Tilted horizon issue: tests with(out)gimbal cover

kona · Mar 10, 2017

I noticed that the horizon tilts on my drone when I fly sideways (roll). Is this something others here have noticed? In another Mavic forum somebody speculated that it had to do with the gimbal not correcting for wind pushing against it sideways, so I ran two tests today with and without the cover on. The amount of horizon tilt seems similar, but judge for yourself. Curious to hear people's thoughts, in particular whether you think my Mavic is defective.

Robbyg · Mar 11, 2017

This might be a stupid question but are you sure you do not have it set in FPV mode?

Rob

kona · Mar 11, 2017

Thanks, Rob. It's a good point but I have never switched to FPV and just double checked and confirmed that I'm still in Follow mode.

From your reply I take it that you don't recall seeing this level of horizon tilt yourself? Would you mind checking for me on your next flight, by pushing the right controller stick all the way to the right and leaving it there for 7 seconds or so (takes a while for the drone to pick up speed) in P mode, and reporting the results?

Xcel · Mar 11, 2017

Mine gets worse the faster you roll and it's definitely worse in high winds. Additionally my horizon is always tilted no matter how many times I calibrate so I have the gimbal roll set +0.5 for it stay level.

Here's a quick sample of mine. I don't know if it's normal or not but I don't want to risk sending it in since everything works perfectly.

jerniganbrandon · Mar 11, 2017

Really annoying. I've gotten pretty good results by reducing the smoothness on the gimbal. Also, I'll hit re-center the camera and that seems to correct it in flight

kona · Mar 11, 2017

Xcel said:
Mine gets worse the faster you roll and it's definitely worse in high winds. Additionally my horizon is always tilted no matter how many times I calibrate so I have the gimbal roll set +0.5 for it stay level.

Here's a quick sample of mine. I don't know if it's normal or not but I don't want to risk sending it in since everything works perfectly.

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This was extremely informative because it seems to be exactly the same level of tile as I have. Thanks!

raymo · Mar 11, 2017

kona said:
Thanks, Rob. It's a good point but I have never switched to FPV and just double checked and confirmed that I'm still in Follow mode.

From your reply I take it that you don't recall seeing this level of horizon tilt yourself? Would you mind checking for me on your next flight, by pushing the right controller stick all the way to the right and leaving it there for 7 seconds or so (takes a while for the drone to pick up speed) in P mode, and reporting the results?

I encounter this kind of behaviour when either rolling rapidly or when using the yaw aggressively. I suspect some type of gyro precession effects that you seem to encounter with all these types of systems. Camera gyro control seems to be affected to the degree that you can see these effects clearly. Not sure if more careful calibration will improve it.

kona · Mar 14, 2017

Hate to tell you guys but I found out today that this gimbal roll issue varies substantially between Mavic's and is in all likelihood a hardware QC issue: I met a guy with a Mavic in the same location I was flying mine tonight. We had the same settings: P mode with all safety precautions switched on. We tried it on both our drones in the same location at the same elevation right there. His gimbal roll was much smaller than mine, almost not visible, perhaps 1/5 of what I see. There was no comparison.

kona · Mar 15, 2017

Xcel said:
Mine gets worse the faster you roll and it's definitely worse in high winds. Additionally my horizon is always tilted no matter how many times I calibrate so I have the gimbal roll set +0.5 for it stay level.

Here's a quick sample of mine. I don't know if it's normal or not but I don't want to risk sending it in since everything works perfectly.

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By the way I have mine set to a constant +0.8 to make it level. Having witnessed the near zero gimbal roll on the guy yesterday, I'm starting to think I have a lemon...

erkme73 · Mar 15, 2017

When I yaw (rotate) in one spot, with the horizon in the middle of the screen, the very flat (central Florida) horizon goes up and down like a roller coaster. It's not just that the tilt becomes obvious as you spin, but the direction of the tilt changes as you spin 360°. For example, if I spin and stop facing north, the left side of the horizon is low. If I spin further and stop facing west, it's level. If I spin further and face south, the right side is low. That's why adjusting for tilt with the +/- intervals is futile. I'll shoot a quick rotating video and post momentarily.

