Mavic gimbal issue; you all need to read!

[Southern Phantom]

The jello-image and shaking issues are intermittent on my Mavic. They seem to be dependent on several factors, according to various posts here.

In my case, I have been able to correct it merely by keeping the plastic bubble-dome on in cold windy conditions. I suspect there will be more firmware fixes and even hardware retrofits in the near future.

Always make sure that you've removed the gimbal clamp!

If most of your pictures and videos are OK, don't worry. The same situation was also true of my Phantom 3 Pro when it was new.

These are not military- or industrial-grade machines -- though I agree that the pictures should be stable in almost all cases.

Tangentially, an occasional rough landing shouldn't disturb anything unless it displaces the gimbal assembly or actually tears its mounts.

And not that it's particularly my business, but everything I've read recommends that the Mavic not be hand caught. It doesn't have the long "legs" that the Phantoms have. One of my friends was injured by doing that. The Mavic can be easily and gently landed on the ground.

Happy flying!

 

[duelingglove]

Hey guys.. I got my mavic a couple of days ago and my gimbal is already broken.

The gimbal on the Mavic Pro is the worst thing about the drone.. It is super fragile, even small drops from 3 feet, can ruin the gimbal.

The Mavic Pro uses a rubber band system, and when my drone fell off of 10 ft roof, and hit the ground, it tore the ribbon cable out of the gimbal. I want to stress that the fall was not bad at all.. there was even a wooden pole to help catch the fall, but due to the design of the mavic pro gimbal, it doesn't matter, that is enough to break it.

It all comes down to a slight design defect near the gimbal.. There is a ribbon cable going into the gimble motor, as well as 5-10 silver tension wires.
The ribbon cable is not long enough to expand to the full motion of the rubber band system... so if the drone hits something while it has some inertia behind it, it wills stretch out the gimbal platform in the opposite direction.. If it stretches to far, your looking at a ripped ribbon cable like me.

DJI needs to make this ribbon cable a little longer.

here are pics and video of the crash: my case was a return to home failure, it tried to land 50ft away from the takeoff point, and landed on-top of a building, then fell to the ground moments later.

Video of crash (crash is near the end, notice how it decends on target, and at the last 10 ft, course corrects on it's own on-top of a building) was in Return to home mode, with 12 GPS signal, atti mode, hands off controller.

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Close up of the damage: This ribbon cable, labeled P2, is what feeds the gimbal motor power and instructions. Without this cable you will get a gimbal motor overload error. Mine is slightly ripped here, or i would have attempted to re-insert it myself.. The drone is currently on it's way back to DJI for repair.

EDIT: the gimbal overall is a bad design imo.. it's just to delicate, and super difficult to diagnose and repair. The mavic 2.0 definately needs a better, more robust gimbal. to even attempt repair on this gimbal, the entire drone will have to be taken apart.. where-as on a phantom, this would be a 10 minute job. Additionally, those rubber bands will dry-rot in about a year and snap.. this drone was built to be thrown away after a couple years.

I agree. My drone broke after a crash too and I wonder if there is a way to augment or modify the cable. After I get the refresh I'll make sure to fly in clean open areas. Drones going back to California today and the estimated wait is one month[emoji17][emoji58]‍


Sent from [emoji211]

 

[chazzm]

I'm sure someone else will put something like that up at Thingiverse eventually. It's a pretty simple design.

On thingieverse now


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[chazzm]

Practice keeping your hand out of the way of the two middle sonic sensors. It's OK to cover the bottom front camera. Throttle down quickly.

Just turn the bottom sensors off before and all is good


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[kmaluo]

Just turn the bottom sensors off before and all is good


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Yup, that just gives you a way to keep them on when hand catching.

 

[Sandovaal]

You are really taking this personally... Your argument that those slits on the cover are for cooling is ridiculous. Why do you want to fly with the cover on anyway?

Still you got to give Lightspeed credit for his ignorant persistence...lol

 

[RallySoob]

Well doesnt using a modified cut cover fix this issue? I thought the cover also provides some support for the gimbal cam setup no? If so, one cut up and painted black seems to work for a lot of guys.
If it is a matter of cold weather freezing up the rubber band making it too rigid then it makes sense leaving the dome on would keep things warmer and thus work better. Obviously if its really hot outside you are a fool if you leave the dome on.

The main cooling system's primary duct is located behind the camera. It has a fan that sends heat down the alloy underside plate thus cooling its hardware. There are tests showing very noticable temp differences between flying with dome on versus off. Look on youtube i just watched a guy hover 90 seconds and read 96 degrees off and over 106 with it on... only 90 seconds of hovering too so ya...

My plan was to use dome for cold weather and my cut sunshade dome for all other uses. I dont have the balls to go no dome at all; yet


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[RallySoob]

Also, i hope it is just the rubber band getting cold and becoming rigid because that should be an easy fix by using a different type of material for the replacement part.
I hope they do make some advancements as needed to show their customers the same enthusiasm for the product as we all have shown them by flocking to the Mavic like fat kids on cake


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[chazzm]

I know it probably wouldn't be a good idea while still under warranty but after that would a couple of spots of silicone or maybe a threadlocker like Loctite Blue be helpful in preventing the gimbal from shifting??

Nonono it's supposed to move just not that much LoL


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[Amlenke]

See... it's easy for it to go past the things that are supposed to limit it

This is the tab it can work itself around. In this photo it's supposed to be below it.... but after the top tab went over it easily slips to the other side of it

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That tab broke off on mine and now my gimble fails to calibrate properly.

