How to fix DJI Mavic Air 2S Critical Error

[BSauce955]

So I made a previous thread that didn't really solve the issue, unfortunately. So, the other day I repaired two arms on my Air 2S, everything was successful. However, now I'm getting a critical error light on the drone and the gimbal isn't moving anymore. Everything was working perfectly before the repair, and I only removed the camera and main board while soldering the arms on. Any help in figuring out what's wrong would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BSauce955]

Also, I'm unable to bind it to the controller. Is that a common issue considering the critical error lights?

 

[Drone Master]

It seems that you may have a short on one of the core boards. Perhaps a piece of solder overlap or splatter, or possibly a misaligned data plug with a bent pin or two. Re check your work carefully and inspect around the areas you were working in.

 

[BSauce955]

It seems that you may have a short on one of the core boards. Perhaps a piece of solder overlap or splatter, or possibly a misaligned data plug with a bent pin or two. Re check your work carefully and inspect around the areas you were working in.

What are core boards? The mainboard?

 

[Drone Master]

What are core boards? The mainboard?

Yes, or the main Esc board where your connection for the motors are made.
If the aircraft was powering on before your repair and now has a critical error (4 Red Lights flashing) means that there is a short or a mis connection somewhere.

 

[BSauce955]

Yes, or the main Esc board where your connection for the motors are made.
If the aircraft was powering on before your repair and now has a critical error (4 Red Lights flashing) means that there is a short or a mis connection somewhere.

I'm not getting 4 red lights flashing, I'm getting the back 2 rear led's solid.

 

[Drone Master]

Either way, you still have a critical error. I would still suggest that you recheck your work and be sure your battery is in good health as well.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I'd check the gimbal cables too, for nicks and or breaks, and check any board that solder etc. could have splashed on to.
Check the area around your solder joints for any small semi conductors that the solder might have formed a bridge to. USE a magnifying glass to look.
With the M2P, the solder points have labels to indicate their wire colour, did you resolder the wires in the correct place .

 

[BSauce955]

Either way, you still have a critical error. I would still suggest that you recheck your work and be sure your battery is in good health as well.

I tried with all three batteries, but still the same issue. I did notice a small knick in a cable on the upper housing though. I'm not sure if that's serious enough to create the error. Here's a few pictures of it.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

You need better photos and add arrows, via the likes of MS Paint, pointing to the nick.
For your own inspection, if you can not see the actual conductive tracks shine a torch beam onto the cable and move it around so that you might be able to see the ridges that the conductors make in the insulation.

 

[BSauce955]

You need better photos and add arrows, via the likes of MS Paint, pointing to the nick.
For your own inspection, shine a torch beam onto the cable and move it around so that you might be able to see the ridges that the conductors make in the insulation,

From what I can see, there is one ridge on each, the nick is just barely to the ridge. I'm not sure if you can see the nick in the second photo. The first is too blurry. However, I think the nick in the second photo is pretty obvious. And I just noticed that there's another nick on the other side.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

You have the benefit of having the drone in your hands, we obviously don't.
Personally I can not see a nick but then again I do not even know which arm of the ribbon cable you are talking about.
Arrows would help, as would better photos, it's not much to ask for.

 

[BSauce955]

You have the benefit of having the drone in your hands, we obviously don't.
Personally I can not see a nick but then again I do not even know which arm of the ribbon cable you are talking about.
Arrows would help, as would better photos, it's not much to ask for.

Sorry, I only now realized that the nick sort of looks natural. I'm not sure I can get a better picture but i'll try

 

[BSauce955]

You have the benefit of having the drone in your hands, we obviously don't.
Personally I can not see a nick but then again I do not even know which arm of the ribbon cable you are talking about.
Arrows would help, as would better photos, it's not much to ask for.

Here’s several pictures. I’m afraid that’s the best quality I have atm.

 

[BSauce955]

Here’s the soldered joints. Obviously, not the best work (probably not good at all) but the motors spin when I power the drone up. I’m not sure if they’re the issue, but at this point, I think almost anything could be.

 

[Drone Master]

That tear in the ribbon cable is substantial. Any disruption in the starting sequence when turned on will trigger a error regardless if it is critical or not. DJI has implemented this failsafe feature into their design to insure that other components are protected from further damage or shorts. It's like turning on a computer without a hard drive. It cannot initialize, so therefor throws a error until it is corrected. Finding that cable could be somewhat of a task. Your soldering looks like the iron was a bit to hot. To much heat can cause thermal shock to other circuits nearby if left on over to long or over a certain temperature. This will also cause critical errors.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

What 'camera' are you using?
If a phone can you install a magnifier app that may or may not have a torch function built into the app?
With regard to a magnifying app, the attached is taken with a Samsung Note 4 and an magnifying app at 5x magnification, the app uses the phone's built in LED as a torch.
The Note 4 is 'ancient' so, in terms of at least the camera you likely have better. You are looking at the top board of a Mavic Mini gimbal with a curved needle for scale

 

[Dave Maine]

2 of your solder joints appear in the picture to be cold soldered. The dull gray color generally means that the joint wasn’t heated long enough for the solder to completely melt and fuse. These joints are likely to fail, and don’t always conduct electricity well.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

That tear in the ribbon cable is substantial. Any disruption in the starting sequence when turned on will trigger a error regardless if it is critical or not. DJI has implemented this failsafe feature into their design to insure that other components are protected from further damage or shorts. It's like turning on a computer without a hard drive. It cannot initialize, so therefor throws a error until it is corrected. Finding that cable could be somewhat of a task. Your soldering looks like the iron was a bit to hot. To much heat can cause thermal shock to other circuits nearby if left on over to long or over a certain temperature. This will also cause critical errors.

That's what I thought when I saw the photo, it looked as though there was significant heat in the solder joints...

 

[BSauce955]

That's what I thought when I saw the photo, it looked as though there was significant heat in the solder joints...

To be honest, I have no experience whatsoever in soldering so I had no idea. I've soldered an arm on a Mavic 2 Zoom before, so I figured it'd be no problem. I did the same with this one but this error is baffling.