Inconsistent Crooked Horizon - P3A

Did you explain the problematic gimbal imbalance issue to the buyer?
Or just drop the ball and run like hell? Let him figure it out. So he will be joining the forum soon, with urgent questions, next. Yeah, Buyer Beware...
Oh well, she's gone now, and will be sadly missed, but never forgotten. ;-)

RedHotPoker

Yes I showed him as I demonstrated flying it to him. He had never owned a Phantom before. I told him some P3's do it some don't. It wasn't real bad off but I'm thinking he basically stole the P3P from me. I sold it to him that cheap.
 
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if you do a search on tilted horizon, you'll see that this has been an issue for some time now. All the forums/posts say the same thing, over and over, do a cold IMU calibration, camera calibration, you didn't do it on a level surface, you need to face north when you calibrate, it was windy (what's a gimbal good for if it can't be level in the wind, not to mention you would see props. I know I've had props in the viewing area while still maintaining a level horizon), hold your tongue out, on one foot and sing the star spangle banner with peanut butter in your mouth, fix it in post processing, do a complete 360 in flight to level the horizon, calibrate mid flight... some of these work for some people, while it looks like it's a band aid for others.

I've come to the conclusion unfortunately that you'll either have to send it in if it's bad enough, or hope for a firmware fix

I believe the issue is mechanical. And not all DJi techs know how to fix it or determine that a whole new gimbal/camera unit is needed. When I sent my P3P back twice they never replaced the whole unit. I have no idea what they did.
 
Yes I showed him as I demonstrated flying it to him. He had never owned a Phantom before. I told him some P3's do it some don't. It wasn't real bad off but I'm thinking he basically stole the P3P from me. I sold it to him that cheap.
Yeah I know, you practically gave it away... ;-) Sad to see it go?
I realize your frustration though, and can understand the dilemma you were faced with. Hate to say it, but I think you have done the best thing, for you. Perhaps he will be able to fix it, who knows?
Anyway, the pain is gone. Hopefully you didn't lose too many $$$.

Will you, maybe, acquire another one?

RedHotPoker
 
Yeah I know, you practically gave it away... ;-) Sad to see it go?
I realize your frustration though, and can understand the dilemma you were faced with. Hate to say it, but I think you have done the best thing, for you. Perhaps he will be able to fix it, who knows?
Anyway, the pain is gone. Hopefully you didn't lose too many $$$.

Will you, maybe, acquire another one?

RedHotPoker

I have a P3A, me selling the P3P with the issue at the time it was a tremendous deal for them. With the recent price drop not as good of a deal but they still got it for a considerable amount below 999
 
Well I realized the surface I had done the IMU calibration on may not have been 100% level so I VERY carefully leveled the craft (with a board on the prop shafts, shims under the necessary feet, and a bubble level) and did an IMU calibration and gimbal calibration with the bird at room temperature. Amazon says I have until March 11 to do a return, so if the the horizon isn't fixed when I take it out to fly this weekend, I'll send it back.

One thing I did notice is that when I rotate the bird (as if doing the rudder left and right), I noticed that the gimbal is very slow to recenter and sometimes seems to not fully recenter at all. This makes the very near "horizon" (the edge of my kitchen counter) not level in relation to the Phantom's orientation. Perhaps this has something to do with the issue?
 
Before you do any IMU calibrations, it's best to chill the drone down good, prior of this important calibration, being started. I place mine on the balcony just outside, for 20~30min. Many others will utilize the home refrigerator. Just before you bring it back into the house or out of the fridge, have the RC and Go app ready, on the calibration page. Pop your flight battery pack, back in, & turn it on, when the gimbal has finished its positioning, hit the IMU calibration button. Then quite directly following, do the actual gimbal calibration. It's very important that the drone remain perfectly still, during these critical moments, for this to be of benefit.
The cold IMU cal. can drastically shorten subsequent warm up startup times.
Do your compass calibration out of doors, away from any ferrous metal or electrical interference.
Fingers are crossed, in hopes you can be back up and flying, without any disturbances, and continue to fly normally.

RedHotPoker
 
Well I realized the surface I had done the IMU calibration on may not have been 100% level so I VERY carefully leveled the craft (with a board on the prop shafts, shims under the necessary feet, and a bubble level) and did an IMU calibration and gimbal calibration with the bird at room temperature. Amazon says I have until March 11 to do a return, so if the the horizon isn't fixed when I take it out to fly this weekend, I'll send it back.

One thing I did notice is that when I rotate the bird (as if doing the rudder left and right), I noticed that the gimbal is very slow to recenter and sometimes seems to not fully recenter at all. This makes the very near "horizon" (the edge of my kitchen counter) not level in relation to the Phantom's orientation. Perhaps this has something to do with the issue?

It's best to judge level horizon when your in the air and up 50-75ft looking out at the horizon. It's very hard due to the angles, close proximity and depth perception to tell inside the house. I would take her outside and get her up in the air and slowly go forward a few hundred feet and watch closely. You might need to get up a bit higher as well. I'd yaw left and right and stop each way roll left right etc. You can also turn on a grid pattern from your camera setting to help judge the level. If your P3 has the issue I would definetley return it. I have zero confidence the average DJi tech would be able to fix it.
 
