Gimbal not level.. wtf

puravidastyles · Dec 5, 2016

so it arrived today ...and jesus ..this thing is a machine.

just one slight problem..... the gimbal,camera is not level!!!

Went on dji support and they told me to do an IMU cal... but thats not what i have read.. if not asked to do a IMU cal ..then dont.

i was told to do what i was told...

SO i did ... then performed an Gimbal auto cal. as i was told.

still not level!!!

0.3 just to keep it level... any ideas??

dam · Dec 5, 2016

puravidastyles · Dec 5, 2016

thanks heaps dam.. just a bit odd you have to change the setting... i would of thought the thing would at least be level... and on that note.. there was no need to cali IMU hey... i was told to do as i was told and cali imu..

someone got outta bed the wrong side.

again thanks dam.

Fireboy · Dec 5, 2016

None of them are perfectly level. That's why the adjustment factors are built into the app. I was expecting you to be happy you found that it could be adjusted.

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

chippie · Dec 6, 2016

puravidastyles said:
thanks heaps dam.. just a bit odd you have to change the setting... i would of thought the thing would at least be level... and on that note.. there was no need to cali IMU hey... i was told to do as i was told and cali imu..

someone got outta bed the wrong side.

again thanks dam.

This is really bad practice by the DJI Support staff. It appears that their answer to everything is to re-calibrate the IMU, this can actually cause more issues and a longer startup times. How could they not have known about the gimbal calibration and the option to adjust the horizon tilt itself. It really baffles me!

Anthony · Dec 6, 2016

I got mine on Monday and it looks like its level however I have not been able to fly it yet

Ender · Dec 6, 2016

chippie said:
This is really bad practice by the DJI Support staff. It appears that their answer to everything is to re-calibrate the IMU, this can actually cause more issues and a longer startup times. How could they not have known about the gimbal calibration and the option to adjust the horizon tilt itself. It really baffles me!

Yup, talking of precanned annswers, we had that discussion on rcgroups so...

I'd love to create a simple expert diagram simulating a typical DJI support person..

Like:
(0) Hello, how may i help you ?
(1) Do you use Android ?
---- Buy an iOS phone, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (0) ELSE GOAWAY
(2) Do you have ANY kind of problem ?
---- Do a compass calibration, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (3) ELSE GOAWAY
(3) Still here ?
---- Do a IMU calibration, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (4) ELSE GOAWAY
(4) Is it a camera Problem ?
---- Do a Gimbal calibration, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (5) ELSE GOAWAY
(5) Still here ??????
---- Its a pilot error, read the manual again and happy flying, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (6) ELSE GOAWAY
(6) Did you get here more than 10 times ?
---- Send me a log, i'll forward it to the nerds... err DEVS, IF NOT WAITED 1 week GOTO (6) ELSE GOTO 7
(7) Man, STILL here ?
---- Send the bird for service, Thank you, BEEP BEEP BEEP

Ender

james_mav · Dec 6, 2016

Ender said:
Yup, talking of precanned annswers, we had that discussion on rcgroups so...

I'd love to create a simple expert diagram simulating a typical DJI support person..

Like:
(0) Hello, how may i help you ?
(1) Do you use Android ?
---- Buy an iOS phone, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (0) ELSE GOAWAY
(2) Do you have ANY kind of problem ?
---- Do a compass calibration, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (3) ELSE GOAWAY
(3) Still here ?
---- Do a IMU calibration, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (4) ELSE GOAWAY
(4) Is it a camera Problem ?
---- Do a Gimbal calibration, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (5) ELSE GOAWAY
(5) Still here ??????
---- Its a pilot error, read the manual again and happy flying, IF NOT SOLVED GOTO (6) ELSE GOAWAY
(6) Did you get here more than 10 times ?
---- Send me a log, i'll forward it to the nerds... err DEVS, IF NOT WAITED 1 week GOTO (6) ELSE GOTO 7
(7) Man, STILL here ?
---- Send the bird for service, Thank you, BEEP BEEP BEEP

Ender

As the drones get more complex I imagine users will run into more problems they can't resolve on their own. DJI needs to get their act together or its going to discourage a lot of new users. Who wants to spend $1,200 & everytime you turn the drone on you fear a FM update is going to create a problem. I bet a bunch of Mavics will end up for sale or as a door stop in no time.

boldblue737 · Dec 6, 2016

The horizons aren't level out of the box. I haven't made this rocket science, I put the darn thing on a flat sturdy looks to be level table in my house, did the IMU, did the gimbal calibration and then eyeballed the adjustment factor until it was level. Never was a problem again and my video looks great. Compare that to GoPro and their short lived Karma that had the same slightly crooked horizon issue but had no adjustment other than trying to fix it in post while editing the video LOL.

TRP · Dec 6, 2016

Its adjustable via the gimbal settings. My roll is set to about 3 degrees to the right and perfect.

F6Rider · Dec 6, 2016

TRP said:
Its adjustable via the gimbal settings. My roll is set to about 3 degrees to the right and perfect.

That seems to be a common number, mine is -3º also.

azpilot61 · Dec 6, 2016

Yep, mine was 3-4 degrees to the right as well. All fixed now

Ender · Dec 6, 2016

So you guys dot have a problem with changing angle during flight ? If you adjusted it it stays the same ?
If thats the case its still hilarious but no real issue...

Ender

azpilot61 · Dec 6, 2016

Horizon angle was off when I got mine but never really paid much attention since I was flying my P3 mostly. The more I fly the Mavic it became visible in the pictures so followed the video above. So far its been fine. I had to dial in a -0.4 to get it level.

Harry P · Feb 5, 2017

I'm having to adjust my gimbal role to 0.8 is there something wrong with my Mavic

BadAssDK · May 5, 2017

I had to dial in a -0,6 to get it level - apparently it is quite normal that you have to adjust the gimbal role. I didn't notice it right out off the box. At that time the horizon looked level but then I did a gimbal calibration and then I had to adjust the role. I've done several calibrations since, as I thought that the calibration would bring the role back in 0, but after each calibration I've to adjust the role consistent to -0,6 in order to get the horizon aligned.

jimmybbq · Jun 13, 2017

I was just getting ready to post this question without searching (silly noob), but found this thread.. to the right it is, 4 deg.. now it's perfect

SeanOzz · Jun 13, 2017

my current mavic is level at 0. degrees on the gimbal roll.
my first mavic was like -.7 or so to get level.
though my original would sway back and forth (the drunken horizon) to the point you wanted to puke from sea sickness. it wasn't just not staying level it changed constantly within seconds of itself.

my 3rd replacement was almost perfect (at zero) and stayed locked in on yaw though got a slight sway when banking in any direction. at 700 it now moves in yaw and worse when banking with any speed. still not quite as bad as the original i had.

some people have gimbals that you can not lock into level no matter what you do.
some people have gimbals that lock into place and do not lose the horizon no matter if they are in tripod or sports mode. (that's how they all should be.)

i got a whole video series showing these and the differences and am working on an update to show the differences between the horizon sway and the full on drunken horizon.

Pathogen · Jun 13, 2017

chippie said:
How could they not have known about the gimbal calibration and the option to adjust the horizon tilt itself. It really baffles me!

The guy who is programming the DJI AI support BOT is too busy debugging the DJI GO app to make the ruleset for gimbal troubleshooting. IT wouldn't be taking so long except he isn't the original coder and is trying to understand someone else's code. The original programmer sadly died in a folding chair accident back in 2016.