Gimbal keeps cycling up and down?

[E.T._Drone_Home]

OK so I'm new to this, it's my 1st four prop bird and there's a lot to learn. Just learned a stupid lesson but at least there was no damage done.
Just got this thing today and did all the new bird updates etc and the darn gimbal kept cycling up and down. Did a search here and found a few instances of this happening and even saw a few solutions which didn't help me.
Took it to town to try it out at low altitudes no higher than 20 ft and no more than 60 ft out. Anyway the stupid gimbal kept cycling up and down so I went ahead and took off just to see what happened. After about 8 minutes of constant cycling in flight it finally quit and leveled like it should. Performed my little flight then loaded it up and brought it home. That was only my 2nd flight, the 1st was in the driveway and only got it 5 ft off the ground and the gimbal did the same then.

Anyway, I get it home and have it on the coffee table and decided to fire it up to preload some maps. The darn gimbal started it's crap again so I got to looking the bird over and lo and behold I find a block of gimbal support foam for transport still lodged in between the underside of the aircraft and the gimbal!!!
Gee, I wonder what that little red sticker means on the foam that says "Remove before flight"? Lol Oooops!
That solved all my problems! The bad thing is, this block of foam is a similar color as the gimbal which makes it seem like it's a part of the bird at 1st glance.
The only reason I'm posting this is maybe there is someone out there with a new bird that is as green and air headed as myself that still needs to take that foam shipping block out. Greenhorns unite!!!

 

[Traveler]

I wouldn't guarantee that the block was the cause, probable, but not positive. I have been flying mine for a number of weeks, without the sipping block of course, however I had a onetime event the other day when my gimbal did the same thing. I shutdown the AC and restarted and it was gone. Could be an odd bug too.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Raptorman0909]

I had to return my first P4P due to a continuously cycling gimbal -- the up down dance that never ends. I had noticed that when powered up in my house the gimbal would home and when it tilted down it would hang a bit about -105 degrees then it would kind of jump the rest of the way to about -120 degrees and then back to level (zero degrees) and all would be fine. But, out in the field I managed my first flight without a problem but when I went to launch for the second flight I powered on and the bird did the up down homing sequence over and over and would not compete -- I had to pack up and go home. When I got home it worked OK in my home, but once again it kind of hung for a second at about -105 degrees.

I then took it out for it's second day of flying a couple days later and once again the first flight went without a problem but once again the gimbal homing problem arose after powering up for the second flight. I powered off and manually moved the gimbal through the full range of motion and felt a bit of a snag at the -105 point but when I power up again it worked so I was able to get my second flight in.

When I got home after the second trip I took a closer look at it and what appears to be happening is the ribbon cable that connects to the camera on the right side gimbal pivot appears to be snagging on something and it kind of snaps or 'oil cans' (oil-canning - Wiktionary).

So, I did not want the camera to lock in the down position in flight and risk losing the drone because of it so I returned it and bought another one to replace it. The replacement has a similar snag but so far the gimbal homing has always completed without hanging up and cycling. This looks to be either a design or manufacturing defect and I suspect that P4P shipped a month or so from now will not have this problem. I was tempted to tear it apart and look for myself, but I didn't what to risk screwing it up and not being able to return it.


Brian

 

[E.T._Drone_Home]

I had to return my first P4P due to a continuously cycling gimbal -- the up down dance that never ends. I had noticed that when powered up in my house the gimbal would home and when it tilted down it would hang a bit about -105 degrees then it would kind of jump the rest of the way to about -120 degrees and then back to level (zero degrees) and all would be fine. But, out in the field I managed my first flight without a problem but when I went to launch for the second flight I powered on and the bird did the up down homing sequence over and over and would not compete -- I had to pack up and go home. When I got home it worked OK in my home, but once again it kind of hung for a second at about -105 degrees.

I then took it out for it's second day of flying a couple days later and once again the first flight went without a problem but once again the gimbal homing problem arose after powering up for the second flight. I powered off and manually moved the gimbal through the full range of motion and felt a bit of a snag at the -105 point but when I power up again it worked so I was able to get my second flight in.

When I got home after the second trip I took a closer look at it and what appears to be happening is the ribbon cable that connects to the camera on the right side gimbal pivot appears to be snagging on something and it kind of snaps or 'oil cans' (oil-canning - Wiktionary).

So, I did not want the camera to lock in the down position in flight and risk losing the drone because of it so I returned it and bought another one to replace it. The replacement has a similar snag but so far the gimbal homing has always completed without hanging up and cycling. This looks to be either a design or manufacturing defect and I suspect that P4P shipped a month or so from now will not have this problem. I was tempted to tear it apart and look for myself, but I didn't what to risk screwing it up and not being able to return it.


Brian

BINGO!!! in my case too! It started cycling again and upon closer inspection it was hitting the ribbon cable like you described. I used my thumb and gently moved the cable back some out of the way and now it never cycles any more than it should initially. Oh believe me, I don't move the cable much out of fear of ruining it. But the transport block was still not letting the gimbal move as it should.

 

[MedicFL1]

Yup, I found that out the same way.
Also, there is a small clear plastic film that needs to be removed just above the gimbal.

OK so I'm new to this, it's my 1st four prop bird and there's a lot to learn. Just learned a stupid lesson but at least there was no damage done.
Just got this thing today and did all the new bird updates etc and the darn gimbal kept cycling up and down. Did a search here and found a few instances of this happening and even saw a few solutions which didn't help me.
Took it to town to try it out at low altitudes no higher than 20 ft and no more than 60 ft out. Anyway the stupid gimbal kept cycling up and down so I went ahead and took off just to see what happened. After about 8 minutes of constant cycling in flight it finally quit and leveled like it should. Performed my little flight then loaded it up and brought it home. That was only my 2nd flight, the 1st was in the driveway and only got it 5 ft off the ground and the gimbal did the same then.

Anyway, I get it home and have it on the coffee table and decided to fire it up to preload some maps. The darn gimbal started it's crap again so I got to looking the bird over and lo and behold I find a block of gimbal support foam for transport still lodged in between the underside of the aircraft and the gimbal!!!
Gee, I wonder what that little red sticker means on the foam that says "Remove before flight"? Lol Oooops!
That solved all my problems! The bad thing is, this block of foam is a similar color as the gimbal which makes it seem like it's a part of the bird at 1st glance.
The only reason I'm posting this is maybe there is someone out there with a new bird that is as green and air headed as myself that still needs to take that foam shipping block out. Greenhorns unite!!!

 

[Pepino Grande]

I just lift mine a little of the ground and it completes the cycle and then it is fine. Usually it's just that the grass is a little too high for to do the downward cycle.

 

[E.T._Drone_Home]

Good news update: Since I first got this bird and used my thumb to move the ribbon cable a couple times I haven't had the cycling up and down issue at all. Guess I got lucky. But then again all my flying has been in cold weather. Hopefully the cable doesn't interfere once the weather warms up.