replacing gimbal on Mini 2

[cheapie408]

Crashed my mini 2 yesterday and the only thing that is damage is the gimbal. the camera still works, can the gimbal assembly be replaced pretty easily? Tried looking around and it seems the cost for this is anywhere between 100-200. Looking for the cheapest way to fix this since it's not a very expensive drone to start with.

 

[LoudThunder]

Crashed my mini 2 yesterday and the only thing that is damage is the gimbal.

We have had members replace the Gimbal themselves, often getting the info, tips, and tricks off of YouTube. Some are lucky enough to have highly qualified Drone Repair Businesses nearby, and some just send it back to DJI for a replacement (if covered by DJI Refresh) or pay outright and still get a new (replacement) drone. Search our database for recent topics on repairing the Mini 2. It's the "magnifying Glass" on the Upper Right. Use different search criteria (gimbal, broken gimbal, Mini 2 gimbal, etc…)

Since you are from the San Francisco Bay area, there must be a ton of places that can do this repair, you might want to just call around…

One final thought, I fly a Mini 2 and I've named mine, and I do not consider it an "inexpensive drone" (meaning cheap…). If I was your drone and I knew you felt that way about me, I would have flown away, far away. LoL…

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

......can the gimbal assembly be replaced pretty easily?

That depends on what you mean by easily.
From memory, you need to
remove the top and bottom covers of the drone,
remove the heat sink from the mainboard (easy),
probably displace the main board ( to facilitate removing and refitting the stranded cable that you see, that cable runs straight to the mainboard mentioned). To displace the mainboard you may also have to disconnect several ribbon cables.
Reassemble everything, repositioning cables can be fiddly, I can't remember if the stranded cable needs to be stuck down, somewhere, to the drone's body (I would leave the covers off, BUT NOT the heatsink, whilst you test that you have assembled everything else correctly)
Then you will have to recalibrate the camera/gimbal/drone combination using downloaded software and some python scripts and you are likely to be still left with a residual gimbal warning although the gimbal will actually function correctly.

If you like tinkering, it's not difficult but if you are not handy with both your hands or tools you may find it at least daunting.

 

[FLDave]

Under current conditions your Mini 2 is worthless to you; that's your starting point in decision-making.
1. Any decision you make (repair or replace) will be expensive.
2. How soon do you want a working drone?
3. How much are you willing to spend to get a working drone again, or is it better to give up droning?
4. What are the risks of self-repair and what are the costs of such failure?
5. What is the cost and reliability of 3rd party repair?
Owning and operating a drone does have costs and risks, no matter what.
My suggestion is to start the repair process with DJI. There is no requirement to submit for repair if the price is too high. Consider then that purchase of newer drone may really be the best option if you don't want your mini 2 repaired.
With DJI repair you'll likely get a new drone AND new battery and an offer to purchase 1 year CareRefresh to help take care of future pilot errors.
If you go totally new purchase you could keep the damaged drone for tinkering MAYBE self-repair for a backup drone.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

PS to my post above, it might be possible to find an cameraless gimbal but DO NOT get tempted by that, you still have ALL of post #3 to go through PLUS removing and refitting the existing camera from/to the/a gimbal greatly complicates matters, I have done it........it was very fiddly.

 

[cheapie408]

Thanks for all the info. Seems I can buy the complete gimbal and camera but I'm reading you need to calibrate using some special firmware. I'm going to reach out to DJI to see what it cost to get this repaired/replace. I have the flymore package. Had this drone for 5 months and flown it no more than 4 hours. Definitely worth repairing to me.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Given that the drone is 5 months old, a diy repair would most likely invalidate the warranty.

With regards to "flymore package" if by that you are referring to the money you have spent than that is a reasonable consideration but I am wondering if you actually meant "care refresh package"?
If so then two things
1) A DIY repair would likely invalidate the care-refresh as well as the warranty.
2) It would be worth asking DJI to give you a repair quote for a simple you pay the cost repair and for you to then compare that quote with the cost of a care refresh use.