Gimbal acts weird on start up

copeland3300 · May 7, 2016

I just replaced the flat cable for my P3S after a minor crash. Additionally, one of the gimbal motors separated, but it seems to go right back together without a problem. DJI Go just says there's a gimbal problem and I have to contact DJI.

Here's a video and a picture to help show what I'm talking about.

picture (sorry the URL is crazy long)

I also have one where I'm rotating the gimbal and can't see any bends on the posts or anything like that.

I've searched around, but I can't find any help, so anything you all could suggest would be great.

Thanks!

mdowney58 · May 7, 2016

Looks exactly how mine was doing after replacing the ribbon cable.
My issue was due to me mistakenly installing the pitch motor shaft turned 180° from the correct position.
If memory serves, I had the flat on the shaft facing forwards. After taking it all back apart, and rotating the pitch motor shaft, all was well.

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copeland3300 · May 7, 2016

Nice, thanks for the info, I'll give that a shot.

copeland3300 · May 7, 2016

So rotating the shaft and the sensor seems to have stopped it from freaking out. Now the only weird thing it does is when it starts up, the camera is rolled at a weird angle until I manually reset the gimbal calibration.

Perhaps I have to keep adjusting the sensor and shaft?

mdowney58 · May 7, 2016

Which sensor and shaft are you referring to?
And I assume you are saying the camera "roll" is tilted off to one side?
That may be the adjustable shaft of the roll motor.
I've not done this, but if it is the roll that's off, you can remove the back cover from the roll motor.
There's a flat on that shaft (extending to the rear) that sits in a pot. That flat (I believe) should be aimed straight up.
If it's out of adjustment, it can be adjusted. I've not done it, so I can't advise, but others have posted on how to.

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copeland3300 · May 7, 2016

Yep that's exactly the one that's the problem. ~~I'll keep tweaking it.~~

Thanks again for your help with the first part of this, it helped a lot.

EDIT:

So ultimately I just had to get the roll sensor adjusted so that it was like it is in the photo.Now it's all working exactly as it should.

mdowney58 · May 7, 2016

Wait!
First, we discussed the pitch motor....the one the camera mounts to.
After that, it was the roll motor.
Your response sounded to me like you are going to tweak the wong one maybe. (Even though there's no minor adjustments possible on the pitch motor)

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copeland3300 · May 7, 2016

Oh I see what you mean.

I did the one that's giving me all the trouble. I believe it's the roll motor (the one behind the camera).

mdowney58 · May 8, 2016

Interesting! So all that bad behaviour you showed in your video was from the roll motor out of adjustment?
How far out was it?

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copeland3300 · May 8, 2016

It was about 180 degree out of alignment, which ultimately I suppose make sense given how it was freaking out, haha

mdowney58 · May 8, 2016

Good to know! Thanks.
I knew the pitch motor 180° out would cause this, but I had no experience with the roll motor being out 180°

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modbuilder · May 23, 2018

Could somebody please post some info on what you actually did, more than just the outcome? I think I have this problem after replacing the ribbon cable but can't figure out why I would have the problem or how to inspect/repair it. Driving me nuts. Thanks for any help ................ R

mdowney58 · May 23, 2018

modbuilder said:
Could somebody please post some info on what you actually did, more than just the outcome? I think I have this problem after replacing the ribbon cable but can't figure out why I would have the problem or how to inspect/repair it. Driving me nuts. Thanks for any help ................ R

The OP did say that he found his roll motor shaft 180° off. The flat side of the roll motor goes up, and paral6with the top of the camera.

modbuilder · May 23, 2018

mdowney58 said:
The OP did say that he found his roll motor shaft 180° off. The flat side of the roll motor goes up, and paral6with the top of the camera.

My point is that working on the roll motor shaft is not an obvious process. I've changed ribbon cables and the multistrand cable, but working on a roll motor shaft sounds like a much tougher job. Some "how to" seems to be in order.

Joker2415 · May 23, 2018

modbuilder said:
My point is that working on the roll motor shaft is not an obvious process. I've changed ribbon cables and the multistrand cable, but working on a roll motor shaft sounds like a much tougher job. Some "how to" seems to be in order.

No offense....But I'm starting to see why no one or few are answering these type questions. And yes, I was doing the same thing......

There are answers to this in at least three threads that I've posted in so far and probably hundreds more.
But...I'll give it another try for you.

I'm jkg of course!!! I'm horrible at instruction writing. But rebuilding the mechanical part of a gimbal is one of the few things I do know and have a little experience with on the Phantom 3's.

There are youtube video's that explain this process and the causes.

I've actually put the gimbal together so wrong that the camera was actually upside down!! Yep, It's possible!! I know!!

Look up..."Phantom 3 gimbal rebuild" "phantom 3 gimbal dance" or something similar on youtube. The reason why I say to do that is because it is much easier to follow along with a video. At least for me it was. It doesn't make any difference for which Phantom3. The Pro gimbal, the standard, and everything between are all mechanically the same as far as this part of the gimbal is concerned(meaning, adjusting the motors)

This is the first one I found...There are others.

The flat spot on the shaft that the "box" goes on faces the back, that's where the screw should also be installed from the back side of the "box". If the screws get mixed up? It is a little bigger looking and the threads don't go the whole way down to the bottom of the screw.

on the cover of the other motor?( I guess that is called the roll motor, I keep forgetting the term) Pull the cover off, make sure the motor shaft on that end is flat and level on the top side. flat facing up , meaning level with the top of the "box".If it's not? Very carefully!! Take a small pair of needle nose pliars, pull the circuit board up a little with your fingers, again carefully, no big hurry, and twist the motor shaft so that the flat is up, level with the top of the "box" .You can do it in little increments, it doesn't have to exact on the first try. Then adjust again if needed a little to get the camera level. You can take some of it out in the app adjustment if you get it "close enough". That shaft is press fit into the hub. If you twist around too much on it, it will come out of the hub. Not a huge deal!! Just press it back in. carefully!!

Hope this helps...It is much easier than you think, replacing the ribbon cable is much harder.. I learned quick because my first three project drones had this issue. any mistake that was possible? I made!

modbuilder · May 24, 2018

All I needed. New to the problem/solution. Much obliged........... R

Joker2415 · May 24, 2018

modbuilder said:
All I needed. New to the problem/solution. Much obliged........... R

No problem. I'm still fairly new to all of this and I can't ever remember the Correct terms. After I wrote some of it out I remembered that I still had a video link in Copy/paste, that's why it ended up there too.

Never mind All of my nonsense, just click on the video.