Video/No Video PRO HELP NEEDED!

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Ok, so... ever since I bought my solo I have had no video feed or red distorted video feed with gopro hero 3+ black and 4 black.
The other day I took it apart to individually test each video component to find the gimbal hdmi was not faulty and the drones hdmi was not faulty, except when you put them together it doesn't like displaying the feed...

I will attach pictures of my findings...20180602_162155.jpg 20180602_162203.jpg 20180602_164743.jpg 20180602_164747.jpg Screenshot_20180602-172917_Solo.jpg 20180602_173247.jpg 20180602_173254.jpg 20180602_181003.jpg 20180602_173254.jpg
 
Likely the gimbal's HDMI connection to the camera is the source problem, seeing that you went through everything else. Check that the pins are not out of alignment, a light and magnifying glass is helpful to see the pins. I assume you bought a used gimbal...

Further the front two dampers are not mounted properly. Was this something you did or did you receive the gimbal that way? Could be an indicator that the hdmi ribbon got pulled from its connector to the gimbal's main board. Stranger things have happened...who knows.
 
20180602_162155.jpg 20180602_162203.jpg 20180602_164743.jpg 20180602_164747.jpg Screenshot_20180602-172917_Solo.jpg
The HDMI's are all perfectly fine and even display feed from the drone when the gimbal isnt connected. I bought the drone as the 3rd hand owner and it does seem a bit tampered with but I still cant figure out why it doesnt display any feed while everything is connected back up...
 
Likely the gimbal's HDMI connection to the camera is the source problem, seeing that you went through everything else. Check that the pins are not out of alignment, a light and magnifying glass is helpful to see the pins. I assume you bought a used gimbal...

Further the front two dampers are not mounted properly. Was this something you did or did you receive the gimbal that way? Could be an indicator that the hdmi ribbon got pulled from its connector to the gimbal's main board. Stranger things have happened...who knows.

Dont think I replied to you correctly...
 
I'd say this HDMI connection is bad, camera to the gimbal HDMI. Again check the connector's pins to insure they aren't mis-aligned.

nico gimbal.jpg
 
Soo you say this, even when there is a video feed when it is in use seperated from the drone... ??
It was kind of hard to tell what was working versus not working from all your pictures. From your original post, the last four photos, showed the red screen while the camera was connected to the gimbal...so I assumed.

So you are saying it works when hooked up like shown in my last post? If you install the camera in the holder then you get the red screen?

If so then check the Hero port on both the camera and gimbal, you may have some pins shorting. There is a video feed on the hero port for a GP video screen.

Could also be a damaged ribbon cable, the control and HDMI ribbons run on top of each other around and through the various arms of the gimbal. Remove the covers off the pitch arm, you'll see the two ribbons and all the connections on the lower gimbal.

It maybe obvious once found, I can only point out the possibilities. It cost me a couple of gimbals to learn what not to do...
 
Just my 2 cents, but....

When I see red or green washouts like that it screams the ribbon connector on the mainboard of the gimbal. They are finicky with either cold solder or cracked solder joints. A little pressure one way and they work just fine. A little pressure in other direction and they go green or red

I have attempted to fix these joints and they just don't want to take. YMMV.

Not saying this is the issue, just adding that it might be.
 
So random story....

I have an LG plasma TV. Get's quite warm when it operates, gets very cool when it shuts down. As a result, all those little solder connections tend to crack and come apart on the motherboard. So came in one day, got a signal from the TV antenna no problem, but as soon as I went to try a HDMI input... nuffin! Even the component cable inputs wouldn't work.

You know how I fixed it? I took that mother board out of the tv, put it on a sheet of cardboard on a baking tray, threw it into the oven for 10 minute at 375 degree's. Put it back into the TV, worked just fine.

I've had to do this 3 times over the past few years, works every time (hey, I've been spending my money on drones, I can't buy a new TV...)

I'm not saying that people should throw their gimbal in an oven, I think that would be bad..... but wondering if there's maybe part of the gimbal that could be exposed to heat that might fix any type of micro cracks in the solder...
 
I've had 3 gimbals that just wouldn't gimme live feed either. Bypass the gimbal and go straight to the solo from the camera and boom, gravy. So, upon tearing apart the gimbals, all 3 of them had a fk'd up ribbon connector. Actually, one of them had a fk'd up male part that went into the side of the camera. But the other 2 had the messed up ribbon. That thing is 2 ribbons glued together and they are weird looking when laid flat... they curve and shyt. Anyway, both breaks were located on the arm where it bends to go into the housing that holds the camera. So, I've got beaucoup spare gimbal partys, all waiting for new ribbons~~which are non-existent at present. Pretty crappy design, imo.
 
