Solo not powering GPH4 Black

[Chuck Moloney]

I just got a replacement Solo due to a gimbal wire not being attached properly to he cable.

Anyway, everything is fine with the new Solo and Gimbal except the Solo/Gimbal will not provide power to the GoPro Hero 4 Black. I know the first Solo charged the battery and provided power to the GoPro because the GoPro charging light came on. Anyone else seen this?

I have tried with almost dead GoPro battery and fully charged battery.

 

[Maddog]

Does the GoPro record while in the gimbal?

 

[FlexFanatic]

I just got a replacement Solo due to a gimbal wire not being attached properly to he cable.

Anyway, everything is fine with the new Solo and Gimbal except the Solo/Gimbal will not provide power to the GoPro Hero 4 Black. I know the first Solo charged the battery and provided power to the GoPro because the GoPro charging light came on. Anyone else seen this?

I have tried with almost dead GoPro battery and fully charged battery.

Is the replacement Solo on the most current firmware?

 

[RichWest]

Anyway, everything is fine with the new Solo and Gimbal except the Solo/Gimbal will not provide power to the GoPro Hero 4 Black.

I'm in for an answer, experienced the same this weekend. Everything else works fine, just doesn't charge. Not sure if the power is provided via the GP port or the HDMI connection....likely the GP port. I had removed the camera about 20 times this weekend...so who knows what I did....

Things to check:

GP Port on gimbal and camera.
Data Cable inside the bird, assume this is where the power is sourced to the gimbal and then to the GP.
If not GP hardware related, I'm going to reset GP and upgrade the GP firmware.

FWIW, mine is a GP4B

 

[RichWest]

Followup: Mine started charging again without any big effort. I'm fairly certain my issue was that the GP wasn't fully seated into the gimbal.

 

[Troiano27]

Someone stated in another thread that GoPro charging is turned off in latest firmware. I'll see if I can find that post again.

 

[Troiano27]

Support confirmed on the new firmware they disabled charging of GoPro. So back to making sure your GoPro batteries are charged. Would have been nice if its an option.
Multiple people have reported on 1.3 save to camera roll not working. That's the first I've heard it does work below a certain resolution.
Maybe it's a bug and they no longer auto record to camera roll at 720p regardless of your video setting. Note on iOS 1.3 there is also a new indicator light above the record button in the main view that tells you if save to camera roll is on or not. We could try triggering that despite the setting and also confirm it works on lower res from multiple people and let 3dr know

 

[mudman]

Yes I had it confirmed from 3dr support, solo no longer charges GoPro hero 4.i was told it was to use solos battery for longer flight times.

 

[RichWest]

Yes I had it confirmed from 3dr support, solo no longer charges GoPro hero 4.i was told it was to use solos battery for longer flight times.

Strange, my bird and controller are updated to the latest FW and it still charges... Android app is still on the previous release however....1.2.? of October

 

[pyrate]

Mine is still charging too, it does not power on the gopro, and that is fine

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Mine is no longer charging. And solo is no longer turning it off when the bird turns off. Previously I'd get a red standby light on the GoPro when solo turns on (without turning on the GoPro). That has not changed. But not charging and not powering it off has changed in the new fw.

Pyrate/richwest, do you get the battery meter on the GoPro moving? How about a non full battery?

 

[RichWest]

I ha

...do you get the battery meter on the GoPro moving? How about a non full battery?

I haven't checked if the battery is charging during flight. I did notice that the battery is run down to 1/3 after two weeks of flying with it. I rarely run it off of the bird and always have a spare battery.

 

[VCD]

Discovered the same , 4Black fw 5.0.0 does not charge , are you saying it's a gimbal firmware upgrade that done that ?(or gopro update?)

I would prefer to have it charging.
on same gimbal: Gopro 3+Black charges fine

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Discovered the same , 4Black too, are you saying it's a gimbal firmware upgrade that done that ?
I would prefer to have it charging.

Since a firmware update to the solo about a year ago, the GoPro is no longer being charged by the Solo. The Solo directly powers the GoPro. The GoPro battery is neither charged nor discharged when in use on the Solo. This is generally a good thing. Charging the GoPro battery cuts into flight time, and creates additional heat on the GoPro.

That said, there are a few people who erroneously get a charging indication. I suspect the firmware update didn't apply properly in those cases. Chances are a factory reset and reinstall of the firmware again would kill it.

 

[RichWest]

Since a firmware update to the solo about a year ago,

This is the problem in people searching out older threads and then bringing them into today's context, much has evolved since 2015.

 

[VCD]

The GoPro battery is neither charged nor discharged when in use on the Solo.

This does not match my findings at all.
- Gopro3+Black is clearly being charged. (battery level if higher after a flight)
- Gopro4 Black is not being charged OR powered , if started with low battery - it will just deplete it and turn off. Test youself.
Most(or all) features of the 3DR gimbal are controlled using mavlink, such change could just as well be in another component than the gimbal itself.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Gopro3+Black is clearly being charged. (battery level if higher after a flight)

Anecdotally, I think the few people who report their GoPro still charges may be GP3 users. But I don't think I or anyone else has ever actually surveyed that to say for sure. The solo itself no longer provides 5v power to the battery charging (USB +5v) terminal on the GoPro bus connector that charges the battery. If the GP3's external power only +5v terminal is also charging the battery, that is not a documented difference between the 3 and 4. The GP4 will not do that and GP3 shouldn't do that. But I didn't build the GoPro, so I can only tell you what it is supposed to do.

Gopro4 Black is not being charged OR powered , if started with low battery - it will just deplete it and turn off. Test youself.

Presuming we're talking about the same solo and gimbal as above, something is wrong with your GoPro 4B . There are no circumstances where that is normal.

 

[richnat]

Solo most definitely charges a GP3+Black. My GP and Solo have all the latest firmware. I can't comment how a GP4 works as I don't have one. I have two Solos and they both do the same thing while using my GP3+B. Start with post #34:

Charging GoPro battery