Gimbal Seized!

Crash Gibby · Jul 21, 2023

On the 2nd flight the wind was up but no warnings. Drone settled down as I got up a bit. Then noticed gimbal would not go up or down with the RC. When I landed and packed the drone away I noticed the gimbal was stuck when I put the cover on. Looking at video latter it was unwatchable. Just a jerky mess. As we were traveling on holidays I stopped next day at a lake and all was ok. It was an ectreamly hot day yesterday. I have heard cold weather will do that. Anyone have that problem in too hot of weather?

FLDave · Jul 21, 2023

What drone?
How windy?
Previous crash experience?
Flight txt log of flight?

Yorkshire_Pud · Jul 21, 2023

As above, what drone?

With the drone switched OFF can you, without force, tilt the camera and roll & yaw the gimbal?
If not which movement/s is/are stuck.

Depending on how good your eyes are you might need a magnifying glass but, if one or more movement are locked solid, I would be inclined to look VERY closely at the relevant pivot/s and see if you can see anything obstructing it, e.g. sand/grit, hair, grass etc. etc.. The clearances inside the motors are probably tiny and it wouldn't take much to jam a motor.

Droning on and on... · Jul 21, 2023

What did it do?!?

Can it get bail?

(Couldn't resist... "gimbal locked up!" would have been an excellent title too

)

I agree with @FLDave, flight logs are needed here.

Crash Gibby · Jul 21, 2023

Its a mini2 when I landed gimbal did not move at all i did not force it at all. Wind was up but no wind warning on drone.next day it was loose and I flew no problems. Worked great. Just took it up this morning again no problems. It was very hot on that day. 39c. Or about 100F. Too hot for me. I know at -30C the mini 2’s gimbals stick.

Yorkshire_Pud · Jul 21, 2023

Are you saying it is ok now?

Crash Gibby · Jul 21, 2023

Yes ,2 full flights. Worked perfect. That is why i think it was too hot. Maybe sat in sun 10 minutes before that flight.

Droning on and on... · Jul 21, 2023

Again, extract the TXT log from DJI Fly on you phone and post a link to it here. There will, at the very least, be errors logged that we can examine.

Follow the instructions here to extract the TXT file and decode it, using @msinger's log file decoder/viewer. Then share the URL to that flight log here (the upload/decode process will offer one to copy).

Crash Gibby · Jul 22, 2023

I will do that when I get home from holidays. Thanks for now.

Droning on and on... · Jul 22, 2023

Crash Gibby said:
I will do that when I get home from holidays. Thanks for now.

Yeah, you all in Europe have a pretty sweet deal with a month off in the summer.

The universe's Karma balances that out by giving us Americans more RC flying freedom

Crash Gibby · Jul 22, 2023

mightypilot2000 said:
Yeah, you all in Europe have a pretty sweet deal with a month off in the summer.

The universe's Karma balances that out by giving us Americans more RC flying freedom

Nope im in Canada. Worked Same job for 40 years. 76 years old and Now enjoying retirement for many years

Robert Prior · Jul 22, 2023

Was it humid? I've noticed that in hot & humid weather surfaces sometimes feel sticky, so I'm wondering if something in the gimbal is seizing a bit.

Next time it happens, try to gently move the gimbal (with the power off) to see if you feel any resistance. (Come to that, try it now that it is working to know what 'default' feels like.)

Another possibility is differential thermal expansion, depending on how tight the tolerances are. The Mini 3 is rated to 40°, but if it sat in the sun it is very likely that parts of it were hotter than that.