P4 Gimbal Yaw Problem

[Astfagl]

Hello,

We are having a problem with P4 camera getting stuck in either left or right side.

To start, we are drone and RC shop and repair service, we have sold, fixed and tested anything DJI and many more has to offer.
But now we are facing this challenge. The camera is getting stuck to one side. The IMU calibration, Auto-calibration, pulling camera to one side DOES NOT WORK.
Manual options for gimbal are there to fine tune the position of the camera, so they don't work in this case.

The problem was that the thing went viral on us. One P4 came with that issue. By trying to put finger on the problem, we started replacing parts of the gimbal with the parts from the gimbals we work well.

The problem escalated when we replaced the back board of the camera.

We took the board from the working gimbal, placed it on the troublesome one, concluded that it doesn't' help, and placed it back.
The working gimbal suddenly started acting crazy, rotating (the yaw axis) camera to one side.

We took entire gimbal and placed it to a fully functioning P4 and it still pulled to one side.

We took the back board of the camera from working one, placed it to the pulling-to-one-side P4 and saw that it also pulls to the same side.

We returned it to its original P4 and then it started pulling to the other side.

We haven't tried to replace the flat cable, we tried replacing the entire camera from the working gimbal without success.

The IMU calibration (cold, warm, flat surface), gimbal calibration, yaw adjustment, firmware downgrade, upgrade, rotating gimbal to one side manually, change of aforementioned parts, (vitamins C, lot of sunshine, jiggling the cord, ctrl+alt+del, fresh air, magic words, quoting Harry Potter...) doesn't work.

Has anyone got any similar problem that they managed to get fixed?

The final measure would be returning it to DJI, but being a repair shop that rarely fails to fix them, we would appreciate any insight that might help us.

I may have failed to mention some of the fixing procedures we tried, but let us know your thoughts and we remember them.

The image shows one of the problems. There are worse than that.

Thank you.

 

[racman66]

Haha just changed my yaw motor on the P4 and bingo same problem!!

I heard they use magnetic sensors and hall effect to determine gimbal orientation. Your testing sort of confirms that, as the problem is local to that AC no matter which replacement part you put on it. I read from DJI that you can position the camera manually to one side, while off, and this will cause a re calibrate on startup. The yaw motor maybe factory calibrated post install to cater for this.

Also IOS DJI Go 4.1.5 added a yaw adjustment but it doesn't work as expected!! Gimbal yaw feature not working?

Just putting mine back together (third time)and will edit when I try this.

(edit) Nope none of those techniques fixed the problem, still pointing left!!! grrr

While I have your attention...have you had a problem where the live feed from the camera to you RC in video mode is very noisy compared to photo mode? I didn't have this problem before I replaced the yaw motor. Any idea, I thinking ribbon cable?

 

[Astfagl]

Thank you for the information.

So far we haven't experienced such problems. Is it constant all around noise or is it like little sparks that "crawl" over the screen? Is it only in live feed or the recording also?

 

[racman66]

Found the problem with the video feed...dodgy 3rd party gimbal cable!!

Did you find a fix for your gimbal yaw problem? I tried this and it fixed the 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.

 

[swoserin]

Racman, this worked for me! Thanks!

 

[White Phantom]

I do not recommend this type of gimbal calibration. My camera was pointing slightly
to left and after following DJI forum link Camera face towards left instead of facing center it got worse. Any advise to fix this problem. I have tried countless of imu compass and gimbal calibrations with no success.This picture shows the problem.

 

[Droneted]

Been down this road. It would not center unless u use the original yaw motor casing. The sensor is calibrated to it's magnet locations. Dji screwed us on this one. Just replacing the yaw motor is not a cure.

 

[White Phantom]

Been down this road. It would not center unless u use the original yaw motor casing. The sensor is calibrated to it's magnet locations. Dji screwed us on this one. Just replacing the yaw motor is not a cure.

So how did you solve it?

 

[Droneted]

there is a YouTube video on how to take the casing off the old motor and put it on the windings part of the new motor. When a drone lands hard on the camera, it pushes the sensors in the yaw motor up against the edge of the casing. This destroys the sensor. If you take the yaw motor apart you will see score marks on the sensors. You can take a new yaw motor apart and just use the windings part as it has the sensors in it. Put that on the old casing. The old casing has the magnet locations that the circuit board on the side of the yaw arm are calibrated to.

 

[Linuxglobal]

hmmm not sure about the point above, I have replaced yaw motors from different drones and it worked with the new unit without any issues. That was on a p4p funny enough camera i got from you Ted

But I have a p4 that has issues right now, upon start up wiht a new yaw motor it pushes hard to the right side, I cannot figure out if the yaw motor is bad (cable looks a little chewed up) or this calibration issue.

