Double check your gimbal install.

[Mike Lanzetta]

I've been having some Gimbal Flop and various other errors. I turned the quad over and looked close and noticed that the center shaft of the gimbal wasn't centered. So I took the battery tray off and looked at it from the other side and noticed that the center steel wheel was touching the body of the mount. That meant that the gimbal wasn't free to move with the rubber balls, it was hitting the body, and possibly restricting its rotation and adding vibration.

I took the gimbal back out, and adjusted all of the cables (and even found an extra rubber ball??) and made sure nothing was restricting its movements. Having the battery tray removed made this possible.


After:



Have not tested for Flop yet, but correcting this can only help gimbal operations.

 

[Raybro]

Thanks for the heads up. Seen the similar thing with Troy's (ATx RC) gimbal which corrected his issue. Looks like anything touching those motors could cause problems.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Yea it seems this oversight may be at the root of most if not all the "gimbal failures". I'm hoping anyway, seems like an easy thing to miss especially since guys who have built multis before are having this issue too. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Even plastic if it's plastic from solo itself, this will still be stronger than the weak points of my zenmuse and since I've not crashed or handled it like a gorrilla it even still works great. So I have no problem with a mostly plastic gimbal long as it works. 400 bucks yea a bit steep but if it's all its supposed to be oh well, I pay for function and performance not raw materials so if it's not cheap and it works I'm fine with it.

 

[Smokealotapotamus]

Thanks for the info, Mike. As per your recommendations I checked, and as I suspected, I still don't have a gimbal.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Yea I'm checking now too and there's a lot more space under my tray wires aren't a problem, they have more than enough room. It's almost like something's missing. Hmmm

 

[David Weston]

Mine's been drooping off and on also..lol. Seriously, I've had a few issues lately, not going into the details other than to say that I started having intermittent erratic flight behavior and each outing became more pronounced than the time before. Had a hard landing!! Sent logs off to TS on Tues. by Friday they were back to me with the problem. #3 split second failures, shipping new motor out Monday overnight!! So, to get back on track. Gimbal was drooping, intermittent, then OK. Took off gimbal, reset wiring, looked good. Next test, same thing. Took battery tray out as above. I have done the M8N mod and it looked like the wires had dropped down after the hard landing and occasionally would rub the motor. It would tilt but not come back to level. Reset GPS wires, tests seem OK, now. Flight test when new motor arrives Tuesday. Also, a big attaboy to TS/CS, 3 days start to replacement (overnight) for a very tough problem to find. Just remember, there is a cost to keeping those people on the job and next time someone says, "a P3 is so much cheaper",,,it's because we have a service team waiting to help us,,,they don't!

 

[Mike Lanzetta]

Thanks for the info, Mike. As per your recommendations I checked, and as I suspected, I still don't have a gimbal.

Now that's funny.

 

[Mike Lanzetta]

Update:
I put it all back together, did a Level calibration, THEN did a compass cal. Was getting the red light on the gimbal, and when I went to fly I had the worst gimbal flop yet, constant crazy gimbal movements to all extremes, completely unusable. Landed.
Next, I noticed that the shade protector that comes with the gimbal was hitting the ground as the gimbal went through it power up movements. So I took it off.
Before my next flight, I did the Level Cal AFTER the compass cal.
My next flight - a perfectly behaved gimbal.
Stay tuned.

 

[Monty]

Good to hear. I've been having a gimbal flop on almost every flight during benign conditions. Removed the battery tray to check your idea and found the same condition. The wires weren't rubbing but the stiffness was pushing the hub very near the board. Rearranged and will test once rain ends. Otherwise, Solo and gimbal behave nicely since gimbal finally arrived this week from Spring 3DR direct order. Agree that Cust Support is responsive and helpful but this forum is great and where I've found solutions to most of my shakedown issues. Kudos to 3DR engineering for adding crash detection. I burned out a motor pod on day 1 but after the firmware update Solo is faster on the shutoff than I am.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Mine's been drooping off and on also..lol. Seriously, I've had a few issues lately, not going into the details other than to say that I started having intermittent erratic flight behavior and each outing became more pronounced than the time before. Had a hard landing!! Sent logs off to TS on Tues. by Friday they were back to me with the problem. #3 split second failures, shipping new motor out Monday overnight!! So, to get back on track. Gimbal was drooping, intermittent, then OK. Took off gimbal, reset wiring, looked good. Next test, same thing. Took battery tray out as above. I have done the M8N mod and it looked like the wires had dropped down after the hard landing and occasionally would rub the motor. It would tilt but not come back to level. Reset GPS wires, tests seem OK, now. Flight test when new motor arrives Tuesday. Also, a big attaboy to TS/CS, 3 days start to replacement (overnight) for a very tough problem to find. Just remember, there is a cost to keeping those people on the job and next time someone says, "a P3 is so much cheaper",,,it's because we have a service team waiting to help us,,,they don't!

Sounds like folks are cooking motor pods pretty quickly did 3dr replace it free of charge and if so I assume that's for our first year only ?

Haven't had any burnt yet but one does seem slightly different than the others so far. Just curious what I'm in for if it goes?

 

[Monty]

Motor pod was my bad. 3DR was quick to review the logs. I drifted under a tree and hadn't done my due diligence with fly:manual when I lost GPS. I landed on grass while drifting and flipped. Also hadn't practiced AB|Pause. It was day 1 after waiting for two months to fly my new Solo (I left for a month on the road and Solo arrived the day after I left.) I'm comfortable in manual now and with emergency motor shutdown but Solo still flips on landing sometimes and the 3DR fix has saved me props and motors.

 

[Monty]

Sounds like folks are cooking motor pods pretty quickly did 3dr replace it free of charge and if so I assume that's for our first year only ?

Haven't had any burnt yet but one does seem slightly different than the others so far. Just curious what I'm in for if it goes?

I bought a new one which arrived in two weeks. Easy to replace. $70? Direct from 3DR. But the new firmware should make this a less frequent issue.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Yea I had one tip early on after a gps glitch with a clear view but managed to stop it in time. Think that's when the one may have started to feel a bit different though. Thanks for the info.

 

[Monty]

I've been having some Gimbal Flop and various other errors. I turned the quad over and looked close and noticed that the center shaft of the gimbal wasn't centered. So I took the battery tray off and looked at it from the other side and noticed that the center steel wheel was touching the body of the mount. That meant that the gimbal wasn't free to move with the rubber balls, it was hitting the body, and possibly restricting its rotation and adding vibration.

I took the gimbal back out, and adjusted all of the cables (and even found an extra rubber ball??) and made sure nothing was restricting its movements. Having the battery tray removed made this possible.
View attachment 1145

After:

View attachment 1146

Have not tested for Flop yet, but correcting this can only help gimbal operations.

Adjusting the hub fit under the battery tray per Mike's picture worked for me! Gimbal now A-OK under tough conditions. No more gimbal flop. I posted a longer reply in the Solo Gibal discussion here referencing Mike's photo and also sent to 3DR.