Tarot gimbal very disappointed.

[Skylane765]

I got my torot and not all the parts came with it. Also tried getting it to work and all I get is a yellow light. What is that? No directions with it.

 

[Peter Patricelli]

Skylane,
See my "!B@#%^&*()(****!) post and the rant therein re: no manual, no instructions.

I'll trade you!! There really is a moderate amount of info on setting up the Tarot scattered widely around the internet. There is a HUGE running thread on, I believe, RC PILOTS, with all you need to know scattered around HUNDREDS of posts.

My understanding is that the yellow light comes on first as the controller is booting, much like the warm-up for the Phantom. The info I have gleaned is...do NOT boot/power up without a Hero3 attached, and only while holding the gimbal level either mounted on Phantom or in your hand. When power is attached the first (yellow I believe) light comes on blinking. After boot-up sequence the yellow is supposed to switch to green and the gimbal should self-level and be stabilizing. Technically, other than assembling the pieces and plugging the servos into the right plugs on the on-board controller, the only other thing you HAVE to do is decide on and prepare a power source. Then plug in. The Tarot SHOULD boot up, self level the camera, and be stabilizing. I videos it looks as though that might take10 seconds or so. Lots of people are reporting that they do NOT upgrade the firmware and just accept shooting either level, without a tilt control, or with a tilt control with old software. Finding a source for the upgraded firmware is a BIG challenge...thus my rant. I wish I were that far along.

 

[Skylane765]

Yes, I got up and running, but no mounting hardware for the Controller! board!! I will just buy some washers and screws.

Now I see we have to use win 7 to upgrade the firmware. Where do we get SW to open a RAR file that will run it?

I made my own mount to mount the gimbal to stock mounting nuts.

 

[Peter Patricelli]

Skylane,

You have some mounting options. Go on eBay and search Tarot Pantom mount and you can order a board that srews into the two Phantom screw mounts, then connects to the 4 stand-off posts. OR, you can DIY other options. There is a Youtube video showing the use of clothing snaps mounted on the stand-off posts and the female pin receivers "imbedded" into the Ph body...doesn't say how. I like the easy removability option.

It appears you have not reaized yet that 99.9% of info and product support is what you are going to find by doing your own research online. See my RANT. The good news is that 99.9% of what you need to know or learn IS available online. The bad news is that finding it takes time, is not easy, it is spread around, and sometimes is wrong....or is in another language....or a RAR file. Rant, rant.

As you have found out by now, there does not appear to be any sites that offer the upgrade file naked or in a standard ZIP file, I can only find it in a .RAR compacted form, and most offer it in some HUGE 40 MB file that contains god-knows-what because the actual file is relatively small. Rant, rant. I was able to find a US site that had it in a small .RAR file. When I clicked on it, my Win 7 OS directed me to a site for a download of an RAR (and others) unzipping file. I got the.exe file...still not running because 1) my controller board is DOA AND...the program says it need a specific .dll file.....that is siting right there in the folder next to it. I'll have to sort that out, rant, rant, when I get a working controller board.

But I hope the (replacement...to come) controller/gimbal stabilizes an works right out of the box, at level, for awhile before I upgrade....as many have reported. No documentation as to what/why the upgrade. Rant, rant.

 

[Skylane765]

Skylane,

You have some mounting options. Go on eBay and search Tarot Pantom mount and you can order a board that srews into the two Phantom screw mounts, then connects to the 4 stand-off posts. OR, you can DIY other options. There is a Youtube video showing the use of clothing snaps mounted on the stand-off posts and the female pin receivers "imbedded" into the Ph body...doesn't say how. I like the easy removability option.

It appears you have not reaized yet that 99.9% of info and product support is what you are going to find by doing your own research online. See my RANT. The good news is that 99.9% of what you need to know or learn IS available online. The bad news is that finding it takes time, is not easy, it is spread around, and sometimes is wrong....or is in another language....or a RAR file. Rant, rant.

As you have found out by now, there does not appear to be any sites that offer the upgrade file naked or in a standard ZIP file, I can only find it in a .RAR compacted form, and most offer it in some HUGE 40 MB file that contains god-knows-what because the actual file is relatively small. Rant, rant. I was able to find a US site that had it in a small .RAR file. When I clicked on it, my Win 7 OS directed me to a site for a download of an RAR (and others) unzipping file. I got the.exe file...still not running because 1) my controller board is DOA AND...the program says it need a specific .dll file.....that is siting right there in the folder next to it. I'll have to sort that out, rant, rant, when I get a working controller board.

But I hope the (replacement...to come) controller/gimbal stabilizes an works right out of the box, at level, for awhile before I upgrade....as many have reported. No documentation as to what/why the upgrade. Rant, rant.

I have the gimbal mounted, it is the controller board that I had to make hardware for. It was missing. I still am having a problem downloading the file to run the firmware upgrade on my win 7 PC. It keeps giving me errors that a fill is missing.

 

[Peter Patricelli]

Skylane,
In my kit the hardware for the controller board consisted of 4 very small, short Dielrin stand-off posts...similar to those on the main board but much shorter, and 8 very, very small Dielrin bolts. One side attaches through the controller board to the post, and the other side the post to the main brace board. The pack was so small I almost missed it. In other pictues it seemed there were more robust, metal bolts. Good luck. I hope that helps.

I got the same error message on m Win7 machine...missing a *****app.dll file....which appears to be sitting right there in the same folder as the .exe file. I am not motivated to solve the problem until I get a functioning controller board. When you figure it out I would appreciate a hint.

Thanks.