It's best to judge level horizon when your in the air and up 50-75ft looking out at the horizon. It's very hard due to the angles, close proximity and depth perception to tell inside the house. I would take her outside and get her up in the air and slowly go forward a few hundred feet and watch closely. You might need to get up a bit higher as well. I'd yaw left and right and stop each way roll left right etc. You can also turn on a grid pattern from your camera setting to help judge the level. If your P3 has the issue I would definetley return it. I have zero confidence the average DJi tech would be able to fix it.

Good point. Well I went ahead and tried the "cold" calibration. If I'm not satisfied after the weekend, back go Amazon she goes.
 
The easiest way to a level horizon is hold the C2 button on the bottom of the remote a turn the right knurled wheel and cross hairs will appear in your fpv window on your device... Turn the wheel left or right as needed to straighten horizon... Easy and quick!
 
I've been seeing alot of posts about this and finally decided to post because maybe people don't know about this fix. I've been flying for a while using this method and it works great! I have only been flying the Phantom 3 pro since July 3rd 2015 but owned a couple of the AEE toruk models before this. The Phantom series from dji is a great platform for aerial videography! I have not had "knock on wood" a single problem with my bird since day one and have put well over a million feet on it! I just want to share my findings with everyone in the community!
 
Just a thought on this and had the same problem myself even after all the imu calibrations etc. Have you looked at the props? Are in balance? I changed mine out and the problem went away. Prop in balance can cause this....
 
Just a thought on this and had the same problem myself even after all the imu calibrations etc. Have you looked at the props? Are in balance? I changed mine out and the problem went away. Prop in balance can cause this....
Interesting, I hadn't read anywhere about prop imbalance causing the issue. I see there are special tools used to balance them. Is there any way to do it without the tools? I'm really only able to fly on the weekends and am coming up on the close of my Amazon return window. I wanted to decide by today or tomorrow if I'm sending this bird back for a replacement.
 
I've been seeing alot of posts about this and finally decided to post because maybe people don't know about this fix. I've been flying for a while using this method and it works great! I have only been flying the Phantom 3 pro since July 3rd 2015 but owned a couple of the AEE toruk models before this. The Phantom series from dji is a great platform for aerial videography! I have not had "knock on wood" a single problem with my bird since day one and have put well over a million feet on it! I just want to share my findings with everyone in the community!
Sorry, I don't have my remote in front of me. Does your fix just adjust the gimbal roll? If so, I'm not sure how well that would work. In my case, the horizon tends to wander during the same flight. Although it's usually crooked, sometimes it's completely level.
 
Before you do any IMU calibrations, it's best to chill the drone down good, prior of this important calibration, being started. I place mine on the balcony just outside, for 20~30min. Many others will utilize the home refrigerator. Just before you bring it back into the house or out of the fridge, have the RC and Go app ready, on the calibration page. Pop your flight battery pack, back in, & turn it on, when the gimbal has finished its positioning, hit the IMU calibration button. Then quite directly following, do the actual gimbal calibration. It's very important that the drone remain perfectly still, during these critical moments, for this to be of benefit.
The cold IMU cal. can drastically shorten subsequent warm up startup times.
Do your compass calibration out of doors, away from any ferrous metal or electrical interference.
Fingers are crossed, in hopes you can be back up and flying, without any disturbances, and continue to fly normally.

RedHotPoker
Yes, the cold IMU calibration can cut literally minutes off of the initial IMU calibration before you begin but DO NOT put it in the fridge. This has been floating around but your fridge is a VERY humid place and you can get water in the circuitry of your bird and you don't want to do that.

If you live in paradise like me where it's 72 in the day and 48-55 at night, just wait until night time and do an IMU calibration after it's been sitting in the chill for about a half hour at least.

I've NEVER once had this issue with any of my DJI (or any other birds for that matter) and I calibrate my compass every time I move location and calibrate the IMU any time I update firmware or change altitudes. I am not saying that is the reason, I am just saying it's a fact.

Good luck! Fly safe pilots!
 
Jonebk12- yes if the props are not balanced properly or even if one prop is damaged it can cause the rpas to fly in with a slight horizontal in balance. I started to find this and the rpas would also be difficult to fly even in straight lines. All I can suggest is to get a new set of props and fit them. This might straighten out the inbalance. It might not and it could well be something else. However, I installed a new set of DJI props (standard) and it fixed the issue and also made the rpas fly properly again.

There are some entries on the forums here about prop balancing and you can get specialist tools. But generally new standard DJI props are fine.

Good luck...
 
This sucker is probably going back unfortunately. Brand new set of props, careful IMU and gimbal calibration, nothing has helped. The horizon wanders so even my midair gimbal adjustments didn't really work. Not permanently at least. Oh well, good thing Amazon returns are easy.
 
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This sucker is going back unfortunately. Brand new set of props, careful IMU and gimbal calibration, nothing has helped. The horizon wanders so even my midair gimbal adjustments didn't really work. Not permanently at least. Oh well, good thing Amazon returns are easy.
You chose wisely sir.
 

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