 

[gingercookie]

That tab broke off on mine and now my gimble fails to calibrate properly.

ouch.. How did you break it? Was it because landing?

 

[rajun50]

That tab broke off on mine and now my gimble fails to calibrate properly.

I also had that tab break off on mine in a crash, but I have no issues with the gimbal. Everything still works just fine. Yours may have something else wrong with it.

 

[Bravia3D]

I just got a Mavic a few days ago, first flight was great and no shaking at all.

However, I flew today and when I checked the video it had horrible shaking at times. My gimbal mount seems fine with nothing popping out.
You can see it here in this video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f44G...ature=youtu.be

 

[Bravia3D]

I woke up early this morning and went to a large park to test out my Mavic once more. The first flight the video looked horrible, much worse than it did in the video I posted a few pages back when I reported an issue. It was so wavy, I could see it on my phone and it was making me almost sick. even sitting on the ground I could see it moving. I start thinking "oh great, it 100% has to get sent to DJI and looked at."
I figured, well hell... Can't get video then I will just fly around for fun. So I enjoyed flying fast around until the battery got low.

I then changed batteries and fooled with the camera settings. I switched it from auto to manual, 4k 30fps, True Color, Sunny, ISO 100 and shutter speed at 1,200
I took off and to my surprise I no longer had wavy video

I thought, hmmm... In due time it may start again, but surprisingly it didn't!

Flying the rest of the day I had perfect wave and jello free video and to top it off, I am actually amazed just how good the video looked. It is very close or equal to my P3 Pro videos.

Not sure why all a sudden the waves stopped, hopefully it stays this way

I do need an ND filter in the future!

 

[etx]

I sent mine in and after three weeks I received a brand new on from DJI. Tested it yesterday and the video is good, no more jelly!

 

[cojobt]

Hi,

I just crashed my Mavic but flying too close to a tree. It still flies, the camera still records, takes photos and zooms. However, it does not calibrate, and does not centre.

Every few minutes the gimble motor tries to turn itself on again, then fails. I get the 'engine overload' message in the app, although the protector has been removed. The gimble is seated correctly.

I've contacted DJI Refresh, but would prefer to avoid this option.

I've attached some photos. If anyone can offer advice, such as how to fix it, or just to accept my fate and send it in, I'd appreciate it.


Kind Regards,

cojobt

 

[Grey Wolf]

So, I got my Mavic weeks ago.... flew it with no issues... the other day landing on a pathway it slid to the left and clipped a curb... the Mavic dropped the last about 10" inches somewhat hard.

At first glance the prop didn't even have a scuff really, and it took right back off.

But immediately, I noticed Jello-ing in the video... BAD!

So I freaked and started an RMA.

Then my girlfriend and I were looking at it and realized the gimbal base had slid over the corner of the Mavic? I pushed a little and "pop" it popped right back into place! All good? Again, flew it and still the video is jello-ing?

No damage, zero, and I have this issue....

I even tried to change props... nada.

Then looking at it again with my GF, she points out that the gimbal is sitting against this metal tab... and the back of the gimbal is firmly against the Mavic and the front if springy.

So I pulled the base of the gimbal back out like I found it, and realized the gimbal was supposed to be on top of this limiting tab... slid it back on top of the tab, slid the corner of the gimbal back under and viola, it's perfect!

Lesson - the "auto landing" kind of sucks. A little wind and it can move. Be way clear of anything two feet around just in case.

Also, the gimbal is different... and can slide below the tab that is designed to limit this exact behavior.

I hope this helps someone else. I keep seeing all these "jello" complaints, and I'm 99% sure it's usually caused by the gimbal having direct contact with the bird, or a major vibration in the blades etc.




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Never, EVER, use auto landing or auto take off!
You should always always have full control of the aircraft where you are the boss!
The auto takeoff and landing is a consumer crap feature that shouldn't be there. It's like auto focus and auto settings on professional cameras, something one never should use!
If something happens during auto takeoff and landing, you are screwed.
If using RTH, make sure you disengage before landing and land manually.
I have an Inspire and I never auto takeoff or land with it!

 

[Wacker2611]

Never, EVER, use auto landing or auto take off!
You should always always have full control of the aircraft where you are the boss!
The auto takeoff and landing is a consumer crap feature that shouldn't be there. It's like auto focus and auto settings on professional cameras, something one never should use!
If something happens during auto takeoff and landing, you are screwed.
If using RTH, make sure you disengage before landing and land manually.
I have an Inspire and I never auto takeoff or land with it!

That's bollocks


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[Grey Wolf]

That's bollocks


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Really?
I'll leave that to newbies like you then.
You'll soon learn!

 

[John Shaw]

Never, EVER, use auto landing or auto take off!
You should always always have full control of the aircraft where you are the boss!
The auto takeoff and landing is a consumer crap feature that shouldn't be there. It's like auto focus and auto settings on professional cameras, something one never should use!
If something happens during auto takeoff and landing, you are screwed.
If using RTH, make sure you disengage before landing and land manually.
I have an Inspire and I never auto takeoff or land with it!

n

Never, EVER, use auto landing or auto take off!
You should always always have full control of the aircraft where you are the boss!
The auto takeoff and landing is a consumer crap feature that shouldn't be there. It's like auto focus and auto settings on professional cameras, something one never should use!
If something happens during auto takeoff and landing, you are screwed.
If using RTH, make sure you disengage before landing and land manually.
I have an Inspire and I never auto takeoff or land with it!

I tend to agree. Normal pilot in control Takeoffs and Landings are so easy why bother with automatic. We hear of problems with these auto features - since there is no benefit, why take the risk.