Gimbal snaps back to level when pointing upwards

[kenjancef]

I have my Air 2S to rotate upwards. I don't use it much, if at all, but did yesterday. Wind was a bit strong, but not enough to give me wind warnings (20mph maybe). I was trying to get a semi-cloudy shot of a lighthouse with the eclipse sun in the background (and no, I wasn't trying to get a sun shot, just ambient light...). So whenever I tilted the gimbal up to try to get the sun, after about 10 seconds the gimbal would snap back to 0 degrees. Kept trying it, kept doing it. Since I don't ever tilt up, I was wondering if there's a problem, or if this is normal.

Hope that all makes sense...

 

[Starz]

My first thought would be that the aircraft pitch angle is the issue. The”maybe” wind speed could be the cause. All this would depend on wind direction and the aircraft orientation to that wind. Just my 1.5 cents. I’ve been wrong several times!

 

[kenjancef]

My first thought would be that the aircraft pitch angle is the issue. The”maybe” wind speed could be the cause. All this would depend on wind direction and the aircraft orientation to that wind. Just my 1.5 cents. I’ve been wrong several times!

Hey, it's a thought. I'll have to try it again in normal conditions. There were times I was facing the wind, and there were times it was blowing from right to left.

 

[Felix le Chat]

My first thought would be that the aircraft pitch angle is the issue. The”maybe” wind speed could be the cause. All this would depend on wind direction and the aircraft orientation to that wind. Just my 1.5 cents. I’ve been wrong several times!

My first thought too, a problem experienced with the first Mavic, the early Airs and the first two mini's if memory serves correctly. The mav 2 mitigated for this with a camera pitch that could be raked up to +30°

 

[kenjancef]

My first thought too, a problem experienced with the first Mavic, the early Airs and the first two mini's if memory serves correctly. The mav 2 mitigated for this with a camera pitch that could be raked up to +30°

I have that set in the settings of my Air 2S, had forgotten if it was 20 or 30 degrees. Weather has been crap in my area, so I haven't had a chance to test it again.

 

[Zbip57]

... whenever I tilted the gimbal up to try to get the sun, after about 10 seconds the gimbal would snap back to 0 degrees.

It happens if the camera pitch is pitched to its limit, either straight down or rotated fully up, and then the drone is asked to pitch forward or back under acceleration. If the gimbal runs out of available pitch range and comes too close to its mechanical stops, the gimbal will automatically jump several degrees away from that limit to prevent excess stress on the gimbal motors.

I demonstrated that with a video a few years ago on my Mini. At the time I noticed the gimbal behaved differently when the drone was powered up either without or with the motors running.

I prefer the behaviour shown without motors running. It makes sense the gimbal runs out of mechanical pitch range if the drone pitches too far forward/backward. But I'd prefer the gimbal to resume its original adjustment angle, rather than jump away from the limit stop and stick there.

In this video I show what happens with the gimbal rotated all the way straight down. But the same thing happens when the gimbal is rotated to its upper limit of pitch angle.