Soo you say this, even when there is a video feed when it is in use seperated from the drone... ??

Did you ever figure it out? I have the same garbled video problem. The video stream is fine from the gimbal to the ribbon cable to the foot long round HDMI cable since I can get crisp video from the end of the HDMI cable to a monitor. The HDMI video stream comes out garbled from the HDMI port of the controller as well.

I'm using a GoPro 4 Black with the latest firmware and the latest Solo software with 3.7 of ArduCopter and latest Solex.
 

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Just my 2 cents, but....

When I see red or green washouts like that it screams the ribbon connector on the mainboard of the gimbal. They are finicky with either cold solder or cracked solder joints. A little pressure one way and they work just fine. A little pressure in other direction and they go green or red

I have attempted to fix these joints and they just don't want to take. YMMV.

Not saying this is the issue, just adding that it might be.
I agree. The circuit boards have been good, lead free solder is less forgiving. Being bored, i found this an interesting explanation of the hdmi signal. I imagine this could be an indicator of a possible floater somewhere along the hdmi path.


Did you ever figure it out?

The good thing is you have a signal, it's just scrambled. I haven't had the issue in quite some time. Many found that the hdmi connection at the IMX6 was a culprit...look up foam block mod.
 
i did the foam block mod yesterday with no result have camera but no video same type of screen.... the worst thing was i flew it through the cam screen so i could see... then booom lost battery in about a minute managed to get it close to my back yard and lost her in a tree thank god.... ive had my solo one week and not happy....BUT im excited as im learning loads about the drone and understand its potential.... which is why i bought it.... i own a splash 3+ for fishing which is greaat the App doesnt work but for fishing its great.... now im super excited when i got the Solo.... i want to use for fishing footage and as a back up for fishing..... ill have a look at the ribbon.... i did leave the foam on whilst trying to set up solex.... and the motor got hot.... would that affect the ribbon....
 
i did the foam block mod yesterday with no result have camera but no video same type of screen.... i did leave the foam on whilst trying to set up solex.... and the motor got hot.... would that affect the ribbon....
I assume you are talking about the foam that retains the gimbal during storage. Leaving the foam on is not the best of ideas, more to what would burn up gimbal motors.

To the screen issue... If the foam block mod didn't help, then it is likely at the gimbal hdmi connection where the hdmi cable plugs in. Basically a loose micro hdmi connector, which has been a common point of failure via crash or man handling. If the cause, you'd need to re-solder the connector. Search forum for that advice...

There have been some people that replaced the black hdmi cable and resolved the issue. So you may want to try that first. Just an opinion, but I'd stick with a factory hdmi cable for a replacement. Ribbon type have there own set of issues inside of Solo.
 
Thankyou for the tups i had a fiddle
I assume you are talking about the foam that retains the gimbal during storage. Leaving the foam on is not the best of ideas, more to what would burn up gimbal motors.

To the screen issue... If the foam block mod didn't help, then it is likely at the gimbal hdmi connection where the hdmi cable plugs in. Basically a loose micro hdmi connector, which has been a common point of failure via crash or man handling. If the cause, you'd need to re-solder the connector. Search forum for that advice...

There have been some people that replaced the black hdmi cable and resolved the issue. So you may want to try that first. Just an opinion, but I'd stick with a factory hdmi cable for a replacement. Ribbon type have there own set of issues inside of Solo.
 
Thankyou for the tips... i jad a play with the ribbon gently on tje gimbal and bam in on picture up and im off
 
I'm having the same problem here. Everything worked fine, solo put away at end of summer, needed it there now but either no video feed or picture that is garbled and looks too big for the screen.
I found that the HDMI connector on the gimbal had pulled away, so connected directly to mainboard inside solo. No video or garbled.
I tried a turnigy camera with HD out, same result as GP4 black, tried 2 different cables, same, replaced the internal board on the solo that the mini HDMI plugs into, same result, and tried both cameras, 3 cables, 2 boards all directly connected bypassing the gimbal, no video or distorted video feed, same as above pics in OP. Its also random whether i get distorted video or no video. Have reset solo and controller, and reseated the sd cards in both.
How is the video fed back to the app? on the same 2.4ghz link through the controller and then wifi to a tablet, similar to 3DR telemetry module in Ardu?

Thanks in advance if anybody has any ideas
 

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