Problem with new gimbal - video scrolling

J R · Mar 1, 2016

RichWest said:
Glad to hear...just a cable. I have no idea as to which version of the Relish HDMI ribbon or if it is shielded. That was @J R that had mentioned them as a solution. No one has complained that there are any issue if it wasn't shielded...

Rich,

When are you publishing all of your secrets?

Jerry

RichWest · Mar 1, 2016

J R said:
When are you publishing all of your secrets?

You can ask on the old thread if you'd like, but I don't want to steer this thread else where...

Stimmy · Mar 9, 2016

Did you ever come up with a solution for this?

Raston Warrior · Mar 9, 2016

Stimmy said:
Did you ever come up with a solution for this?

Yes - I received and had installed the new cable last night - I'm still testing but so far the new HDMI cable did fix the problem.

The problem I'm having now is GPS loss after reassembly - I could only test for ~10 minutes because while I started with an eight-point GPS lock something happened to cause it to eventually loose the lock and drop me into Fly:Manual.. which sucked 150' away, flying at night. During that event, the video *did* hold so I was able to fly back by hand in low light via FPV.

I suspect the gimbal control cable (as opposed to the HDMI cable) was causing interference as I know it was touching the copper shielding beneath the GPS sensor. I will fix that as soon as I can and take 'er up again, see what I can see. :\

Does anybody else have any suggestions? Is that gimbal cable touching the GPS shielding a known issue?

- R

Stimmy · Mar 9, 2016

Raston Warrior said:
Yes - I received and had installed the new cable last night - I'm still testing but so far the new HDMI cable did fix the problem.

The problem I'm having now is GPS loss after reassembly - I could only test for ~10 minutes because while I started with an eight-point GPS lock something happened to cause it to eventually loose the lock and drop me into Fly:Manual.. which sucked 150' away, flying at night. During that event, the video *did* hold so I was able to fly back by hand in low light via FPV.

I suspect the gimbal control cable (as opposed to the HDMI cable) was causing interference as I know it was touching the copper shielding beneath the GPS sensor. I will fix that as soon as I can and take 'er up again, see what I can see. :\

Does anybody else have any suggestions? Is that gimbal cable touching the GPS shielding a known issue?

- R

Do the cardboard mod.

Raston Warrior · Mar 10, 2016

Stimmy said:
Do the cardboard mod.

Interesting, the data makes sense. I'll do that next and see how it goes over! Thank you for pointing that out.

- R

Solo Keith · Mar 10, 2016

Stimmy said:
Do the cardboard mod.

Worked great for me

Raston Warrior · Mar 10, 2016

I can now confirm that the new HDMI cable fixed the problem. Props to @JR for his article, it was very helpful:
Relish3d HDMI Ribbon Cable Received...

The new cable is shielded and as JR said the clearance is .. ridiculously tight.. but good enough. Props to @jeeboont for being communicative with an overeager American and for providing a quality product quickly.

Now I'm having GPS issues.. there was previous mention by @Stimmy regarding the cardboard mod. I appreciate @Solo Keith 's confirmation that it worked for him - did some research and gave it a try (I have pictures, will upload at a later date).

The cardboard mod seems to have two purposes - prevent the shielding from touching the circuit board and providing RF protection. In summary, I ended up taking two business cards and sandwiching a few layers of aluminum foil between them, taping the sides so that the foil wouldn't be touchable, then layered it beneath the copper shield. (Also, note that it's not necessary or desirable to ground the shielding - grounding doesn't improve efficacy and only serves to introduce noise to the ground channel.)

I found that the power lug going into the battery was compressed a little as a result preventing the battery from being inserted smoothly so I put a smidge of business card beneath the lug and everything fits perfectly now. I also tucked the gimbal control cable further away from the shielding.

Thing is - same symptoms, no perceptible increase in GPS acquisition speed and certainly not reliability. I'll leave the mod in there 'cause I'm pretty sure I did it well but I suspect something else might be wrong, perhaps a loose cable from messing with its insides during the cable installation..?

I'll check back in after checking cablage and will post my pics of the procedure. Thank you all, I'm sure grateful for the community.

