DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Bird judders after stopping in cinematic mode

Deco

Active Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2018
Messages
41
Reactions
9
Age
54
Hi,

I have a Mavic 2 Pro. Been flying it for 3 years. Recently the drone(not the gimbal) has started to judder after it comes to a stop.

No recent upgrades or crashes - very odd! Any suggestions on how to fix? I've recalibrated all sensors with no success.

Rgds
 
Last edited:
Check all the arms for play in the flying position.
Set the drone on the ground etc. and using the CSC position start the props, watch the arm outer ends for any noticable lift as the props speed up to idle. Then slowly throttle up to lift off and make the same observation.
I recently crashed my Zoom and rear arm broke a lug of its pivot's inner end, nothing was vsible externally. The lug acts, I think, as a rotation stop for the arm. The drone flew fine but would occasionally judder as you describe and on making the above observations the outer end of the damaged arm could be seen to lift as the motor started to produce thrust.
Check the position of the arm ends relative to one another, ditto the props.
The front arms are carried on a spring loaded pivot, one end of the pivot is screwed and pegged to the drone body the other end uses a spigot which fits into a hole in an appropriate part of the drone shell. In my crash I had bent the spigot and this caused the affected arm to hang low.
You can remove the front pivots without splitting the shell but, if you do, position the arm such that the pivot is 'stuck' mid way between the flying position and the storage position, it makes removing and refitting the pivot easier.
BE AWARE there is a thrust washer (black plastic) between the top of the arm and the body shell, it is likely to be dropped as you remove the arm. It was a spare part I had left over at the first reassembly!:D
Check the motor mount screws and the screws of the quick release plates for tightness.
Check that each prop has its three mounting lugs attached.
I would also switched the obstacle avoidance off, for a test flight, and see if that makes any difference.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
How are the props? Have you checked for wear, cracks?

When was the last time you swapped them out?

Chris
Props haven't been changed in a while, but no damage on them. I'm wondering - why would the props potentoally cause a micro judder?

Will change them out and report back on results.
Check all the arms for play in the flying position.
Set the drone on the ground etc. and using the CSC position start the props, watch the arm outer ends for any noticable lift as the props speed up to idle. Then slowly throttle up to lift off and make the same observation.
I recently crashed my Zoom and rear arm broke a lug of its pivot's inner end, nothing was vsible externally. The lug acts, I think, as a rotation stop for the arm. The drone flew fine but would occasionally judder as you describe and on making the above observations the outer end of the damaged arm could be seen to lift as the motor started to produce thrust.
Check the position of the arm ends relative to one another, ditto the props.
The front arms are carried on a spring loaded pivot, one end of the pivot is screwed and pegged to the drone body the other end uses a spigot which fits into a hole in an appropriate part of the drone shell. In my crash I had bent the spigot and this caused the affected arm to hang low.
You can remove the front pivots without splitting the shell but, if you do, position the arm such that the pivot is 'stuck' mid way between the flying position and the storage position, it makes removing and refitting the pivot easier.
BE AWARE there is a thrust washer (black plastic) between the top of the arm and the body shell, it is likely to be dropped as you remove the arm. It was a spare part I had left over at the first reassembly!:D
Check the motor mount screws and the screws of the quick release plates for tightness.
Check that each prop has its three mounting lugs attached.
I would also switched the obstacle avoidance off, for a test flight, and see if that makes any difference.
Thanks for the info.

I'll give all of those things a check.

Will watch out for spare parts- LOL!

Cheers.
 
Props haven't been changed in a while, but no damage on them. I'm wondering - why would the props potentoally cause a micro judder?

Will change them out and report back on results.

Cheers.

It probably depends on what you mean by micro judder, but a blade that is no longer balanced weight wise, or has an anomaly (such as a crack) that would change the way air passes over the surface, would produce aircraft vibration.

On the older Phantom models, we sometimes had to balance our props with a tool like the following Tru-Spin and change weight with sandpaper. We don't do this for the Mavic props, they can still wear and need replacing.

Tru-Spin.jpg
 
How are the props? Have you checked for wear, cracks?

When was the last time you swapped them out?

Chris
Props haven't been changed in a while, but no damage on them. I'm wondering - why would the props potentoally cause a micro judder?

Will change them out and report back on results.
 
Props haven't been changed in a while, but no damage on them. I'm wondering - why would the props potentoally cause a micro judder?

Will change them out and report back on results.
 
Changed props and checked arms props during startup and takeoff. All appears ok.

Here's a video link demonstrating the problem. Watch for the micro-judder/shake as the bird comes to a stop.

 
Do you mean that sudden, single jerk upwards as it stops?

When you said judder, I was thinking of a constant vibration.
 
Yes. Does it when in cinematic mode when the drone comes to a stop.
 
I think you can change the braking ferocity, if so could you have accidentally tweaked it recently?
That jerk at the end is characteristic of what I see if the collision avoidance halts a slow approach.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was thinking that myself, but I haven't tweaked any of those settings recently. Worth checking though, just to make sure.

Cheers.
 
My first thought when I viewed that last video was "Wasn't there a firmware update that fixed Cinematic mode braking?"

Because it used to be that when you let go of the sticks in Cinematic mode, the aircraft kept going for way too long.

But I looked around at firmware release notes and couldn't find it.

Does anyone else have a memory of that?
 
Try trimming the tree branches.
Although to be honest I think its settings. Sensitivity and braking; What do you have them set at.
 
Looks like the sensor is picking up an obstacle, i have had similar with the Mavic Air 2.

Try it in the open away from obstacles and post the outcome.
 
Yes, one would think it was avoiding an obstacle. Alas, it does the same in the open.

Will check the sensitivity and braking.

Might just do a reset to see if that helps.

D.
 
Brake gain at 10 is at the opposite side from the default of 100.
I think its the brake gain which needs to be more like the default.
I've tried all of the settings, reset the bird to factory - still no joy.

I then decided to change one of the flight modes to atti using an old version of the desktop app. When flying in atti mode the bird doesn't judder when it stops (although, it may not ever come to a stop if there's even a slight breeze).

I now believe the issue is with the GPS or one of the other positioning sensors. I'm at a loss as to what it could be.

The drone is over 3 years old. I think my atti mode workaround will have to suffice:-(
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,985
Messages
1,558,587
Members
159,978
Latest member
James Hoogenboom