Gimbal vibration / uneven footage help

Fenti · Oct 23, 2016

Hey folks,

I don't have more than three hours on my back up Solo (the first one is being repaired), and I just started trying to film with it. After reviewing my footage I noticed that in any slight wind, there is a pretty major vibration from the gimbal. I included a link to a Youtube video where you can see the vibration at the beginning and again at the end. Is this a normal amount of vibration? My other Solo seemed to record video just fine in the same amount of wind.

I balanced my props prior to this flight. I read about the cables and checked that both were connected well and not touching anything. I also understand that replacing the cables will help, but in the videos I have seen from others, there doesn't seem to be a vibration like what I am seeing. I will be replacing the cables when I get more familiar and comfortable with working on the Solo. (Very new to RC)

When I test the Solo and hand hold it and lean it to the right, the gimbal motor gets pretty loud and shudders the whole bird and often keeps working when I lean the Solo back to level. Is this normal to have this happen on one side?

Also, It's a little hard to tell from this footage, but most of my video is not straight. I have done a stick calibration to help clear this up. I have also attached a photo of my gimbal at rest and you can see how much tilt there is. Does this look normal? I understand this is supposed to correct when actually flying, but as my footage is always tilted, something else is up. Is there any other troubleshooting or calibration I should be doing?

The video is 1080p at 60fps. Stock lens.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

pyrate · Oct 23, 2016

step 1, take the gimbal out again and reinstall trying to route the heavy HDMI cable and data cable away from the isolation balls
Step 2 level calibrate the solo with gimbal on
Try again
Looks like something is touching or you have an isolator ball not seated correctly

it could also be a bad gimbal

RichWest · Oct 23, 2016

HDMI cable behind the post?

Sad to see, what beautiful scenery....

Fenti · Oct 23, 2016

pyrate said:
step 1, take the gimbal out again and reinstall trying to route the heavy HDMI cable and data cable away from the isolation balls
Step 2 level calibrate the solo with gimbal on
Try again
Looks like something is touching or you have an isolator ball not seated correctly

it could also be a bad gimbal

Thanks, Pyrate. I did make sure the cables were not touching anything when I put it back together the first time but I will try it again as well as the level calibration. Too much wind here in NJ to fly today, but I'll report back.

RichWest said:
HDMI cable behind the post?

Sad to see, what beautiful scenery....

I just saw a video showing how to put the cable behind the post. Thanks for that. Yeah, I have a good half hour of footage that isn't shaky from this day. Beautiful colours.

RichWest · Oct 23, 2016

No, don't put the cable behind the post....was asking if you did...

Fenti · Oct 23, 2016

RichWest said:
No, don't put the cable behind the post....was asking if you did...

No, I hadn't. Why shouldn't I do that? It looks like a good way to get that fat HDMI cable out of the way. Do you have advice as to how I should best route these cables? Is the only way I'm going to solve this problem going to be to buy the ribbon cable? I'm handy, but pretty new to working on things like this and I don't want to eff it up.

RichWest · Oct 23, 2016

Pyrate's advice is correct. Your HDMI cable is hitting somewhere en route to the gimbal. It's likely hitting the post or the frame side wall, just enough to feel a bounce. Once it gets underway the vibe is reduced.

Maddog · Oct 23, 2016

The gimbal motor should not make any noise and should not cause Solo to shudder or vibrate, especially when just holding it in your hand.

I've never seen that "back & forth" vibration before.

That would lead me to believe the gimbal is bad.

Fenti · Oct 26, 2016

Maddog said:
The gimbal motor should not make any noise and should not cause Solo to shudder or vibrate, especially when just holding it in your hand.

I've never seen that "back & forth" vibration before.

That would lead me to believe the gimbal is bad.

So I carefully checked and routed the cables and checked the isolation balls four times now and I can't fully get rid of this shake. Sometimes it's terrible, sometimes it's not that noticeable, but it's always there.

I logged a ticket and if 3DR agree to replace this one I will be gimble-less as my other gimbal is being replaced as they deemed it faulty as well. Getting a little frustrated here as I'm trying to put together a demo reel. How many gimbals have you guys been through?

This day was also a little windy (7 MPH), but this shake is still not normal, correct? It's harder to see in the YouTube version, but when stopping and starting you can totally see the lateral shake in the high-res version.

Maddog · Oct 26, 2016

That definitely is not normal- I have never seen anything that bad.

A normal gimbal would look steady in wind twice what you had.

I have 2 Solo's with no gimbal problems. (Knock on wood).

Sorry about your "bad gimbal" luck. I really think there is a quality control problem with the plant in China. I know 3DR only made one production run on Solo itself, but have no idea if that included gimbals.

Lately, there seem to be more problems that can't be fixed via firmware or something simple.

