"Gimbal Motor Overloaded" = Worthless Mavic

[warlock 31]

One thing I wanted to mention if they say you have two mavic replacements it makes sense that they have to transfer your coverage to the next drone.

And something else I forgot to say this deal that they send you a refurb when you send your new mavic in to get it fixed. That would be like taking your new car in to get it fixed under warranty and get someone else's used car back. That is unacceptable. Another words ********

 

[Sevic pro]

I dont think you can transfer Refresh. You have to cancel it, then get a new policy.

I was able to transfer mine

 

[HSK]

The DJI rep I chatted with said I could transfer it, even though I bought it from Amazon, as long as I had proof of return.

We'll see.

Don't worry, It can be transferred, as long as you show proof of the return and new drone. I've done it successfully.

 

[HSK]

I dont think you can transfer Refresh. You have to cancel it, then get a new policy.

It can be transferred, in this kind of situation where you return a faulty drone to a retailer and provide them with proof of that and the receipt for new drone. Usually that's one receipt [emoji818]

 

[Jimbo40]

Do you know a refurb can be better then off the assembly line.
On the line they check 1 every so many produced. on a refurb the whole item is gone over for full functionality.
Don't be afraid of refurbs, if the cosmetics are good a refub is fine.
Just my point of view

 

[Kmccb]

How long is the factory DJI warranty? I searched but can't find it..

That being said.. Shouldn't these gimbal issues be covered under factory warranty, for free?? If this happens to me within the warranty period I shouldn't have to pay anything or use my refresh..

 

[gr5]

I had the same issue. Sent it in, they replaced the whole gimbal free of charge also.

 

[TallGear]

We were having a hurricane with 140mph winds, which was a PERFECT opportunity to get some bad-ace footage, ya mon!

So, was circling the eye at 180 -- full-stick in sport mode -- got distracted, and smacked right into the side of a concrete overpass!! At 180mph! Well, RocketMan (that's my Mavic) stopped cold, of course, and dropped straight down into the brackish crap below the bridge.

Got it back, not a scratch on it. Man that's some quality workmanship! Really good paint job too, I gotta say. Tied it to a pole and stuck it back out in the storm to let it sorta blow around in the rain and rinse off all the sewage and other junk.

Where's your footage? I'd love to see this.

 

[OmariR]

My Mavic also used to have that issue, and it was because of taking off and putting on filter lenses.

The extreme front of the camera lens can actually twist, and if it is twisted out too far...the lens hits the side of the gimbal. That was causing the overload for me.

So I simply had to tighten back the lens and my mavic is now fine.

I have the same issue as in the video above. Gimbal freaks out and fails to initiate, and says it's overloaded. I tried the fix in that video and it doesn't work for me.

This is the 2nd Mavic in ONE WEEK that has bricked out on me and become worthless because of this issue.

I sent the first one in to DJI for repair, bought another one on Amazon to use in the meantime (currently traveling), and now the 2nd one has also stopped working after a week.

This is piss poor quality control from DJI, and as far as I'm aware there is still no acknowledgement from them of this issue even though a lot of people are experiencing it.

What do I do now? Keep buying a new Mavic every week? And what can I do with the 2nd Mavic? Can I return it to Amazon for a refund?

And is there any way to get back the $200 I wasted on DJI Care Refresh to cover BOTH of these defective drones?

 

[1ckaru$]

Had a similar problem. I received gimbal motor overload errors when I started the drone for the first time. Tried calibrating with no success. Noticed the motor ribbon looked damaged. Sent it back to DJI for a refund and am buying the costco deal. DJI was fairly quick in responding, so somehow I avoided the customer service experiences that seem to plague pilots.

 

[Photo Beaty]

This morning (10 June 2017) I had a gimbal overload on start up. I checked to make sure the gimbal lock was removed and noticed that the filter I had on the camera for the second time was caught on the side of the gimbal. I manually moved the gimbal and everything was fine after that.

 

[badstraw]

I've been reading a lot about the mavic before I pull the trigger and order one, but man now I'm not sure if it's worth it, specially with all the gimbal problems.

 

[1ckaru$]

My thought is that DJI was probably surprised by the level of interest in the Mavic and had to cut some corners to meet demand. Overall the Mavic seems to get really high marks virtually everywhere you look. I returned my first and was fully refunded. Buying another to see if I have better luck. That said, I am probably not going to buy, return, etc indefinitely.

 

[dwallersv]

Where's your footage? I'd love to see this.

Sadly I recorded Teletubbies over it.

Oh well...

 

[dwallersv]

I've been reading a lot about the mavic before I pull the trigger and order one, but man now I'm not sure if it's worth it, specially with all the gimbal problems.

Some perspective is in order.

A small minority of members of this forum are having these problems. I don't, nor do many others here.

While sales figures are hard to come by because DJI is a privately held company, there are at least tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of MPs flying out there. The vast majority of them are not having gimbal problems.

So keep in mind the "squeaky wheel" phenomena when reading all this stuff and judging whether or not you will have a good experience if you buy a Mavic.

I'd put money on you being very happy.

 

[Ursus Horribilis]

I have three friends who have purchased Mavics within the last three months and all three have had the same problem. Especially with ND Filters. Here's how I fixed all three of them.

Fire up the Mavic. (no "gimbal" errors) at all. Then, install the filter after the IMU has initialized. Take-Off and fly, no more gimbal errors issues at all.

A lot of time it's the filters. No matter the manufacturer (other than those useless DJI ND Filters), people were getting "Gimbal Overload" errors but when you install the ND Filter AFTER the Mavic is ready to fly the problem is gone.

I hope that helps some of you that are having "Gimbal Overload" errors with ND Filters attached.

Bud

Happened to me for the first time this weekend after a 200 mile trip in my bag. Did a restart and did it again, removed the PolarPro ND filter and it worked fine, turned it off and re-installed the filter and it fired up OK. Have traveled with it before and never had this, and I am still on.500 FW.

 

[Ursus Horribilis]

You bought another one assuming that the new Mavic would have the same problem? Now THAT, I don't understand at all.

I will be VERY surprised if my 3rd Mavic doesn't start suffering from the same thing though.

 

[Eye-In-The-Sky]

I got mine a week ago and right out of the box I got Gimbal Motor Overload.
FW upgrade => didn't solved the problem
Gimbal calibration => got stuck constantly at 31% and after a minute or so reported Gimbal Calibration Failed.
Checked the PCB ribbon and gimbal plate, all looked good.

Eventually I had to return it and after the lab verified the problem I got a new one.
The new one is working, BUT, I must say that I'm more than a bit worried about the overall design/build quality of the Mavic gimbal....

 

[Sevic pro]

I've been reading a lot about the mavic before I pull the trigger and order one, but man now I'm not sure if it's worth it, specially with all the gimbal problems.

As soon as people have a problem they come to a forum like this to ask for help or to report it. Everyone else who isn't having problems are out flying and posting pretty cool vids on YouTube and Facebook. I bought mine from a reputable retailer with a good return/replace/refund policy, I had problems but had it replaced. What I have read here helps me understand its abilities and limits. It's a fantastic drone that shoots great footage and photos but it is not and I don't think was ever intended for professional photography just like your camera phone wasn't. There are better more durable drones that take good professional photos but none that fold up into a camera bag that are anywhere near as cool as this thing.

 

[AirAllegria]

I had the gimbal motor overload message as well, and the procedure in the video fixed it immediately.
Works perfectly.