Spontaneous stuck gimbal on Mini 3 pro! No idea how.

[vindibona1]

Mercifully I took a 2 year C/R policy in July of 2022 when I bought the Mini 3. Everything was fine until Friday. I used it to take a few family photos, some photos of the new roof on my daughter's house and flew a bit with my grandson (up 200 AGL to avoid any obstacles as he controlled the sticks). Both with the family photo and the roof the gimbal worked fine as I angled it down to some extent in both cases.

As my grandson and I flew I got a low battery alert so landed it with RTH and changed the battery. When I fired it up again I got a "stuck gimbal" warning and could not get it unstuck by turning it off and on again, trying several times. No crashes of any kind with this drone. No scratches, dings, bangs. Like new condition. What could possibly cause a failure that wasn't induces physically?

Anyway, the thing is off to DJI for replacement. But I'm a little steamed that I have to pay $65 for any sort of prompt replacement unless I wanted to send it in for "warranty inspection" and wait God knows how long for them to look at it, declare the gimbal DOA and send a fixed drone or replacement. I guess it's a small price to pay. But the C/R will expire next July after a long cold winter. Then what? I suppose the thing to do is sell it when it comes back and buy a Mini 4 as DJI won't allow ongoing renewals of C/R? I understand the Mini 4 uses the same batteries as the Mini 3 so for $1000 less whatever I can get for the Mini 3 I can update my Mini.

 

[old man mavic]

@vindibona1 hi fellow flyer ,i suppose you considered the possibilty of debris ,of some sort in one or other of the gimbal stepper motors ,i say this because it doesn't take very much at all to compromise their movment,even putting a ND filter on the camera can do that
if all was well in that department, then its either a broken micro wire in the gimbal ribon that connects to the main board ,or a failure of the control board itself
because you say it has not been involved in a crash of any sort ,then it is unlikely to be a loose connector

 

[Cafguy]

,i suppose you considered the possibilty of debris

I just fixed a drone that had been sitting for months because of the Gimble stuck error. The Fix- I pulled out a super tiny piece of the shipping sticker that had been caught in the gimble support.

 

[vindibona1]

I just fixed a drone that had been sitting for months because of the Gimble stuck error. The Fix- I pulled out a super tiny piece of the shipping sticker that had been caught in the gimble support.

Well... It cost me $65 but I got a replacement under the "premium" C/R though I could have sent it for repair under warranty which would have taken much much much longer. They would have to first inspect it, diagnose the problem, repair it and ship it back. No word if they would replace it under warranty. I did inspect the gimbal and it moved freely without any sign of an foreign matter. And though I never had a crash with it, what would be the procedure and time table if for some reason DJI said it was me at fault somehow, though the gimbal was working properly the last time I shut it off just to change the battery? It just made more sense to get it back so I could fly before the leaves are off the trees.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Mercifully I took a 2 year C/R policy in July of 2022 when I bought the Mini 3. Everything was fine until Friday. I used it to take a few family photos, some photos of the new roof on my daughter's house and flew a bit with my grandson (up 200 AGL to avoid any obstacles as he controlled the sticks). Both with the family photo and the roof the gimbal worked fine as I angled it down to some extent in both cases.

As my grandson and I flew I got a low battery alert so landed it with RTH and changed the battery. When I fired it up again I got a "stuck gimbal" warning and could not get it unstuck by turning it off and on again, trying several times. No crashes of any kind with this drone. No scratches, dings, bangs. Like new condition. What could possibly cause a failure that wasn't induces physically?

Anyway, the thing is off to DJI for replacement. But I'm a little steamed that I have to pay $65 for any sort of prompt replacement unless I wanted to send it in for "warranty inspection" and wait God knows how long for them to look at it, declare the gimbal DOA and send a fixed drone or replacement. I guess it's a small price to pay. But the C/R will expire next July after a long cold winter. Then what? I suppose the thing to do is sell it when it comes back and buy a Mini 4 as DJI won't allow ongoing renewals of C/R? I understand the Mini 4 uses the same batteries as the Mini 3 so for $1000 less whatever I can get for the Mini 3 I can update my Mini.

I had a similar, mysterious 'gimbal stuck' error with my Mav 2 zoom, literally straight out of the box. Plagued the hell out of me. Ended up going over the camera and gimbal with a magnifying glass and found the cause. The inner plate of the gimbal roll yoke hadn't been clipped into place properly on the one side. Quick squeeze with a wide pair of tweezers and no more problem. Taught me to realize that just 'cause it's new: doesn't mean it's well assembled.