Shaky video - results of wind and gimbal overload.

WolfSpring · Jun 13, 2020

So I was flying in wind at 15 mph with gusts at about 22 mph(according to UAV forecast) and I noticed issued with the video and experienced a gimbal overload fault during flight, but wasn't sure what to do with it and this was the output of that fault. I assume that the gimal was working too hard to compensate for the wind along with the motors. Is there a way to correct the gimbal error while in flight, I was going to land and it worked itself out. If I were further out and this was a constant issue could this result in something bad? I am worried about overdriving the motors and ending up ruining something. This was my first attempt at any kind of wind, there was someone else who was flying a mini above me and I watched him fight to bring his back home, I kept mine really low and only flew for maybe 20 mins and decided it was not worth it for what I was doing.

Capt KO · Jun 13, 2020

Something else seems wrong because it shakes in every direction. Camera/gimble had to be out of the wind at some point in the 360 turning, but still shook. ??

WolfSpring · Jun 13, 2020

Capt KO said:
Something else seems wrong because it shakes in every direction. Camera/gimble had to be out of the wind at some point in the 360 turning, but still shook. ??

I think the drone was fighting the wind and moving back and forth to compensate for the wind and the gimbal just wasn't moving at all, or was moving with the drone, like locked in place, so it wasn't compensating for the movement like it is designed to do. I just watched the clip before and the rest of this video and it only did this during the really windy part as soon as the wind calmed down I did another 360 and no movement at all, so I think that is when the gimbal error corrected itself.

I'm thinking there was just to much work on the motors to compensate for shakiness so they either just let go of trying or locked the gimbal in place and let the camera move with the drone like a fixed camera. Not a huge issue, just worried if it happens again what the repercussions might be like burned out motors or something and if there is a fix or just don't worry bout it. I read up on it and there is a fix if it's a permanent alert how you fix it, but it's also for the Mavic 1 and they were saying they are not a 100% sure what causes it, like sand in the gimbal or loose ribbon cable. I've done a lot of flying with my phantom 2 in winds like this with no issues so this is new to me.

MavicAir2Marc · Jun 14, 2020

First weekend with the Mavic Air 2 dealing with 20-30 mph winds. Video footage was steady as a rock. I got one wind warning later in the day but no gimbal overload warning.

Dbez1 · Jun 14, 2020

Is it a repeatable occurrence? If so, then you may have a defective unit. If not, the UAV forecast may have been inaccurate. Best wishes.

WolfSpring · Jun 14, 2020

Hmm... You guys gave me some food for thought on this. It is not repeatable, yet... If it does happen again I think I'll dabble and see if I land did it go away, can i make it happen twice in a row, whole scientific method, if not might just be a fluke, it only happened on that flight and I haven't been able to get back out yet.

nalu · Jun 15, 2020

WolfSpring said:
Hmm... You guys gave me some food for thought on this. It is not repeatable, yet... If it does happen again I think I'll dabble and see if I land did it go away, can i make it happen twice in a row, whole scientific method, if not might just be a fluke, it only happened on that flight and I haven't been able to get back out yet.

Aloha, I also live on Oahu check this forum often and this caught my eye - I have some information that might help you. I flew my MA2 several times ok, then probably the 6th time, I saw this gimbal motor overload message, and my video looked like jello, it was shaking quite a bit. I thought it might have just been the wind as well. Flew it the next day, and it did the same thing, shaking video with gimbal motor overload, this time there was no wind, so that was ruled out. Long story short, some flights after this it would fly ok, but most often it would give this message and start shaking. Sometimes this happened right away, sometimes 15 minutes into flight. I tried everything possible to get it normal. Ends up I contacted DJI and ended up sending it back to them, they sent me a new one, so I believe some units are just defective, and they must know this. I just received my new unit yesterday, so haven't had a chance to make sure its ok. They said it was the gimbal arm connector that was defective. I would fly it a few more times, and if this happens again, I would contact them right away and send it back since it is a manufactures defect that is covered under warranty.