Enough to make a grown man cry... Broken Gimbal P3Pro

[PhillyAnt]

Yeah, I am really disappointed. I planned a trip to the mountains tomorrow and was going to use my Phantom 3 Professional to capture some awesome video. I took her out today to make sure everything was set and running well. It was a beautiful day and everything was running fine. I've been practicing flying specifically from viewing the screen and my skill has been getting better and better, as well as my confidence. And then I got sloppy...

I was flying my bird around a track and mis-judged my speed going into a turn. It went wide and hit a tree branch at about 15 feet high. It fell to the ground and my stomach sunk. I made the long walk of shame over to my phantom and saw that the gimbal had cracked off. Everything else was fine. I put the drone on the ground and restarted her and she flew perfectly. I just have no camera anymore. I've included some pics of the damage.

So now what do I do? My whole day of plans for tomorrow is screwed. I'm probably going to end up buying another Phantom until I can figure out what to do with this one. Can I fix this? Can I replace the gimbal? I read that this is a very popular problem for those who have crashed their phantoms. It seems as though the gimbal breaks at the same spot.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to help out.

 

[PhillyAnt]

Well I just learned that I can buy a replacement gimbal/camera for $539

http://store.dji.com/product/phantom-3-professional-4k-camera

Not sure if I should do that or just buy an entirely new bird.

 

[jryser]

Welcome to the "I have two P3P's club. One of the reasons I did not buy an Inspire is bc when flying with FPV u r gonna crash once or twice. I hit a luminary balloon. Took a dive into a pond. Now I have two phantom 3 pros.


Sent from my PT beating heart

 

[C0ps]

Well I just learned that I can buy a replacement gimbal/camera for $539

http://store.dji.com/product/phantom-3-professional-4k-camera

Not sure if I should do that or just buy an entirely new bird.

Sell the bird in individual parts! Body, controller, batteries, charger, engines. You will make enough money to buy a new bird and only dish out couple of hundred bucks. Controller alone is 500.

 

[Ezookiel]

Sorry to hear. Mine's not the P3, but my H3-3D gimbal is quite damaged on my P2 after a stupidly misjudged landing, and it's around $500+ to replace it too. For that sort of money I may as well go get myself a P3. Unfortunately, gimbals aren't a cheap item it would appear, and even worse, they're also very fragile items. But in your case, unless you have a lot of spare money, I'd imagine it would be worth just getting the replacement gimbal. But that's not accounting for the inflated prices parts get on the second hand market, that could make a brand new bird worth considering, and having your old one for spares and flight practice.

I could probably sell the GoPro 4 Black to help fund the changeover to a P3. But that's a lot of work. Thankfully my gimbal does still seem to work, just one part is quite bent and makes it sit at a slightly tilted angle. Just requires a bit of angle adjustment on the final video and on most of the still shots to correct it.

 

[Airborne]

Sorry to hear. Mine's not the P3, but my H3-3D gimbal is quite damaged on my P2 after a stupidly misjudged landing, and it's around $500+ to replace it too. For that sort of money I may as well go get myself a P3. Unfortunately, gimbals aren't a cheap item it would appear, and even worse, they're also very fragile items. But in your case, unless you have a lot of spare money, I'd imagine it would be worth just getting the replacement gimbal. But that's not accounting for the inflated prices parts get on the second hand market, that could make a brand new bird worth considering, and having your old one for spares and flight practice.

I could probably sell the GoPro 4 Black to help fund the changeover to a P3. But that's a lot of work. Thankfully my gimbal does still seem to work, just one part is quite bent and makes it sit at a slightly tilted angle. Just requires a bit of angle adjustment on the final video and on most of the still shots to correct it.

Watch this video. It may be your problem and its correctable

 

[Ezookiel]

Wow. Thanks for that I'll definitely give that a go. It seems to be exactly the problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AlmostaJoker]

Maybe this might help.

http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/dji-phantom-3-gimbal-repair-kit.48182/

 

[FASTFJR]

Its a real shame they don't make the gimbal from machined aluminium

 

[Monte55]

Maybe it's better to have it break with impact rather than bend to where it's unusable anyway or rip the bottom off the Phantom.

 

[Airborne]

Wow. Thanks for that I'll definitely give that a go. It seems to be exactly the problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

good luck...

 

[PhillyAnt]

I think I'm just going to order a new one. I need my drone back in my life, and I need it now! Eventually I will buy a new camera/gimbal and fix my first drone. Having 2 is better than 1, right?

 

[mikesher]

Yeah, I am really disappointed. I planned a trip to the mountains tomorrow and was going to use my Phantom 3 Professional to capture some awesome video. I took her out today to make sure everything was set and running well. It was a beautiful day and everything was running fine. I've been practicing flying specifically from viewing the screen and my skill has been getting better and better, as well as my confidence. And then I got sloppy...

