- Joined
- May 4, 2014
- Messages
- 137
- Reaction score
- 19
Hi all,
Just wanted to write a quick report on a positive experience with DJI 24-hour tech support today. I've been around this forum for over a year, owned several Phantom 2 Vision+ units and had my share of frustrations and delays when dealing with my local DJI resellers when it comes to technical support.
I decided to get a DJI Phantom 3 Professional because it was the best fit for my requirements, and I decided to order from DJI directly to bypass my local resellers. But was vary of potential support problems, and I had been disappointed with service before.
With the release of the Phantom 3, DJI implemented a 24-hour tech web chat support, and today I used it for my first time.
The short version
Long story short the DJI support person "Phantom_William" guided me through a process and what eventually fixed it for me was unplugging and reconnecting one of the cable from the sonar/VPS (the module in the rear) to the gimbal. This saved me a lot of hassle in experimenting with my own fix and I simply did not have time to send the unit for repair as I have an upcoming overseas holiday in a number of days.
The long version (with photos and the full chat log)
I decided to take a break in the late afternoon, so I walked out of the office to a park near by. I set up my P3P, went through the checklist and to my dismay I noticed that the gimbal remained limp despite the aircraft powered up. The DJI app reported a "Gimbal Gyroscope error. Hardware malfunction...".
The unit worked the day before without problem, and never experienced this problem so on the iPad I decided to log on and give DJI's tech support a go. I was not expecting much help to be honest. DJI is based in mainland China and when communicating through a language barrier, it can make communications hard.
It took around 5 minutes to create a chat session and get a live person. I was now chatting with "Phantom_William".
I explained my issue (e.g. unpowered gimbal) and he gave some suggestions. Here they were:
We tried re-calibrating the IMU and gimbal IMU...
IMU calibration complete. Gyro are now mod 0, Accelerometers now mod 1.00. Good, but this didn't affect the gimbal, it stayed limp.
My Phantom 3 Pro's gimbal powered up, with a limp gimbal.
"Phantom_William" then asked me to check the gimbal cables, and try to disconnect and reconnect them. I powered down the unit.
The side cable to the gimbal seemed fine, I disconnected this fairly easily and reconnected it. Made no difference. Gimbal still limp.
Shot of the front of the unit, to illustrate that the unit had no damage what so ever.
The DJI tech support "Phantom_William" then asked me to check the rear cable as well.This required me to disconnect one of the gimbal mounts. The rear cable looked fine and seated correctly.
"Phantom_William" asked me to reconnect the rear cable. I told him that this was tricky as it is located just in front of the sonar/VPS box and I was outdoors without my usual tools.
I thought about it and used my work ID plastic card to carefully lever the rear cable out from the gimbal. I then reconnected it by hand.
Upon powering up the unit, I saw that the gimbal sprung back to life! The DJI app reported all systems normal.
I was SO relieved and thanked him. I'm heading overseas in 10 days and really wanted to bring the Phantom 3 Pro with me. Sending it back to DJI for repair was not a good option.
Anyway, that's my little report. The Tech web chat support definitely was useful for me today. According to my log, I initiated the web chat at 16:00, and had a resolution by 16:31, so that's 31 minutes. Not too bad, the tech support person was very polite and patient.
The full chat log, which I recorded. Amazing support, definitely gave me a lot more confidence in the product and company.
As to why I needed to reseat the gimbal cable, I have no idea.
Maybe it was a loose connection? The unit has had 1.5 hours of flying since I received it last week.
Anyway, I've bagged DJI in the past for shoddy support, well today was refreshing.
Just wanted to write a quick report on a positive experience with DJI 24-hour tech support today. I've been around this forum for over a year, owned several Phantom 2 Vision+ units and had my share of frustrations and delays when dealing with my local DJI resellers when it comes to technical support.
I decided to get a DJI Phantom 3 Professional because it was the best fit for my requirements, and I decided to order from DJI directly to bypass my local resellers. But was vary of potential support problems, and I had been disappointed with service before.
With the release of the Phantom 3, DJI implemented a 24-hour tech web chat support, and today I used it for my first time.
The short version
Long story short the DJI support person "Phantom_William" guided me through a process and what eventually fixed it for me was unplugging and reconnecting one of the cable from the sonar/VPS (the module in the rear) to the gimbal. This saved me a lot of hassle in experimenting with my own fix and I simply did not have time to send the unit for repair as I have an upcoming overseas holiday in a number of days.
The long version (with photos and the full chat log)
I decided to take a break in the late afternoon, so I walked out of the office to a park near by. I set up my P3P, went through the checklist and to my dismay I noticed that the gimbal remained limp despite the aircraft powered up. The DJI app reported a "Gimbal Gyroscope error. Hardware malfunction...".
The unit worked the day before without problem, and never experienced this problem so on the iPad I decided to log on and give DJI's tech support a go. I was not expecting much help to be honest. DJI is based in mainland China and when communicating through a language barrier, it can make communications hard.
It took around 5 minutes to create a chat session and get a live person. I was now chatting with "Phantom_William".
I explained my issue (e.g. unpowered gimbal) and he gave some suggestions. Here they were:
We tried re-calibrating the IMU and gimbal IMU...
IMU calibration complete. Gyro are now mod 0, Accelerometers now mod 1.00. Good, but this didn't affect the gimbal, it stayed limp.
My Phantom 3 Pro's gimbal powered up, with a limp gimbal.
"Phantom_William" then asked me to check the gimbal cables, and try to disconnect and reconnect them. I powered down the unit.
The side cable to the gimbal seemed fine, I disconnected this fairly easily and reconnected it. Made no difference. Gimbal still limp.
Shot of the front of the unit, to illustrate that the unit had no damage what so ever.
The DJI tech support "Phantom_William" then asked me to check the rear cable as well.This required me to disconnect one of the gimbal mounts. The rear cable looked fine and seated correctly.
"Phantom_William" asked me to reconnect the rear cable. I told him that this was tricky as it is located just in front of the sonar/VPS box and I was outdoors without my usual tools.
I thought about it and used my work ID plastic card to carefully lever the rear cable out from the gimbal. I then reconnected it by hand.
Upon powering up the unit, I saw that the gimbal sprung back to life! The DJI app reported all systems normal.
I was SO relieved and thanked him. I'm heading overseas in 10 days and really wanted to bring the Phantom 3 Pro with me. Sending it back to DJI for repair was not a good option.
Anyway, that's my little report. The Tech web chat support definitely was useful for me today. According to my log, I initiated the web chat at 16:00, and had a resolution by 16:31, so that's 31 minutes. Not too bad, the tech support person was very polite and patient.
The full chat log, which I recorded. Amazing support, definitely gave me a lot more confidence in the product and company.
As to why I needed to reseat the gimbal cable, I have no idea.
Maybe it was a loose connection? The unit has had 1.5 hours of flying since I received it last week.
Anyway, I've bagged DJI in the past for shoddy support, well today was refreshing.
