On its very last leg?

[wco81]

I tried to fly today. Pretty strong winds but I was in a place I was unlikely to see again so I went for it.

Not long after takeoff I got a wind warning, telling me to land it. I just recorded a 3-4 minute video, took some panos, then recorded video to move to a different location, where I did a couple more panos.

In the second location, the gimbal was going haywire. The warning was that the gimbal was overloaded. First warning I think was that there might be an obstruction for the gimbal to move around normally but then it said the gimbal motor was overloaded.

I've see this behavior before but here I had to abort my first two attempts to do 180 panos because it wasn't leveling the camera and thus it wasn't taking any pictures. I flew it slightly to a different location and it leveled enough for me to finish the panos and land.

Would gimbal motor be overworked fighting the wind? The wind wasn't the worst I've seen. I'd estimate maybe 20-25 MPH gusts. In other windy conditions, a few years ago, I never saw the gimbal fail to level out.

So I'm wondering if my M2P is showing its age. Despite having it 6-7 years, I don't fly a lot, only when I go on trips so that means on average, maybe 15-20 flights a year using up most of a battery. None of my batteries show sign of swelling but it does seem like they draw down faster than they used to.

The other thing is my controller, which I had fully charged the night before, showed 43% even as I completed this one flight, which ran maybe 10 minutes, drawing the battery down to 25-30%.

But the controller battery drawdown surprised me, never saw anything like it before. It would only show like 92-97% when fully charged.

Only reason why I kept it is because of shortcomings of newer models like the Air 3S, without a variable shutter and with the Quad Bayer thing which put off many people.

I was kind of waiting to see what the Mavic 4 would be like but now the price is likely going to be way more than I would pay.

I may have no choice but to buy any newer model that I can get my hands on.

 

[Cafguy]

Would gimbal motor be overworked fighting the wind?

No.

None of my batteries show sign of swelling but it does seem like they draw down faster than they used to.

This is normal as they age Best to use them up in a couple years really. It all depends on how you care for them!

the controller battery drawdown surprised me, never saw anything like it before. It would only show like 92-97% when fully charged.

Its been a few years for Your battery it's acting its age. You will need to replace it in a while. do it yourself its very simple.

I was kind of waiting to see what the Mavic 4 would be like but now the price is likely going to be way more than I would pay.

At 125 Waiting for the Mavic 4 Pro may not be the best plan now. (Sorry) . Yours is NOT showing age and you simply have some simple care and cleaning to do.
Gently..Very gently, Take the tip of a finger and move the gimble around. You want to "feel" for anything..even the slightest grit feeling. If you feel any "grit" at all, You need to gently blow out the gimble with air..., set the air WAY down and DO NOT use "canned" air!
If you do not feel any grit and I know this sounds crazy BUT re-flash all of your firmware and test everything again.

 

[Meta4]

None of my batteries show sign of swelling but it does seem like they draw down faster than they used to.

Lithium batteries gradually lose capacity with age and use.
You can check to see how much capacity has been lost in the battery settings in the app.
Compare the capacity of a freshly charged battery with the number printed on your battery label to see how much has been lost.

Your controller battery also runs down with age, but you can't check that in the app.

 

[Starz]

If you need a controller, I have several.
You could also try a camera calibration and see if that makes any difference.
Could also be some debris in the gimbal motors slowing things down. Some form of air blowing that out possibly?

 

[Felix le Chat]

I tried to fly today. Pretty strong winds but I was in a place I was unlikely to see again so I went for it.

Not long after takeoff I got a wind warning, telling me to land it. I just recorded a 3-4 minute video, took some panos, then recorded video to move to a different location, where I did a couple more panos.

In the second location, the gimbal was going haywire. The warning was that the gimbal was overloaded. First warning I think was that there might be an obstruction for the gimbal to move around normally but then it said the gimbal motor was overloaded.

I've see this behavior before but here I had to abort my first two attempts to do 180 panos because it wasn't leveling the camera and thus it wasn't taking any pictures. I flew it slightly to a different location and it leveled enough for me to finish the panos and land.

Would gimbal motor be overworked fighting the wind? The wind wasn't the worst I've seen. I'd estimate maybe 20-25 MPH gusts. In other windy conditions, a few years ago, I never saw the gimbal fail to level out.

So I'm wondering if my M2P is showing its age. Despite having it 6-7 years, I don't fly a lot, only when I go on trips so that means on average, maybe 15-20 flights a year using up most of a battery. None of my batteries show sign of swelling but it does seem like they draw down faster than they used to.

The other thing is my controller, which I had fully charged the night before, showed 43% even as I completed this one flight, which ran maybe 10 minutes, drawing the battery down to 25-30%.

