'Gimbal Stuck' and 'Gimbal Motor Overloaded' - Mini 2

[Bill Ballard]

Hello folks -

I just did a firmware update for my Mini 2 (I think it's update 01.07. 0200 but the drone isn't with me at the moment) and am having some issues with the gimbal. The problems 'seem' random and happen on start-up as well as in flight. I get the 'Gimbal Stuck' message as well as the 'Gimbal Motor Overloaded' message, and sometimes I get both in succession. This is usually accompanied by a sound from the gimbal/camera that resembles a mouse being rapidly clicked and the camera 'shaking.' It happens with or without filters. The gimbal does do its normal 'dance' on start-up.
I have gently manipulated the camera and gimbal with the drone off; I have cleaned the gimbal and camera, using a squeeze ball blower as well as canned air at a much reduced pressure, being careful not to tilt the can and allow the liquid to escape; and I have done multiple gimbal calibrations. The drone has not been crashed, (soft or hard), and no repairs have been done. It has never been powered on with the gimbal guard in place. I usually hand launch and recover, and while I have launched from the ground in the past, it has been more than a year since doing so and it was on a grass surface. I do live on a sailboat, and while the drone has never been crashed, it has taken a tumble while packed up during rough weather.
I'm a bit bewildered by all of this. I know firmware updates sometimes change settings. If this is the case, any idea of which settings might have been changed to cause this?
Thanks!

 

[GFields]

Check for any small obstructions.

 

[Bill Ballard]

Thanks - fortunately, there are no visible obstructions.

However, I discovered something of which I was previously unaware: if I hold the drone vertically, with the camera pointing up, the gimbal 'drifts' down into the body/frame of the drone. This happened this morning when I was re-testing my cleaning efforts, and before I powered up the drone. I was manually shifting the camera and gimbal. I noticed that in yaw motions, the gimbal housing touched the frame - and I was holding the drone with camera pointing straight up. Pointing the drone downwards, I could yaw the gimbal with no issues. I powered the drone up with the camera pointing downward and promptly set it on a table top. The gimbal 'danced' as usual and I was able to do two gimbal calibrations with zero issues. I left the drone powered on and sitting level for a few minutes with no issues - doing any of this yesterday, I would receive the gimbal warning messages fairly quickly.

I'd not paid much attention to the drone's orientation when powering on before all this started. I'm hoping that was the issue. From now on, I'll make an effort to point the camera downwards when powering on and returning it a level orientation quickly.

 

[Bill Ballard]

UPDATE: had a successful 20 minute flight last night with zero gimbal issues. Gently manipulating the gimbal/camera by hand before powering up the drone, keeping the drone pointed downward while powering up, and then doing a gimbal calibration prior to flight seemed to do the trick.

 

[DSRT_VLTR]

Hello folks -

I just did a firmware update for my Mini 2 (I think it's update 01.07. 0200 but the drone isn't with me at the moment) and am having some issues with the gimbal. The problems 'seem' random and happen on start-up as well as in flight. I get the 'Gimbal Stuck' message as well as the 'Gimbal Motor Overloaded' message, and sometimes I get both in succession. This is usually accompanied by a sound from the gimbal/camera that resembles a mouse being rapidly clicked and the camera 'shaking.' It happens with or without filters. The gimbal does do its normal 'dance' on start-up.
I have gently manipulated the camera and gimbal with the drone off; I have cleaned the gimbal and camera, using a squeeze ball blower as well as canned air at a much reduced pressure, being careful not to tilt the can and allow the liquid to escape; and I have done multiple gimbal calibrations. The drone has not been crashed, (soft or hard), and no repairs have been done. It has never been powered on with the gimbal guard in place. I usually hand launch and recover, and while I have launched from the ground in the past, it has been more than a year since doing so and it was on a grass surface. I do live on a sailboat, and while the drone has never been crashed, it has taken a tumble while packed up during rough weather.
I'm a bit bewildered by all of this. I know firmware updates sometimes change settings. If this is the case, any idea of which settings might have been changed to cause this?
Thanks!

I have a Mini 2 & have also had this problem, usually a few minutes after launch. I found that calibrating the gimbal before launch has stopped the problem.