This occurs in straight and level flight. Camera (gimbal) will kick left, and then come back. It started doing it only occasionally, now it's doing it every few seconds. What can cause this?

Here is a video of the problem. It's a low res video just as an example of the problem. The 2.7 K version would have made some beautiful footage if it weren't for the gimbal malfunction     

  

Also, it is making a screeching noise.

No, I didn't crash it, this problem has been slowly developing over the last few flights.  

One more issue!

The lever on the back of the controller that controls the tilt of the gimbal. If you push it all the way to one side, it points the camera down, push it all the way to the other side and it is supposed to point the camera straight ahead. Except on mine.

As I slowly slide the lever from "pointing down" to "pointing ahead" it moves the camera as it should, as long as I stop just barely short of the "point ahead" position. If I go all the way to the "pointing ahead" position, it will then point the camera straight down again. I put a small piece of tape there to stop the lever from going all the way, just so I can use it in flight and know what the camera is doing.

Firmware was updated, and I didn't see any additional options in the programs under "Gimbal" I tinkered with the three sliders and it still didn't fix the problem.

Any ideas?

Please go to Tools, do a basic and advanced calibration.
Regarding to the controller issue, please download the RC Assistant software and calibrate the remote controller.

Gamecatcher Posted at 2014-10-21 07:03
One more issue!

The lever on the back of the controller that controls the tilt of the gimbal. If y ...

Hi,
I had the exact same issue, I did the following and both my H3 3D's got fixed.
1. Do not use the supplied white rubbers things in the gimbal, use the black ones, the ones harder than the softest ones.
2. If you're using a hero 3+, then you should stick a coin towards the back of the gimbal to level the weight on the roll motor.
3. DJI just launched an update to the H3 3D gimbal, you should update using the DJI app.
Basically what happens is that the wind down force from the front propeller hits the gopro's flat area near the lens and that force in return makes the yaw motor reset.
Good luck

No amount of calibrating and re-calibrating and advanced calibration has had any positive effect on the unit. Firmware updates for everything. Calibration of the remote, power cycling after gimbal adjustments, power cycling the remote and quad ... I am completely at a loss as to what to do now.

Now I can not even get the gimbal to point the camera forward. No combination of adjustments to the horizontal and vertical gain can get it to point straight. In fact moving the lever on the remote back and forth produces inconsistent results. I have power cycled the quad and the remote and still it does not behave.   

Very frustrating as it has been almost flawless out of the box. The noise that occasionally comes from the gimbal is very concerning as well.

Am I missing something?  

The X1 button is not seen by the RC or PT2 software and does not respond with H3 3D. Any tips on these?

uhayat@hotmail. Posted at 2014-10-22 00:16
Hi,
I had the exact same issue, I did the following and both my H3 3D's got fixed.
1. Do not use  ...

Thanks for the tips. I am a bit hesitant to start tinkering with the weight distribution on the gimbal.  Isn't the Hero 3 and 3+ the same size? What coin did you use and where did you put it exactly?

Being the same size, the wind should hit it the same whether it's a 3 or 3+ right?

What difference is obtained by using the black rubber spacers over the white spacers?

I do notice that when I turn it on and the gimbal calibrates itself, it will knock the camera and gimbal arm on whatever flat surface it is resting on, so I carry something to use as spacers that I lay down to set the landing gear on to give the gimbal the clearance it needs to calibrate itself when turned on. Even doing this, I still have problems.

I have downloaded all the recent firmware updates, and run the RC and PT2 apps on the remote and Phantom respectively.   

Even sitting on the coffee table the gimbal makes a screeching noise and won't respond properly to any adjustment on the RC or PT2 app.

Ok, I give up. I'm sending it back. It's obviously defective.

Let's see how B&H handles the return/swap out. They have been good to me in the past.

Gamecatcher Posted at 2014-10-22 05:08
Thanks for the tips. I am a bit hesitant to start tinkering with the weight distribution on the gi ...

