Aliexpress or eBay for P3S gimbal?

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I am considering purchasing a used camera/gimbal assembly from either of these places. The price in Canadian is + or - $200 depending on the source. Both are from China. I have bought many items off eBay before but none over $100 outside of Canada. I would like to hear any advice members may have for or against either eBay or AliExpress and whether the price is reasonable for a used working gimbal.

I have already tried replacing the gimbal flex cable with 3 different ones including a brand new OEM one and none have worked. I keep getting a gimbal gyroscope error and a limp gimbal although the camera operates perfectly. I spoken to a DJI certified technician a have been getting great help and advice from kind members on this site @KachemakDiver and @captainmilehigh.

Chris
 
Do some shopping around. Sounds a little high in comparison to what P3 standards are selling for now. Maybe count your loss and part out what you have. Use the money to buy a new drone. Tell Santa what you want for Christmas. ?
 
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Do some shopping around. Sounds a little high in comparison to what P3 standards are selling for now. Maybe count your loss and part out what you have. Use the money to buy a new drone. Tell Santa what you want for Christmas. ?
I have been looking on eBay, Amazon, etc and prices for used P3S’s are often going for more than I paid for mine new. I have considered buying a new drone - even tried a mini FMC that I got on Prime day for a great price but it kept not recognizing microSD cards that I use all the time on my P3S and Spark and also almost every time I started it I got IMU errors so I returned it for a refund. One of the reasons I like the P3S is that I use it in the winter in sub zero temps (often as low as -25C) and don’t have a single problem. Not sure if any of the newer drones other than the M2P or P4P could handle the cold weather as well.

Chris
 
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I have been looking on eBay, Amazon, etc and prices for used P3S’s are often going for more than I paid for mine new. I have considered buying a new drone - even tried a mini FMC that I got on Prime day for a great price but it kept not recognizing microSD cards that I use all the time on my P3S and Spark and also almost every time I started it I got IMU errors so I returned it for a refund. One of the reasons I like the P3S is that I use it in the winter in sub zero temps (often as low as -25C) and don’t have a single problem. Not sure if any of the newer drones other than the M2P or P4P could handle the cold weather as well.

Chris
That's great that your P3 standard has worked so well for you. I can see your devotion. I thought used P3 s was going for around $250 US. It seems to me to buy a used P3s is cost affective. You have your old one for spare parts.
 
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Have you contacted @Droneted on this forum. He is the camera/gimble guy. Has done repairs for me, very reasonable. In Florida, but closer than China. Might be a better bet if not replacing with upgrade.
I’m not a novice, but one gimble had a gremlin I could not get rid of. After multiple teardowns, gave up (sound familiar) and sent to Ted. 1 misplaced wire was all it was, argggggg.
Good luck.
He only needs the camera/gimble assembly, not drone.
 
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If you buy something through Alibaba don’t send money directly by Western Union or Money Gram.Many seller’s ask to receive payments through this ways. It is safer to pay through Alibaba.
 
I have had bad experiences with Alibaba , like the other stated. NEVER WESTERN UNION. You may not need a new gimbal, there is a calibration, also check the resistance on the potentiometer on that controls the Roll and Yaw. Look on the other side of the board and make sure one of the tabs did not pop off the potentiometer also when you rebuild it they need to be lined in a certain way there are several videos on YouTube for reference . I just had to rebuild mine I got my parts from eBay thankfully the seller was very close and very helpful it had a ton more parts that I had to buy because there were cheap
 
Thanks for all the helpful replies. Looks like I will cross off AliExpress as a source. I was leaning toward a source on eBay another member has dealt with and had been considering anyway. Since I am in Canada I don't have as many options to find parts as cheaply as many of my fellow US members do and I do not want to keep throwing money at parts until I find the part that is not working - by that time I will likely have spent as much as replacing the whole camera/gimbal assembly. I will see if I can contact @Droneted to see if he has a P3S gimbal or can repair mine for a reasonable cost.

Thanks all. I'll keep the thread updated to what I end up doing.

Chris
 
Thanks for everyone's help. I did contact some of the recommended members who repair P3's but the cost to send my camera assembly down to the US for diagnosis and repair would likely be more than purchasing a complete working assembly off eBay, so I decided to purchase a complete working camera unit from a vendor in China that another member on the forum has used before. Yes, I will likely have to wait until January to get it, but hopefully it will arrive without problems and I will have my trusty P3s working again.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to fellow US forum members!

