Gimbal failing during flight
- Thread starter Mke Harbell
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- solo solo gimbal
Too bad about the gimbal but gotta say that footage was looking awesome. What mode where you shooting in?
Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk
Just to add my two cents, I am having the same problem with my gimbal. Curiously, the problem has increased since the new update (1.0.15). I have tried all of the calibrations and even tried to balance the gimbal, but to no avail. It is totally random and seems to occur about two to three times per battery; usually at just the wrong time. Based on what I am hearing on this forum, it sounds like it might be time to file a report with 3DR or wait until the next update to see if it has been corrected. The other interesting issue is that I have been unable to re-create the failure while not flying. I can fire up all of the systems and manually "fly" it around using all of the angles one could expect during flight, but no "drunk gimbal" appears. I am just guessing, but I think it is a software issue which is affecting only those few gimbals that are on the edge of the specification range. What specification, I have no idea. Other than this one issue, the gimbal works fine.
Personally, I would start a ticket, by phone. If a fix comes you can always carry on, but nothing like an engineer looking at it to unveil something you might not be able to know, or might have missed.
You will start with first line support. If they can't fix it (likely on this case) you can then get to an engineer.
So looks like gimbal not ready i have the same issues as y'all not sure what the problem, needs new update for gimbal
I may have had a different problem than others here, although I did see the gimbal tilt/flop to one side several times per battery the last time I flew until today, when I re-applied the hostapd.conf file mod that is described in a pinned post in the Solo Discussion part of 3DR Pilots. I am running the most recent firmware (1.1.15 I think) as well.
I fly in a congested WiFi area -- lots of signals, probably a dozen or more. This mod allows Solo and Controller to avoid busy WiFi channels. It was working for me until I got the gimbal and then it appeared that my video feed to the app was degraded: dropouts and pixelation. So I reverted to the original file and the video was better but then I had the gimbal issue. However, this was with the 1.1.12 firmware.
So with the recent firmware update, I thought I would try the mod again and so far so good. No gimbal misbehaviors today. Curious if others with a gimbal that flops, who fly in a "busy" Wifi area, whether they might see the problem go away after performing the mod. Or make sure you are in an area with fewer WiFi signals except for the Solo and then see if the gimbal still loses its orientation.
Again my experience may be different than the others reported here.
I fly in a congested WiFi area -- lots of signals, probably a dozen or more. This mod allows Solo and Controller to avoid busy WiFi channels. It was working for me until I got the gimbal and then it appeared that my video feed to the app was degraded: dropouts and pixelation. So I reverted to the original file and the video was better but then I had the gimbal issue. However, this was with the 1.1.12 firmware.
So with the recent firmware update, I thought I would try the mod again and so far so good. No gimbal misbehaviors today. Curious if others with a gimbal that flops, who fly in a "busy" Wifi area, whether they might see the problem go away after performing the mod. Or make sure you are in an area with fewer WiFi signals except for the Solo and then see if the gimbal still loses its orientation.
Again my experience may be different than the others reported here.
Could be a few gimbals out there with issues hardware wise (most are not having a problem like this), or perhaps it could be WiFi signal issues. I just know that my flying area is congested with tons of WiFi traffic and the config file mod that Ian did a video for did help me for that problem. Today it seemed to lead to a trouble-free gimbal flight. Coincidence? Need to get more flying done to be sure. Not everyone has had Controller to Solo connection issues either but I and some other Solo owners have.
This is the response I got from the logs, he is right that it happens at at 90 degree down angle only. Someone asked what I was running on the go pro and it was 1080/60.
"Sorry for this inconvenience.
It appears that the issue of a motor overcurrent on the gimbal at 90 degrees its a known issue in our development team department, we are currently working on solving it in the next updates,
If it's only happening while at 90 degrees camera angle, I'm going to ask you to limit the angle while we work on the solution.
If this keep happening in normal conditions please let me know."
That was an email from Gabriel at 3dr. I think that's why it's important to send logs when weird crap happens so they have data to fix it. They don't seem to mind at all and they have a good attitude about helping. Plus it creates a paper trail for future replacment if needed.
