I forgot Gimbal protective cover and turned on Mavic 2 Pro

[rmarquesx]

I have a Mavic 2 Pro. I am still a beginner to fly drones. One day I turned on the Drone in my hand and put it on the floor, so I took the remote control to turn it on too. That's when I looked that I hadn't removed the Gimbal cover. Whenever I turn on the Drone, the gimbal does a calibration. I was wondering if I could have damaged my drone, I was very sad and enraged with myself, for not having looked at it. My city is forecasting rain for the next 15 days, I will not be able to fly with Drone in this period. Now I wonder if it could have damaged something inside that I can't find out now and it will only appear in the future. Does anyone know what is the resistance of Gimbal? It was only once that it happened, can I have problems with Gimbal? Thanks for the help, and I'm sorry if I'm a little systematic.

 

[Thomas B]

I have a Mavic 2 Pro. I am still a beginner to fly drones. One day I turned on the Drone in my hand and put it on the floor, so I took the remote control to turn it on too. That's when I looked that I hadn't removed the Gimbal cover. Whenever I turn on the Drone, the gimbal does a calibration. I was wondering if I could have damaged my drone, I was very sad and enraged with myself, for not having looked at it. My city is forecasting rain for the next 15 days, I will not be able to fly with Drone in this period. Now I wonder if it could have damaged something inside that I can't find out now and it will only appear in the future. Does anyone know what is the resistance of Gimbal? It was only once that it happened, can I have problems with Gimbal? Thanks for the help, and I'm sorry if I'm a little systematic.

Take the props off. Start the drone inside. See if it still does the “gimbal dance” calibration and the imaging works. Many have made this error. Likely you’re drone is fine.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Yes, it's probably fine. But do avoid it.

The reason I reply after Thomas already answered is to give you another piece of advice: it is always recommended to start the controller first, then the aircraft. The off sequence is the reverse: turn off the AC first, the RC last.

This is just good practice, because a powered up drone without a powered up controller has no controlling signal. While it probably would never take off on it's own, it's still counter-intuitive to have it powered up without a controller ready to control it.

Maybe it's just me.

Chris

 

[Thomas B]

One last point of note... May attach a flag or other brightly colored “flag” to the gimbal cover to help remind them to remove it.

 

[Jeff A]

An hour before I read the OP's post, I took some red ribbon and taped it to my Gimbal cover. It does not have a "Remove Before Flight" message but the ribbon will remind me. I also bought an after market Gimbal cover for my M2Z that is much easier to deal with than the DJI unit.

 

[Thomas B]

An hour before I read the OP's post, I took some red ribbon and taped it to my Gimbal cover. It does not have a "Remove Before Flight" message but the ribbon will remind me. I also bought an after market Gimbal cover for my M2Z that is much easier to deal with than the DJI unit.

Me too... use the PolarPro. Easier for R&R. Works great.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

One last point of note... May attach a flag or other brightly colored “flag” to the gimbal cover to help remind them to remove it.

Yes, this works great, mine's still on after nearly 3 years, used a dob of urethane sealer / adhesive with the fluro rescue tape.

Me too... use the PolarPro. Easier for R&R. Works great.
View attachment 93036

Indeed another good idea is to use an opaque aftermarket cover !! (Why don't DJI make them opaque, doh !!)
After starting you have a black screen and quickly power down, but of course this still stops the calibration and may strain the gimbal if done too often.

So probably best to ribbon up the clamp and stop it in the first place.
After a short while removing the clamp is automatic, as will be other pre flight tasks.

Do the test with props off, the M2P is pretty solid in the gimbal you'll probably be fine.

 

[rmarquesx]

Take the props off. Start the drone inside. See if it still does the “gimbal dance” calibration and the imaging works. Many have made this error. Likely you’re drone is fine.

I did the calibration and apparently everything is OK, I will not be able to fly to see if there really is no problem. But the tests on the floor showed no errors. Thanks!

 

[rmarquesx]

Yes, it's probably fine. But do avoid it.

The reason I reply after Thomas already answered is to give you another piece of advice: it is always recommended to start the controller first, then the aircraft. The off sequence is the reverse: turn off the AC first, the RC last.

This is just good practice, because a powered up drone without a powered up controller has no controlling signal. While it probably would never take off on it's own, it's still counter-intuitive to have it powered up without a controller ready to control it.

Maybe it's just me.

Chris

great tip

 

[new2mavic]

Have made that mistake N times. Never had any problem.

 

[bumper]

Have made that mistake once. Gimbal exploded with such force, it killed a nearby gopher and scared my dog.

 

[JS1600]

I did make this error a few times when I was new and didn't notice until I was in flight, Landed and removed cover.
I have had more than 75 flights since without problems. You should be fine.

 

[lannes]

I don't even put the gimbal cover on at all, I just use one of those gimbal sun shades to protect it

PGYTECH Lens Hood for MAVIC PRO | PGYTECH

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[Thomas B]

I don't even put the gimbal cover on at all, I just use one of those gimbal sun shades to protect it

PGYTECH Lens Hood for MAVIC PRO | PGYTECH

The PGYTECH Lens Hood for Mavic Pro can effectively suppress lens glare under certain light conditions and improve the quality of the aerial photography; it has a low impact on flight duration, the U-shaped that provides extra shade, and its quick release design makes installation and removal a...

www.pgy-tech.com

Not even when you Store it or transport it?

 

[Camino Ken]

Have made that mistake once. Gimbal exploded with such force, it killed a nearby gopher and scared my dog.

Now, now, don’t go scaring the newbies. ?

 

[julius13]

I did the calibration and apparently everything is OK, I will not be able to fly to see if there really is no problem. But the tests on the floor showed no errors. Thanks!

I ve done this more than one time when I started flying. You should be fine. Its not a bad idea to calibrate your gimbal occasionally just to make sure its shooting the horizontal plane correctly.

 

[lannes]

Not even when you Store it or transport it?

Nope , never, actually don't even know where the gimbal holder is for the MP and MPP

I only use the gimbal bracket on the P4P where the camera is more exposed and hanging loosely when the power is off

 

[lilewis]

It happened to me a couple of times. I've since put bright white tape over the cover, It gets my attention now every time I pick it up.

 

[OldGuy]

I have a Mavic 2 Pro. I am still a beginner to fly drones. One day I turned on the Drone in my hand and put it on the floor, so I took the remote control to turn it on too. That's when I looked that I hadn't removed the Gimbal cover. Whenever I turn on the Drone, the gimbal does a calibration. I was wondering if I could have damaged my drone, I was very sad and enraged with myself, for not having looked at it. My city is forecasting rain for the next 15 days, I will not be able to fly with Drone in this period. Now I wonder if it could have damaged something inside that I can't find out now and it will only appear in the future. Does anyone know what is the resistance of Gimbal? It was only once that it happened, can I have problems with Gimbal? Thanks for the help, and I'm sorry if I'm a little systematic.

I've done this quite a few times with my M2Z. I've even taken off with the gimbal cover on and flown a few meters. So far no damage. I use a bright red Velcro strap wrapped around the cover now to remind me to remove it.

 

[Teck]

It happened to me when I had my first few flights. I decided to stick a reminder label beside the power on button to make sure i do not do the same mistake.