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MA2 shaking suddenly in flight at stop (Gimbal problem?)

maccardiolog

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Hello everybody !
After a few quiet flights with MA2, something inexplicable happened today: in flight, at sudden stops, at that moment the video image has a sudden up and down movement for a fraction of a second, then returns to balance. When I resume the flight in front, the image is smooth, without problems. The gimbal responds to commands without problems. When I suddenly stop the drone, the one shaking up and down again appears ... This behavior is also when moving backwards, when braking suddenly , in manual mode and in sport mode. Can you help me? Thank you in advance !
 
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Thanks for the reply, but it hasn't happened to me until now in the 2 months since I had it. I did not change the firmware. I researched the forums and did not encounter this problem.
 
Its quite common at this point, as I have seen a number of complaints about this. If you are sure that months ago this is not present ie your same flight conditions (speed, wind) then perhaps there is merit that something has changed whether intentionally by the firmware or software or unintentionally due to hardware (something degraded or broken).

It is classical overshoot correction in a control system but the cause can be due to design or failure or combination.

I've seen people complain about this when they fly full speed and brake, especially sports mode and also during strong wind. Personally its happen maybe a few times in my experience. Around 10hours, 100km, 60 flights.

But afterwards my gimbal failed by showing overload error, shaking, and just not working anymore. Eventually I even got a black screen. I had to send in for warranty service, for a full gimbal+camera replacement.

I'm sorry to worry you but I suggest if you can replicate this consistently, go ahead and post this up to [email protected] for an official clarification. And if you are ever kind, let me know thank you.
 
in flight, at sudden stops, at that moment the video image has a sudden up and down movement for a fraction of a second, then returns to balance.
This is abnormal. When the craft brakes while moving forward, it will tilt backward ( nose up ), the gimbal will react by tilting downward. As the downward tilting limit of the Air 2 is VERY large ( 135 degrees ), it should not hit the limit in any case.

when moving backwards, when braking suddenly
This can be normal . The upward tilting limit of the gimbal is just 45 degrees which can be exceeded if the braking is hard enough. Unlikely to occur in normal mode.
 
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Its quite common at this point, as I have seen a number of complaints about this. If you are sure that months ago this is not present ie your same flight conditions (speed, wind) then perhaps there is merit that something has changed whether intentionally by the firmware or software or unintentionally due to hardware (something degraded or broken).

It is classical overshoot correction in a control system but the cause can be due to design or failure or combination.

I've seen people complain about this when they fly full speed and brake, especially sports mode and also during strong wind. Personally its happen maybe a few times in my experience. Around 10hours, 100km, 60 flights.

But afterwards my gimbal failed by showing overload error, shaking, and just not working anymore. Eventually I even got a black screen. I had to send in for warranty service, for a full gimbal+camera replacement.

I'm sorry to worry you but I suggest if you can replicate this consistently, go ahead and post this up to [email protected] for an official clarification. And if you are ever kind, let me know thank you.


Thanks for the explanations and care ! The problem appeared unexpectedly, flying in the same ideal conditions as before, with the same unique firmware initially installed on my new drone, 2 months ago and after about 12-14 incident-free flights. I'm coming after 4 years of Mavic Pro, I'm not really a beginner. I have already written to DJI and I am waiting for an answer. I'll keep you in touch! All the best!
 
This is abnormal. When the craft brakes while moving forward, it will tilt backward ( nose up ), the gimbal will react by tilting downward. As the downward tilting limit of the Air 2 is VERY large ( 135 degrees ), it should not hit the limit in any case.


This can be normal . The upward tilting limit of the gimbal is just 45 degrees which can be exceeded if the braking is hard enough. Unlikely to occur in normal mode.
Hello and thank you !


This abnormal behavior caught my eye, especially since it has never happened before since I bought it! It never even happened when braking in flight backwards!
 