"Sorry for this inconvenience.
It appears that the issue of a motor overcurrent on the gimbal at 90 degrees its a known issue in our development team department, we are currently working on solving it in the next updates,
If it's only happening while at 90 degrees camera angle, I'm going to ask you to limit the angle while we work on the solution.
If this keep happening in normal conditions please let me know."
That was an email from Gabriel at 3dr. I think that's why it's important to send logs when weird crap happens so they have data to fix it. They don't seem to mind at all and they have a good attitude about helping. Plus it creates a paper trail for future replacment if needed.
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Looks like you lose all gimbal stabilization during the "flops" - almost like an intermittent connection to the gimbal where all power to the gimbal is lost - not the hdmi cable, however.
I had the same issue. Slight wind. Slow pan. Gimble flops. Sent logs to 3DR. They asked me to recheck cable routing to make sure there was nothing touching the gimble hub. Fail is at 1:20.
This is IOS video. GP4 Black. 1080/60 Wide to test. Will retest cable reroute when rain stops
This is IOS video. GP4 Black. 1080/60 Wide to test. Will retest cable reroute when rain stops
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Ok here is my thoughts and input on these gimbal issues, anyone feel free to shot me down. I first got my Solo no Gimbal just like most of us as I got used to flying and standard walk thru to fly I noticed that I was cutting corners in start up procedures, just place on ground perfectly level or not. get GPS lock and fly. Now enter gimbal place on ground level or not and get GPS lock and fly. Problems start to compound gimbal resets in flight, starts to list left then right wont center, after each battery have to level calibrate solo and so on. I got to thinking that the gimbal needs level telemetry from solo to establish its horizons/levels so i set up a small table whipped out my 3 foot level and proceeded to get a perfect level surface. Tried my idea of leveling Solo perfectly meaning True 90 degree not just on its sides and so on, My advise don't do it this way made things worse, but it did confirm that it effected gimbal and solo control so once again level calibrated but this time followed instructions and poof gimbal level and centered upon take off and during entire flight Solo was rock solid in flight not hearing motors adjusting position constantly and no gimbal drift. Now I also did a stick calibration tonight to see if it tightens things up even more. But my thoughts are that as we add change or take things apart we need to go back to basics once in a while to set the perimeters true for the best operation of our Solo's. It helped mine maybe it will help you. Blah Blah Blah
Blah Blah BlahI did all of that too... It did the same thing. They want the solo and gimbal shiped to them and they will look at it and probably replace both since I also have crazy rths at 300 feet even with a fpvlr.
Well here is a curve ball
Gabriel (3D Robotics)
Sep 11, 6:28 PM
Hello Randall,
Good news, I spoke with mi supervisor and it appears that the problem with your gimbal is a well known issue at the development department related to the gimbal's software, also I was told that they are currently working on fixing that issue so, as there's no hardware malfunction the problem will be fixed the next gimbal updates.
Please expect further gimbal updates.
Best regards,
Gabriel.
[3DR Technical Support Engineer]
Gabriel (3D Robotics)
Sep 11, 6:28 PM
Hello Randall,
Good news, I spoke with mi supervisor and it appears that the problem with your gimbal is a well known issue at the development department related to the gimbal's software, also I was told that they are currently working on fixing that issue so, as there's no hardware malfunction the problem will be fixed the next gimbal updates.
Please expect further gimbal updates.
Best regards,
Gabriel.
[3DR Technical Support Engineer]
Yes, I have had the same at least four times, I didn't know what to think of it. Because it corrected itself, but I would not like for that to happen on that perfect shoot.
They are certainly open about these things. They are RMA'ing mine because it is getting worse and flopped on a hover last night.
After your last statement I decided to pass the case to one of our senior engineer and his evaluations was the following:
When the gimbal flips that due to an overcurrent in the motor,
Best regards,
Gabriel.
