I'm just starting a dedicated thread, for those interested and those who might not have seen the discussion in Rich West's thread.
So most of us have experienced jitters and vibrations in our footage. Addressing these fall into two categories - reducing the vibrations at the source by balancing props and motors, and isolating the gimbal from any remaining vibrations. Most have probably noticed that 3DR seems to have gone out of it's way to find the hardest, stiffest wire ever produced by man for the gimbal data cable! All joking aside, this is some of the stiffest wire I've ever seen.
To address this, I made up a small ~2.5 inch extension that goes in-line between the stock cable and the gimbal. Unlike the stock cable, this is made with the softest, most flexible 28 gauge silicon insulated wire I could find. I've been using these on my Solos for over a year with no ill effect.
This isn't a silver bullet, it's still advisable to balance the motors and props and possibly address the HDMI cable, but this is about the easiest way to all but eliminate the data cable from transferring vibrations to the camera.
I hope people don't think $20 each, shipped, is too much. They're not difficult to make, just time consuming between the cutting, stripping, crimping and soldering. I use the same color wire (generally) as the stock cable, double and triple check to make sure the wires are correct, and check each cable with a meter for shorts/continuity.
If anyone's interested, please just PM me your address and how many you want. I'll reply with my Paypal address when I'm ready to send them out. If I don't reply right away, it's because I just need to make another batch. I'll get them made up as soon as possible and get back to you.
Here's a picture of the cable, and how I have it routed in my Solo.
Updating the post with some instructions for those who haven't already opened up their Solo:
Step 1: Remove the GPS cover. I've found squeezing the sides and pushing/pulling it towards the front to be the easiest (see video)
Step 2: Remove the 7 screws holding the battery tray in. Once it's loose, the GPS cable will need to be disconnected from the main board. There's a little tab in the connector, just squeeze and the connector should wiggle loose without much effort.
Step 3: Remove the data cable from the gimbal. The connector has the same tab as the GPS connector, and sometimes it's easier to use a screw driver to depress this tab if you have large fingers.
Step 4: Bend the cable more or less as shown in the photo below. I've tried a number of routings and have found this to be best. Basically, you just want the cable to loop into the front right arm a bit and then back.
Step 5: Connect the extension to the stock cable, and then loop it over the stock cable and into the gimbal. Try to ensure neither the stock cable or the extension will be touching the body or the battery tray when replaced. It takes some fiddling, but shouldn't be too hard. If you find a better routing, that's fine too, this has just worked for me.
Step 6: Reconnect the GPS cable and replace the battery tray. You might need to wiggle and fiddle with the battery terminals to get the tray to seat down fully, but it should do so without much effort.
Step 7: Replace all the screws, and snap the GPS cover back into place.
That's pretty much it. Here's a video showing the whole process:
So most of us have experienced jitters and vibrations in our footage. Addressing these fall into two categories - reducing the vibrations at the source by balancing props and motors, and isolating the gimbal from any remaining vibrations. Most have probably noticed that 3DR seems to have gone out of it's way to find the hardest, stiffest wire ever produced by man for the gimbal data cable! All joking aside, this is some of the stiffest wire I've ever seen.
To address this, I made up a small ~2.5 inch extension that goes in-line between the stock cable and the gimbal. Unlike the stock cable, this is made with the softest, most flexible 28 gauge silicon insulated wire I could find. I've been using these on my Solos for over a year with no ill effect.
This isn't a silver bullet, it's still advisable to balance the motors and props and possibly address the HDMI cable, but this is about the easiest way to all but eliminate the data cable from transferring vibrations to the camera.
I hope people don't think $20 each, shipped, is too much. They're not difficult to make, just time consuming between the cutting, stripping, crimping and soldering. I use the same color wire (generally) as the stock cable, double and triple check to make sure the wires are correct, and check each cable with a meter for shorts/continuity.
If anyone's interested, please just PM me your address and how many you want. I'll reply with my Paypal address when I'm ready to send them out. If I don't reply right away, it's because I just need to make another batch. I'll get them made up as soon as possible and get back to you.
Here's a picture of the cable, and how I have it routed in my Solo.
Updating the post with some instructions for those who haven't already opened up their Solo:
Step 1: Remove the GPS cover. I've found squeezing the sides and pushing/pulling it towards the front to be the easiest (see video)
Step 2: Remove the 7 screws holding the battery tray in. Once it's loose, the GPS cable will need to be disconnected from the main board. There's a little tab in the connector, just squeeze and the connector should wiggle loose without much effort.
Step 3: Remove the data cable from the gimbal. The connector has the same tab as the GPS connector, and sometimes it's easier to use a screw driver to depress this tab if you have large fingers.
Step 4: Bend the cable more or less as shown in the photo below. I've tried a number of routings and have found this to be best. Basically, you just want the cable to loop into the front right arm a bit and then back.
Step 5: Connect the extension to the stock cable, and then loop it over the stock cable and into the gimbal. Try to ensure neither the stock cable or the extension will be touching the body or the battery tray when replaced. It takes some fiddling, but shouldn't be too hard. If you find a better routing, that's fine too, this has just worked for me.
Step 6: Reconnect the GPS cable and replace the battery tray. You might need to wiggle and fiddle with the battery terminals to get the tray to seat down fully, but it should do so without much effort.
Step 7: Replace all the screws, and snap the GPS cover back into place.
That's pretty much it. Here's a video showing the whole process:
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