Gimbals without camera on it ..

[SPP]

Hi Guys,

Just curious....
I never allow all my handheld gimbals ( few different models ) to be turned on without the camera ( weight ) on it. If there is no camera on gimbal, some can go banana like epilepsy, some can make sound which surely indicated stress as the algorithm expect to counter X weight but there is no X weight on the gimbal.

I once tried powering up Solo for data transfer without a GoPro on the gimbal, but I only do that to test for fun sake. It does sound "stressed".

What if, a new owner who has no experience with gimbals, often do data transfer without camera on the gimbal, do you think this will accelerate the early demise of the gimbal ?
Is there any known safety feature of the Solo CPU which can inform the gimbal if there is no camera on the gimbal and to compensate accordingly ?

Thanks

 

[ChrisBird]

Yes it may damage or reduce its life. You can flip a solo on its back, so the motor are towards the ground and it turns off the gimbal motors. Its called turtling.

Its in the manual....

 

[SPP]

Hi Chris,

Many thanks. My User Manual or Service Manual V3 has no info on this TURTLING.
I googled and it is in Development Guide
https://dev.3dr.com/starting-rules.html

Awesome info

Arigato Chris San

 

[ChrisBird]

Hi Chris,

No problems. Ah yes it's the Dev Guide - hard to remember were stuff is from - was at work and didn't have much time to look at which 3DR manual / guide it was in but I knew it was written somewhere by them. I don't think you'll do much in the way of damage without the camera in there but as it can flap about it could hit the body and get scratched at a minimum.

I really do think it should have been in the Service Guide at a min, but the user manual would have been the best spot for it.

Chris

 

[allen_993]

I often need to power Solo to change a setting, update firmware, calibrations, etc. Do I need to always install the camera in the gimbal before powering Solo? During compass calibration, Solo is rotated in all directions, including upside down...how does that affect the gimbal? According to the above message, gimbal powers down when upside down, but could it still not damage it?

The gimbal seems like a pretty delicate item...is it actually tougher than I am thinking?

 

[andrew.baker.142]

You need to have a camera installed if the gimbal is powered. Just be gentle when doing the calibration, you won’t hurt anything.