Jstic said:
Mapmaker, when you come on a forum and make allegations like you have, and don't post a shred of evidence to back it up, you sound like another angry customer who crashed his drone and is looking to blame the manufacturer. I find it very hard to believe that DJI is contacting bracket makers to ask them to stop selling them. "I have learned from a reliable source...." is a pretty ballsy thing to say on an internet forum, and then not name the source.
First of all, the brackets and protections being sold, DO NOT STOP the basic problem from occurring. The rear gimbal motor shaft is press fit into an aluminum housing and the aluminum is soft so after some/repeated lateral impact, the opening widens and the shaft spins freely. In hard crashes the shaft can come right out of the housing and separate the gimbal/camera into two pieces and break the ribbon cable. Further proof of this is the other two gimbal motors where the shaft is press fit into a stainless steel motor housing. These do not slip or come apart. NONE of the so called bracket protectors are going to stop the shaft from coming loose from the housing. The only thing they can do is to prevent the camera from separating in some cases, and this can prevent the ribbon cable from tearing. The only real long term fix(other than replacing camera) for this is to install a bushing onto the shaft, and increase the size of the hole in the housing to accept the bushing, which is press fit onto the shaft(credit to forum member burlbark on this ). All the fixes involving epoxies and other adhesives do work, but they are not going to hold up through crashes or repeated hard landings.
IMHO, one reason DJI does not sell the cable separately is because of the level of skill and experience it takes to make the repair. For proof of this, go on over to ebay and on any given day you will find a half dozen or so cameras for sale where the owner tried to fix it himself by purchasing a replacement cable and installing it. I just bought one on ebay from a guy who tried to fix it, he had the cable totally disoriented and tried to install it backwards because he didn't know what he was doing. Take a few minutes and read through this and other forums and you will see that there is no where near 100% success when replacing the cable. Some are able to do it, it is not impossible, but many fail IMHO. I have done about a dozen of them myself so I have some experience, but I also have a backround in micro soldering, PCB repair and working with tiny parts. DJI and their dealers would be dealing with many customers who buy the cable and when it doesn't fix their camera/gimbal, want a refund or more. They don't need to open this can of worms and I don't blame them.
What DJI could do is redesign the rear motor assembly and housing and how they are mated. As has been suggested in this forum and others, a slightly longer shaft with a threaded end and a retainer nut or clip of some kind might work. But even that could be problematic as anything protruding from the motor housing has to remain clear of the ribbon cable which moves when the gimbal moves on that axis. It would likely be costly in R & D costs to do this and because DJI is making money and people are buying new Phantoms and replacement cameras, they have very little incentive to do so. That would also open up another can of worms as disgruntled owners will come out of the woodwork and want refunds because of the design change.
DJI is not all about money either, otherwise they would not have implemented a 12% price cut on their best selling model a couple months ago.
It always amuses me when people get into the DJI conversations, its surprising how many people stick up for DJI, that's a good thing and shows respect for the product.
Never the less, the amount of people who require a Ribbon cable and cant get one because DJI wont supply them is ridiculous.
No amount of technical experience is regarded as acceptable and the only resolve is to send it back for repair and incur fees for such.....
There is no doubt that there are issues with the design, and many resort to hand catching their units to prevent any such damage, Does DJI support hand catching? maybe the AMA support handcatching?
NO, its dangerous.
For something that doesn't really exist as an issue, despite admissions from the techs at DJI, there have been a lot of people buying the 3rd party ribbon cables and many forums including this one, with numerous fixes and proven techniques to remedy the issues.
Well , times running out, the Phantom 2 vision + will soon be gimbal free and allow any camera and any gimbal to be used on its platform, using all the stock wifiTx etc.....
No more massive repair bills, no more official and original gimbal costs... no more with holding the actual parts people require. This will see an end to the DJI gimbal issue and result in people upgrading with other better performing cameras/gimbals. No more £400.00 replacements for the same problems....
The main point being, WHY with hold parts that could help so many people and then give the impression that they need sensitive calibration to be fixed.
Are all the forums and many people who have performed the self fixes and resolved their own issues lying?
I can safely say that the ribbon cable being with held is purely about money and has no bearing on the capabilities of the end users.
Look at the other goodies they sell and tell me how an incompetent person is supposed to fit it?
More importantly as a consumer, do you not feel you have the right to choose to fix it yourself, or be told to send it away for repair.
Ya there's never any conjecture or rumor allowed on these forums. :mrgreen:
