Gimbal Issue on MPP

[Drone702]

Hey everyone,

I'm new on the forum but I would appreciate any advice or assistance on my Mavic Pro Platinum. I had ordered and installed the propeller cages on my Mavic and did a test flight inside my house to see actually how well these worked. I barely had tapped the wall (drifted into it) and the drone crashed flipping itself upside down upon landing on my carpet. This resulted in the cage breaking and propellers damaged. I immediately took the cages and propellers off and returned the drone to how it was prior. There didn't seem to be anything wrong besides the damage to the cage and "cage" propellers. I took the drone out the next day following the crash and attempted to fly it. This resulted in a gimbal motor overload message. The Mavic was very shaky upon flight and didn't respond very well to controller movements. I decided to replace the gimbal ribbon and tried to see if this would fix the issue. After installing it and putting everything back together, I could not get the gimbal to calibrate past 5%. I figured the new ribbon was possibly bad from where I ordered it online so I contacted the manufacturer and they sent out another replacement. After installing the ribbon for the second time, I received the same failed calibration message after 5%.

At this point, I reset the factory defaults on the drone, completed an IMU calibration successfully, compass calibration and then attempted the gimbal calibration. This time, I was able to get the calibration to 52%. I attempted to use different batteries and even tried turning the drone off and back on. I think I've tried just about everything I can in terms of calibrating the gimbal. The gimbal itself seems to point straight when turned on and moves just like it use to prior to the crash. I don't really want to send in the drone to DJI because the crash was so minor and I was using "their" propeller cages to prevent damage if the drone ended up touching objects nearby in flight.

The next step I can think of is replacing the gimbal assembly itself. However, if anyone has any advice or assistance on this, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you!

 

[old man mavic]

welcome to the forum,sorry your drone is damaged ,but to be honest even with prop guards fitted flying indoors is not really a good idea, it must have been a very hard landing on carpet to do so much damage, although the gimbal seems to be moving ok it does have a fault, check the gaps between the gimbal motors and the gimbal to see if they are all equal i hope you get it sorted

 

[Drone702]

welcome to the forum,sorry your drone is damaged ,but to be honest even with prop guards fitted flying indoors is not really a good idea, it must have been a very hard landing on carpet to do so much damage, although the gimbal seems to be moving ok it does have a fault, check the gaps between the gimbal motors and the gimbal to see if they are all equal i hope you get it sorted

Yeah, I realized real fast after flying it inside it was not a good idea but I just had too much trust in their product with installing the cages - lesson learned. I will check the gaps on the motors and the gimbal - Thank you!

 

[Drone702]

welcome to the forum,sorry your drone is damaged ,but to be honest even with prop guards fitted flying indoors is not really a good idea, it must have been a very hard landing on carpet to do so much damage, although the gimbal seems to be moving ok it does have a fault, check the gaps between the gimbal motors and the gimbal to see if they are all equal i hope you get it sorted

Do you know if there is anything I can reference in relation to what you mentioned about the gap between the gimbal motor and the actual gimbal itself? Thread or post available? Thanks again!

 

[old man mavic]

Do you know if there is anything I can reference in relation to what you mentioned about the gap between the gimbal motor and the actual gimbal itself? Thread or post available? Thanks again!

its the very small gap between the moving part and the frame if any damage has happened then the gap will be uneven as you gently swivel the gimbal there are three gaps to check there are videos on the web showing gimbal repairs ,it only takes a small amount of restricted movement or drag to cause a gimbal motor overload warning to pop up,unfortunately it is a very delicate part of the drone and it doesn't take much to damage it, even just fitting an ND filter that is to heavy can stop it from working properly

 

[Drone702]

its the very small gap between the moving part and the frame if any damage has happened then the gap will be uneven as you gently swivel the gimbal there are three gaps to check there are videos on the web showing gimbal repairs ,it only takes a small amount of restricted movement or drag to cause a gimbal motor overload warning to pop up,unfortunately it is a very delicate part of the drone and it doesn't take much to damage it, even just fitting an ND filter that is to heavy can stop it from working properly

Thank you! Let's just say IF I were to buy a new gimbal assembly and install that. As long as that new gimbal assembly was in correct working order - would that fix the problem in relation to the gap?

