Gimbal flopping around Then dead and or limp!!! NO CRASH!!!

Ianaic · May 23, 2018

Went to go fly my phantom 3 se yesterday morning and i noticed the gimbal was at a total slant to the ground. After restarting it 3 times and an imu calibibration and gimbal calibration it seemed ok on the next flight. After that went to an amazing spot to fly and as i was flying i noticed the gimbal swaying back n forth slowly witch i have noticed before but would be fixed with restarting or compass calibrating the drone. After getting home and testing it out again the gimbal went nuts!!!! And i was getting a gimbal over load error in yellow in the app. I watched countless videos on youtube and tried some things i saw to correct the issue and to no help. What is insane about this is that i didn't crash the drone for this to happen. The gimbal was fine for 5 months. The p3 was my dream drone cuz that would be all i would be able to afford. My girl surprised me this xmas with the phantom 3 se, even better then the standard!! Now this is not my first drone at all. I had the xk x380, hubsan h501s i have the ehang ghost drone 2.0 and racing drones. So no beginner here. I don't know if it needs a new ribbon cable or what. Its not cut n dry. Its not like oh the wire is snapped off so it needs a new one and then it will be good as new. I have no idea what needs to be fixed. Maybe somene who has had this issue or knows about this issue and knows how to fix it will just make me happy again!!! This is really heart breaking and upsetting to me, I get more then my dream drone that was 650$ and it breaks on its own after 5 months. Go figure. Thank you.

chatikib · May 23, 2018

Where did you do your IMU calibration? Was your drone stable during your IMU calibration and was it standing on a straight surface? And what was the ambient temperature during your IMU calibration?

I advise you not to tinker yet. With that you often destroy more than you solve. What you can do is use a spray can with air and spray gently the connections of your gimbal. You may have sand grains in between. If you do it... do it gently.

Ianaic · May 23, 2018

I did it inside my home where I always do it. there were lights on inside. I hope it's just something like dust. I have no money to fix this thing. I have to pay my phone Bill lol. I don't have duster so ill try to pick some up. I just don't understand how it's fine one day then the next it has a problem. thank you kindly for your help!!!

Flick6211 · May 24, 2018

Ianaic said:
I did it inside my home where I always do it. there were lights on inside. I hope it's just something like dust. I have no money to fix this thing. I have to pay my phone Bill lol. I don't have duster so ill try to pick some up. I just don't understand how it's fine one day then the next it has a problem. thank you kindly for your help!!!

I think something went wrong with your IMU calibration. I advise you to follow the comments of @chatikib and to do it again. Make sure your drone is in a cold and stable place for a longer time. Your drone must be exactly level (horizontal).

You indicate that you have done the IMU calibration more often. For me it is amazing. My P3SE is not that old (about 1 year) but I have never performed an IMU calibration for this drone. Why calibrate so often?

I saw also this instruction. Maybe it can help you:

Ianaic · May 24, 2018

The reason I did an imu calibration is cuz my gimbal would start to do this thing where it would sway back n fourth slowly and the horizon would be way off and the imu calibration would always fix it. when I got my p3se it also came with a dead battery and I always got the distance limit where it would only let me fly 30m and some times one restart would fix it and times where I had to restart the drone like 10 times. I had the distance limit off also. I'm not new to drones at all I fly acro fpv this is my 4th GPS drone but 1st dji drone n my dream drone. I did the imu calibration correct just like In the video. I noticed the gimbal doesn't power up right when I turn it on like it is supposed to. I have to touch it for it to start flopping around. making me think its the ribbon cable. what do you think? Thank you for your time n help!

buder4u · May 24, 2018

Ianaic said:
The reason I did an imu calibration is cuz my gimbal would start to do this thing where it would sway back n fourth slowly and the horizon would be way off and the imu calibration would always fix it. when I got my p3se it also came with a dead battery and I always got the distance limit where it would only let me fly 30m and some times one restart would fix it and times where I had to restart the drone like 10 times. I had the distance limit off also. I'm not new to drones at all I fly acro fpv this is my 4th GPS drone but 1st dji drone n my dream drone. I did the imu calibration correct just like In the video. I noticed the gimbal doesn't power up right when I turn it on like it is supposed to. I have to touch it for it to start flopping around. making me think its the ribbon cable. what do you think? Thank you for your time n help!

Sounds like a hardware error. Send it to a repair center.

Ianaic · May 24, 2018

Does any one know how much it would be to have the gimbal repaired on the phantom 3? Like an estimate or even a guestamit? Thank you all!

JonTheMagnificent · Aug 23, 2019

Ianaic said:
Does any one know how much it would be to have the gimbal repaired on the phantom 3? Like an estimate or even a guestamit? Thank you all!

No mate ive been trying to ask dji for ages and they wont give me a straight answer or a cost unless i send it away first, if they diagnose it and the price is expensive they will charge you 50dollars fee plus return charges