Real World Zenmuse

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Curious to see if some of the real world folks that have installed the Zenmuse since its release and shipping this week see a positive upgrade. Folks who have had shaky video before and what the install has done to correct that.
I have one ordered but I'm on the road and will not be able to instal until later this month.


Thx


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I fitted my new gimbal with PMU-V2 to my Phantom on Thursday evening. I had to quickly get to grips with the primitive tilt control through the stock controller using a screwdriver as the camera was actually set to point down on the very first power up. Having re-set it to point forwards, I started flying.

Awesome results - it's hard to overstate how incredible this set-up is for the price - I also felt the Phantom was handling a little better in flight with the extra weight, although flight time was down to around 7 minutes with the full rig.

HOWEVER... as the Phantom landed at the end of flight number 5 yesterday, the gimbal was making a terrible screeching noise and has refused to work since then. Each time I power up, I can see that the GoPro battery is charging up (i.e. the power through the gimbal is still connected and functioning) but the gimbal itself refuses to initialise - it just swings around, rather than being held in position by the electronics. Tap it left, right, up or down and you hear a gentle fizzing or hissing sound but it just won't engage. That sound stops each time the camera is set back to pointing forwards. Hard to describe the sound better... especially with my limited knowledge of what's going on inside the gimbal... could it be the sound of a wheel slipping and not engaging with the rest of the mechanism???

Watching back the footage of that final flight, the gimbal was still giving relatively stable footage throughout the flight but it is twitching the camera very slightly left and right. It's subtle - at first I thought it was my lack of flying skill - but I realise now that it's the gimbal beginning to misbehave before starting to screech. The screech noise? It reminded me a bit of the sound of an old 56k modem or FAX machine dialling up, amplified to quite a high volume.

Obviously hugely disappointing... not only that my unit has been unreliable... but I'm guessing it could be a very long wait to get it fixed... unless anyone here has a miracle solution....?
 
Yeah, it feels like any guarantee could be a legal minefield on something that that user has to fit themselves.
 
jonboy40 said:
Yeah, it feels like any guarantee could be a legal minefield on something that that user has to fit themselves.
I'm not that great at tinkering so I will get the dealer, Atlanta Hobby to install. They can do all the tweaking and if something is not right they will handle the warranty.
Good to know that for a short time it was looking like its a good purchase.
I must admit though, I don't understand why DJI would not send all the parts for a complete install. The slider for tilt would seem to be part of the setup.
The worst thing a company can do is release a product not ready for prime time.
I've seen some very capable folks on this forum do some pretty amazing "make it so" mods.

Thx

E


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I'm like you Edunwody...not much of an engineer/tinkerer. Just trying to create great video. I've heard good things about Atlanta Hobby. Nothing like that where I live.
 
Good things from ATL Hobby. They are a couple hrs from the house by car but at least they are where I can put my hands on them ;-)
They have been around for a while. I'm on the west coast for a few more weeks. Hopefully the Zenmuse will be waiting on me when I return with all the required parts.

E


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This doesn't help your situation of not being able to enjoy a product you spent a great deal of money on but, it's always better if someone else has the same issue. I just hope DJI gets their customer service act together and just being more communicative would take care of a good bit of that issue.


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I purchased the Phantom as a trainer with the intention of moving up to a DJI s800. I'm starting to get a little worried about the company after all these stories I've been hearing.
May need to think more on the lines of a SkyJib. More money but it looks like they have better customer support.

E


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My gimbal is on its way back to the dealer this morning, who tells me they already have another customer with a similar problem!!!

Having been alerted to that clip of another H3-2D gimbal failure on Vimeo, I've uploaded my own journey with the gimbal so far... https://vimeo.com/69872108
 
Re: Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal problems

Postby dean » Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:59 pm
Figured it out, it's either the Can-Bus cable or the connection that goes in to the NAZA PMU V2. I managed to wiggle the cable up by the connection and it worked. I've cable tied and taped it for now and have the Phantom together.

