Fitted new ribbon, now gimbal goes crazy!! Help please

Roy2593 · May 1, 2017

Hi all, my son has a Phantom 3 standard with a 4k camera/ gimbal on it.

We noticed the gimbal didnt move when you switched it on. On inspection we saw that the ribbon has snapped.

I bought a new ribbon off ebay and fitted it exactly as the original.

Now when we turn it on the gimbal goes crazy!! And it wont stop!! We've had a look on youtube and internet but cant get it to initialize as it should,just goes crazy!

One of the things ive done is screwed off the back cover and looked at the half moon shaped axle and its properly aligned with the camera!

Has anyone any suggestions please!!!??

Thanks
Roy.

mdowney58 · May 1, 2017

I assume that you are referring to the roll motor shaft flat being aligned with the top of the camera, right?
I (and a few others here) have experienced the same issue as you after replacing the ribbon cable, and the cause turned out to be installing the pitch motor shaft into the camera 180° off.
The flat side of the pitch motor should face the rear of the camera.

Roy2593 · May 1, 2017

Many thanks for your reply, is it something we can do ourselves do you reckon??

Not sure exactly what your refering to, to be honest!

Can you explain, or i dont suppose you have a picture?

Many thanks again
Roy.

mdowney58 · May 2, 2017

Ok, when you said that you replaced the "ribbon", we're you referring to the flat black ribbon cable that goes all the way down to the camera?
If no, then I made the wrong assumption.
If yes, then you most likely had to disconnect the camera body from the pitch motor shaft. If you did, that shaft has a flat side, but the hole in the side of the camera is round, so it is possible to insert and secure the pitch motor shaft in the side of the camera rotated 180° off of where it should be.
I hope this is helping.

Roy2593 · May 2, 2017

Hi, yes the flat black ribbon.
I didnt actually disconnect the camera from the pitch, i did it it without doing it that way!

Would it be worth me starting again and disconnect everything?? Not sure how to take the pitch and camera apart!!

Thanks.

RW-1 · May 3, 2017

I would recommend that you disconnect it and then carefully reconnect it, ensuring that it is seated in it's connectors.
Then retry powering on.

Take a photo that you can then post here so we can see it.

If you didn't physically take the camera apart from it's supports, etc. Then I wouldn't do so, unless it is necessary to replace the ribbon.

Lastly, I've linked to Phantom Help - replacing the gimbal ribbon cable video here, please review, perhaps that may also assist you when you go to reassemble it.

Great_Lakes · May 3, 2017

Did you buy the ribbon cable from DJI or a third party? The third party ribbons are often junk!

mdowney58 · May 3, 2017

Roy2593 said:
Hi, yes the flat black ribbon.
I didnt actually disconnect the camera from the pitch, i did it it without doing it that way!

Would it be worth me starting again and disconnect everything?? Not sure how to take the pitch and camera apart!!

Thanks.

I didn't think that it was possible to do!
So that shoots my theory out of the water.

Jani Kankaanpää · May 5, 2017

Ebay ribbon cables do not work, i have tried, byo orginal from DJI and all is fine.

Dino62972 · Oct 18, 2017

Im going through the same problom & glad i seen this post. I replaced my ribbon and the gimbal & camera go crazy! After auto gimbal calibrate the gimbal was still off slightly to the left & camera not pointing straight ahead. You guys are correct about the ebay ribbons, i paid $10 for one off ebay which broke easily during instalation, and again for a second, and the gimbal & camera wouldnt move at all. Paid $30 for a dji ribbon on amazon & both started moving after startup even tho they went crazy. I'll figure out the problom though. Goodluck to ya Roy.

Biscuits · Oct 10, 2019

Hi everyone. I know This thread is fairly old now but thought I’d add it’s really important to check all three axes and how the sensors are positioned as especially with the camera tilt, just like was said, can spin freely. My gimbal went mental because the actual camera was screwed in BACK TO FRONT as the flat part was on the wrong side. The way to check if one may be out is if the gimbal is pulling one way specifically (mine pulled down) and this let me see what was wrong. Any more questions I’ll try to help (specifically mine was a P3 Pro)