RichWest · Oct 26, 2016

The video actually looks good when flying in reverse. Could be several issues causing this, but I suspect the HDMI cable routing is the problem.

What is happening, when the bird pitches for forward flight the gimbal elevates on the front isolators and the rear drops. So you could have a contact issue when routing the cable over the front isolators. Or the rear is dipping enough to allow the cable to contact the rear right of the gimbal on the main board support post or the adjacent side wall. I suspect the side wall based on my experiences.

As a reference, locate the ferrite core center just left of the bird's centerline. Shape the hdmi cable to go straight back along the side of the gimbal, not allowing contact with the gimbal or the isolators.

To help your efforts, installing the gimbal with the battery tray removed is key to an improved install.

Have you applied any mods to the gimbal install?

Fenti · Oct 27, 2016

RichWest said:
The video actually looks good when flying in reverse. Could be several issues causing this, but I suspect the HDMI cable routing is the problem.

What is happening, when the bird pitches for forward flight the gimbal elevates on the front isolators and the rear drops. So you could have a contact issue when routing the cable over the front isolators. Or the rear is dipping enough to allow the cable to contact the rear right of the gimbal on the main board support post or the adjacent side wall. I suspect the side wall based on my experiences.

As a reference, locate the ferrite core center just left of the bird's centerline. Shape the hdmi cable to go straight back along the side of the gimbal, not allowing contact with the gimbal or the isolators.

To help your efforts, installing the gimbal with the battery tray removed is key to an improved install.

Have you applied any mods to the gimbal install?

Thanks a lot for the info and advice, RichWest. You're right, there is less shake in reverse, but it's still there. When trying to figure this out, I noticed the HDMI cable seems short and when it loops around the front isolators, there isn't much room. I understand how viewing the cables from the battery tray would help see what's going on better and I will give this a go, but how do you permanently keep the cables from moving if I were to keep it stock?

I have read about the ribbon cable mod and also that half the people with this aren't happy with it. What do you guys have? I have read about David Tan's moon gel, but I doubt this would hold the cable away from the gimbal. Any other advice as to making a more permanent fix? I really don't want to send it back to 3DR if it is only the cables and not the gimbal.

I don't have any mods at all yet. I am very new to RC, but handy. I notice that the bird moves quite a bit flying Smart Shots and I always seem to have the bare minimum of sats (and lose them) so I would like to upgrade the GPS. Is M8N best? Is the polymer shield from 3DR better than a copper shield? Sorry for the off-topic questions.

RichWest · Oct 27, 2016

Fenti said:
Thanks a lot for the info and advice, RichWest. You're right, there is less shake in reverse, but it's still there. When trying to figure this out, I noticed the HDMI cable seems short and when it loops around the front isolators, there isn't much room. I understand how viewing the cables from the battery tray would help see what's going on better and I will give this a go, but how do you permanently keep the cables from moving if I were to keep it stock?

If the cable appears short, then I assume you have the cable placed behind the post...correct? If so, I don't recommend that method. It restricts the gimbal's ability to move and just float on the isolators.

Here's a link to how I'm doing the install, seems to work well. Maybe a little involved for some, but the results have been worth the effort. I'd say focus on the two videos in the linked thread first, a before and after to see what could be going on inside your bird. These were demos to show the cable interactions with the main board support post, but depicts how my hdmi cable is formed and routed. Good luck!

Macro vibe reduction?

Fenti · Oct 27, 2016

RichWest said:
If the cable appears short, then I assume you have the cable placed behind the post...correct? If so, I don't recommend that method. It restricts the gimbal's ability to move and just float on the isolators.

Here's a link to how I'm doing the install, seems to work well. Maybe a little involved for some, but the results have been worth the effort. I'd say focus on the two videos in the linked thread first, a before and after to see what could be going on inside your bird. These were demos to show the cable interactions with the main board support post, but depicts how my hdmi cable is formed and routed. Good luck!

Macro vibe reduction?

Thanks. I don't know how I missed that thread reading about this. Maybe because there are many.

No, I don't have it placed behind the post, but when I put it back together (without removing the battery tray) I can see the HDMI cable coming close to the isolation ball. I see how removing part of that post would help but this a little too involved for me right now and I want to figure this out and still keep the warranty. I'll look at how everything is situated again and maybe get some grey tape for the front.

RichWest · Oct 27, 2016

I understand your concern for maintaining warranty, I wish the solution was less intrusive. And by no means is my solution "the answer", just sharing ideas and possible solutions.

Maddog · Oct 27, 2016

Fenti said:
Thanks a lot for the info and advice, RichWest. You're right, there is less shake in reverse, but it's still there. When trying to figure this out, I noticed the HDMI cable seems short and when it loops around the front isolators, there isn't much room. I understand how viewing the cables from the battery tray would help see what's going on better and I will give this a go, but how do you permanently keep the cables from moving if I were to keep it stock?

