Cant get rid of vibrations, maybe its not your cable

[mudman]

Yes... But even correcting yaw, if the motor isn't vibrating, or vibrating less, then that woukld matter. Even with yaw, vibration can be the underlying cause. In my mind, you have two choices. Eliminate it at it's source and/or stop it's transmition to your camera, I have done a few things.

Right or wrong, the very first thing i did was hover the Solo in front of me and watch it. Not for the faint of heart, but I got right up close to it. I then touched different parts of it. The legs. The arms. Each individually, and repeatedly. You have to be very careful not to get hurt, and not to shove your Solo around, but with a light touch, you can learn a lot from this.

I went through a whole battery doing this. What I learned from this first step is that my Gopro was actually vibrating more than I imagined from the video I was getting. I also found that one motor was producing a LOT more vibrations than the others.

I then took off the props, and ran motors individually with MP, noting the vibration values at different speeds 30%, 50%, 70%, 100% I then balanced the motors, first making a mark on the top of each motpr as the 12 Oclock position. I documented the vibrations at 50% to start. Added metal tape at the 12 Oclock postion, and documented. Moved to 1 Oclock and documented. Moved it to 2 Oclock, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc. until a clear trend emerged. Once the "light" position was found, I then worked my way through half the weight, and twice the weight, until the correct amount of weight was clear. After that, I moved the weight up, and down in similar fashion until that was also clear.

From this excercise, it was clear that one motor (the one with the ding in it) was much more out of whack than the others, even after balancing. I replalced it, and repeated the balancing process for that motor.

At that point, I put the (balanced) props back on and hovered it again. The improvement was pretty dramatic. I then started moving the Solo around (with the sticks) and watched the gimbal move around. It was at that point I decided to balance my gimbal. The idea was that if I balanced it, it would have more power to handle the edge cases. That assumption was corrrect.

At that point I was satisfied. I have a sheet of sorbothane, and put some squares on the main board some time back. I could imagine adding more to the GoPro, the gimbal, or even in the triangles in the legs, but in the end, I dont need to. At least not at the moment.

Hope it helps...

thanks for the help, I decided to hook up mine to MP and test the motors. my #4 motor is extremely noisy and vibrates a lot. ive only got about 5 flights on mine (recently replaced RMA) I think I'm going to contact 3dr to see what can be done to replace or repair the motor.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Ahem.
Well... since Solo isn't going to be drastically modified anytime soon, like your beloved Phantoms with their pre-determined expiration dates... sadly, no Solo 2, 5, 22 are planned...
Why not simply learn how to fly and use it properly in the first place instead of laying out, in full public view, examples of your incompetence?
I mean, seriously dude.

Sheesh....... Obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer....

And obviously he doesn't get around the interwebs much either...

Google

Comments like these are not welcome. There is no need to berate other members.
Please report issues if you see them and let the staff handle it. Thanks.

 

[Kmd1984]

Maybe you need to balance your motors

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To me it looks like the two front motors vibrate the most. Did you turn your phone 180° around and tried the same text?!

 

[User Name]

except I dont have that cable anymore.
I ditched the hard HDMI cable for a ribbon cable, and I stripped the data cable too.

The video above is after those mods that should have effectively eliminated the cable as the cause

The individual wires in the data cable themselves are very stiff, so stripping sheathing only does so much. Next time you have it opened up, try to bend a single wire from the data cable. They are extremely stiff. I ordered some high strand count, pure silicon insulated wires, just haven't had the time to make up some cables from them, but I can tell you, they are significantly more flexible than the stock wires.

Again, I'm not arguing that the motors aren't the source of a lot of vibrations and should be balanced, but knowing that mass production would allow motors so out of balance that the video stability would be compromised, there's really no excuse for not using softer more flexible wires.

And the motors aren't the only source of vibrations, wind, buffeting from the props, etc. all contribute. I'm just saying that each part contributes to the overall performance.