But the controller battery drawdown surprised me, never saw anything like it before. It would only show like 92-97% when fully charged.

Only reason why I kept it is because of shortcomings of newer models like the Air 3S, without a variable shutter and with the Quad Bayer thing which put off many people.

I was kind of waiting to see what the Mavic 4 would be like but now the price is likely going to be way more than I would pay.

I may have no choice but to buy any newer model that I can get my hands on.

You mention the RC1A/B controller losing stored charge at an accelerated rate and not being able to charge it higher than the mid-90% mark.

If you charge it as fully as it will allow and then shelve it without use for 24-48hrs, does the level of charge drop substantially?

If so, there are two possible causes, the one is fixable.... the other isn't.

1) The controllers internal 2 cell lipo battery is on the way out (fixable)

2) The battery management chip and one or more of the related capacitors on the main board are in the process of failing: or have failed (unfixable)

Point #2 is now a common problem with RC1A and RC1B controllers that will cost you a lot of money to try to remedy.

If you buy a 'new' RC: what you'll get is a controller that will be roughly as old as the one you're trying to replace and prone to the same age related problems... you might be better off looking at one of the reconditioned RM500 'smart controllers' instead - the oldest of which is still a couple of years younger than any RC1A/B.

 

[wco81]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Like I noted, I would have replaced this drone by now. I may still do that. Probably not worth spending hundreds to replace batteries for drone and controller at this point.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

Sorry your having issues with your M2 Pro. Great Drone! I have an M2 Pro, Like new condition, low hours. nine batteries (3 are new), filters, YX Charger, Hard Case, and other accessories. If interested, PM me, may be able to come to terms on a price. Only used it on autonomous jobs, have four other drones.

Admin: If this is not permitted, please delete. Don't need to sell, but if it will help the OP, willing.

 

[wco81]

Tried it again, shortly after takeoff, the gimbal got wonky and got the warning about overloaded gimbal, first whether the clamp is still on and then the motor.

But it stabilized and I got some media out of it.

Before I took off, I did check and didn't detect any gritty gimbal movements.

The battery on the aircraft drained at a normal rate but the controller went from 89-90% after charging to about 50-55% of charge during maybe a 15-20 minute flight.


So I'd consider sending it to DJI to check out the gimbal but who knows these days with getting it back from China.

Also good to know the controller battery can be replaced but I'm on a trip outside the country so it will limit my ability to do as many flights as I'd hoped to do.

But I do have a power bank with me and it is recharging the controller so it's a workaround for this trip, kind of a drag to have to carry it around though.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Tried it again, shortly after takeoff, the gimbal got wonky and got the warning about overloaded gimbal, first whether the clamp is still on and then the motor.

But it stabilized and I got some media out of it.

Before I took off, I did check and didn't detect any gritty gimbal movements.

The battery on the aircraft drained at a normal rate but the controller went from 89-90% after charging to about 50-55% of charge during maybe a 15-20 minute flight.


So I'd consider sending it to DJI to check out the gimbal but who knows these days with getting it back from China.

Also good to know the controller battery can be replaced but I'm on a trip outside the country so it will limit my ability to do as many flights as I'd hoped to do.

But I do have a power bank with me and it is recharging the controller so it's a workaround for this trip, kind of a drag to have to carry it around though.

If you're interested: with the RC1A and RC1B you can rig a connection between a power bank and the controller that charges the controller battery while you're using it during a live flight.

 

[PunaPhantom]

We keep our fleet, currently 2 active 2 in reserve.
They are a real work horse...
One of our sites is windy (ha windy, more like wind tunnel'y) 65% of the time and we have a weekly contract...
At first we were flying P4p's (and still do for ortho work) and on occasion we would encounter similar problems flying in extremely windy conditions... the streams of air can hit your gimbal at just the right angle and velocity to twist it on it's axis... in addition to the drone performing some amazing aerobatics trying to maintain a fixed location... in the monitor it appears as if you have gone into a tail spin with the inevitable results. But what we observed flying Litchi on an autonomous mission was, the drone carried on shooting every subsequent wp at a crazy angle... realizing this we interrupted the mission and RTH.

If you only fly 15-20 times a year, keep it. It's a perfectly adequate, hell it was state of the art at one time... and can accomplish everything all the newer drones can do albeit with a tad less "quality" which is subjective aint it... is the intended output FB posts or Galleria material or in-between, prime question is will the images ever be printed or the videos be viewed on a big screen. Save your money and fly aware. Spatial awareness, always.

Hey, my 2¢

Aloha from Hawaii.