Gimbal Motor Overloaded- Phantom 4 Pro

[Smith Aerial Services]

Monday Sept. 11, I took off like normal, then on my way to where I was videoing, the gimbal cocked to the right and started shaking like crazy. I hurried and brought the drone back and landed. Then I turned the drone off, restarted it, and on the DJI GO app it said "gimbal motor overloaded." So I took off again and the camera was still shaking like crazy, so I landed again and went home. I tried everything: calibrated IMU/Compass, calibrated gimbal, and the gimbal it is still panned, not tilted to the right whenever I turn the drone on.

The up/down, and the tilt movement are fine, but the gimbal will not pan to the left while drone is powered on. With the drone off I tested to see if anything was tight, and it was not. I updated firmware to the latest and I still have the problem. P.S. The drone has never been crashed and always hand caught.

Any advice on how to fix this would be truly appreciated!

Thanks,
Cody Smith
Smith Aerial Services

 

[racman66]

Try this, fixed my same problem.
Run the gimbal calibration with the phantom camera pointing skywards - here's the DJI forum link Camera face towards left instead of facing center.
Torn the AC off in this once complete
Put the AC in the normal horizontal position
Restart the AC and gimbal should now be pointing forward
Don't re-run the gimbal calibration again with the AC in the horizontal position

 

[AirMan05446]

Thanks - I saw that tip and tried it earlier. Just tried it again -- No luck. I will say after, I was able to hand-move the Phantom around and the gimbal tracked (albeit off-center) and did not get the overload error until after a minute or so.

Does anyone think a firmware update would fix this or it's a hardware issue?

 

[Smith Aerial Services]

UPDATE!!! IT STARTED WORKING! So I started off by updating my remote controller to the latest firmware. Then, with the drone powered on, I changed the gimbal mode to FPV and turned and tilted the drone for about 30 seconds. Then I adjusted the gimbal tilt from 0 to 10 degrees, hit the zero button to reset it back to normal, then adjusted gimbal from 0 to -10 degrees. After this, I checked the DJI Go App and it DID NOT say "gimbal motor overloaded". With the drone still on, I put the props on and carefully moved it outside for a flight. I took off like normal and slowly moved forward to back, side to side, and yawed. The gimbal was still performing fine. So I then did a little more aggressive movements and the gimbal still performed like normal. Then I landed the drone, turned it off, took it inside and took the props off. I then turned the drone on to make sure it was not a fluke. The camera was pointed in the center like it should be, and the app did not say "gimbal motor overloaded." Hopefully this was not a fluke, but as of now it is working.

Cody Smith
Smith Aerial Services

 

[Lannis]

Have also had this buzzy gimbalsound since day one. Been waiting for a fix from DJI for 2 months. (bought in july) Saw the calibrationtip from DJI Susan and gave it a try. Calibration was very noisy and buzzy, but completed. After restart, the camera was pointing to the right . Gimbal overload. Think the yaw motor is fried. Waiting for a respons from DJI Support what to do.

UPDATE: Got reply from DJI Support today. Have to send in my bird to get it fixed. (Hope everything else goes as smooth as this)

Uppdate #2: Got my P4P back from DJI NL after 3 weeks. Gimbal is working ok now, but I think they replaced it with the one that on the P4... (Don't know if it's possible) First pic is the drone I got back, second is the one I sent for repair.

 

[macoman]

Have also had this buzzy gimbalsound since day one. Been waiting for a fix from DJI for 2 months. (bought in july) Saw the calibrationtip from DJI Susan and gave it a try. Calibration was very noisy and buzzy, but completed. After restart, the camera was pointing to the right . Gimbal overload. Think the yaw motor is fried. Waiting for a respons from DJI Support what to do.

Try to bother DJI everyday, remember they only provide 6 months of warranty for the camera / gimbal part.

 

[AirMan05446]

Just tried Cody's tip. No dice. Blech.

 

[Smith Aerial Services]

It must have been a fluke. The next time I flew it, it was fine again, but when I got home and turned it on in my living room, it showed the dreaded "gimbal motor overloaded" again. I tried the same thing I did earlier and It would work for like half of my flight, but still giving me fits.
To me, I don't think it is a hardware problem, but a software problem. I'm still not sure whether or not to send it in to get repaired because it is still under warranty.

 

[AirMan05446]

It must have been a fluke. The next time I flew it, it was fine again, but when I got home and turned it on in my living room, it showed the dreaded "gimbal motor overloaded" again. I tried the same thing I did earlier and It would work for like half of my flight, but still giving me fits.
To me, I don't think it is a hardware problem, but a software problem. I'm still not sure whether or not to send it in to get repaired because it is still under warranty.

I am going to send mine in, but here's a funny story: I got a brand new P4+ yesterday and I got the "gimbal overload" error a few times when setting it up. I am having some other issues getting the remote to fully link, so I don't know if this will continue. Will update this thread later when I get some more info

 

[rcflyingaddict]

I am going to send mine in, but here's a funny story: I got a brand new P4+ yesterday and I got the "gimbal overload" error a few times when setting it up. I am having some other issues getting the remote to fully link, so I don't know if this will continue. Will update this thread later when I get some more info

Good thing about brand new is you can ship it back and get another nib.

 

[jwcfbd]

Mine did the same thing. I tried all the calibrations with no help. I called DJI, told that what all I had done and they had me send it in. Start to finished it'll be 3 weeks I sent it out on the 13th and will be getting it back on the 4th. The only thing that sucks about their repair notifications is they don't tell you what they found. I called to ask but the tech didn't put any note on the account. Hopefully when I get it back it'll have an invoice of things done but at least it was covered for free.

 

[AirMan05446]

Mine did the same thing. I tried all the calibrations with no help. I called DJI, told that what all I had done and they had me send it in. Start to finished it'll be 3 weeks I sent it out on the 13th and will be getting it back on the 4th. The only thing that sucks about their repair notifications is they don't tell you what they found. I called to ask but the tech didn't put any note on the account. Hopefully when I get it back it'll have an invoice of things done but at least it was covered for free.

Did they cover shipping both ways?

 

[jwcfbd]

Did they cover shipping both ways?

Yes UPS truck so it takes a week for delivery. Once they told me to send it in they had me fill out a online repair request. Then I printed out a shipping label and took it to UPS and away it went. The only cost to me was the box and packing to put the foam case in.

 

[AirMan05446]

Yes UPS truck so it takes a week for delivery. Once they told me to send it in they had me fill out a online repair request. Then I printed out a shipping label and took it to UPS and away it went. The only cost to me was the box and packing to put the foam case in.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I am sending 2 P4P+ in next week. :-(

 

[Smith Aerial Services]

Sorry I hadn't got back to you guys in a while. So I ended up sending my Phantom 4 Pro in. I had all sorts of trouble getting the correct address on my shipping label, took 3 days just to sort that mess out, so finally got it on its way to California. I sure hope they repair it correctly because I definitely do not want to go through that mess again.

I still think it is very strange that we have all had issues within the last month. Either weird coincidence or something up with firmware.

I'll let you guys know what I find out was wrong, and good luck with your repairs as well

Cody Smith
Smith Aerial Services