Gimbal noise normal?

Brojon · Jan 11, 2018

So I ran into I think a battery update today (firmware mismatch) so I brought it inside and placed it on a sheet of thin board to do the update inside.
Fired everything up and I noticed that *after* the gimbal had calibrated it made a weird ratcheting noise - for all the world like a stripped gear. It did it a couple of random times and quit. I almost wondered if it was racking teh focus but then I did that by tapping on screen and it was silent. It does not appear to be moving the camera in any way.
Turned it off and gently moved teh gimbal - smooth as glass in all directions. Impressively so I might add.
Fired it up and it did it again.
This time I used C1 to rotate the gimbal from straight down to straight forward. It rotated down dead silent. Tapped C1 again and it flipped back up - slight pause then the ratchet noise again.
I've literally only flown the thing maybe 4 times, never landed hard, never crashed. I likely just never noticed but I don't want to ignore a potential problem and have it get worse. It does not affect the video from what I can see - no obvious jerking or twitching. I guess I could record some video and check that.
Ideas?

Brojon · Jan 12, 2018

Nothing?

erickwill · Jan 12, 2018

Can you take a video with good quality sound? So we gonna have a parameter of the noise that you did mention.

Brojon · Jan 12, 2018

erickwill said:
Can you take a video with good quality sound? So we gonna have a parameter of the noise that you did mention.

I can give it a try but if you imagine what a zip tie sounds like when you pull it tight that's it exactly.

erickwill · Jan 12, 2018

Sometimes - actually a few times - when turning it on, I listen to some zip noise like.. but so far it did not get worse or increase to a point of RMA. I would advise you to fly and test as much as you can. Do not worry about a defect unless it becomes a real defect. The sound in itself, per my experience, does not represents a real problem when it happens a couple times.

Brojon · Jan 12, 2018

This guy has a good video. The first one is much worse than mine but #2 & #3 are pretty similar in timing and duration. Note that it seems to be related to 0 degrees positioning.

erickwill · Jan 12, 2018

wow.. it's really bad! The sound I got a few times is much more discrete for sure.. but as you could see after a while it stops.. really weird.. I would say... RMA.