Read this on another forum. The problem was exactly the same as yours, with buzzing, and not leveling.
seems poor Can-Bus connection.
 
Sadly mine got past the point where a wiggle with the connections would solve it. I fear the gimbal has burned out after all that screeching while it was in the air on its final flight!
 
@ jonboy40
Checked out the vimeo link. This is pretty disturbing! Mine will be delivered here today. Can't install it, of course, because the PMU-V2 hasn't been released yet ... at least, not to my dealer here in Canada. You said you were sending yours back. Did you experience any problems from your dealer about that? Has DJI weighed in on this issue yet, I wonder?

In an earlier post, I mentioned that you would think sensitive electronic components would require some sort of heat sink (alligator clip, eg.) when soldering. That was because I saw one of the users on here soldering without such a heat sink. Since that, though, I notice even the DJI video doesn't even use one. So, I don't know what to make of that. When I finally get to installing mine, I think I'm going to see if I can't somehow use one. Looks to be kind of difficult, though.
 
Hi Zircon - absolutely no problem sending it back to my dealer here in the UK and, as I mentioned, one of their other customers from this first batch of gimbals has the same or similar issue. For me, the fact that I now know of 3 incidents like this (so far) reassures me that it wasn't my installation at fault. Luckily the PMU-V2 was already available here and I had it ready to install as soon as the gimbal arrived.

I can't deny the huge disappointment at what has happened - particularly as those early successful flights gave such fantastic results and made me feel it was worth every penny! Funny - I usually avoid being first with any new technology for just this reason. Always better to let them sort the bugs out first and then dive in. Trouble is that I really want to start using this thing properly!

I guess we all have to hope that this really is just a blip - that only a few of us will be affected by it - and it will be corrected very soon. I know DJI get quite a hard time in some circles. Despite what's happened, I still think they've innovated some extraordinary technology with the Phantom in a relatively short space of time for a very impatient fan-base. In my book, they still have a chance to redeem themselves over this...
 
Hi jonboy40

Had a look at your video. Great that you've done that! Certainly, DJI might be more inclined to do something about problems if more peope who had issues made videos like yours ... making the buying public more aware of what they might be getting into and clearly documenting the problem so there can be no question about what exactly is happening. Same applies to the guy whose Vimeo video you gave a link to.

You're right about having the PMU-V2 available. My gimbal was delivered about thirty minutes ago. Would love to start installing, but I have no idea how long before the PMU becomes available. If there's going to be a problem, it would certainly be better if I could find it now rather than weeks ... hopefully not months ... from now ... especially if it has to go back. One would think DJI would have said something by now ... both about when the PMU will be available ... and the problem with the gimbals. Issues like this sort of make me wish I had done a little more research before jumping headfirst onto the DJI bandwagon.
 
I live in Canada. I deal with Bradatech, the official DJI dealer in Canada. You say you purchased one months ago. You must have purchased the Naza-M V2, since the gimbal wasn't even released then. They were bundled with that unit. It's possible to purchase one that way here in Canada, too. Pretty expensive way for me to get one just to power the gimbal, though.
 
In the late 80's, early 90's, I used to work in the consumer electronics business. Regardless of the brand name (Panasonic, Sony, RCA, Zenith, Pioneer, Maytag, whatever), a certain percentage of products were defective right out of the box, or shortly after being put in use. It did not mean the products were junk, it's just that even with testing, no component in a product is fool proof.

Today however, we have the internet and forums to spread the word of a defective product. There may be countless working products in the field that are not talked about in the forum, but if you get a bad one, you now have a place to talk about it.

I'm not saying you should not talk about it - you should as it helps others solve problems. What I am saying is this could be no big deal - just the normal percentage of bad products that need to be replaced.

I would not worry. Yes, it sucks you have to wait for a replacement, but I don't think you will get ripped off.
 

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