I was flying my bird around a track and mis-judged my speed going into a turn. It went wide and hit a tree branch at about 15 feet high. It fell to the ground and my stomach sunk. I made the long walk of shame over to my phantom and saw that the gimbal had cracked off. Everything else was fine. I put the drone on the ground and restarted her and she flew perfectly. I just have no camera anymore. I've included some pics of the damage.

So now what do I do? My whole day of plans for tomorrow is screwed. I'm probably going to end up buying another Phantom until I can figure out what to do with this one. Can I fix this? Can I replace the gimbal? I read that this is a very popular problem for those who have crashed their phantoms. It seems as though the gimbal breaks at the same spot.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to help out.

View attachment 25811 View attachment 25812 View attachment 25813

Same thing happened to my P3P. Sent it to DJI North America (LA), and they replaced the roll-axis module for $38 + labor. After 7 weeks, I'm finally getting it back this Thursday.

I did the same thing; ordered another because I knew it was going to be a long wait... soon I'll have 2.

 

[PhillyAnt]

Same thing happened to my P3P. Sent it to DJI North America (LA), and they replaced the roll-axis module for $38 + labor. After 7 weeks, I'm finally getting it back this Thursday.

I did the same thing; ordered another because I knew it was going to be a long wait... soon I'll have 2.

I don't think they will replace anything on mine because of it being user error. It was totally my fault that I was trying to be tricky and ended up hitting a branch. It would be nice to have that coverage, but I think I'm going to have to eat this one.

 

[Darron Brown]

Hi PhillyAnt, yes, you can get another gimbal. It almost looks repairable, is it where you can use something as a superglue or are the circuits affected?

 

[suck it up]

I don't think they will replace anything on mine because of it being user error. It was totally my fault that I was trying to be tricky and ended up hitting a branch. It would be nice to have that coverage, but I think I'm going to have to eat this one.

Did you look at the gimbal repair kit on the link posted above? That will get you your problem fixed.

Here it is again:

http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/dji-phantom-3-gimbal-repair-kit.48182/

 

[PhillyAnt]

Hi PhillyAnt, yes, you can get another gimbal. It almost looks repairable, is it where you can use something as a superglue or are the circuits affected?

Unfortunately superglue won't do the trick. It's missing part of the arm. The ribbon (circuits?) is also cut apart and I would need to replace that.

 

[PhillyAnt]

Did you look at the gimbal repair kit on the link posted above? That will get you your problem fixed.

Here it is again:

http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/dji-phantom-3-gimbal-repair-kit.48182/

Yeah I definitely checked that out. I think the damage done was too much though.

 

[AYA74]

Yeah, I am really disappointed. I planned a trip to the mountains tomorrow and was going to use my Phantom 3 Professional to capture some awesome video. I took her out today to make sure everything was set and running well. It was a beautiful day and everything was running fine. I've been practicing flying specifically from viewing the screen and my skill has been getting better and better, as well as my confidence. And then I got sloppy...

I was flying my bird around a track and mis-judged my speed going into a turn. It went wide and hit a tree branch at about 15 feet high. It fell to the ground and my stomach sunk. I made the long walk of shame over to my phantom and saw that the gimbal had cracked off. Everything else was fine. I put the drone on the ground and restarted her and she flew perfectly. I just have no camera anymore. I've included some pics of the damage.

So now what do I do? My whole day of plans for tomorrow is screwed. I'm probably going to end up buying another Phantom until I can figure out what to do with this one. Can I fix this? Can I replace the gimbal? I read that this is a very popular problem for those who have crashed their phantoms. It seems as though the gimbal breaks at the same spot.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to help out.

Hi. Exactly the same happened to me 2 months ago before leaving to Mexico and U.S. where I was planning to take my P3P. I went for a quick test flight in a park near my home and misjudged the speed and while turning, the P3P drifted and hit branches. Same result as yours.
Yet, I sent it to DJI via my local dealer and only the gimbal arm had to be replaced and it costed me "only" 177$ + shipping costs to send it. It was way below I was afraid of since I know a whole replacement of the gimbal and camera could have costed over 500$.
If I were you, I'll contact DJI because the repair fee might be lower than you think.
Today, my P3 fly like a charm and I am definitely staying away of trees and fly at a higher altitude.
Good luck!


A link of the video of my crash to cheer you up a bit as you are not the only one:

 

[PhillyAnt]

Hi. Exactly the same happened to me 2 months ago before leaving to Mexico and U.S. where I was planning to take my P3P. I went for a quick test flight in a park near my home and misjudged the speed and while turning, the P3P drifted and hit branches. Same result as yours.
Yet, I sent it to DJI via my local dealer and only the gimbal arm had to be replaced and it costed me "only" 177$ + shipping costs to send it. It was way below I was afraid of since I know a whole replacement of the gimbal and camera could have costed over 500$.
If I were you, I'll contact DJI because the repair fee might be lower than you think.
Today, my P3 fly like a charm and I am definitely staying away of trees and fly at a higher altitude.
Good luck!


A link of the video of my crash to cheer you up a bit as you are not the only one:

View attachment 26046

Thank you! I will definitely contact them. Glad everything worked out for you.