[3DR Technical Support Engineer]
After your last statement I decided to pass the case to one of our senior engineer and his evaluations was the following:
When the gimbal flips that due to an overcurrent in the motor,
- If it flips while in movement, software issue currently been fixed.
- If it flips while in 90 or 0 degrees, software issue currently been fixed. (limit the angle to 80 - 10 deg.)
- If it flips frequently while just hovering, RMA.
- If it flips while in between 80 - 10 deg, RMA.
Best regards,
Gabriel.
[3DR Technical Support Engineer]
Perfect flight test! Toughest wind so far, 15 W and choppy. Did multiple orbits on same path as prior failed gimbal flop tests. Higher and lower altitude passes and resulting higher and lower camera angles. Not higher or lower than presets at ~79 and ~21 degrees. Fast manual pans ok. NO gimbal flops. 11:00 minutes in flight with only a few moments of jello and one leg view upon a hard pause in orbit. I'll send log and boring video link later today.
The fix appears to require removing the battery tray so that you can see if the hub is too close to the board as seen below courtesy Mike Lanzetta.
The cables push the hub off center but they don't rub themselves. The fix may require a hot glue followup to avoid slipping again during a hard landing.
I made one other change (not a good thing when troubleshooting) which was to adjust the camera pan speed under performance settings from very slow to slow. Do not know if that also contributed to the solution since I'm not sure what is supposed to actually adjust.
I believe this fix would be something the average drone hobbyist could do but the average Best Buy customer may prefer a buss-based gimbal install. I suspect that 3DR's customer support department will feel the same way shortly.
Solo seems solid at this point and likely worth the painful four month wait. Now I'm only waiting for the free battery, lanyard and leg extenders.
The fix appears to require removing the battery tray so that you can see if the hub is too close to the board as seen below courtesy Mike Lanzetta.
The cables push the hub off center but they don't rub themselves. The fix may require a hot glue followup to avoid slipping again during a hard landing.
I made one other change (not a good thing when troubleshooting) which was to adjust the camera pan speed under performance settings from very slow to slow. Do not know if that also contributed to the solution since I'm not sure what is supposed to actually adjust.
I believe this fix would be something the average drone hobbyist could do but the average Best Buy customer may prefer a buss-based gimbal install. I suspect that 3DR's customer support department will feel the same way shortly.
Solo seems solid at this point and likely worth the painful four month wait. Now I'm only waiting for the free battery, lanyard and leg extenders.
Perfect flight test! Toughest wind so far, 15 W and choppy. Did multiple orbits on same path as prior failed gimbal flop tests. Higher and lower altitude passes and resulting higher and lower camera angles. Not higher or lower than presets at ~79 and ~21 degrees. Fast manual pans ok. NO gimbal flops. 11:00 minutes in flight with only a few moments of jello and one leg view upon a hard pause in orbit. I'll send log and boring video link later today.
The fix appears to require removing the battery tray so that you can see if the hub is too close to the board as seen below courtesy Mike Lanzetta.
The cables push the hub off center but they don't rub themselves. The fix may require a hot glue followup to avoid slipping again during a hard landing.
I made one other change (not a good thing when troubleshooting) which was to adjust the camera pan speed under performance settings from very slow to slow. Do not know if that also contributed to the solution since I'm not sure what is supposed to actually adjust.
I believe this fix would be something the average drone hobbyist could do but the average Best Buy customer may prefer a buss-based gimbal install. I suspect that 3DR's customer support department will feel the same way shortly.
Solo seems solid at this point and likely worth the painful four month wait. Now I'm only waiting for the free battery, lanyard and leg extenders.
Hi all,
I've seen other threads suggesting this as well. I've had the same issue with the gimbal 'flopping', but it has since corrected itself (in my brief flight test) by simply making sure the wires did not put any pressure on the gimbal. The wire that I had to change was the bulky HDMI wire. I basically rerouted it around the outside of the gimbal as much as possible, and would suggest you try the same. It may be necessary to access from below the battery.
A useful video to remove the battery tray is here:
Good luck!
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