Do I need to send my Mavic in for repair?

[loganx1121]

I posted this on the DJI forum but as part of a reply to another thread and didn't get much response so figured I'd try here and maybe make a new thread there.

I "lightly" crashed the mavic into the side of building. It was more like I bumped into it really not going very fast at all. No broken props or anything and it didn't even lose an altitude, but I started seeing a "abormal gimbal vibration" warning in the app afterward.

Someone linked me a youtube video of how to make sure the gimbal was inserted correctly, did that and it was. So I fiddled with the gimbal a bit and then flew it again. No vibration error this time, but I noticed a really bad horizon tilt when yawing right or left with the drone. It took it a good 2-3 seconds to level the horizon after the turn, which was something I had never seen before.

Mind you, all the while this is going on I'm doing auto gimbal cal's through the app left and right.

So I recalibrated the 2 front cameras with the assistant 2 app. I had been reading that sometimes an IMU cal would fix stuff like this, so I checked the IMU settings on the app and they were all green, but I recal'd the IMU anyway. Flew it again, and the horizon tilt issue seemed better to non-existant, but...

While I was testing it after the new IMU cal, I had it landed in my driveway and I was messing with the app settings. Not gimbal or camera settings mind you. Props spinning, motors on, and as I'm fiddling around with the app menus I suddenly get a "gimbal motor overloaded" error. There was very little wind and the bracket on the gimbal was removed.

Also, I noticed that if I put it in sport mode and hover the drone so it's facing me, then 360 it to the right, when the camera is facing me again it's just slightly askew and off center. If I do the same thing but 360 to the left, the camera seems perfectly centered. I don't know if this is normal or not but figured it would be worth mentioning.

There was no damage to the drone from my "bump" aside from a few scuff marks on the right front arm's landing stick. I sort of gently went sideways into the building that way. Was probably going less than 10 mph when I bumped it.

I don't think a non-head-on bump at the speed I was going should screw up the gimbal or whatever, but I figured someone else may no better. I only got the gimbal motor overload error the one time, but being that it was landed and not doing anything that kind of worried me.

I've heard horror stories about DJI care refresh and how long it's taken people to get their drones back, so the question is, did that little bump really mess something up or are the horizon tilt, overload error and the rest of it just isolated "glitches"?

Also running the latest firmware, app and all that good stuff.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Former Member]

If you have refresh you might want to use it. Something's not right in your gimbal, you should never get that message unless you have the gimbal clamp on.

I have seen that message many times and it means that one component in the gimbal is not playing well with the others. Could be one of the motors got damaged, might be gimbal board damage, might be nicked ribbon or other cable.

For $79 I would send the sucker back to Carson and not have to worry about that message again. Plus they will probably send you a new or refurbed drone, so the other damage will also be fixed.

Just FYI, the Mavic body is almost bulletproof, its Achilles heel is the gimbal after impact. Most things that break in the gimbal are the ribbon and other cable, top plate that holds the cam in place, and the L tab behind the cam. The cams themselves never break, not even the lenses, and the gimbal arms and motors usually survive.

 

[loganx1121]

Well I just got the thing a few weeks ago, so I have the refresh for a year. I guess I'll fly it a few more times and see how the gimbal performs. If it gets worse or I keep getting the motor errors then I'll send it back. Just the idea of going a month without it sucks. I love that thing.

 

[Former Member]

Well if I had to go a month without mine, I would send it back now and have it to enjoy for the summer time. Its still winter down here in Georgia, rainy, and cold.

 

[loganx1121]

It's not much better here in New Hampshire. I'm just hesitant to do it because of all the horror stories I've heard about DJI repair/replace. Aside from how long it takes, a lot of people are saying they got their drone back just to have it have the same issue they sent it in for, and a lot of those issues had to do with the gimbal. You only get 2 send ins with care refresh so I guess I'm trying to choose wisely.