I have read about the ribbon cable mod and also that half the people with this aren't happy with it. What do you guys have? I have read about David Tan's moon gel, but I doubt this would hold the cable away from the gimbal. Any other advice as to making a more permanent fix? I really don't want to send it back to 3DR if it is only the cables and not the gimbal.

I don't have any mods at all yet. I am very new to RC, but handy. I notice that the bird moves quite a bit flying Smart Shots and I always seem to have the bare minimum of sats (and lose them) so I would like to upgrade the GPS. Is M8N best? Is the polymer shield from 3DR better than a copper shield? Sorry for the off-topic questions.

Yes, the M8N is better. The 3DR shield is getting mixed reviews, so you might install the M8N and see how it performs. You could then add the shield if necessary.

SARDG · Oct 27, 2016

Maddog said:
Yes, the M8N is better. The 3DR shield is getting mixed reviews, so you might install the M8N and see how it performs. You could then add the shield if necessary.

Yep... but installing an M8N has an excellent chance of voiding the warranty that Fenti was worried about.

BTW, Fenti... Moongel has fallen from favor due to potential deterioration in heat and cold. Sorbathane is in now and @RichWest is also the Sorbathane king.

Fenti · Oct 27, 2016

Maddog said:
Yes, the M8N is better. The 3DR shield is getting mixed reviews, so you might install the M8N and see how it performs. You could then add the shield if necessary.

Thanks for the input, Maddog.

SARDG said:
Yep... but installing an M8N has an excellent chance of voiding the warranty that Fenti was worried about.

BTW, Fenti... Moongel has fallen from favor due to potential deterioration in heat and cold. Sorbathane is in now and @RichWest is also the Sorbathane king.

Does the GPS upgrade in fact void the warranty? I read posts about guys sending their birds back with the mods in them to have them serviced. Or did I read this wrong.

So I tried what @RichWest suggested and took out the battery tray to have a good look and indeed I could see how the HDMI is supposed to hover in the front. I even got a piece of soft tape like he did to make a soft bracket to hold it above the gimbal.

Now, I absolutely cannot get the feed to display anything other than a green pixelated mess. I know this is from the HDMI cable not being seated properly as it happened to me before, so I make sure it's firmly plugged into the gimbal and every time I turn it on, there isn't a proper feed. I've only fully unplugged the HDMI a couple times so it can't be worn. Any suggestions? I was supposed to film tomorrow and this is just pissing me off.

SARDG · Oct 27, 2016

Fenti said:
...Does the GPS upgrade in fact void the warranty? I read posts about guys sending their birds back with the mods in them to have them serviced. Or did I read this wrong.

So I tried what @RichWest suggested and took out the battery tray to have a good look and indeed I could see how the HDMI is supposed to hover in the front. I even got a piece of soft tape like he did to make a soft bracket to hold it above the gimbal.

Now, I absolutely cannot get the feed to display anything other than a green pixelated mess... ...Any suggestions? I was supposed to film tomorrow and this is just pissing me off.

3DR will (very likely) know you flew with a different GPS module when they look at the log and see 17-20+ satellites. This gives them an 'out', and they need far less than that to deny a claim. That being said, the M8N makes too much of a difference to ignore for a year so I've changed to it in one of my four Solos still under warranty, and will likely do them all.

The video problem can likely be fixed using the @SteveReno fix.
Check this if your having video feed problems"

RichWest · Oct 27, 2016

Fenti said:
Now, I absolutely cannot get the feed to display anything other than a green pixelated mess. I know this is from the HDMI cable not being seated properly as it happened to me before, so I make sure it's firmly plugged into the gimbal and every time I turn it on, there isn't a proper feed. I've only fully unplugged the HDMI a couple times so it can't be worn. Any suggestions? I was supposed to film tomorrow and this is just pissing me off.

Bummer... I've unplugged my gimbal 100's of times, doubt it is the cable. If it is time critical, get another gimbal and that should resolve the issue quickly. The act of reinstalling typically solves many issues.

If willing, you can drop the gimbal down to reveal the hdmi cable, while the cables are still connected to Solo, wiggle the hdmi connection to see if you get a feed. Try to support the gimbal at the yaw post while doing this. Obviously the bird and GP are on. Sometimes the cable can be off slightly and feel like it's fully seated. Don't leave the bird ON for a long duration, 5 minutes tops. Just a precaution to not cause over heating issue with the gimbal as you are mucking with it...

A little trickier, but you can do the above with Solo on it's back. It's actually easier to see what you're are doing. And just so you know, the gimbal will flop into Turtle mode, the camera will have a feed but the power to the gimbal motors is cut.