Gimbal Damaged?

codydoerfler · Apr 28, 2018

I crashed the other day and I thought I had only damaged the props, it was a slow speed crash and only a few feet high. Visual inspection showed no damage(other than the props) When I took it out on a test flight its clear that the gimbal is not working. Upon startup, the gimbal moves as expected, but ends up in the wrong place. After startup the gimbal is unresponsive. It flys with no problem. Is this something that anyone has seen before and has a simple fix, or is this a job for Thunderdrones? Picture is attached

Also, other than not crashing, is there anything that protects the gimbal during flight that does not lock it?

Thanks

Cody

Former Member · Apr 28, 2018

It's probably a problem with your gimbal ribbon cable, but worst case it could be your gimbal motor assembly. Does the gimbal look bent when the power is off and you look straight at it?

codydoerfler · Apr 28, 2018

It looks okay to me, but to be honest I am not sure I would know if it is bent or not, here is another picture. The Camera is pointing forward because I moved it with and it held.

Former Member · Apr 28, 2018

The gimbal motor assembly looks ok. Last thing to try is to turn it on and see if one of the gimbal motors get hotter than the others. Im thinking it's either your pitch or yaw motor thats going to get hotter.

In any case, it's probably your ribbon cable, thats where I would start.

macoman · Apr 28, 2018

Also it's not a bad idea to do an IMU calibration to the camera.

Former Member · Apr 28, 2018

macoman said:
Also it's not a bad idea to do an IMU calibration to the camera.

Good idea. See how far it gets before it fails. Im guessing 5 or 10%

OP do you know how to do a gimbal autocalibration?

Former Member · Apr 28, 2018

codydoerfler said:
Also, other than not crashing, is there anything that protects the gimbal during flight that does not lock it?

Some people fly with the gimbal bubble or a gimbal shade on that can add protection to your flight. With the bubble on, you will probably get distortion in your video footage, but gimbal shades could protect in case of a crash. This one is from @fstop.labs

https://www.amazon.com/Mavic-Shade-Gimbal-Protective-Cover/dp/B01N7O7HMR

codydoerfler · Apr 28, 2018

I thought I knew how to do an gimbal autocalibration, as I did them on my Phantom 3 Standard, when I tried it with the Mavic, it was almost like the button was disabled

Former Member · Apr 28, 2018

Starts at 3m40s

Make sure your gimbal lock has been removed.

codydoerfler · Apr 28, 2018

Thanks everyone, I will give all of this a shot, if nothing works I will ship it your way Thunder. Curious, if is is the ribbon cable, does it become dislodged and damaged during a crash?