- R

RichWest · Mar 10, 2016

The purpose of the (corrugated) card board mod is to distance the shield from the GPS module. Your effort was doing the same as the factory installation. If you can find a non-conductive material, corrugated political signage as an example, with at least a 5mm thickness you should have better results.

Edit: added - "as the factory installation". To clarify the reference.

Raston Warrior · Mar 10, 2016

RichWest said:
The purpose of the (corrugated) card board mod is to distance the shield from the GPS module. Your effort was doing the same. If you can find a non-conductive material, corrugated political signage as an example, with at least a 5mm thickness you should have better results.

Okay, not so much RF shielding then but that the proximity of the shield is messing with the sensor? If that's the case there's only a business card between the foil and the sensor, not really helping much. Alrighty, I'll disassemble it and try it that way. Thx!

- R

J R · Mar 10, 2016

Ras,

This is the mod I used.

Plastic cover to do the "cardboard" GPS mod properly

Jerry

Raston Warrior · Mar 11, 2016

How much do you guys rock? Just finished a 1a test flight - 6 point sat acquisition in 1 minute and can take off, 10 point acquisition in 2 minutes during flight. Video feed is gorgeous, gimbal was smooth as ever, I'm able to use the map in flight after switching between Solo wireless and my smartphone (before takeoff of course - this is a big boon when flying at night..) -- AND no loss of GPS, not even once. I've been flying in the same space at about the same time at night for each of these tests.

Thank you everyone.

@J R - nice replacement, good way to go. Someone had the right idea on that one.
@RichWest - clearly you're right, it's the copper being so close to the GPS sensor that the cardboard trick resolves, not RF nor short. Thanks again.

- R

pete · Mar 13, 2016

After installing the relish3D cable that solved my video feed issue, I'm now back to square one - was working perfect for about a week and now I'm getting combination of all the video feed issues already described on this forum. all fine at launch, then the video starts scrolling and eventually it freezes, sometimes I also get the green screen, coming back to land does not fix the problem, only when I restart everything then I get the video feed again. This now happens in each flight.

I removed the gimbal to check the cable and connections, all fine except I'm not sure about this relish3D cable the way it twists just before the PCB connector - the way it's designed you have to twist it 180deg to insert it to the female connector on the PCB (this is also shown on relish3D video, I installed it exactly same way), I'm just not sure what's happening to the twisted cable once you install the gimbal, the cavity in the area of the twist is quite tight and I'm suspicious that cable gets badly "mangled" the moment I re-attached the gimbal, this HDMI cable feels bit fragile and when I removed the gimbal today first time after the installation I noticed a crease across the cable (same as when you fold the paper, you can see the line), so I'm just wondering if the cable can get easily damaged this way.

While I had the gimbal out I reconnected everything and was playing with the cable while watching live video feed and was losing the video signal occasionally. I put it all back together as carefully as I could but it didn't help much, soon after take off my video froze again.

I don't know, it could also be the HDMI connector on the gimbal.

Looks like I may need to install yet another relish3D cable but I'm really not too confident in this solution with the way the cable has to be twisted and then it folds onto itself as you re-install the gimbal.

Am I doing something wrong ?

Solo Keith · Mar 13, 2016

pete said:
After installing the relish3D cable that solved my video feed issue, I'm now back to square one - was working perfect for about a week and now I'm getting combination of all the video feed issues already described on this forum. all fine at launch, then the video starts scrolling and eventually it freezes, sometimes I also get the green screen, coming back to land does not fix the problem, only when I restart everything then I get the video feed again. This now happens in each flight.

I removed the gimbal to check the cable and connections, all fine except I'm not sure about this relish3D cable the way it twists just before the PCB connector - the way it's designed you have to twist it 180deg to insert it to the female connector on the PCB (this is also shown on relish3D video, I installed it exactly same way), I'm just not sure what's happening to the twisted cable once you install the gimbal, the cavity in the area of the twist is quite tight and I'm suspicious that cable gets badly "mangled" the moment I re-attached the gimbal, this HDMI cable feels bit fragile and when I removed the gimbal today first time after the installation I noticed a crease across the cable (same as when you fold the paper, you can see the line), so I'm just wondering if the cable can get easily damaged this way.

While I had the gimbal out I reconnected everything and was playing with the cable while watching live video feed and was losing the video signal occasionally. I put it all back together as carefully as I could but it didn't help much, soon after take off my video froze again.

