro uses a rubber band system, and when my drone fell off of 10 ft roof, and hit the ground, it tore the ribbon cable out of the gimbal. I want to stress that the fall was not bad at all.. there was even a wooden pole to help catch the fall, but due to the design of the mavic pro gimbal, it doesn't matter, that is enough to break it.

It all comes down to a slight design defect near the gimbal.. There is a ribbon cable going into the gimble motor, as well as 5-10 silver tension wires.
The ribbon cable is not long enough to expand to the full motion of the rubber band system... so if the drone hits something while it has some inertia behind it, it wills stretch out the gimbal platform in the opposite direction.. If it stretches to far, your looking at a ripped ribbon cable like me.

DJI needs to make this ribbon cable a little longer.

here are pics and video of the crash: my case was a return to home failure, it tried to land 50ft away from the takeoff point, and landed on-top of a building, then fell to the ground moments later.

Video of crash (crash is near the end, notice how it decends on target, and at the last 10 ft, course corrects on it's own on-top of a building) was in Return to home mode, with 12 GPS signal, atti mode, hands off controller.

Close up of the damage: This ribbon cable, labeled P2, is what feeds the gimbal motor power and instructions. Without this cable you will get a gimbal motor overload error. Mine is slightly ripped here, or i would have attempted to re-insert it myself.. The drone is currently on it's way back to DJI for repair.

EDIT: the gimbal overall is a bad design imo.. it's just to delicate, and super difficult to diagnose and repair. The mavic 2.0 definately needs a better, more robust gimbal. to even attempt repair on this gimbal, the entire drone will have to be taken apart.. where-as on a phantom, this would be a 10 minute job. Additionally, those rubber bands will dry-rot in about a year and snap.. this drone was built to be thrown away after a couple years.

 

[J-Dub]

Gimbal Cover/Bubble confirmation from DJI Support. I sent an email into support at DJI asking about the "bubble" and whether or not we can/should fly with it attached:

Dear John,

Thank you for contacting DJI Technical Support.

With your concern, when you are preparing for flying, the gimbal clamp should be removed, but if you are referring for the Camera bubble cover, we best recommend not to remove it since that will serve as a protection for the camera from water sprinkle, dust, and other objects that may hit the camera in any case during flying.

Hope this will help and thank you for your time.


If you have any other inquiry in the future please feel free to contact us back anytime and we will be more than happy to assist you with your concern.

Have a wonderful day ahead.

Best Regards,

Myra

DJI NA TECHNICAL SUPPORT

 

[duelingglove]

Hey guys.. I got my mavic a couple of days ago and my gimbal is already broken.

The gimbal on the Mavic Pro is the worst thing about the drone.. It is super fragile, even small drops from 3 feet, can ruin the gimbal.

The Mavic Pro uses a rubber band system, and when my drone fell off of 10 ft roof, and hit the ground, it tore the ribbon cable out of the gimbal. I want to stress that the fall was not bad at all.. there was even a wooden pole to help catch the fall, but due to the design of the mavic pro gimbal, it doesn't matter, that is enough to break it.

It all comes down to a slight design defect near the gimbal.. There is a ribbon cable going into the gimble motor, as well as 5-10 silver tension wires.
The ribbon cable is not long enough to expand to the full motion of the rubber band system... so if the drone hits something while it has some inertia behind it, it wills stretch out the gimbal platform in the opposite direction.. If it stretches to far, your looking at a ripped ribbon cable like me.

DJI needs to make this ribbon cable a little longer.

here are pics and video of the crash: my case was a return to home failure, it tried to land 50ft away from the takeoff point, and landed on-top of a building, then fell to the ground moments later.

Video of crash (crash is near the end, notice how it decends on target, and at the last 10 ft, course corrects on it's own on-top of a building) was in Return to home mode, with 12 GPS signal, atti mode, hands off controller.

Close up of the damage: This ribbon cable, labeled P2, is what feeds the gimbal motor power and instructions. Without this cable you will get a gimbal motor overload error. Mine is slightly ripped here, or i would have attempted to re-insert it myself.. The drone is currently on it's way back to DJI for repair.

EDIT: the gimbal overall is a bad design imo.. it's just to delicate, and super difficult to diagnose and repair. The mavic 2.0 definately needs a better, more robust gimbal. to even attempt repair on this gimbal, the entire drone will have to be taken apart.. where-as on a phantom, this would be a 10 minute job. Additionally, those rubber bands will dry-rot in about a year and snap.. this drone was built to be thrown away after a couple years.

I'm sorry to hear that! When I hit RTH a few times it was trying to lower into/onto structures so I'd take over control and nudge her until she came down when take off point was. Pester DJI, maybe they'll have mercy.....did you get the $99 care program?

 

[Morawka]

I'm sorry to hear that! When I hit RTH a few times it was trying to lower into/onto structures so I'd take over control and nudge her until she came down when take off point was. Pester DJI, maybe they'll have mercy.....did you get the $99 care program?

yes i have DJI care, but i dont wanna use a claim on something this minor... the repair should costs under $75 imo.. just a ribbon cable needs replacement.. on their support page, they have the mavic pro gimble listed as $65 a hour. surely they can fix it in less than one hour, plus the costs of the ribbon cable.. the deductable on dji care refresh is $79, more expensive than 1 hour of repair.

if they send me a estimate over $300 or $400, i'll just tell them to return it.. i will no doubt crash this drone much worse, and then i'll re-send it and get it repaired then.. the camera still works and transmits,, the gimble just won't rotate vertically.