Mavic owners, bad news about the Gimbal ribbon cable

[dwallersv]

They're not bots. They're humans that can't speak proper English and as such have a bunch of preprogrammed response buttons they can push to quickly respond in English with.

Like he said, they need to fix the bot code.

I was talking to DJI today, and all of sudden got a "Please allow 3-5 business days for delivery." where my inquiry had nothing to do with shipping. Immediately after, the person responded with "oops", and "sorry I clicked the wrong button"

Which took two button presses, by the way

 

[dwallersv]

They can speak english just fine, the repair center is in California.....

Taco Stand...

 

[dmanisgnarly]

Mines been fine. Replaced the cable after a wall tap and It's still good.

Do you use lens filters?

 

[geigy]

I don't know if this is really a defect. My cable just rests against that notch with no undue force, easing away from the notch slightly when the gimbal pivots all the way down.

 

[Stakes]

For fun, as I was bored, I worked out using litchi App to fly my Mavic back to China and crash it into their offices. It worked out at 30 days flying, at avererage speed of 27mph, towing a hydrogen balloon tethering 2560 batteries behind, at 45,000 feet altitude and a solar panels to trickle charge the battery payload. The real problem is I would probably get a overload error of some kind

My luck, the RTH function would kick in and bring it right back to me!

 

[DonLandis]

Enigma- I hear your frustration! I have two MP's and neither suffers the cable angle you show in your photos. Also, neither of my MP's have that knocking sound during start-up. It's not normal.

However, a week ago I was testing a bottom 360VR camera mount and the experiment failed and caused the MP to crash into the grass from 98ft. The only damage was the gimbal ribbon cable, making it dead as a door nail. I decided to do the repair myself as I have a bit of experience doing electronic repairs, but never anything this difficult. Anyway the repair did go well and I'm back in business.
Here's what you need to know- There are a number of companies that sell replacement cables. I chose one based on delivery. They all range in cost from $12 -$20, some with free shipping. I selected one that cost $15 free shipping. The size of the original cable and my replacement is different in quality of materials with the original looking less durable. Mine broke clean off from the crash right where it leaved the gimbal mount and runs to the circuit board. The new cable is actually a bit wider than the original too. But, overall length from connection to connection of each motor is the same.

After the crash I noticed the gimbal was not hanging plumb but after removing it the shock plate was bent so I had to straighten it so the assembly didn't hit anything when I started up. I'm wondering if your gimbal plate or the rubber shock mounts are not installed properly causing the knocking sound. For some reason, many fliers have had the shock plate get bent or cracked and I was no different.

 

[Pol]

I wondered why there was so many people were getting gimbal overloaded error problems.

I have a choice, either i send it back for a third time, keep it as it is, because it works fine if i use the "start up the Mavic at 90 degrees trick" or try to modify the gimbal and replace the cable.View attachment 16021 View attachment 16022

Stupid question maybe, but what do mean by "start up the Mavic at 90 degrees trick"
How does this work?

 

[DonLandis]

If the shock plate with the rubber bands is bent or broken the camera will catch on something as it goes through the startup. He probably found a way to tilt the drone 90 degrees so the camera would not get hung up on whatever it was catching on. Once I repaired my ribbon cable I could fire it up too but the bent plate would not allow the camera to clear as it moved about. I had to fix the shock mount. I was able to straighten it but many just replace the plate with a new one.

 

[Enigma]

Stupid question maybe, but what do mean by "start up the Mavic at 90 degrees trick"
How does this work?

watch my video, only works 90 degrees to the right, or fully inverted.
Dropbox - MAVIC PRO GIMBAL ISSUE.mp4

 

[Enigma]

Enigma- I hear your frustration! I have two MP's and neither suffers the cable angle you show in your photos. Also, neither of my MP's have that knocking sound during start-up. It's not normal.

However, a week ago I was testing a bottom 360VR camera mount and the experiment failed and caused the MP to crash into the grass from 98ft. The only damage was the gimbal ribbon cable, making it dead as a door nail. I decided to do the repair myself as I have a bit of experience doing electronic repairs, but never anything this difficult. Anyway the repair did go well and I'm back in business.
Here's what you need to know- There are a number of companies that sell replacement cables. I chose one based on delivery. They all range in cost from $12 -$20, some with free shipping. I selected one that cost $15 free shipping. The size of the original cable and my replacement is different in quality of materials with the original looking less durable. Mine broke clean off from the crash right where it leaved the gimbal mount and runs to the circuit board. The new cable is actually a bit wider than the original too. But, overall length from connection to connection of each motor is the same.

After the crash I noticed the gimbal was not hanging plumb but after removing it the shock plate was bent so I had to straighten it so the assembly didn't hit anything when I started up. I'm wondering if your gimbal plate or the rubber shock mounts are not installed properly causing the knocking sound. For some reason, many fliers have had the shock plate get bent or cracked and I was no different.

