Gimbal Malfunction

[steezydrone]

This is the second time it's happened... the first time, I thought a bird tried to snag the drone out of the sky (wasn't in the line of sight) and the drone was plummeting towards earth. But it was just the gimbal. Landed the drone, took off again, and it was fine. Essentially, the gimbal goes haywire but I don't see any errors occurring. Thoughts?

 

[benjaminkan]

Could be that the gimbal reinitialised during the flight so it looked like it was plummeting on your video feed.

 

[Big Fil]

It's not an uncommon problem if you search around. It's basically the gimbal resetting in flight and yes, its scary the first time it happens. I've never seen any clear explanation on what causes it to happen.

 

[maximeeso]

It's not an uncommon problem if you search around. It's basically the gimbal resetting in flight and yes, its scary the first time it happens. I've never seen any clear explanation on what causes it to happen.

He's correct, tons of users have this same problem (including me). Many have sent their drones back to DJI and have received a refurbished unit that does it as well. Some swear it is a software issue, while others claim it is the ribbon cable. I have yet to find anyone that has had the issue and actually 100% resolved the issue to where it no longer occurs outside of completely replacing the Mavic.

I wish I could find just one person that was having the issue and then replaced the ribbon cable and that resolve it. But I have not.

 

[Big Fil]

He's correct, tons of users have this same problem (including me). Many have sent their drones back to DJI and have received a refurbished unit that does it as well. Some swear it is a software issue, while others claim it is the ribbon cable. I have yet to find anyone that has had the issue and actually 100% resolved the issue to where it no longer occurs outside of completely replacing the Mavic.

I wish I could find just one person that was having the issue and then replaced the ribbon cable and that resolve it. But I have not.

I replaced the ribbon cable on mine for an unrelated thing and the problem went away for a while. That said it did end up coming back again right before the gimbal died. Hard to say if that's actually it or not.

 

[scrib74]

This is the second time it's happened... the first time, I thought a bird tried to snag the drone out of the sky (wasn't in the line of sight) and the drone was plummeting towards earth. But it was just the gimbal. Landed the drone, took off again, and it was fine. Essentially, the gimbal goes haywire but I don't see any errors occurring. Thoughts?

I was just about to post a new thread about this. been in Ireland the last couple weeks and first time I flew it last week I thought it hit a bird as the camera was pointing all over the place and thought I'd just miraculously gotten it back. additionally, whatever video was shot during that time was not on the card. the sequence was missing a file. well, today I sent it up again and it did the same thing. thankfully it was much closer and right above me so I could see that it wasn't being attacked, just the gimble was all haywire. I landed and launched Litchi app and it didn't do it again. The only issue right now with the Litchi app is I'm having some leveling issues where I'm constantly readjusting the horizon level.

 

[CZ-SP01]

Hey fellows i'm having the same issues. Received my mavic 10.4.17 for my birthday. Apparently many many mavic owners are having this problem. Other than this happening the mavic is great to fly. Some people say it only happens at the 9 minute mark recording in 4k. In my case, the camera stops recording and the gimbal flips out for about 15-20 seconds then all is good. I emailed DJI and received a long list of things to do. Upgrade to the latest FW then re-calibrate everything. I've yet to do all of that stuff. Then DJI says if all of that doesn't work they want me to send it in for evaluation. From what I have read about DJI's customer service, i'm not inclined to send the mavic to them just yet. I'm on many facebook forums for the mavic and this problem is prevalent in the mavic community. I have yet to see a solution. One person on this forum said to take the bird back up and record in 1080p and that may resolve the issue. I did that this morning and nothing happened during the flight. I've yet to fly it again to see if that worked. If anyone comes up with a solution please let us know. thanks

 

[Youser]

Hey fellows i'm having the same issues. Received my mavic 10.4.17 for my birthday. Apparently many many mavic owners are having this problem. Other than this happening the mavic is great to fly. Some people say it only happens at the 9 minute mark recording in 4k. In my case, the camera stops recording and the gimbal flips out for about 15-20 seconds then all is good. I emailed DJI and received a long list of things to do. Upgrade to the latest FW then re-calibrate everything. I've yet to do all of that stuff. Then DJI says if all of that doesn't work they want me to send it in for evaluation. From what I have read about DJI's customer service, i'm not inclined to send the mavic to them just yet. I'm on many facebook forums for the mavic and this problem is prevalent in the mavic community. I have yet to see a solution. One person on this forum said to take the bird back up and record in 1080p and that may resolve the issue. I did that this morning and nothing happened during the flight. I've yet to fly it again to see if that worked. If anyone comes up with a solution please let us know. thanks

If you have the option to take back to the retailer do that. If it's happening so early or straight oit of the box, it'll keep happening. I had the exact same issue right out of the box. Doesn't matter if it's 1080p, 2.7k or 4k. I did have some flights where it didn't happen for around 6/8mins and then it'd happen every minute or two the next flight.

