Gimbal Strum

[BeaconGeoscience]

I inadvertently removed the gopro from the gimbal yesterday while powered and was met with a terrible whine/strumming. Is this expected, or indicative of a problem? The gimbal appears to otherwise operate normally. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[pyrate]

never run a gimbal empty for reasons you already experienced
this goes for any gimbal

 

[BeaconGeoscience]

Yes, thank you for the speedy response. As I said, inadvertently. The question is if the noise is a typical response to wrongly having the gimbal powered with no camera or if it is atypical?

 

[Chuck]

I would say that will have to be answered by someone else who also removed the camera while powered up, or who powered up Solo without the camera in the gimbal. The gimbal was designed to auto balance when Solo is powered on, but with the camera installed as well. Also, if you use the foam insert for the gimbal while packed away, be sure to remove it before power up, as it too will not allow the gimbal to balance properly. As long as your gimbal seems to work normally now, I wouldn't worry about the noise that occurred when it was powered up without the camera, as hopefully it won't happen again in the future. Good luck, and safe flying.

 

[PdxSteve]

Yes it's normal. Without the gopro installed, the gimbal can't balance but it keeps trying because that's its job. You're hearing the motors going faster as it's trying to balance something that's not there. You will wear out the motors in the gimbal quicker by not having the GP installed whenever the solo is powered on. It needs the weight. You probably didn't damage anything - just don't make a habit of it.

 

[BAR]

Hi BeaconGeoscience,
I had the exact thing happen to me last night. Installed gimbal, turned on solo and heard that noise. Quickly turned solo off and hit this forum, and thanks to these guys above, they reassured me that it needs a weight in it. I took it out for a fly this morning, happy days - a few moments of "micro vibrarions" so I have opened the gimbal tonight and tried tucking those cables further out of the way. I'm going to try 2.7k with filter tomorrow morning and see what it looks like. Happy flying.