I am glad you said the replacement cable seems more durable than the original, because i thought the exact same thing when i purchased my new cable, looking at the photos, should arrive next week. I hope this will be a fix. But i have some other ideas to modify how the ribbon cable interacts with the metal parts of the gimbal axis.
If some cables are of different lengths, as previously mentioned, that could also be the problem. I noticed that the folding of the ribbon cable when installing has to be very precise, perhaps that has a bearing on problem.

 

[Pol]

watch my video, only works 90 degrees to the right, or fully inverted.
Dropbox - MAVIC PRO GIMBAL ISSUE.mp4

Thank you for sharing.
As I was looking at your photos, I noticed that I have an other ribbon attachment.
I bought my Mavic 2 month ago and it looks to me that DJI changed the ribbon attaching. Am I right?

 

[DonLandis]

The cable I bought is thicker than the stock one which should make it more durable but it was more difficult to fold. It was wider only at the part that leaves the gimbal mount and runs to the circuit board. This made it difficult to feed past the two mounting screws to the shock plate. The lengths of the different parts are the same. The trickiest folds are at the Y connector and where it feeds through the frame.

 

[rruiz]

start up the Mavic at 90 degrees trick

@Enigma thanks for the 90 degrees trick video... During time this way of starting up could not cause a calibration issue?

 

[DonLandis]

watch my video, only works 90 degrees to the right, or fully inverted.
Dropbox - MAVIC PRO GIMBAL ISSUE.mp4

Hard to tell but it looks like your gimbal is hanging at an angle. It should hang plumb which is why it is hitting the frame when it goes through it startup test. You should check to see if the shock plate is bent. I couldn't tell if mine was bent until I removed it. Then it was obvious. Can you aim your camera straight down with the D5 button, or does it hit the frame?

 

[DonLandis]

As I was looking at your photos, I noticed that I have an other ribbon attachment.
I bought my Mavic 2 month ago and it looks to me that DJI changed the ribbon attaching. Am I right?

The cable has only three connections to the gimbal assembly. They are labeled Y for Yaw, P for pitch, and R for roll. The 4th connection is to the circuit board. The R attaches to the camera motor to set the level of the horizon. The P connected to the pitch motor that controls you tilt angle. And the Y is the motor that turns the camera left or right. There is another multi condoctor cable you have to remove to thread the ribbon servo cable. That is the video feed. It also is very fragile. The wires look like a bunch of hair they are so tiny. Have to be very careful not to pinch them when putting the motor covers back on.

 

[Enigma]

@Enigma thanks for the 90 degrees trick video... During time this way of starting up could not cause a calibration issue?

Yes, camera calibration is not functioning in the App Dji go4. But as long as you do not need to calibrate, things appear to work. It's a temporary fix, I am concerned any further movement or more damage to the ribbon cable could cause a short circuit and fire damage. So I will be replacing the cable.

 

[Enigma]

Hard to tell but it looks like your gimbal is hanging at an angle. It should hang plumb which is why it is hitting the frame when it goes through it startup test. You should check to see if the shock plate is bent. I couldn't tell if mine was bent until I removed it. Then it was obvious. Can you aim your camera straight down with the D5 button, or does it hit the frame?

If I do the start up calibration when the mavic is inverted, 180 degrees, rather than 90 degrees, the gimbal hits and wacks just about everything, like riding a wild horse, but it still successfully calibrates the gimbal and works perfectly. I know this sounds very odd.
There are examples on YouTube of this strange behaviour.

 

[Enigma]

Thank you for sharing.
As I was looking at your photos, I noticed that I have an other ribbon attachment.
I bought my Mavic 2 month ago and it looks to me that DJI changed the ribbon attaching. Am I right?View attachment 16231 View attachment 16232

Great photos. Things look good there, the ribbon cable is all one long piece, wrapped around the gimbal in a very over engineered way.
Your cable is perfect, unlike mine.
Keep a eye on your ribbon cable, take note if it looks any different.

 

[aguila]

It seems like that clear plastic reinforcement around the ribbon cable was put there to protect it from just such a problem. Maybe it needs to be thicker?

 

[DonLandis]

It seems like that clear plastic reinforcement around the ribbon cable was put there to protect it from just such a problem. Maybe it needs to be thicker?

Even the replacement cable has that backing. It is the same tape that you peal off to expose sticky for the folds but this one isn't a location for any folds. That one tape backing stays. It is not wrapped around but just on the outside of the loop. I have no logical idea why it is there as it doesn't do anything during the motion. It doesn't even extend into the frame where it could add protection from wear where it enters the gimbal frame.