Hello there,

A little over a year ago, I purchased the DJI Ronin-M. There were some minor issues, especially since I had no experience with any DJI hardware. The "not an intelligent DJI battery" for instance, really difficult to track that one down when shooting on location, and the app can't connect, and without a PC to really troubleshoot. What I want to say, using the DJI Ronin-M hasn't been without any bumps.

But one issue remains, and seems to get worse from time to time. In the very beginning, when powering up the Ronin-M, it would randomly start to spin uncontrollably, not always, though. By default, I will now always slightly hold the pan axis (top motor), because it still happens, from time to time. And I don't want to grab a fast spinning camera in the lens. So, yeah, I learned to live with it. After the most recent updates, the spinning has gotten much less. But it still happens on occasion.

But in the more recent months, my Ronin-M has started spinning more frequently again, and another problem arose, the Ronin-M would not start anymore. The DJI battery would start up, the lights would light up, but the Ronin-M didn't get any power... or did it? One of the Ronin-M's safety features is to turn off, or to not start at all, when it's not perfectly balanced and the load is too heavy. But it was perfectly balanced.

Here's the thing; due too all the uncontrollable spinning of both the pan axis and the tilt axis, and a bit of walking around with an unpowered Ronin-M (to preserve battery), the Ronin-M continuesly pulls the cable too tight, curling it up tightly into the tilt axis tube. I'm hoping the cable is still fine, but whenever my Ronin-M doesn't want to power up, I'll always have to unwind the cable from the tilt axis tube.

As it's a costly piece of equipment, I hate to replace it. Especially since the cost of purchasing a new one, will take 12 months to save up for. As a hobbyist, I can't really afford a new one. I'm investing all my money into making my videos, going to locations and events. Since I'm trying to make a new video each weekend, I can't really send the Ronin-M in for repairs, unless it's really necessary (unusable) and within warranty. How long would repairs take, anyways? A month?

So that's my rather long story. What can I do about these startup issues (not powering up due to the cable in the tilt axis tube being too tightly wound up).
I have all the latest firmware updates (there were no new updates today (30-06-2017) and the old, bigger sized 3400mAh battery)
Would I have to send the Ronin-M in for repairs?
How does the repair process go? (I bought the Ronin-M secondhand, from a legitimate aerial photographer who had tried it out for just 2 hours. He had bought it online, with his name/address, and he gave me all the receipts/emails in case of warranty.)
If it needs to be repaired, should I go through the webshop where he bought the Ronin-M, or would it be better if I contacted DJI directly?

When I last used the Ronin-M two weeks ago, this had been happening the whole weekend. Sometimes only the pan axis would spin, other times the pan axis and the tilt axis would spin violently, or it just worked fine: https://twitter.com/SevenbladeMedia/status/873996706974662656 (It's not like DJI actually responds to people Tweeting at them, lol)

Anyway, what is the best I can do. Work around/ignore the issues for a bit longer? It's only a hobby, and there's no real profit loss when something occurs, more like just an inconvenience. Or should I send my Ronin-M in for repairs?

Thanks for any answers you can provide.

yes 100% send it in to your DJI for repairs. I had this issue on and off for months until the point where it became completely unusable. From what i figured out, it had something to do with the wiring near the base of the ronin-M. Luckily I had my OG Ronin to use whilst it was out of action for repairs (took 3 weeks) but they managed to sort it out.
Everything is perfect but ever since i got it back now BOTH my Ronin-M Batteries no longer charge. I plug them in and they do the light cycle twice. then the first light just flashes and will not charge.
So now that is another issue I have to figure out! But the ronin-M is working all perfect again. Highly suggest sending it in.