The app will say "gimbal calibrated" but the motor keeps overloading and heating up the yaw.

 

[Droneted]

Sometimes a new motor will work but it is rare. The yaw motor and the sensor on the back of the yaw arm are calibrated at the factory to match. I have used new yaw motor and it centered or came close. To be sure you have to use the casing from the old yaw motor.

 

[Droneted]

hmmm not sure about the point above, I have replaced yaw motors from different drones and it worked with the new unit without any issues. That was on a p4p funny enough camera i got from you Ted

But I have a p4 that has issues right now, upon start up wiht a new yaw motor it pushes hard to the right side, I cannot figure out if the yaw motor is bad (cable looks a little chewed up) or this calibration issue.

The app will say "gimbal calibrated" but the motor keeps overloading and heating up the yaw.

If you had a hard landing it may have damaged the senor in the yaw motor. You have to remove it and check with a magnifying glass and see if one of them is scratched.

 

[Linuxglobal]

Gotta hand it to you, the swap worked. But I am certain the last one just a direct swap. Great info and super easy to swap. I was a bit afraid the top casing would smash into the board but it is properly spaced by the bearing.

My crashed unit yaw motor was fine, but the ribbon cable got severed off. I observed the damage under an electronics camera and no damage to sensors.
Ebay one had a good coil board at least so all is good now.

Incredible how i thought all the p4 gimbal motors were preset from the factory. I guess its the same issues as the inspire calibration.

Thanks again Ted.

 

[nexit]

[QUOTE = "Ted4797, publicación: 1268364, miembro: 44553"] hay un video de YouTube sobre cómo quitar la carcasa del viejo motor y ponerla en la parte devanados del nuevo motor. Cuando un dron aterriza con fuerza en la cámara, empuja los sensores en el motor de guiñada contra el borde de la carcasa. Esto destruye el sensor. Si quita el motor de guiñada, verá marcas de puntos en los sensores. Puede desmontar un nuevo motor de guiñada y simplemente usar la parte de los devanados ya que tiene los sensores. Pon eso en la vieja carcasa. La carcasa antigua tiene las ubicaciones de imanes a las que está calibrada la placa de circuito en el lado del brazo de guiñada. [/ QUOTE]

there is a YouTube video on how to take the casing off the old motor and put it on the windings part of the new motor. When a drone lands hard on the camera, it pushes the sensors in the yaw motor up against the edge of the casing. This destroys the sensor. If you take the yaw motor apart you will see score marks on the sensors. You can take a new yaw motor apart and just use the windings part as it has the sensors in it. Put that on the old casing. The old casing has the magnet locations that the circuit board on the side of the yaw arm are calibrated to.

Dear Ted, really your research and help are very valuable. Have you made other progress in correcting this problem?

 

[Droneted]

Not yet. Still the same problem

 

[Meklinite]

Hi all, I have had this problem repeatedly. Sometimes a new Yaw motor will cure the problem and install correctly, but not very often. After countless calls to DJI to challenge them, they advised that they have a utility to calibrate the gimbal post motor install. They will not release this utility as they say it has 'proprietary' information and they do not want it to go wide distribution. They told me the only option is to send to DJI for 'calibration'. If anyone has a solution to this or finds a copy of this utility, please share.

 

[Linuxglobal]

Hi all, I have had this problem repeatedly. Sometimes a new Yaw motor will cure the problem and install correctly, but not very often. After countless calls to DJI to challenge them, they advised that they have a utility to calibrate the gimbal post motor install. They will not release this utility as they say it has 'proprietary' information and they do not want it to go wide distribution. They told me the only option is to send to DJI for 'calibration'. If anyone has a solution to this or finds a copy of this utility, please share.

I have found the Ted solution to work very well, what issues are you running into ??

 

[Alan Russel]

I have a P4 with the camera pointing left purchased new yaw motor and attached original yaw casing..no luck even replaced board in rear of camera..still off centre. I am running out of options?

 

[Droneted]

I have a P4 with the camera pointing left purchased new yaw motor and attached original yaw casing..no luck even replaced board in rear of camera..still off centre. I am running out of options?

how far left is it? did you check the sensors on the replacement yaw motor? You need a magnifying glass to see them. even a small scratch is enough to cause your problem. Where are you located?

 

[Alan Russel]

Hi ted..camera at 45 degrees housing looked good no crash or anything i am in aust..we have talked before.