Hey,
The weight distribution of the Hero 3, 3+ and now the 4 are different. Hero 3 will balance about perfectly on the H3 3D, the 3+ will tilt towards the left (gimbal motor side) and the Hero 4 actually tilts towards the right.
What happens is that the gimbal is getting a certain amount of electricity to distribute among the motors so that they keep the cam at a straight angle. With the hero 3+ the pitch motor has to work harder to keep the cam straight which in turn makes it use more current. It will also heat up more.
I attached a rubber band and placed a coin at the back side of the gimbal near about where the gimbal cable which connects to the gopro is. Im in a different country so you might want to try various coins and see which balances well. Please remember that when the H3-3D was made, it was purely designed for he Hero 3, the 3+ and now the 4 came afterwards with different weight distributions.
The black softer rubbers are able to absorb the impact from the down force to a certain extent. They are somewhat flexible and therefore are able to handle the high winds better where as the harder white rubbers have hardly any usable flexibility in them.
Before these 2 fixes both my H3 3D's would jerk towards the left about every 4-5 seconds. Never happened after I did this. Good luck.

Interesting. Well, I think mine had other issues in addition to the left jerk. So, did you use a small coin medium coin, large coin?

Gamecatcher Posted at 2014-10-23 22:25
Interesting. Well, I think mine had other issues in addition to the left jerk. So, did you use a sma ...

About a medium sized coin, trying to attach an image....Hope this helps...

Cool, looks like the size of our quarter. I am going to keep that in mind.

But, it seems you and I are the only ones with this problem. Wouldn't more people come forward and say, "Yeah I have that problem too!"

Maybe it only effects awesome people?

Gamecatcher Posted at 2014-10-24 05:39
Cool, looks like the size of our quarter. I am going to keep that in mind.

But, it seems you and I ...

I didn't read all the comments in detail but it looks like you're using a Hero 4? It's definitely a common issue with the H3-3D because of the extra weight.
If you ever visit rcgroups, there's pages of folks discussing the best method to balance their new GPH4s.

The H3-3D wasn't designed with GPH4 in mind. Anytime you use a product outside the manufacturer's intended use, you have to think outside the box to mod and make it work.

DJI may release an update to adjust for the extra weight but nothing so far.

Hi Cloud 9,

No, it's a 3+ Black I'm using. When I get the new gimbal, I will try a quarter on the back trick, see what that does for me.

Thanks for the post.

Gamecatcher Posted at 2014-10-24 23:36
Hi Cloud 9,

No, it's a 3+ Black I'm using. When I get the new gimbal, I will try a quarter on the  ...

I see. Sorry I didn't read everything, I read over it on my break
It shouldn't be spazzing on the 3+ I had a slight horizon tilt issue but that was fixed.

Keep us updated.

Hi.
I did my first firmware update last night and encountered the same problem: a concerning noise coming from the gimbal and it not responding properly to the controller. This while it was sitting on my desk; I haven't tried flyig since.

btw, I have a Hero 3.

Everything was working perfectly until I plugged it in to my computer for the first time last night. I updated all firmware and tried calibrating the X1 lever in the RC window several times. I did many power cycles and tried calibrating from PT2 and RC many times.

The gimbal would sometimes point down but wouldn't go through the range of motion as I moved the lever, only sometimes it would  go to the full upright position and then start to make a loud noise, almost a grinding sound.

Any help/suggestions are welcome.

Here is my problem.  I installed a Boscam TS832 5.8 ghz transmitter, the Mini iOSD and I'm using a black pearl FPV monitor.  On the monitor I get the iOSD telemetry information, but I get no video being transmitted.  It's wired correctly and I've replaced all of the DJI cables between the Gimbal and the transmitter.  How can I test the gimbal to see if it is getting the video signal from the camera and trasnmitting it  out of the cable?  It's a Hero3+ Black and the H3-3d Gimbal

Hi Def in the D Posted at 2014-11-3 09:50
Hi.
I did my first firmware update last night and encountered the same problem: a concerning noise  ...