 

[Skylane765]

Skylane,
In my kit the hardware for the controller board consisted of 4 very small, short Dielrin stand-off posts...similar to those on the main board but much shorter, and 8 very, very small Dielrin bolts. One side attaches through the controller board to the post, and the other side the post to the main brace board. The pack was so small I almost missed it. In other pictues it seemed there were more robust, metal bolts. Good luck. I hope that helps.

I got the same error message on m Win7 machine...missing a *****app.dll file....which appears to be sitting right there in the same folder as the .exe file. I am not motivated to solve the problem until I get a functioning controller board. When you figure it out I would appreciate a hint.

Thanks.

Thanks for your help. I have my T and ground hooked to channel 5 on the Futaba, some times the motors will not start, also get a controller error until I unplugged from the leads from the gimbal. The standoffs or screws were not in my kit at all, I looked very good. I still got a problem in finding the SW for the PC. I did try running the Dll file but I just get all kinds of crap to buy. It is frustrating in that I still need to know what the SW is named? It looks like I need the ZYX- program to run the firm ware update, where is that file? Also on the Tarot site I can not tell what Firmware is for our gimbal or the file I need to run that upgrade on the PC. Thanks. I have my gimbal going good but no tilt yet until I get the firmware loaded. I do see the SW when I go to terot-rc.com with my iPad, but when I go there with my PC the site is not the same???

 

[Skylane765]

Skylane,
In my kit the hardware for the controller board consisted of 4 very small, short Dielrin stand-off posts...similar to those on the main board but much shorter, and 8 very, very small Dielrin bolts. One side attaches through the controller board to the post, and the other side the post to the main brace board. The pack was so small I almost missed it. In other pictues it seemed there were more robust, metal bolts. Good luck. I hope that helps.

I got the same error message on m Win7 machine...missing a *****app.dll file....which appears to be sitting right there in the same folder as the .exe file. I am not motivated to solve the problem until I get a functioning controller board. When you figure it out I would appreciate a hint.

Thanks.

Thanks for your help. I have my T and ground hooked to channel 5 on the Futaba, some times the motors will not start, also get a controller error until I unplugged from the leads from the gimbal. The standoffs or screws were not in my kit at all, I looked very good. I still got a problem in finding the SW for the PC. I did try running the Dll file but I just get all kinds of crap to buy. It is frustrating in that I still need to know what the SW is named? It looks like I need the ZYX- program to run the firm ware update, where is that file? Also on the Tarot site I can not tell what Firmware is for our gimbal or the file I need to run that upgrade on the PC. Thanks. I have my gimbal going good but no tilt yet until I get the firmware loaded. I do see the SW when I go to terot-rc.com with my iPad, but when I go there with my PC the site is not the same???

Folks this clueless and confused should probably not be allowed to fly a phantom. Public safety issue.

It flys fine and I have no problem flying it, the gimbal works great after I fixed it with the parts I made that did not come from Tarot! I sell products all over the world and back up my product. I do not send a product out missing parts and no documentation !
First off selling parts with no documentation puts liability on that manufacturer. When I buy parts for my aircraft they come with SW and a manual. I understand that to save money they do not include a manual from the Chinese, but all they have to do is provide a link in the drawing. They did not! I should not have to waist my time looking for parts or manuals that should have came with the gimbal. Looking for SW has nothing to do with flying the toy Phantom. Very easy compared to flying AC in IMC down to minimums. I have installed complex avionics in my plane and many others in my life, but never had any parts come so incomplete .
I did find that the post to install the servo connector to the Futaba RX was incorrect, we hook to the Nazi F1 and no firmware upgrade needed if a new gimbal was used. I would think we could go to just the Futaba RX, I am checking.

 

[Peter Patricelli]

Skylane,

I would not have seen JSjerk's post had you not copied it. I have him and his alter-ego blocked out...as most others on this board have done.

Search for "ZYX-BMGC-EN". It is a 7 MB RAR file....from a US site. The larger, 40 MB download is named Gopro something and I suspect contains a WHOLE lot of crap since the exe file is really quite small.

If you can't find it email [email protected]" and I will email back the .rar file as an attachment. I DO get the.exe file out of it...but haven't gotten past the "missing .dll file" (sitting right there in the folder) error message...yet....but the US seller is ending me another, hopefully working, controller board so I will need that.

Good luck and keep me posted.

 

[Skylane765]

Ok, I found out there is no need for any firmware upgrade to get the tilt to work. I got my Tarot tilting fine after I installed it. I just tried it and it works, so if you have a newer one it will work fine with out any SW.

 

[Skylane765]

Sky,

Search for "ZYX-BMGC-EN". It is a 7 MB RAR file....from a US site. The larger, 40 MB download is named Gopro something and I suspect contains a WHOLE lot of crap since the exe file is really quite small.

If you can't find it email [email protected]" and I will email back the .rar file as an attachment. I DO get the.exe file out of it...but haven't gotten past the "missing .dll file" (sitting right there in the folder) error message...yet....but the US seller is ending me another, hopefully working, controller board so I will need that.

Good luck and keep me posted.

If anyone is interested in getting their Tarot gimbal upgraded then they should ignore the post above. It's not helpful at all.

The Taraot rar file contains; MOST IMPORTABTLY the friggin user manual, the software to change the configuration/firmware, the necessary dll's, the USB drivers (XP &W7), and the firmware files, and the config files for both the tilt and roll motors.

Some folks are making this process much harder than it needs to be.

Yes, now that I tried it, it is very easy. The problem is the earlier post saying we need to update the firmware to get the tilt to work. Not true mine works fine and no FW update needed. Just hook up and you are good to go!