Gimbal non-responsive

[ganguy]

I have only flown the P2V+ about 10 times, and only once did the camera and gimbal work.
Now, the camera displays a picture, but although the camera light is blinking slow green, the gimbal is dead. The pitch control on DJI Vision does not make the camera move. Tilting the bird, the gimbal stays in the same position relative to the drone, instead of leveling. There was twitching a few tries ago, but now, nothing happens.There have been no crashes, all the cables look good, but I haven't looked inside the shell. Rapping the case doesn't have any effect so it probably isn't a marginal connection.
Is this time for a trip to the Phantom doctor?

 

[ganguy]

The setup is not in FPV mode. Some observations:
When controller and extender are on and connected, drone power on and in ready to fly mode, gimbal light flashing green-sometimes the gimbal is dead, but gimbal light still flashing green.
At other times it goes to the standard position and the remote control is active to move the camera up and down. However following the same procedure at times I get the camera and gimbal move erratically jerking back and forth and the message appears "remove gimbal clamp" however the gimbal clamp is not installed.
Further, if I shut the controller and extender off, and power up the drone, I get a steady green light on the gimbal, but gimbal drifts and oscillates in the horizontal mode.
Any further thoughts?

 

[Weston Ney]

The setup is not in FPV mode. Some observations:
When controller and extender are on and connected, drone power on and in ready to fly mode, gimbal light flashing green-sometimes the gimbal is dead, but gimbal light still flashing green.
At other times it goes to the standard position and the remote control is active to move the camera up and down. However following the same procedure at times I get the camera and gimbal move erratically jerking back and forth and the message appears "remove gimbal clamp" however the gimbal clamp is not installed.
Further, if I shut the controller and extender off, and power up the drone, I get a steady green light on the gimbal, but gimbal drifts and oscillates in the horizontal mode.
Any further thoughts?

It sounds like your gimbal may be damaged. I did a quick look on eBay, and my personal thought is that it is not worth its to buy and install a different gimbal for your Phantom 2 and still potentially have issues. And paying for someone else to repair it is probably going to cost way more than the drone is worth. I would actually suggest looking at buying a new drone.

 

[ganguy]

It looks that way! $100- for a used gimbal assembly. The only repair place is 350Km away. I'll just have to fly it by eye and skip the video link for now. Oh well, it worked once beautifully.
Thanks for thinking about it.
BTW, if you were me, what would you buy next? new? Used? The P2V+ features and perormance are about all I need

 

[Weston Ney]

It looks that way! $100- for a used gimbal assembly. The only repair place is 350Km away. I'll just have to fly it by eye and skip the video link for now. Oh well, it worked once beautifully.
Thanks for thinking about it.
BTW, if you were me, what would you buy next? new? Used?

I would buy a used phantom 4 standard. I'm loving mine. But if you need to stay under 350 dollars buy a Phantom 3 standard, that was my first drone and it never gave me any issues.

 

[ganguy]

Thanks, I'm looking!

 

[Weston Ney]

Thanks, I'm looking!

I personally am a do-it-yourselfer type of a guy. I go on eBay and buy drones and cameras that are broken and I take them into my shop and fix them. My current drone was in a crash and one of the arms was broken and the gamble was completely destroyed. Basically I got a phantom 4 standard fly more combo with multiple batteries for only $400. But for you you will need to make sure you get a drone that has never been in a crash before. You don't want to have to deal with the issues that happen with a drone after a crash.

 

[ganguy]

I like fixing up too! My main hobby is scratchbuilding and flying fixed-wing stuff, and there is a lot of fixing up every day!
Good advice on buying up.
I'm really p*....!d about my P2V+ because apparently it was only flown twice before I got it, and it was (and is) like new. I've flown it 5 times and never crashed it. There is absolutely no sign of damage on the gimbal and all the connectors are seated. I thought I might take it apart and see if the something is loose.
Here's news! I just turned on the drone, with the controller/extender off, and the camera came to its correct position, and stays oriented when I tilt the drone all around, no jerking or jittering. That tells me there's something screwed up in the command electronics. I'm off to check some more.
GG

 

[ganguy]

This is incredible! I did everything backwards and it works. I turn the drone on first and the camera seem to come to its normal position as I said. And then turned on the controller and the gimbal was still stable when the drone moved around. Then I turned on the extender, same thing, still stable. Then I open the app, and sure enough I have full control and everything seems normal! Just to be sure I powered up the rotors in case it had something you do with motor vibration and I'm still okay. I have no idea what happened except I poked around a little bit on the black ribbon cable connectors on the gimbal itself, although nothing seemed loose it seems to be okay! I ran through that sequence again, and it's fine. We were taught never to turn the plane on before the transmitter/controller, but it works for me.
I'm a bit embarrassed that I've got everybody thinking about this problem and now it's gone away. Anyway, thanks to everybody who gave this a little thinking time. As soon as the rain stops I'm going out to fly.
I'm still going to keep my eye out for a P3 or P4
Cheers!

 

[Weston Ney]

This is incredible! I did everything backwards and it works. I turn the drone on first and the camera seem to come to its normal position as I said. And then turned on the controller and the gimbal was still stable when the drone moved around. Then I turned on the extender, same thing, still stable. Then I open the app, and sure enough I have full control and everything seems normal! Just to be sure I powered up the rotors in case it had something you do with motor vibration and I'm still okay. I have no idea what happened except I poked around a little bit on the black ribbon cable connectors on the gimbal itself, although nothing seemed loose it seems to be okay! I ran through that sequence again, and it's fine. We were taught never to turn the plane on before the transmitter/controller, but it works for me.
I'm a bit embarrassed that I've got everybody thinking about this problem and now it's gone away. Anyway, thanks to everybody who gave this a little thinking time. As soon as the rain stops I'm going out to fly.
I'm still going to keep my eye out for a P3 or P4
Cheers!

That's cool that it's still working. Like you said, you should still look to upgrade someday, because your current drone doesn't sound as reliable as it should be, but use it as a drone to learn on and get used to how DJI drones fly, so that if you crash it it's not as big a deal as if you crash a new Phantom 4!

 

[ganguy]

Right! It has taken a little getting used to, converting from fixed wing planes, but GPS sure helps! I will keep my eye out for an upgrade.
Thanks again