 

[old man mavic]

Thank you! Let's just say IF I were to buy a new gimbal assembly and install that. As long as that new gimbal assembly was in correct working order - would that fix the problem in relation to the gap?

if it is the gimbal and or any of the cables that is damaged then a whole new assembly that as you say was in full working order should be a fix when you gently move the the gimbal in any of its three axis can you feel any drag or resistance at all

 

[old man mavic]

@Drone702 one thing it just thought of i know you have had the gimbal off to replace a cable did you make sure that the gimbal plate was under the anti drop hook and the two front hangers where it attaches to the drone i just read you OP again and saw you said that the mav was shaky when flying this could mean that the impact on the floor could have done some damage to the motors check the gap around the bottom of each motor and check that it spins true and that the prop mounts are not bent

 

[WHWFD]

For about 10 days I'm struggling with gimbal overloads on my MPP, too.
What did I try:
- Replacement of the gimbal without camera, but with ribbon and camera cable
- Replacement of Control board for gimbal and forward sensors
- Replacing the existing camera from old to new gimbal

No real success with that, gimbal calibration stopped in most cases at 31% (seems to be starting the alignment of the last motor behind the camera).
Meanwhile perhaps I've found the cause: After unmounting the two small covers for the camera cable gimbal calibration succeeded. I need to watch it further.
I think, in many cases the ribbon cable is ok. But issues can appear with faulty connector seats, too.
- 2 connectors for the forward sensors
- 2 other connectors for the gimbal control
- Connector for the ribbon cable
- Camera cable connector (if no video appears on Go4 app)

And, as mentioned above, some additional friction in cabling can result in overload, too

Therefore, before changing the ribbon with a complicated procedure, doing the easy tests perhaps can help.
Let's hope, that I got it for my MPP.

 

[Drone702]

For about 10 days I'm struggling with gimbal overloads on my MPP, too.
What did I try:
- Replacement of the gimbal without camera, but with ribbon and camera cable
- Replacement of Control board for gimbal and forward sensors
- Replacing the existing camera from old to new gimbal

No real success with that, gimbal calibration stopped in most cases at 31% (seems to be starting the alignment of the last motor behind the camera).
Meanwhile perhaps I've found the cause: After unmounting the two small covers for the camera cable gimbal calibration succeeded. I need to watch it further.
I think, in many cases the ribbon cable is ok. But issues can appear with faulty connector seats, too.
- 2 connectors for the forward sensors
- 2 other connectors for the gimbal control
- Connector for the ribbon cable
- Camera cable connector (if no video appears on Go4 app)

And, as mentioned above, some additional friction in cabling can result in overload, too

Therefore, before changing the ribbon with a complicated procedure, doing the easy tests perhaps can help.
Let's hope, that I got it for my MPP.

Thank for you reply! I've ordered a used gimbal assembly without the camera but includes the ribbon and camera cable. That should be here this Friday. When I get the gimbal assembly put together, I will provide an update! Thanks again for all of your recommendations!

 

[Drone702]

@Drone702 one thing it just thought of i know you have had the gimbal off to replace a cable did you make sure that the gimbal plate was under the anti drop hook and the two front hangers where it attaches to the drone i just read you OP again and saw you said that the mav was shaky when flying this could mean that the impact on the floor could have done some damage to the motors check the gap around the bottom of each motor and check that it spins true and that the prop mounts are not bent

Yes! I've double checked that the gimbal plate was under the anti drop hook and the two front hangers were properly placed as well. I've ordered another gimbal assembly off Amazon that includes the ribbon and video cable so that will be installed on Friday. I will post an update then! Thank you for all of your suggestions!