I don't know, it could also be the HDMI connector on the gimbal.

Looks like I may need to install yet another relish3D cable but I'm really not too confident in this solution with the way the cable has to be twisted and then it folds onto itself as you re-install the gimbal.

Am I doing something wrong ?

I was having the same issues. I've also got the Relish 3D cable. I don't think your doing anything wrong & I also don't think it's their cable. My video feed was doing the exact same thing you are explaining. After very close examination I found the HDMI connector on the gimbal board is cold soddered (or soldered) into the board. It is VERY FRAGILE. So fragile that mine actually came completely off. I blame myself for eventually breaking the connector due to me being careless. @RichWest has offered to try & repair the connector on the gimbal. This also happened last week when 3DR had the 20% so I got another gimbal for a total of $172. After reading your post, I feel your pain brother. But it'll all work out. Good luck @pete & Peace.

Stimmy · Mar 13, 2016

Could it be the hdmi on the gopro itself? I'm having your exact problem and it stems from heavy vibration. The only difference is I've changed gimbals, hdmi connection AND the solo itself.. Same problem.... All that's left is the go pro...

J R · Mar 13, 2016

pete said:
After installing the relish3D cable that solved my video feed issue, I'm now back to square one

Pete,

@Solo Keith could be right but before you give up on it make sure that both ends of the cable are fully seated. Especially, the one on the main board. I had similar issues on my initial install only to find out that I didn't have the cable on the main board fully seated. If I remember correctly it felt like it was in and it took a bit more pressure to get a little "click" into place. I was worried that I might actually break the connector but it just didn't look fully seated. A little extra push got me going again. I had that damned bird apart a dozen times before I was done! I too, feel your pain. Good luck!

Jerry

Solo Keith · Mar 13, 2016

Yea definitely sounds like a connection issue.

pete · Mar 14, 2016

J R said:
Pete,

@Solo Keith could be right but before you give up on it make sure that both ends of the cable are fully seated. Especially, the one on the main board. I had similar issues on my initial install only to find out that I didn't have the cable on the main board fully seated. If I remember correctly it felt like it was in and it took a bit more pressure to get a little "click" into place. I was worried that I might actually break the connector but it just didn't look fully seated. A little extra push got me going again. I had that damned bird apart a dozen times before I was done! I too, feel your pain. Good luck!

Jerry

in the end it was the cable. I removed it today and connected GoPro to the TV via this cable. touching and moving the cable would result in losing the TV feed and then regaining it again.
it wasn't the twisted/folded end of the cable that connects to the gimbal PCB, it was actually at the other end, there is some bad/loose connection just at the point where the ribbon meets the connector, just bad luck I guess.
I had an extra spare cable and that solved my problem.

Solo Keith · May 12, 2016

Last week I started having the same old video feed issues w/freezing & scrolling. It started getting worse after each take off. I've got a 2nd, fairly new gimbal w/the ribbon HDMI cable & they were both installed about 2 months ago. Before I opened Solo AGAIN to check connections, I put her on the table & started up the motors while connected to the app. As I raised the throttle nothing happened. The video was normal. But when I started to tap on Solo, it happened. The video was scrambling. So I take Solo apart again. Connections were made at both ends of the HDMI, like I knew they would be. But I also noticed that, where the connections are made, they are also NOT completely stationary either. There was an ever so slight movement. I'm sure that's because of me opening Solo so many times. So instead of just putting Solo back together & pulling my hair out because I know what I'll see when I take Solo outside for a test run (rolling & freezing video), I bonded each connection w/hot glue. I still have my fingers crossed even after 5 successful flights w/out any issue.

UPDATE: It's all happening AGAIN!!! This is really getting old. Damn it!

SteveReno · May 12, 2016

Raston Warrior said:
Contacted 3DR support and they confirmed that it's likely the HDMI cable and that I can replace it with the Relish3D cable myself WITHOUT voiding the warranty!

Please confirm it's this one : Solo Ultra Thin Micro HDMI Flat Ribbon Cable

Also, do I recall that it *is* otherwise properly shielded?

Thank you folks,

- R

I just replaced mine using that exact cable. Everything working fine.