 

[J R]

Earl, Erik or anyone else familiar with motor balancing,

Okay, I've done the test as shown in the video link Earl provided. I set the vibrations app exactly as he has done so in the video. I ran the tests on each motor over again at least 10 times each. I have not attempted any balancing. I'm confused because I'm getting numbers much lower than those presented in the video. My numbers for each motor are consistently the same:

01 - .005
02 - .013 to .015
03 - .004
04 - .006

I'm prepared to start the balancing process but since the numbers seemed so low in comparison I didn't want to move on to the next step until I knew these numbers make sense. Does this seem right or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

Jerry

 

[RichWest]

@J R - Regardless of your original levels, your benchmark, you can improve based on those results. Start with your worst motor and process the balancing as suggested. FWIW, I doubt, seeing your videos, that you obtaining those types of levels...if so, I'll eat my Solo...

FWIW, I lay my naked phone on top of the battery about a 1/4" from the battery release button unsecured. From there I watch the readings tick by. The arm placement may effectively work better, but the battery is convenient for the level we will be able to obtain from using a phone app and tape...just saying.

@pyrate , I don't think your using an accelerometer app, looks as tho you're measuring sound....instead. I've been using the Vibration Monitoring app on Android, free version...has a obscure record function if needed.

 

[J R]

@J R FWIW, I doubt, seeing your videos, that you obtaining those types of levels...if so, I'll eat my Solo...

Rich,

Thanks for the reply. That's what's bugging me, I would think that my numbers are somehow wrong. I don't want go chasing down a badger hole. I looked over his settings, took my iPhone out of its case and secured it to each arm using tape and that's what I'm getting.

Jerry

 

[RichWest]

What are the numbers you provided representing from the app? and what app are you using...to be clear.

 

[J R]

What are the numbers you provided representing from the app? and what app are you using...to be clear.

I'm using the "Vibration" IOS app. The same $5 app he is using in the video. The numbers are the "rms" of the "Z", just as he uses in the video.

I just came home and did it again using the method you described with the iPhone laying on the battery pack and the numbers are even lower yet.

Jerry

 

[J R]

Here's a pic...

 

[David Weston]

OK, I just got the same app, same thing. AND, my #4 motor was about ready to fail with a totally trashed bearing,,,noise so loud I couldn't stand it at 50%,,,showed nothing,,,same app

 

[RichWest]

Wow, you guys are either really good or I've got problems with my setup....don't tell the wife.

@David Weston I really find it strange that, when asked, the majority of people have an issue with the #4 motor...anyone else seeing the trend?

 

[J R]

Well, it's a no go for me. Spent hour after hour trying to perform this balance process and pretty much got nowhere. Although I can get the graphing to enlarge so I can see the spectrum better, there is no way for me to get a more precise read. I'm pretty much trying to balance down from ,002 - .004. No matter where or how I place the iPhone I can't get a more precise read,

I can definitely feel the vibration on each motor arm by hand. I have one motor (01) that puts out next to nothing in vibration at 50%. I can barely tell that it's running. The other 3 have noticeable vibration with 03 being the worst.

I watched a dozen or better YouTube vids and I get the concept but without a more precise number to deal with I'm just going around in circles. I downloaded every vibration app I could find to no avail. I found one Android app that shows a good graph but only provides one number and it never goes static so I can't get a precise read on it either. Gonna give it up and get some sleep. Maybe try to figure out something else tomorrow.

Jerry

 

[Jubalr]

Well, it's a no go for me. Spent hour after hour trying to perform this balance process and pretty much got nowhere. Although I can get the graphing to enlarge so I can see the spectrum better, there is no way for me to get a more precise read. I'm pretty much trying to balance down from ,002 - .004. No matter where or how I place the iPhone I can't get a more precise read,

I can definitely feel the vibration on each motor arm by hand. I have one motor (01) that puts out next to nothing in vibration at 50%. I can barely tell that it's running. The other 3 have noticeable vibration with 03 being the worst.

I watched a dozen or better YouTube vids and I get the concept but without a more precise number to deal with I'm just going around in circles. I downloaded every vibration app I could find to no avail. I found one Android app that shows a good graph but only provides one number and it never goes static so I can't get a precise read on it either. Gonna give it up and get some sleep. Maybe try to figure out something else tomorrow.

