Phantom 3 standard gimbal won't move after replacing ribbon cable

[Coast_94]

I crashed my Phantom 3 Standard and had to replace a damaged yaw arm and the ribbon cable.
Now when I power on the drone the gimbal doesn't move at all, I can't control it with the controller.

I repaired the yaw arm and replaced the ribbon cable with a knock off ribbon at first and had this issue. After reading online about chinese ribbons causing this issue I went and bought an OEM DJI ribbon but after installing it I'm still having the issue

Here are some details of what I'm experiencing:
- Gimbal is not calibrating on startup.
- I am receiving picture from the camera through the app without any issue.
- the led light on the gimbal top/main board is flashing green on start up and then solid green after 5 seconds or so.
-there is a slight noise coming from the gimbal which intensifies when I move the arms and camera with my hand (not sure if this was there before the crash)

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[jiminyfixit]

I crashed my Phantom 3 Standard and had to replace a damaged yaw arm and the ribbon cable.
Now when I power on the drone the gimbal doesn't move at all, I can't control it with the controller.

I repaired the yaw arm and replaced the ribbon cable with a knock off ribbon at first and had this issue. After reading online about chinese ribbons causing this issue I went and bought an OEM DJI ribbon but after installing it I'm still having the issue

Here are some details of what I'm experiencing:
- Gimbal is not calibrating on startup.
- I am receiving picture from the camera through the app without any issue.
- the led light on the gimbal top/main board is flashing green on start up and then solid green after 5 seconds or so.
-there is a slight noise coming from the gimbal which intensifies when I move the arms and camera with my hand (not sure if this was there before the crash)

Any help would be much appreciated!

The crash, more than likely, damaged the camera module itself. When DJI engineers decided to put the SD card slot in the module, it wound up having an effect on the integrity of the module. A damaged module causes the gimbal dance in a P3Std, it also can kill current to the rest of the gimbal. I would also double check how the ribbon is inserted in the cam module. It is a delicate procedure. The ribbon has to be dead center in the connector. Most folks are at a disadvantage in not having extra good components to check the gimbal with, like an extra module.

 

[Coast_94]

The crash, more than likely, damaged the camera module itself. When DJI engineers decided to put the SD card slot in the module, it wound up having an effect on the integrity of the module. A damaged module causes the gimbal dance in a P3Std, it also can kill current to the rest of the gimbal. I would also double check how the ribbon is inserted in the cam module. It is a delicate procedure. The ribbon has to be dead center in the connector. Most folks are at a disadvantage in not having extra good components to check the gimbal with, like an extra module.

How would I go about fixing the camera module

The crash, more than likely, damaged the camera module itself. When DJI engineers decided to put the SD card slot in the module, it wound up having an effect on the integrity of the module. A damaged module causes the gimbal dance in a P3Std, it also can kill current to the rest of the gimbal. I would also double check how the ribbon is inserted in the cam module. It is a delicate procedure. The ribbon has to be dead center in the connector. Most folks are at a disadvantage in not having extra good components to check the gimbal with, like an extra module.

Is there any way I can test the chip before buying a new one?

 

[PhantomCrusher;)]

I crashed my Phantom 3 Standard and had to replace a damaged yaw arm and the ribbon cable.
Now when I power on the drone the gimbal doesn't move at all, I can't control it with the controller.

I repaired the yaw arm and replaced the ribbon cable with a knock off ribbon at first and had this issue. After reading online about chinese ribbons causing this issue I went and bought an OEM DJI ribbon but after installing it I'm still having the issue

Here are some details of what I'm experiencing:
- Gimbal is not calibrating on startup.
- I am receiving picture from the camera through the app without any issue.
- the led light on the gimbal top/main board is flashing green on start up and then solid green after 5 seconds or so.
-there is a slight noise coming from the gimbal which intensifies when I move the arms and camera with my hand (not sure if this was there before the crash)

Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi mate. Ive got exactly the same thing. I did crushed against the tree branches and changed ribbon cable (from aliexpress). Now it behave exactly like yours.
Did you menage to fix the issue?

 

[Coast_94]

Hi mate. Ive got exactly the same thing. I did crushed against the tree branches and changed ribbon cable (from aliexpress). Now it behave exactly like yours.
Did you menage to fix the issue?

Hi, unfortunately no. I tried swapping the knock off ribbon with a genuine cable (as far as I could tell it was genuine anyway) it was from amazon for $80 but it didn't fix the issue. The solution would have been to buy a new camera because the gyro chip is in there. The cost was too high and they are difficult to find so I didn't do that.

If you haven't tried a genuine cable yet it might be worth a shot, I've read a lot of posts from people saying that it worked for them.
It didn't fix mine so I can't tell you it will work but it would be a lot cheaper than buying a new camera if it works for you

 

[Chrislaf]

Hi mate. Ive got exactly the same thing. I did crushed against the tree branches and changed ribbon cable (from aliexpress). Now it behave exactly like yours.
Did you menage to fix the issue?

When my P3S gimbal went limp over time (no crash), I tried replacing the ribbon cable 3X, including one that was an OEM one that I got from a member on here. None of the cables fixed my problem and I ended up buying a complete camera/gimbal assembly off eBay from a vendor in China for US$160. It has been working flawlessly ever since.

The cheapest solution is to replace the ribbon cable. If you can't get an OEM one at a reasonable price, then I would try other non OEM ones. If you can order one from Amazon and it doesn't work, then you can return it and get your money back. Some people have reported that some of the non OEM ribbon cables do work, so you might get lucky with one.

But as @jiminyfixit said above the problem may not be the ribbon cable, it could be something else. For me, it was easiest and likely cheaper to buy a whole new camera/gimbal assembly rather than keep buying parts to figure out what part was bad.

Good luck.

Chris

 

[Coast_94]

When my P3S gimbal went limp over time (no crash), I tried replacing the ribbon cable 3X, including one that was an OEM one that I got from a member on here. None of the cables fixed my problem and I ended up buying a complete camera/gimbal assembly off eBay from a vendor in China for US$160. It has been working flawlessly ever since.

The cheapest solution is to replace the ribbon cable. If you can't get an OEM one at a reasonable price, then I would try other non OEM ones. If you can order one from Amazon and it doesn't work, then you can return it and get your money back. Some people have reported that some of the non OEM ribbon cables do work, so you might get lucky with one.

But as @jiminyfixit said above the problem may not be the ribbon cable, it could be something else. For me, it was easiest and likely cheaper to buy a whole new camera/gimbal assembly rather than keep buying parts to figure out what part was bad.

Good luck.

Chris

$160 that's quite a good price, do you remember where you bought that?

 

[Chrislaf]

I purchased the gimbal/camera assembly from this eBay seller located in China. Here's the link.

Security Measure

www.ebay.ca

The gimbal/camera I got looked like it had been re-built from parts and it had some scratches and marks on it but they are only cosmetic and it has worked flawlessly since purchase. It took around 3 weeks for it to arrive after purchase so not too bad from China and especially since it was purchased end of November 2020, right around Christmas rush.

I got the info on this seller from @KachemakDiver on this forum. He and others were very helpful in troubleshooting my gimbal problems and getting my P3S camera working again.

Good luck.

Chris