Gimbal roll

[Terrycross]

Hi everyone. I came home after work today and decided to take the drone out for a short while. I was in sport mode and in a fairly wide turn at about 55kmh when i thought the drone had lost control. The camera view made me think i was coming down. A warning came up that read gimbal roll reached movement limit. I landed and everything seems ok. I will start it back up and see if i get any notifications after my heart slows down. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Hi everyone. I came home after work today and decided to take the drone out for a short while. I was in sport mode and in a fairly wide turn at about 55kmh when i thought the drone had lost control. The camera view made me think i was coming down. A warning came up that read gimbal roll reached movement limit. I landed and everything seems ok. I will start it back up and see if i get any notifications after my heart slows down. Any ideas? Thanks

Yup p4 bit common to have a gimble tilt on occasion,,I been there,it just seem to fix itself and has not done it since,,,,top pic I thought I was about to start swimming and bottom pic limp cam giving free fall impression onscreen,,,gimble calibration should sort it,,,,yes worrying times when it happen but best not to panic and gain altitude if unsure

 

[Terrycross]

Should I calibrate the gimbal the next time I'm out. This is my first drone thats not a toy and I'd hate to lose my p4p because of something I did or didn't do.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Should I calibrate the gimbal the next time I'm out. This is my first drone thats not a toy and I'd hate to lose my p4p because of something I did or didn't do.

Yup totally understand that,lost a p4 due to batt error(heard Tom Petty song ""free fallen"""),he must have had issue too ,,you can calibrate gimble at anytime but needs nice flat surface,,,to me it's a bit unknown what causes this but most with p4 have probly had it once,it just seem to do it then never does it again,I never found out what cause it but not happened since,,

 

[Weston Ney]

Hi everyone. I came home after work today and decided to take the drone out for a short while. I was in sport mode and in a fairly wide turn at about 55kmh when i thought the drone had lost control. The camera view made me think i was coming down. A warning came up that read gimbal roll reached movement limit. I landed and everything seems ok. I will start it back up and see if i get any notifications after my heart slows down. Any ideas? Thanks

A gimbal error will not crash your drone. My Phantom 4 does that all the time because I live in a valley near the coast and it is almost always over 20 mph wind every evening. When I make quick maneuvers the gimbal turns sideways and goes limp for about 2 seconds, then it rights itself, and I continue flying. The first time it happened I freaked out a bit and my reaction to something going wrong is to let go of the sticks and let it hover in GPS mode. I almost always fly in sport mode. The camera always rights itself, and is fine. Gimbal calibration is good, but don't expect it to fix the problem when you make sudden maneuvers or try to fly in strong winds. But do take action when you see your video feed do that, try to learn to differentiate between the gimbal going sideways and the whole drone going sideways! If the drone is going sideways you are crashing and need to do something about it!

 

[Terrycross]

This is a great site for answers. Thank you.

 

[Kirby Johnson]

This is a great site for answers. Thank you.

It sounds like that in sport mode, the airframe has a greater 'range of tilt', if you will, than the camera gimble. IE sport mode.

 

[Weston Ney]

It sounds like that in sport mode, the airframe has a greater 'range of tilt', if you will, than the camera gimble. IE sport mode.

Right, when my Phantom 4 is turned on and I'm holding it in my hand (without propellers of course) if I turn it too far forward or side to side, the gimbal will twitch and then flip sideways for a second. That is exactly what is happening in the sky during sudden movements such as in sport mode.

 

[Ty Williams (Wales)]

Check the tiny grub screw at the yaw arm is not slack, as that can cause a skew (if it is not a severe movement of the craft that is causing a reset of the gimbal, as in when you move it to a sharp angle in your hand); if it is a little slack, position it between the two limits of slack, if you see what I mean, rather than tight against either side. We are talking tiny tolerances here btw. Hope that helps; I saw this on YouTube.

 

[SouthTexas&RioGrandeFlyer]

Check the tiny grub screw at the yaw arm is not slack, as that can cause a skew (if it is not a severe movement of the craft that is causing a reset of the gimbal, as in when you move it to a sharp angle in your hand); if it is a little slack, position it between the two limits of slack, if you see what I mean, rather than tight against either side. We are talking tiny tolerances here btw. Hope that helps; I saw this on YouTube.

True on earlier Phantom series....the pilot is dealing with a P4P in this thread. Different plumbing.

 

[Ty Williams (Wales)]

True on earlier Phantom series....the pilot is dealing with a P4P in this thread. Different plumbing.

Ok, I was unaware, thanks for pointing that out

 

[Dallas Drone Guy]

A gimbal error will not crash your drone. My Phantom 4 does that all the time because I live in a valley near the coast and it is almost always over 20 mph wind every evening. When I make quick maneuvers the gimbal turns sideways and goes limp for about 2 seconds, then it rights itself, and I continue flying. The first time it happened I freaked out a bit and my reaction to something going wrong is to let go of the sticks and let it hover in GPS mode. I almost always fly in sport mode. The camera always rights itself, and is fine. Gimbal calibration is good, but don't expect it to fix the problem when you make sudden maneuvers or try to fly in strong winds. But do take action when you see your video feed do that, try to learn to differentiate between the gimbal going sideways and the whole drone going sideways! If the drone is going sideways you are crashing and need to do something about it!

I totally concur. It has to do with the roll of the Drone exceeding the roll ability of the gimbal. So if this happens again take notice of the direction of the wind and the direction of your maneuvering. It was definitely a freak out moment the first it happened, but now it's just a little bit annoying if it messes up a shot or something. I also agree that calibrating the gimbal will likely have no effect

 

[Wavepilot]

Twice while flying an autonomous Litchi orbiting POI mission with a P4P I've had the gimbal fail. No strong winds, no abrupt maneuvers - just a random fail for about 15 seconds and then a recovery as you can see on the following video. No other problems - it just ruins the shot. Only using Litchi at two different locations a couple of months apart. Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[SouthTexas&RioGrandeFlyer]

That’s an intermittent issue. Unlikely (but not impossible) due to flat cable or controller failure - when they go, they GO. I suspect the potentiometer in the gimbal ESC board needs cleaning. It’s akin to a scratchy volume control on a radio. Remove the cover and give the pot (it has a shaft in it from the the roll motor) a blast of Caig DeoxIT D5 (any of the D5 series), GC Electronics De-Ox-Id, or CRC QD Electronic Cleaner. Rock the roll motor back and forth, blast it again then let it dry for 30 minutes. Any residual is lubricant and harmless. Replace the cover and see what happens.

At least it’s an easy first step - costs little and there’s a good chance it’ll work.

 

[Wavepilot]

That’s an intermittent issue. Unlikely (but not impossible) due to flat cable or controller failure - when they go, they GO. I suspect the potentiometer in the gimbal ESC board needs cleaning. It’s akin to a scratchy volume control on a radio. Remove the cover and give the pot (it has a shaft in it from the the roll motor) a blast of Caig DeoxIT D5 (any of the D5 series), GC Electronics De-Ox-Id, or CRC QD Electronic Cleaner. Rock the roll motor back and forth, blast it again then let it dry for 30 minutes. Any residual is lubricant and harmless. Replace the cover and see what happens.

At least it’s an easy first step - costs little and there’s a good chance it’ll work.

Much thanks, SouthTexas&RioGrandeFlyer! I'll give it a try and post the results.

BTW, your closing salutation resonated with me on several points: there was a beloved Connie at the KCMA airport where I was based for years, I saw the Stones last month in Jax (true inspiration for those of us who saw them last in the 70's), and I'm going to New Zealand in December.