Tarot gimbal for Solo drone

[notstock4long]

Got it! As I have yet to fly the Solo, I was thinking that the yaw motor was user controlled, to independently rotate the camera via the right control on the transmitter. Now that I actually look at the manual (which for some reason I try to do as a last resort with anything), that is clearly not its purpose.

I actually acquired this drone by retrieving it from a 107' high tension wire (verified by another drone we used to check it out). It has apparently been hanging there since December 2nd of 2017, according to the last footage on the GoPro. We have tried to locate the owner, and I was really hoping it would have an FAA registration number on it, so we could track the owner down that way.

Somehow, even after multiple days of rain and tons of snow, it so far appears to work fine...just waiting on a set of props to fly, but the motors power up and I have throttle control of them. It has the 3DR gimbal, but I can't even get it to power up. One ribbon cable connector was torn loose from the bottom side of the board, so I think that may be the issue. I thought it was just for HDMI passthrough, but as it is a 22 pin ribbon cable and not the standard 20 pin style, I wonder if those two additional wires actual handle something other than video.

 

[XevetS]

Got it! As I have yet to fly the Solo, I was thinking that the yaw motor was user controlled, to independently rotate the camera via the right control on the transmitter. Now that I actually look at the manual (which for some reason I try to do as a last resort with anything), that is clearly not its purpose.

I actually acquired this drone by retrieving it from a 107' high tension wire (verified by another drone we used to check it out). It has apparently been hanging there since December 2nd of 2017, according to the last footage on the GoPro. We have tried to locate the owner, and I was really hoping it would have an FAA registration number on it, so we could track the owner down that way.

Somehow, even after multiple days of rain and tons of snow, it so far appears to work fine...just waiting on a set of props to fly, but the motors power up and I have throttle control of them. It has the 3DR gimbal, but I can't even get it to power up. One ribbon cable connector was torn loose from the bottom side of the board, so I think that may be the issue. I thought it was just for HDMI passthrough, but as it is a 22 pin ribbon cable and not the standard 20 pin style, I wonder if those two additional wires actual handle something other than video.

Have you tried uploading the logs from the solo you could easily tell where the solo originally took off from? And where the owner most likely resides....

It might not be possible if you reset the drone to reset the password, I'm not sure though?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

LOL. Someone's loss is you're gain. You mean one of the ribbons on the gimbal? The gimbal is quite likely never going to work given that kind of damage. But you can get another one eBay.

 

[RichWest]

One ribbon cable connector was torn loose from the bottom side of the board, so I think that may be the issue. I thought it was just for HDMI passthrough, but as it is a 22 pin ribbon cable and not the standard 20 pin style, I wonder if those two additional wires actual handle something other than video.

The first and last lead is ground and then every pair has a ground in between, so seven pair of data...

 

[notstock4long]

The first and last lead is ground and then every pair has a ground in between, so seven pair of data...

Hmm...so that HDMI cable isn't the culprit. I checked the connector at the gimbal when powered, and I have both gimbal and GoPro power at the correct voltages. But, the light on the gimbal doesn't even come on.

 

[notstock4long]

Have you tried uploading the logs from the solo you could easily tell where the solo originally took off from? And where the owner most likely resides....

It might not be possible if you reset the drone to reset the password, I'm not sure though?

Once I got the new controller, I was able to connect to the Solo with the default password. Logs revealed only two days of flights. Both originating in the parking lot near the park where we found it.

 

[XevetS]

Once I got the new controller, I was able to connect to the Solo with the default password. Logs revealed only two days of flights. Both originating in the parking lot near the park where we found it.

If you feel compelled or a bit bad about someone losing their drone you could post discreet flyers around the area, I found one myself no markings or phone number tried everything to find out who owns the drone but never did.....hey finders keepers you did recover it so even if you did find the owner you could charge them a hefty recovery fee "wink, wink" .

 

[RichWest]

The 22 pin connector is for the video. The other ribbon cable likely got damaged as well, which is the power and control ribbon. It makes several taps along the run to the various motors and to GP. I'd imagine you have a bent gimbal, as there are mechanical stops to prevent the ribbons pulling on the two FPC/FFC.

I recently dissembled a gimbal from another member. Anything on the gimbal that could be bent was bent. I found it strange that the main board survived intact, but then the ribbon sheared down on the yaw arm leading to the roll motor.

Within reason anything can be repaired, if time and money are of no concern. Good luck with the other half of Solo....

 

[notstock4long]

SteveX,

Are you still running this gimbal? If so, are you controlling tilt via PWM with that one?

3-Axis Brushless Gimbal Camera Mount with 32bit Storm32 Controller Gopro 3 4 USA | eBay

 

[XevetS]

SteveX,

Are you still running this gimbal? If so, are you controlling tilt via PWM with that one?

3-Axis Brushless Gimbal Camera Mount with 32bit Storm32 Controller Gopro 3 4 USA | eBay

Yes I am using that one and yes with the PWM for tilt

 

[notstock4long]

Some more questions have popped into my head over the weekend. Does tilt control also include use of the speed adjustment and preset tilt positions on the right side of the controller? Do you get the 'No Solo Gimbal' message on the controller screen when you control tilt? Do any smart shots function (I think I have read that they won't with PWM control...)? Thanks!

 

[XevetS]

Yes you can control the speed and presets, as far as smart shots they will function but you will have to manually control tilt function, they are working on a fix I'm pretty sure OlliW (creator of the Storm32) has a working solo with the Storm32 setup via MavLink..Stay tuned

Oh and yes I get the error no solo gimbal found

 

[RichWest]

as far as smart shots they will function but you will have to manually control tilt function

Wait, What? I thought auto-tilt was functioning in the smart shots, just no camera control...

 

[notstock4long]

Wait, What? I thought auto-tilt was functioning in the smart shots, just no camera control...

Perhaps that's if you are using the Mavlink commands and not PWM? That was my understanding anyway.

 

[XevetS]

I have never tried it? I've only heard this from hearsay on this forum... I do not use smart shots on my setup I should really investigate though, perhaps @RichWest is correct?

 

[RichWest]

Perhaps that's if you are using the Mavlink commands and not PWM? That was my understanding anyway.

One or the other provides tilt in smart shots. At least that's what I've been lead to believe. I've got no dog in the race yet, have several stock gimbals, but keeping mindful to the future needs or the break through to what is available.

XevetS - I don't use smart shots either, I totally enjoy the flying experience. Camera control is vastly more important imho.

 

[XevetS]

Yeah I'm pretty sure you can get the smart-shots working correctly using Mavlink My storm32 controller had a problem receiving heartbeats, could of been a firmware issue so I opted to use PWM input only works fine with the controller Paddle.