Jerry

Well, if nothing else, forget the high tech apps. Just use touch and follow the same process to at least get the vibes down on the other 3 to match #1.

 

[David Weston]

Yesterday I told you about running the MP Motor Test and through that discovered that the #4 motor pod had a serious bearing issue which I am sure was just about to fail When flying up until that point SOLO didn't sound quite right and occasionally would get the "vibration". I did have a spare motor pod and replaced #4, did MP Motor test again. I can't believe the difference in sound between the new motor and even the other 3. New one sounds like a fine tuned racing motor, just hums, the others, a little more of a background "growl". Just got back from an early morning test flight and the difference in video quality is absolutely dramatic. There is some footage while in hover and slow forward and reverse that was absolutely perfect whereas as before "it" would creep in no matter what I was doing. In fact, while in hover at times I thought the frame had stopped when in fact it was still running. Now, there was some vibration but it only happened when rapidly increasing or decreasing alt. One of the posters over at the SOLO mod club has been experimenting with props and it's possible that when the dynamic pressure of loading increases that the props could start to flap. When load is reduced, then it stops. I am going to pare back the shrink wrap on the data cable today but seriously, I am pretty happy with what I now have. I may replace the other 3 pods. I strongly would suggest running the MP Motor test. You just might find something that needs addressing.

 

[User Name]

Well, if nothing else, forget the high tech apps. Just use touch and follow the same process to at least get the vibes down on the other 3 to match #1.

Agree on just using touch. I just balanced my motors this morning, and didn't bother using my phone. The accelerometers in a phone weren't really designed for such a precision task.

It was pretty easy to just lightly touch the outside edge of each arm and feel the vibrations. I moved a small piece of electrical tape around until the vibration was reduced and then started to increase again (as I moved it past an area). I moved it back and then went up/down in size of the piece of tape until the vibrations were pretty much gone. Only one motor needed a piece about 1cm x 1cm, all the others needed maybe 1/2 that. Haven't flight tested it yet, but I will soon.

 

[J R]

I moved it back and then went up/down in size of the piece of tape until the vibrations were pretty much gone.

User,

Thanks for the note. I tried that as the last resort but it was probably about 2:00am. I'll give it a shot again today when I'm a little moe coherent!

Jerry

 

[RichWest]

FWIW, I replaced the bearings on motor #4. The original balance weight was 0.006g prior to replacement, after the weight is now at 0.002g. So an interesting change in weight/balance based on bearings.... I am not able to obtain low readings like you other guys, but the felt vibration did improve with the bearing swap.

I'll be adding further notes to my motor balance data thread this weekend. More details about the bearings and the discoveries made during the process.

 

[Maddog]

Earl, Erik or anyone else familiar with motor balancing,

Okay, I've done the test as shown in the video link Earl provided. I set the vibrations app exactly as he has done so in the video. I ran the tests on each motor over again at least 10 times each. I have not attempted any balancing. I'm confused because I'm getting numbers much lower than those presented in the video. My numbers for each motor are consistently the same:

01 - .005
02 - .013 to .015
03 - .004
04 - .006

I'm prepared to start the balancing process but since the numbers seemed so low in comparison I didn't want to move on to the next step until I knew these numbers make sense. Does this seem right or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

Jerry

I just tried balancing using the same app on my iPad which I placed on top of the battery, for what it's worth. If you change the following setting you can see the "waves" more clearly:
Under "time series settings", change vertical multiplier from "1x" to "0.1x". Anyway, I got the following numbers from the Z scale:

1) min .024 max .018
2) min .004 max .004
3) min .005 max .005
4) min .029 max .033

I'll work on actually balancing #1 and #4 later.

 

[Maddog]

FWIW, I replaced the bearings on motor #4. The original balance weight was 0.006g prior to replacement, after the weight is now at 0.002g. So an interesting change in weight/balance based on bearings.... I am not able to obtain low readings like you other guys, but the felt vibration did improve with the bearing swap.

I'll be adding further notes to my motor balance data thread this weekend. More details about the bearings and the discoveries made during the process.

Where do you get the bearings?