ETA: Video of spinning MP

Note that while the effect is visible in P-mode, it really become obvious in sport mode (which is the mode used to film this clip).

jerniganbrandon · Mar 16, 2017

kona said:
Hate to tell you guys but I found out today that this gimbal roll issue varies substantially between Mavic's and is in all likelihood a hardware QC issue: I met a guy with a Mavic in the same location I was flying mine tonight. We had the same settings: P mode with all safety precautions switched on. We tried it on both our drones in the same location at the same elevation right there. His gimbal roll was much smaller than mine, almost not visible, perhaps 1/5 of what I see. There was no comparison.

Mine is set to -4.8.

kona · Mar 16, 2017

erkme73 said:
When I yaw (rotate) in one spot, with the horizon in the middle of the screen, the very flat (central Florida) horizon goes up and down like a roller coaster. It's not just that the tilt becomes obvious as you spin, but the direction of the tilt changes as you spin 360°. For example, if I spin and stop facing north, the left side of the horizon is low. If I spin further and stop facing west, it's level. If I spin further and face south, the right side is low. That's why adjusting for tilt with the +/- intervals is futile. I'll shoot a quick rotating video and post momentarily.

ETA: Video of spinning MP

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Note that while the effect is visible in P-mode, it really become obvious in sport mode (which is the mode used to film this clip).

Wow, that is really bad. I suspect i have the same level of wobble, it just isn't as apparent in the very hilly SF Bay Area landscape.

Do you also experience a tilt like mine when rolling (flying sideways)? What to make of the fact that the guy I met the other day had much less of a tilted horizon issue? Makes me wonder if there's a quality control issue with the MP.

Vimlossus · Mar 16, 2017

Mine will tilt flying sideways, or yawing either direction, but will level out after a second or two if flying straight or just hovering. Does yours level out at all, or if after yawing, will it remain tilted?

What part of Central Florida you in erkme73?

erkme73 · Mar 16, 2017

kona said:
Wow, that is really bad. I suspect i have the same level of wobble, it just isn't as apparent in the very hilly SF Bay Area landscape.

Do you also experience a tilt like mine when rolling (flying sideways)? What to make of the fact that the guy I met the other day had much less of a tilted horizon issue? Makes me wonder if there's a quality control issue with the MP.

Good questions. Yes, I have the tilt when going sideways (or any flight pattern that includes sideways motion). I'm going to meet up for the first time with another MP flier on Sunday at our clubhouse field. I'll be sure to put both through the same paces to see if there is any variation - and if so, I will compare settings.

Vimlossus said:
Mine will tilt flying sideways, or yawing either direction, but will level out after a second or two if flying straight or just hovering. Does yours level out at all, or if after yawing, will it remain tilted?

What part of Central Florida you in erkme73?

Mine will level out after a second or few once I've become stationary. I, too, have the tilt when rolling. It's particularly bad in sport mode when flying with the right stick either at the 10 or 2 o'clock position. That is, dog-walking it while flying forward, if I have the horizon in view, it starts to tilt to the point that I think the aircraft is about to flip over. It can be disorienting.

I'm in Tampa.

zebrock · Mar 16, 2017

Xcel said:
Mine gets worse the faster you roll and it's definitely worse in high winds. Additionally my horizon is always tilted no matter how many times I calibrate so I have the gimbal roll set +0.5 for it stay level.

Here's a quick sample of mine. I don't know if it's normal or not but I don't want to risk sending it in since everything works perfectly.

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I have the exact same problem. Have to be +5 to be level. Tried everything but nothing changes.

kona · Mar 17, 2017

Update: There's no wind here today and I have zero tilted horizon problem in the sense that I don't need to correct (it still will tilt as I fly sideways, but it's less dramatic for some reason). It's weird because I could swear the horizon problem was independent of direction of the drone, i.e., the tilt remained constant no matter how which way I turned it. Maybe it adjusts to the original tilt of the drone (I tend to take off facing the same direction outside our house) and then just leaves it that way?

I also updated the Android app to 4.0.5 before this last batch of flights so can't tell if it has to do with that too.