Hi Def in the D,

See my other post on this subject (link below). I think you will find your answer there. Look at the video and let me know if yours is doing the same thing.

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... ra=page%3D1&lang=en

For what it's worth, it is looks like the firmware update is what caused it.

uhayat@hotmail. Posted at 2014-10-23 22:39
About a medium sized coin, trying to attach an image....Hope this helps...

Regarding balancing the gimbal -- I have a polarizing filter mounted on my GoPro so I have to rebalance the gimbal in two axis, roll and pitch.  I discovered 3M picture hanging strips can be useful because I can easily reposition the coins and fine tune based on how far down I put the weight.  The other advantage is when I decide to fly without the filter the command strips just pop right off.  If I ever decide I want to completely remove them I can do so without leaving any residue.


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gil@wk.net Posted at 2014-12-9 09:33
Regarding balancing the gimbal -- I have a polarizing filter mounted on my GoPro so I have to reba ...

Great idea, will do the same, frankly I wasn't entirely happy with the rubber band solution.

check the weight specs of gp3 and gp4 then use your calculator for example gp3 is 5 grams and gp4 is 7 grams so you need a 2 grams object to attach in the left side of gimbal motor if you have small digital wieghing scale then measure it including microSD hehe

heres the link hope this help

I had the same problem. The Gimbal kept spazzing out. It resolved itself when I updated the Zenmuse to firmware 1.0.0.12.

Hope this helps anyone with the same problem.

After a crash my h3-d3 is unstable and jumpy.
I have reset and re-instanled the firmwear but without anny change.

I do see that on the assistand softwear, {view page} it reads "Gimbal switch;off", how to I set it on?

please advice

info@scubavisio Posted at 2015-4-19 09:13
After a crash my h3-d3 is unstable and jumpy.
I have reset and re-instanled the firmwear but without ...

Just click on the top left hand box to place a check mark ant the gimbal will be activated

Where do I find the check box?,  on the main {view} page ?, I have the latest V 3.8 PT2 Assistant software.
I can't find the check box anywhere, not even on the <advanced <Gimbal Page?

I did find the check box to turn on the gimbal but it's under the NASAM Assistant software and Im using in my drone the original DJI controller?
I can get the NASAM assistant software to connect to my PT2 Drone!

A little clarification please.  If the gimbal switch is set to "off" does the gimbal respond at all to any movement in the gimbal control lever (or wheel if you have a new controller)?  

If it does respond, use this Transmitter Calibration WITHOUT software technique.  I've lost track of how many times it has corrected problems with squirrley gimbals -- follow directions carefully.

Thanks Gil, but no change after  transmitter calibration.
My assistant software does indicate now that my Gimbal switch is ON so that is a step in the good direction.
When I do the full start up procedure thi gimbal does respond to my gimbal control dial but every second it jump left to right and the camera keeps pointing downward.
I'm just trying to determine if I need a new gimbal.
Is there a way for me to test the gimbal without having it connected to the phantom?

info@scubavisio Posted at 2015-4-21 09:20
Thanks Gil, but no change after  transmitter calibration.
My assistant software does indicate now th ...

I had the same problem with a sj5000 on this gimbal and after added a coin like the guy said above with the 3m sticky strips. its working well.

Gamecatcher..don't give up just yet.I have over 85 flights on my H3-3d Gimbal with a Hero 3+ Black.
1-Gimbal Twitch-Be sure to place bird on a level surface.After level..perform IMU calibrations....all of them...if you know that the bird's inner temp. is cool,ignore Main Control Board too hot prompt and just continue.
2-X1 Channel-Even though there is no place to calibrate the x1 in RC Assistant,move x1 slider back and forth before completing joystick calibration...May not work the first time...Try it again..Be patient,it will.
After x1 channel is functional,hook bird to computer(If NotAlready). Under the Advanced section of the P2 Assistant software slide gimbal gains down to 2.That setting is great for buttery smooth up and down panning.