Shaky footage only when flying left

diesel_drone6204 · Monday at 9:05 PM

Long story short, my Mavic 2 Pro which I never crashed, has this weird problem:

If I fly at full speed to the left, the footage is shaky, almost like the gimbal is "pulsating". This doesn't happen AT ALL when flying any other direction.
Props are fine, can't see any nicks or cracks, what could be the problem here? Is this a hardware issue or a software issue?

Conservative Nihilist · Monday at 11:32 PM

To eliminate the usual suspects whenever a drone shows a departure from normal flight characteristics, I highly recommend that you calibrate EVERYTHING that can be calibrated, INCLUDING the collision avoidance sensors, the compass, the camera gimbal, and the IMU.

I learned early on with DJI drones that failure to calibrate obstacle sensors can result in the drone displaying unstable and unpredictable flight behavior which can include tremors in the camera gimbal as well as random, utterly baffling stops that will sometimes occur in rapid staccato fashion while frittering away flight battery power to the point where an outright loss of the drone is possible.

Even if you prefer de-selecting obstacle avoidance sensors to maximize the drone's airspeed, those sensors must STILL be calibrated to preempt such bizarre uncommanded flight maneuvers that could lead to a crash. All the calibrations mentioned above can be completed in less than 30 minutes, and they are well worth the time.

SkyeHigh · Tuesday at 12:10 AM

diesel_drone6204 said:
Long story short, my Mavic 2 Pro which I never crashed, has this weird problem:

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If I fly at full speed to the left, the footage is shaky, almost like the gimbal is "pulsating". This doesn't happen AT ALL when flying any other direction.
Props are fine, can't see any nicks or cracks, what could be the problem here? Is this a hardware issue or a software issue?

Before doing an unnecessary calibration, which can lead to more issues:

1. Does this happen on ALL flights?
2. Have you considered wind strength and direction? There is a lot of turbulence in the air in addition to prop wash effects.

Posting the flight log for one of the affected flights to the forum will enable one of the guys/gals here to analyse the log for potential causes.

Finding the root cause is always the best way to identify and, if needed, correct the problem without going down a path of throwing everything at it in the hope it’ll resolve the problem and never learn the cause.

Felix le Chat · Tuesday at 2:21 AM

SkyeHigh said:
Before doing an unnecessary calibration, which can lead to more issues:

1. Does this happen on ALL flights?
2. Have you considered wind strength and direction? There is a lot of turbulence in the air in addition to prop wash effects.

Posting the flight log for one of the affected flights to the forum will enable one of the guys/gals here to analyse the log for potential causes.

Finding the root cause is always the best way to identify and, if needed, correct the problem without going down a path of throwing everything at it in the hope it’ll resolve the problem and never learn the cause.

Check the anti-vibration grommets for wear or stretching. Simplest thing first.

Yorkshire_Pud · Tuesday at 5:46 AM

In addition to @Felix le Chat 's suggestion, I would switch the drone on, hold it in my hand, roll it left and right at varying speeds and watch the gimbal for irregularities.

Kilrah · Tuesday at 7:50 AM

In that shot right is with the wind, left is against it so the aircraft has to roll more to go to the left, and probably just ends up hitting the mechanical limits of the gimbal.

diesel_drone6204 · 2024-09-25T10:52:31-0400

SkyeHigh said:
Before doing an unnecessary calibration, which can lead to more issues:

1. Does this happen on ALL flights?
2. Have you considered wind strength and direction? There is a lot of turbulence in the air in addition to prop wash effects.

Posting the flight log for one of the affected flights to the forum will enable one of the guys/gals here to analyse the log for potential causes.

Finding the root cause is always the best way to identify and, if needed, correct the problem without going down a path of throwing everything at it in the hope it’ll resolve the problem and never learn the cause.

Sorry for the late reply, the flight log is attached, it's my first time viewing these logs so I'm having more questions now, for example when I upload the log to "DJI flight log viewer", soon after take off there's a message says "prop guard or extra payload detected", but I'm not using a prop guard and didn't install any extra payload? What's wrong with my drone??

diesel_drone6204 · 2024-09-25T10:55:00-0400

Here's the flight record, and seeing it raises more questions.
I tried analyzing it using the "DJI flight log viewer", and soon after take off, there's a message that says "prop guard or extra payload detected", why? I'm not using any kind of prop guard? There's nothing extra attached to the drone either.

diesel_drone6204 · 2024-09-25T10:55:34-0400

I swear I attached the flight record, where did it go???

Yorkshire_Pud · 2024-09-25T13:14:21-0400

diesel_drone6204 said:
I swear I attached the flight record, where did it go???

since you have uploaded the log to PhantomHelp just post the URL of the webpage in a reply

diesel_drone6204 · 2024-09-26T13:17:56-0400

Yorkshire_Pud said:
since you have uploaded the log to PhantomHelp just post the URL of the webpage in a reply

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Here are the 2 relevant flights, if I may ask one more question: why does one of the log says "prop guard or extra payload detected"? I didn't install any of these things.

Thanks so much for any help!!!

Yorkshire_Pud · 2024-09-26T16:38:15-0400

diesel_drone6204 said:
why does one of the log says "prop guard or extra payload detected

At the moment, no idea.
The warning appears at 9 seconds whilst the drone is barely in the air and the battery current is only 6.something Amps.

Where you found the .txt flight logs there should be a folder named MCDatFlightRecords.
If that folder contains DAT flight logs could you try up loading the DATs for both flights ( same date stamp as the .txt flight logs but the time stamp might be a few seconds before the .txt timestamp and be in the 12hr clock rather than the 24hr clock, one DAT name will contain "FLY018" and the other "FLY019" ) directly to here via the "attach files" button or, if that doesn't work for you, to file hosting website, make the page/s public and post the URL/s here.
The DATs, if they exist, will show motor RPMs.
If you don't have DATs did you sync these flights with DJI or are you using an RC1B controller ?

I suspect that @Kilrah is correct in that the gimbal was hitting a travel limiter in roll, just look at the roll angles shown for the drone, by the attitude indicator in the PH replay of the second flight.

This might have been a flight where it would have been useful to turn the camera, yaw it, sideways as much as possible so as to possibly minimise the gimbal roll and use the gimbal's pitch capabilities.
Though that is just speculation, I have never tried it myself.