No Video Feed On Solo Gimbal

[SureShotSlack]

Hello, first off i would like to say i know that there are a lot of threads already on this topic and have read through dozens of them and tried everything that ive came across with no luck. That being said please DON'T recommend trying any common easy fixes like restarting, checking the cable, or updating because you will just be wasting both of our times. Thanks.

That being said a few days ago i was having a lot of trouble acquiring a gps signal so i put some cardboard in between the copper shield and gps chip. After doing so i lost my video feed on the application entirely. Ive removed the solo gimbal and tested the cable inside and once the gimbal is removed from the equation the feed comes back. Ive tried re-routing the cable three different ways (as seen on youtube) with no luck. Common sense would dictate it would be caused by either the hdmi plug on the gimbal or the plug that goes into the Gopro.

Does anyone have any reasonable ideas? Also, i know some of you will be wondering, my gopro is a hero 4 silver and everything is up to date and i have tried every video recording setting. Im hoping someone has experienced this and could help because like usual the 3DR tech support is useless.

 

[CanadianSolo]

Hmm... My video was sketchy a little bit. I basically just took as much apart as i could and re-seated the HDMI cable all was good. My experience with 3dr Support has been great.!? Any who, did you mishandle the gimble while fucking with your GPS? Stupid question.... are the antennas on the remote?

 

[SureShotSlack]

Ive been as careful as possible with the gimbal, as well as ive kept the foam peice and have had that installed when its not in use. Yes they are.

 

[SteveReno]

Hello, first off i would like to say i know that there are a lot of threads already on this topic and have read through dozens of them and tried everything that ive came across with no luck. That being said please DON'T recommend trying any common easy fixes like restarting, checking the cable, or updating because you will just be wasting both of our times. Thanks.

That being said a few days ago i was having a lot of trouble acquiring a gps signal so i put some cardboard in between the copper shield and gps chip. After doing so i lost my video feed on the application entirely. Ive removed the solo gimbal and tested the cable inside and once the gimbal is removed from the equation the feed comes back. Ive tried re-routing the cable three different ways (as seen on youtube) with no luck. Common sense would dictate it would be caused by either the hdmi plug on the gimbal or the plug that goes into the Gopro.

Does anyone have any reasonable ideas? Also, i know some of you will be wondering, my gopro is a hero 4 silver and everything is up to date and i have tried every video recording setting. Im hoping someone has experienced this and could help because like usual the 3DR tech support is useless.

Check this if your having video feed problems"

 

[SureShotSlack]

Check this if your having video feed problems"

Thanks for the reply, but ive already read through that thread and it doesnt seem to be the same problem becaue the hdmi cable that runs the length of the drone seems to be fine. Good connection, not dropping. It only acts up once i hook the gimbal to it.

 

[SteveReno]

Thanks for the reply, but ive already read through that thread and it doesnt seem to be the same problem becaue the hdmi cable that runs the length of the drone seems to be fine. Good connection, not dropping. It only acts up once i hook the gimbal to it.

Well, you have eliminated all other possibilities, It's got to be the Gimbal. Replace gimbal. Easy fix.

 

[SureShotSlack]

Thanks thats what im doing today. BestBuy has agreed to replace it. Hopefully it will fix it.

 

[DJMc]

I'm on my second 3DR Solo now. Bought it on release (before gimbal was available). First firmware was perfect, and everything worked exactly as described and promoted, really well. Crashed the first a year after owning it due to misjudging flight as there was no video feed after a buggy firmware update. Bought a second gimbal and a heap of new blades also. Like an idiot I reinvested due to having the backpack.

But yeah. 3 years later. What a joke of a drone system overall. More and more bugs introduced with every firmware update. Most of those bugs being related to video feed. I could stream any video setting including 4K S on my GoPro 4 Black (the specific model Solo was designed around since I don't need to use the weights with it), no problems at all. Every firmware update (since gimbal release) has since made the GoPro/Solo cohesion increasingly non-existent. Then throw in a GoPro firmware update after GoPro release their own drone system. Ha. The video feed issues are consistent across Apple ipad/ipod/iphone devices and Android mobiles/tablets.

Then there's the 4 "Smart Batteries" I bought that have actually killed themselves by discharging so much, with their "smart discharge" feature. When they were brand new I would also have to work out the *exact* time to charge them before a job so they didn't "smart discharge" on the drive there...but these issues are nothing compared to the ailing video feed. Batteries were 4 x 35min brand new, are now 4 x 15min. Combined with video feed problems all the time is wasted troubleshooting.

I know 2 other Solo owners and they have the exact same video-feed issues, and now we increasingly have GPS-lock issues too (Australia). Most likely due to 3DR skimping on using the GLONASS system as well. Other brands use it.

Compared to other drone system's ease of use and completely functional video feed whilst recording/photographing I really feel like 3DR have ripped a lot of people off reading the sheer amount with these exact same issues online. The main selling point, automation, is useless without the video feed.

Thanks 3DR.

Welcome to the forum - I see you joined today to post this story of your time with Solo. I certainly personally appreciate you taking the time to contribute.

Most of your woes are dealt with elsewhere on the forum - I'm just very interested to hear that you were getting 35mins flight time....I'm sure there are lots of people who'd be amazed to hear about how you managed that. Shame it's 'just' 15 min now though - but anyway, did you do anything special in terms of charging and storage...any tips you have would be really helpful?

Good news is 3DR stoped doing any firmware updates about 2 years ago - so that's one issued solved for you at least. And now the GP 4 is out of production no issues there either I guess?

Anyway, happy flying!

 

[DJMc]

I love flying my Solo. That wasn't a dig - if you don't, then ... maybe ... don't?

 

[DJMc]

I'm just not over keen on the spreading of inaccurate and misleading posts which don't reflect reality - it doesn't help the people on here who need, and those who offer, helpful advice.

I'm sure you believe what your saying - it's just mostly innacurate or plain untrue.

You realise of course this forum has nothing to do with 3DR and it's run by enthusiasts? Opensolo issues 'all on 3DR' - again, not their product. OpenSolo all the hard work of enthusiasts keeping Solo alive..
kudos where it's due maybe?