So I kinda crashed my Phantom 3 standard (and some help could come in handy)

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Hey guys, my phantom 3 standard reciently broke and i need some help to know what is wrong with it so i can (hopefully) fix it!


So the thing is that I accidentally started flying the drone inverted in a closed space so in order not to hit it against a wall I landed it, but I landed it really hard.


Something must’ve broken in the gimbal, that is for sure.


Engines and IMU are fine i think

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So the main problem is the horizontal stability in the gimbal. Whenever I turn the drone on, I get perfect feed and signal on my phone, I can see everyting and i detect no major problem.

However, when I turn the drone on, the gimbal keeps going from side to side. I dont feel like flying it cause I am afraid the drone can go disoriented somehow.


I searched and searched on the internet and the only posible cause I could find was the potenciometer on the roll motor, but I tested it and the amp looked fine. (I might have done it wrong)


If anyone has any idea of what broke and what to change, that would be great, because i dont feel like changing the whole camera (which is really expensive).


Also, I can check whatever you suspect can be broken.


My gut tells me it’s something related with the roll motor but again, i know nothing.


Thanks a lot guys!

PS: I attach a pic of the potentiometer I checked and a vid of the issue
 

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Oh, just because i found it easier to work on the gimbal that way. It does the same thing when turned arround. Dont have the drone right now but I can film it later.
 
I see that you took the props off during testing. Good idea.

You may want to try to recalibrate the IMU.....with the bird right side up, level, and stationary. I wouldn’t recommend starting the bird inverted. The electronics on these things, (compass,IMU, accelerometer etc) are very sensitive.
 
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Oh I did a full calibration both of the IMU and the gimbal (with the bird right side up), and sadly it fixed nothing. Also forgot to mention I tried rotating the motor axis just in case it was missaligned, did not work.
 
Ok. After the initial startup sequence, what are the camera status LED’s showing,.....and what are the Aircraft Status LED’s showing (rear legs).
 
For a long shot would anyone recommend re-flashing the firmware to see if that might fix the situation?
 
I can try with the firmware, but it sounds really odd as the behavior started after the crash only. Is there any risk that the drone can brick?
 
The legs lights are the standard ones after it has gotten GPS signal, I mean, green ones. I do not know what to look for when it comes to camera light
 
The legs lights are the standard ones after it has gotten GPS signal, I mean, green ones. I do not know what to look for when it comes to camera light

Look in the Phantom 3 Standard user manual for a chart on what the camera LED flash and colors mean.

If the bird is solid green, that is a positive step that the bird is ok.
 
I think your problem is minor. I has been a while since I worked on my P3 and my mind has a short memory. First, don't start it up upside down. OK to work on it that way if it is not on. On the potentiometer, check the top connector to either the bottom Lt or Rt connector. I think the voltage is 14 at the highest point. Turn the potentiometer half way you get half the voltage. Bottom is 0 volt or viscera depending on which point you are on.
It sounds like possibly the set screw is loose or have moved? It is below the gimbal board. Make sure it is seated on the flat spot on the shaft.
Read the old post on the P3. We talked a lot about the P3 gimbal. Good luck.
 
Yep. There are all sorts of adjustments and settings you can do on the camera/gimbal in the GoApp. I’d also check on the gimbal set-screw as mentioned above. It may have been jarred loose on the hard landing.
 
Oh yes but the cam is not only tilted, it's just not stable. I've checked the screw you people are talking about i think, the one under the arm, and it seems fine to me to be honest
 
Also, is there any way of checking if it's the gimbal set screw? like any procedure. (cause i dont even see a screw and might be missing)
 
Since you crashed it I would suspect a loose cable first. I have had my gimbal apart. There are 3 connectors, 2 for antennas and 1 multicable and maybe a power - forgot. You may have to take the top off also.
There are a couple disassembly videos on youtube. One is better. If you play it by ear you will find you don't need to remove some of the things it tells you to remove to get at the connectors.
When I crashed mine, I found a full recall fixed it. I still had to remove the top since the crash popped it out of place.

good luck
 
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Bk and gr coaxial cable are antennas. If you see information on your app and the camera picture, they are working. The gr ribbon has four 12 volts wires and 4 ground. They power your gimbal. Wiggle the roll motor. It can come apart in a crash.
 
Ok so I did fire it up properly, and as you can see in the vids, first time i fired it up, it started wiggling like crazy. Second time it was just noise. I also send a screen recording of my phone so you can see.
I did a full IMU calibration and I'm also sending my parameters. As you can see, I get this blinking alert that sometimes goes away saying "gimbal motor overload". So what I tried some months ago was turning the gimbal motor shaft just in case it was missaligned, but I guess it did not work.
I'm sending a picture of the potentiometer and shaft so you can see. It is important to notice that the shaft was incredibly hard to turn, I had to make an incredible amount of force.
I've checked the set screw on the yaw arm and it seems fine (tight and aligned with the main D). Also, whenever I try to roll the gimbal using the DJI GO app (last version btw) it does absolutely nothing.
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PS: thank you guys for helping, i owe each and every one of you a beer :)
 

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