 

[Hollow Dog]

Hitting the video cache limit can trigger a gimbal resetting.

 

[CZ-SP01]

If you have the option to take back to the retailer do that. If it's happening so early or straight oit of the box, it'll keep happening. I had the exact same issue right out of the box. Doesn't matter if it's 1080p, 2.7k or 4k. I did have some flights where it didn't happen for around 6/8mins and then it'd happen every minute or two the next flight.

My wife bought it off amazon and the 30 days have already passed. So you returned yours and solved your problem?

 

[Youser]

My wife bought it off amazon and the 30 days have already passed. So you returned yours and solved your problem?

No, I imported mine so DJI wouldn't do anything about it under warranty unless I shipped it back to China. I just lived with it. It's frustrating at times as it can ruin a good shot but I just got used to retaking those shots. Lost my Mavic the other day and a replacement ordered, hoping this one has no problems.

Another thing to note, people have received replacements with this fault on it and some were refurbished.

Go through the warranty route and hope you get a brand new drone.

 

[HNL Bill]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155951602548058

Any ideas about the cause of this gimbal malfunction? It happened when the battery was low, but returned to normal for the remainder of the flight.

 

[Youser]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155951602548058

Any ideas about the cause of this gimbal malfunction? It happened when the battery was low, but returned to normal for the remainder of the flight.

Looks like the mid flight gimbal reset to me. Did you get any warnings on the app?

 

[CZ-SP01]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155951602548058

Any ideas about the cause of this gimbal malfunction? It happened when the battery was low, but returned to normal for the remainder of the flight.

I have been told to change the ribbon cable. record in 1080 p for a while and it will go away. i'm not changing the ribbon cable and recording in 1080 p didn't work. now recently I was told to get a 32 gig sd card and that will solve my issues. has something to do with the way the 64 gig cards are formatted in fat 64. I have a 32 gig on order but I also found my 16 gig that came with the bird. I will use that 16gig card to see if it happens again. I was told you can reformat the 64gig card to fat 32 but I have no idea how to do that. will keep you updated.

 

[Youser]

I have been told to change the ribbon cable. record in 1080 p for a while and it will go away. i'm not changing the ribbon cable and recording in 1080 p didn't work. now recently I was told to get a 32 gig sd card and that will solve my issues. has something to do with the way the 64 gig cards are formatted in fat 64. I have a 32 gig on order but I also found my 16 gig that came with the bird. I will use that 16gig card to see if it happens again. I was told you can reformat the 64gig card to fat 32 but I have no idea how to do that. will keep you updated.

I've tried 16gb and 32gb, problem was still there. I was on the DJI forum with this. They literally have no fix for it other than a replacement. They're urging people to send in raw footage of the gimbal reset so their engineers can work with it and try find a fix.

 

[HNL Bill]

Looks like the mid flight gimbal reset to me. Did you get any warnings on the app?

None that I noticed. I was a little stressed at the time, as I thought the drone was falling into the ocean!

 

[fiberdude]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155951602548058

Any ideas about the cause of this gimbal malfunction? It happened when the battery was low, but returned to normal for the remainder of the flight.

It's a known issue with using an exfat 64GB SD card when a 4GB file is written on it. Just switch to 16GB or 32GB cards with FAT32 -- the issue should go away.

 

[HNL Bill]

It's a known issue with using an exfat 64GB SD card when a 4GB file is written on it. Just switch to 16GB or 32GB cards with FAT32 -- the issue should go away.

Thank you, will try that! It usually does not occur, but sometimes does....

 

[CZ-SP01]

I've tried 16gb and 32gb, problem was still there. I was on the DJI forum with this. They literally have no fix for it other than a replacement. They're urging people to send in raw footage of the gimbal reset so their engineers can work with it and try find a fix.

ok, well I just wasted 20 bucks on a 32 gig card. oh well. IMO DJI doesn't want to fix. the fix will cost money. wish someone would figure it out.

 

[ajaxflysquare]

ok, well I just wasted 20 bucks on a 32 gig card. oh well. IMO DJI doesn't want to fix. the fix will cost money. wish someone would figure it out.

Oh Boy. That's really to bad. DJI should come out with an enclosed gimbal with no exposed cables an offer the retrograde for all original Mavic Pro owners. I had a weird looking red tab sticking out of my gimbal however I never removed it figuring it was just part of the design. Anyone else have this?

Thanks