Hello everybody !
After a few quiet flights with MA2, something inexplicable happened today: in flight, at sudden stops, at that moment the video image has a sudden up and down movement for a fraction of a second, then returns to balance. When I resume the flight in front, the image is smooth, without problems. The gimbal responds to commands without problems. When I suddenly stop the drone, the one shaking up and down again appears ... This behavior is also when moving backwards, when braking suddenly , in manual mode and in sport mode. Can you help me? Thank you in advance !
Do you happen to live somewhere cold? Mine started doing this recently too. The problem is that I upgraded the firmware recently, AND it has gotten cold recently (down around freezing). I’m wondering if the rubber in the gimbal gets stiff in the cold, causing this?
 
Do you happen to live somewhere cold? Mine started doing this recently too. The problem is that I upgraded the firmware recently, AND it has gotten cold recently (down around freezing). I’m wondering if the rubber in the gimbal gets stiff in the cold, causing this?
Hello and sorry for my late reply ! Yes , it happend to me when it was cold (about -1 or -2 Celsius ) . That day was the coldest day when I fly with my MA2 . The next (and last ) time when I fly was 10 days ago , but with +12 Celsius and everything was normal...That s why I postponed the DJI service help... When the time permitting , I will fly again in different temperature conditions , to see if that has an influence about gimbal behavior . Anyhow it would be an interesting reason to discover !
 
Hello and sorry for my late reply ! Yes , it happend to me when it was cold (about -1 or -2 Celsius ) . That day was the coldest day when I fly with my MA2 . The next (and last ) time when I fly was 10 days ago , but with +12 Celsius and everything was normal...That s why I postponed the DJI service help... When the time permitting , I will fly again in different temperature conditions , to see if that has an influence about gimbal behavior . Anyhow it would be an interesting reason to discover !
I also think I’m holding off on dji care for this one. I flew in my house last night in warm temperatures and the gimbal worked perfectly, even in sport mode.

I really do think this is a temperature thing affecting the gimbal somehow
 
Hello and sorry for my late reply ! Yes , it happend to me when it was cold (about -1 or -2 Celsius ) . That day was the coldest day when I fly with my MA2 . The next (and last ) time when I fly was 10 days ago , but with +12 Celsius and everything was normal...That s why I postponed the DJI service help... When the time permitting , I will fly again in different temperature conditions , to see if that has an influence about gimbal behavior . Anyhow it would be an interesting reason to discover !
Hi,

as you may recall from my own thread, I had exactly the same problem, and you wrote that your problem was solved just before you were packing up for sending your MA2 to DJI for repair:

Gimbal Jump

So did the issue came back for you?

If you read through my thread to the end, I sent my MA2 in for repair, and received a new MA2 under warranty, as this behaviour was - according to DJI - NOT NORMAL ("..gimbal axis arm module was damaged..").. According to DJI "..maybe in Sports Mode, but definitely not in Normal or Tripod Mode.."

I had this "gimbal jump" on all flights, temperature from 2 to 9 degree C outside temperature. On 8th of December I did a first flight with the replacement MA2, and everything is fine now: I could even stop in Sports Mode without this "up-and-down" jump of the gimbal! Temperature was around 4 degree C, so definitely in the range where I had this issue before.

If one of you still have this issue, I highly recommend recording a short video and show it to DJI folks in the support chat - they were very helpful and immediately recognise that this behaviour of the MA2 is not normal!
 
I also think I’m holding off on dji care for this one. I flew in my house last night in warm temperatures and the gimbal worked perfectly, even in sport mode.

I really do think this is a temperature thing affecting the gimbal somehow
How fast did you fly inside your house? In my case it started not immediately, but rather after flying for some time, and it was clearly visible from stopping from around 10 km/h and up - would be hard for me to test this inside my house (10 km/h = 2.7 m/s).. I guess I would have crashed the MA2 against the wall with more then 10 km/h ;)

In addition, after landing, switching off and let the MA2 cool down for some time in the cold, the problem almost disappeared. But starting again, problem came back - so definitely vice versa: cooling down helped, heat (produced by flying around) made the issue worse.
 
