Gimbal Motor Overload

[maggior]

Today I took my Mavic Air 2 out for a debut flight and it was a wonderful experience. The footage is stunning and it's an absolute pleasure to fly.

One thing happened that was concerning...when taking off after a practice landing, I noticed that the video footage was jerky, like on a budget drone with no gimbal or stabilization. Then a message came up on the screen saying "Gimbal Motor Overload" appeared on the screen. I don't remember what I did exactly but I recall I landed the drone, powered it off, powered it back on and all seemed fine. I also ran the gimbal calibration. I flew for about an hour and had no trouble after that.

The wind was gusting at 20mph.

The only thing unique about the takeoff when this happened was a did a full forward and full up takeoff and the drone pitched pretty far forward. I was in Normal mode.

I've powered the drone on at home and rotated the drone around to see if the motor made any weird sounds but all seems fine.

I will admit to being an idiot and I've powered the drone on twice with the gimbal guard on. Yesterday I realized my mistake quickly. Today I didn't realize until I saw a message on the screen that said something like the Gimbal Motor couldn't move.

I'm hoping this mistake didn't damage my gimbal.

Might this have been an isolated incident since the drone worked fine for an hour afterwards?

I use a landing pad so there shouldn't be any debris in the motor.

 

[maggior]

So in reviewing my footage, I realized that when I landed one time I was a bit forward on the landing pad so the camera was in the grass. The following takeoff was when the camera freaked out and I got the "gimbal motor overload" message. From what I've read, debris in the gimbal can cause this. So in the future I will have to be are more careful about landing on the landing pad.

I will update this thread with any updates if this becomes a persistent issue.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

20 Mph for the gimbal is right at its limit if you your turning away from the wind, you are best to head directly into the wind and than make the turn quickly to get the wind at your back, Your Gimbal should be fine once you land and restart.

The Camera takes the most abuse while turning away form the wind sideways as i show in our video from flying from inside the car. .

This is a really good video to Watch as to how much abuse the Gimbal can take and where it struggles.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain and land on Water.

 

[tlswift58]

Today I took my Mavic Air 2 out for a debut flight and it was a wonderful experience. The footage is stunning and it's an absolute pleasure to fly.

One thing happened that was concerning...right after taking off after landing I noticed that the video footage was jerky, like on a budget drone with no gimbal or stabilization. Then a message came up on the screen saying "Gimbal Motor Overload" appeared on the screen. I don't remember what I did exactly but I recall I landed the drone, powered it off, powered it back on and all seemed fine. I also ran the gimbal calibration. I flew for about an hour and had no trouble after that.

The wind was gusting at 20mph.

The only thing unique about the takeoff when this happened was a did a full forward and full up takeoff and the drone pitched pretty far forward. I was in Normal mode.

I've powered the drone on at home and rotated the drone around to see if the motor made any weird sounds but all seems fine.

I will admit to being an idiot and I've powered the drone on twice with the gimbal guard on. Yesterday I realized my mistake quickly. Today I didn't realize until I saw a message on the screen that said something like the Gimbal Motor couldn't move.

I'm hoping this mistake didn't damage my gimbal.

Might this have been an isolated incident since the drone worked fine for an hour afterwards?

I use a landing pad so there shouldn't be any debris in the motor.

I got lost / confused at this point - "One thing happened that was concerning...right after taking off after landing I noticed that the video footage was jerky,"

Right after taking off after landing! WUT? Always best to read thru your post either before you hit post or read after post and then go back to edit it. We all tend to write crazy - esp when typing and our brain is flashing at 100 MPH. Usually a disconnect happens and unless you reread your post - you won't see the errors.

BTW - all the other comments are right on about wind and we all get those crazy warnings on occasion that when the drone / etc is reset (like happens with computers often enough) - the problem doesn't appear again.

Just a part droning - and learning to slow down a bit and not panic, or panic as bad. Panic is a bad 5 letter word in the Drone World. Then we see the posts about crashed, fly away, missing drones.

 

[maggior]

I got lost / confused at this point - "One thing happened that was concerning...right after taking off after landing I noticed that the video footage was jerky,"

Right after taking off after landing! WUT? Always best to read thru your post either before you hit post or read after post and then go back to edit it. We all tend to write crazy - esp when typing and our brain is flashing at 100 MPH. Usually a disconnect happens and unless you reread your post - you won't see the errors.

BTW - all the other comments are right on about wind and we all get those crazy warnings on occasion that when the drone / etc is reset (like happens with computers often enough) - the problem doesn't appear again.

Just a part droning - and learning to slow down a bit and not panic, or panic as bad. Panic is a bad 5 letter word in the Drone World. Then we see the posts about crashed, fly away, missing drones.

I was just trying to point out that it wasn't my initial take off, I had landed it to practice landing and then took off again. Turns out this was important because I learned later on that on that landing the front of the drone was in the grass.

I could have worded it a bit more clearly.

 

[StantonZ]

A couple of beginner tips (I see you have a low post count):
1) Attach something (anything) to your gimbal cover (search my posts for details) as a reminder to remove before takeoff
2) Use a landing pad for any "dirty" areas...like the grass in your example
Happy trails!

 

[maggior]

A couple of beginner tips (I see you have a low post count):
1) Attach something (anything) to your gimbal cover (search my posts for details) as a reminder to remove before takeoff
2) Use a landing pad for any "dirty" areas...like the grass in your example
Happy trails!

Thanks for the suggestions. I am a firm believer in using a landing pad. I need to be more mindful of landing in the middle of it with this drone .

The gimbal removal reminder is a good idea. That step needs to be right after unfolding the legs before it's placed down on the landing pad.