My crash, damage and repair..

[JustinVV]

Just thought I would share my crash and fix experience..

On last Saturday I crashed the drone into a tree and it hit the ground from around 30 of so meters (100 Feet)

It was across a field and in a tree line that followed a river. I walked out there and had to use "Find My Drone" to locate it, even then it took a bit of finding. The Drone structure was not damaged and it only has a small scratch on it. The Gimbal moved, but there wasn't any video. I grabbed it, packed it up and rode the motor bike home.

I have always been a bit worried about the gimbal on these as it looks so dinky. But any way, I have some electronics experience, and so it couldn't be that hard to work out.

I pulled apart the drone and removed the camera. I checked out the ribbon cable and the LVDS cable that carries the video. The motors on the gimbal all worked so I ruled out the ribbon cable, but I did pul the ribbon cable out of the gimbal just to see how it was installed.

I turned my attention to the LVDS cable (Low-voltage differential signaling - Wikipedia) It looked OK, there was no breaks in any strand, and the connectors looked OK. But one of the strands had a small kink in it. I sourced a new (Second hand one) and dismantled the camera to get to the back of it as one end connects here. I replaced the cable and video now works.

Things I learnt.

The Mavic is very easy to get apart and work on. Its not anywhere near as complicated as I expected
Even if the LVDS cable looks OK it can be damaged
DJI love glue
I am now not worried about crashes, with parts I am confident I can repair any part of it.

Images here

Mavic Gimbal Video Fix

 

[Duse]

Guys like you always amaze me. Being able to get in there to diagnose and fix these little tedious electronic gizmos.I After putting everything back together, i'd have at least 2 parts laying on the table that Id have NO ideal where they came from

 

[MurMan]

Just thought I would share my crash and fix experience..

On last Saturday I crashed the drone into a tree and it hit the ground from around 30 of so meters (100 Feet)

It was across a field and in a tree line that followed a river. I walked out there and had to use "Find My Drone" to locate it, even then it took a bit of finding. The Drone structure was not damaged and it only has a small scratch on it. The Gimbal moved, but there wasn't any video. I grabbed it, packed it up and rode the motor bike home.

I have always been a bit worried about the gimbal on these as it looks so dinky. But any way, I have some electronics experience, and so it couldn't be that hard to work out.

I pulled apart the drone and removed the camera. I checked out the ribbon cable and the LVDS cable that carries the video. The motors on the gimbal all worked so I ruled out the ribbon cable, but I did pul the ribbon cable out of the gimbal just to see how it was installed.

I turned my attention to the LVDS cable (Low-voltage differential signaling - Wikipedia) It looked OK, there was no breaks in any strand, and the connectors looked OK. But one of the strands had a small kink in it. I sourced a new (Second hand one) and dismantled the camera to get to the back of it as one end connects here. I replaced the cable and video now works.

Things I learnt.

The Mavic is very easy to get apart and work on. Its not anywhere near as complicated as I expected
Even if the LVDS cable looks OK it can be damaged
DJI love glue
I am now not worried about crashes, with parts I am confident I can repair any part of it.

Images here

Mavic Gimbal Video Fix

Great job!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dutchgixxer]

Thank you !

 

[Mr G]

Yeah, thanks, man! I recently crashed my MP into some tree limbs and broke the camera/gimble. I should have checked Youtube for "how to fix" videos, but instead, I paid a local "drone shop" to fix it. The total was $540! Not sure if it was worth it. But I think the parts were a little over $300.

 

[JustinVV]

For that money he would have taken the easy, quick and most profitable route of replacing the entire gimbal. It was probably only the ribbon cable, That's they most common issue after a crash, they are $40 or so.. Plus fitting.