Hi,

as you may recall from my own thread, I had exactly the same problem, and you wrote that your problem was solved just before you were packing up for sending your MA2 to DJI for repair:

Gimbal Jump

So did the issue came back for you?

If you read through my thread to the end, I sent my MA2 in for repair, and received a new MA2 under warranty, as this behaviour was - according to DJI - NOT NORMAL ("..gimbal axis arm module was damaged..").. According to DJI "..maybe in Sports Mode, but definitely not in Normal or Tripod Mode.."

I had this "gimbal jump" on all flights, temperature from 2 to 9 degree C outside temperature. On 8th of December I did a first flight with the replacement MA2, and everything is fine now: I could even stop in Sports Mode without this "up-and-down" jump of the gimbal! Temperature was around 4 degree C, so definitely in the range where I had this issue before.

If one of you still have this issue, I highly recommend recording a short video and show it to DJI folks in the support chat - they were very helpful and immediately recognise that this behaviour of the MA2 is not normal!
Hi swoermck,
I wonder if you can get a better explanation on whether this will occur again?
I’m pretty sure that you did not crash, drop or impact your drone in the first place right...?
 
Hi Lee82gx,

yes, no crash, nothing before. And as we were already wondering in the other thread: maybe somehow related to the pressure of the MA2 gimbal cover?.. who knows, time will tell.

And as I keep my Mavic's for storage under a display cover:

IMG_1339 copy.jpg



I decided it's useless to keep the gimbal cover on during storage - in fact the acrylic sits very strong on the plastic base, and should be a better protection against dust than the MA2 gimbal cover, which is - in comparison to the MP1 - not fully covering the front.

So now I always remove the gimbal cover before placing the MA2 in "the hangar", making sure there is no constant pressure on the gimbal when not using the MA2 for a longer period.
 
thanks for reminding me about the cover yes maybe I should also consider to regularly not use it. What I mean was whether DJI attempted to explain anything or provide a reassuring fix.

In my case I did not get any further details as mine was done by a 3rd party, authorized repair center.
 
Same for me: no more information, or explanation. Only info I already wrote in the other thread:

"Also received a screenshot from DJI Fly APP (from the DJI Repair Center) showing the Error Code 40002 (Gimbal Stuck), under the screenshot a comment saying "the gimbal axis arm module was damaged, which caused gimbal stability related issues."

(link)

As they were so fast sending me a new drone.. maybe a known problem at the DJI Repair Center?

In my case I did not get any further details as mine was done by a 3rd party, authorized repair center.
Did they do a repair or send you a new drone?
 
Same for me: no more information, or explanation. Only info I already wrote in the other thread:

"Also received a screenshot from DJI Fly APP (from the DJI Repair Center) showing the Error Code 40002 (Gimbal Stuck), under the screenshot a comment saying "the gimbal axis arm module was damaged, which caused gimbal stability related issues."

(link)

As they were so fast sending me a new drone.. maybe a known problem at the DJI Repair Center?


Did they do a repair or send you a new drone?
Mine was with entire gimbal + Camera assembly replaced. That gimbal had a tiny QR sticker on top of it. Here in Malaysia, labour is much cheaper than material so I wasn't surprised it was "serviced", while elsewhere the opposite may be true.

I'm pretty sure DJI would have known something by now. I think I've said this before. In my line of work, this is common and usually by the 3rd or 4th case per thousand engineering is already studying and would know the cause. The permanent solution however may take time and may be even impossible.

I'm not surprised by DJI keeping quiet even if they know what's happening but sad that they can't come out and reassure their reluctantly loyal customers its ok. I wish we can use some tort laws at them or compel them to do so.
 
This is also a problem for me. Set it for a fix, they did a calibration (told me it was more advanced than I could do), got it back, and slitt jumping gimbal. Asked again, and waiting for an answer.
This happened first in november, I have upgraded it regularly, but no help there.

EDIT: Just aclibrated both IMU and compass, but didn't help at all... :(
 
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