Chris
 
I've got a few P3S here that work, and a working gimbal board, but the camera is dancing. I've compiled a list of things to check, but still some cams are dancing.
1) set screw on yaw arm tight
2) yaw arm positioned properly
3) pitch and roll spindles are oriented right against the pot
4) pots read proper voltages
5) replace ribbon cable
6) confirm gimbal board is good (test with a known-working camera)

But I still have a couple questions:
Are some cameras/gimbal motors not compatible with some gimbal boards?
Are there different version ribbon cables (and version matters)?
Is it normal for the pots to read (when balanced and equal) 3.8k ohms to 4.5k ohms, one pot to the next and from camera to camera?
What else should I check? @Droneted, any advice? Anyone?
 
I am considering purchasing a used camera/gimbal assembly from either of these places. The price in Canadian is + or - $200 depending on the source. Both are from China. I have bought many items off eBay before but none over $100 outside of Canada. I would like to hear any advice members may have for or against either eBay or AliExpress and whether the price is reasonable for a used working gimbal.

I have already tried replacing the gimbal flex cable with 3 different ones including a brand new OEM one and none have worked. I keep getting a gimbal gyroscope error and a limp gimbal although the camera operates perfectly. I spoken to a DJI certified technician a have been getting great help and advice from kind members on this site @KachemakDiver and @captainmilehigh.

Chris
Bonjour Chris,
Je rencontre le même souci que vous.
Avez-vous réussi à le réparer et quelle était la pièce défectueuse
Cordialement
 
Bonjour Chris,
Je rencontre le même souci que vous.
Avez-vous réussi à le réparer et quelle était la pièce défectueuse
Cordialement
I ended up purchasing a complete gimbal assembly (camera plus gimbal) on eBay. Everything worked fine and is still working. I continue to fly my P3S frequently.

As far as the cause of the problem, I never narrowed it down - it was likely the main gimbal board or the one that has the SD module on it. It definitely wasn’t the flex cable as I tried 3 of them including an OEM one.

Chris
 
I've got a few P3S here that work, and a working gimbal board, but the camera is dancing. I've compiled a list of things to check, but still some cams are dancing.
1) set screw on yaw arm tight
2) yaw arm positioned properly
3) pitch and roll spindles are oriented right against the pot
4) pots read proper voltages
5) replace ribbon cable
6) confirm gimbal board is good (test with a known-working camera)

But I still have a couple questions:
Are some cameras/gimbal motors not compatible with some gimbal boards?
Are there different version ribbon cables (and version matters)?
Is it normal for the pots to read (when balanced and equal) 3.8k ohms to 4.5k ohms, one pot to the next and from camera to camera?
What else should I check? @Droneted, any advice? Anyone?
If the camera head is off 180 degrees it will dance.
 
Je vous remercie et dans le cas d’un changement total de la nacelle quelle référence faut-il pour le P3S
Merci
this YouTube video shows how the camera head should be install at about 16 minutes and 30 seconds in. Very important
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I've got a few P3S here that work, and a working gimbal board, but the camera is dancing. I've compiled a list of things to check, but still some cams are dancing.
1) set screw on yaw arm tight
2) yaw arm positioned properly
3) pitch and roll spindles are oriented right against the pot
4) pots read proper voltages
5) replace ribbon cable
6) confirm gimbal board is good (test with a known-working camera)

But I still have a couple questions:
Are some cameras/gimbal motors not compatible with some gimbal boards?
Are there different version ribbon cables (and version matters)?
Is it normal for the pots to read (when balanced and equal) 3.8k ohms to 4.5k ohms, one pot to the next and from camera to camera?
What else should I check? @Droneted, any advice? Anyone?
the encoder boards are different on the p3s compared to the p3a or pro.
 
If you buy something through Alibaba don’t send money directly by Western Union or Money Gram.Many seller’s ask to receive payments through this ways. It is safer to pay through Alibaba.
Yeah. Alibaba is full of fraudsters, but there are some excellent suppliers as well. Usually, those who ask to pay through Western Union are scammers. I ordered my P3 from a trusted seller, and I paid through PayPal. My package was given a china post tracking number, and I could check its status whenever I wanted. Surprisingly, it arrived in less than two weeks, and it was very well packed. I've been using it for more than 2 years, and it works perfectly. So, everything depends on the seller. Just make sure it has good reviews, and watch out for the payment method.
 
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I have bought from AliExpress on a number of occasions. Batteries for a P3S can be mega cheap. OK there is VAT to pay (in UK) and postage (which can be very slow). But new batteries for ~£40 is hard to beat. Some people like them, some don't. But if I want to sell a drone then a couple of new batteries helps. Their ordering pages can be confusing what with specifying which part you actually want and the country you want it delivered from. I bought a P3S gimbal motherboard and couldn't get beyond an option of S / SE, so I placed my order and e-mailed them. That worked. I needed another couple and forgot the e-mail. I ended up with two SE boards which are not compatible with the S. So I have 2 SE gimbal motherboards going for £30 each, that is less than half price on line. Interested PM me.
 

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