That's a new one I saw today...
A warning with a yellow background (does that mean it's not as serious as a red background?) saying "Gimbal Motor Overload". Saw it both when on the ground before takeoff, and after takeoff in mid-air.
Anyone saw this?
Does it mean the gimbal has difficulty with its stability, so it has to constantly correct itself? Or is it something else? (I mean I saw it before takeoff as well, what work does the gimbal have to do then?)

I've gotten the same error when trying to take off in high grass. I guess the gimbal was pressed up against too much.

If the spark is sitting in grass while initializing it can cause this. Make sure nothing is touching the camera. It usually takes a minute after takeoff before that message goes away. I started using a large plastic cheese platter as a landing pad while on grass.

I had a little sand stuck in mine once. A gentle roll of the gimbal fixed it, I should invest in a little blower for that type of thing.

Pls. Note that the gimbal won’t pan up and down during flight even if u r able to take off and fly

What u do is
1 shut down the drone and turn it on again
2 this time on a flat ground with no tall grass

nottuppaware Posted at 2017-10-5 16:30
I had a little sand stuck in mine once. A gentle roll of the gimbal fixed it, I should invest in a little blower for that type of thing.

Camera cleaning kit, cheap and good to have!

Just to note that I wasn't taking off from grass. I was taking off from my landing pad. It was a sandy surrounding however. I'll keep following this.

This message pops up when the Gimbal is blocked or touched by something. Make sure that the Gimbal can move freely.

This is mainly caused by the gimbal motors having to use extra power to mechanically stablise the camera. There are a number of factors that can cause it such as: -
1. The camera/gimbal being pressed against something on initial start up such as grass or an uneven surface - turn the flymore bag on its side and use that to rest the drone when starting up
2. Turning the drone on when it is still in your hand - this can cause aggressive tilts and the gimbal motors can overload to compensate
3. Using third party accessories on or around the gimbal such as ND filters and flare hoods that are restrictive or too heavy for the gimbal motors and leaving gimbal locks on by accident
4. The gimbal motors becoming over heated during flight - especially in continuous fast yaw movements and sport mode whilst recording
5. The gimbal being contaminated by excessive dust, moisture, sand or dirt etc
6. A hardware failure - basically the gimbal is broke or at least faulty and needs to be professionally repaired by DJI
It's important to keep the gimbal free from the second you turn it on and don't put any pressure on it. Make sure it is not touching your hand when doing palm launch/land and Keep it clean and off the ground and use a gimbal lock during transport and storage - you can buy inexpensive ones on Amazon as DJI amazingly don't provide one for the Spark.

Thanks. That's a comprehensive list and it all makes sense.
The gimbal isn't broken, otherwise I would have gotten this message constantly and not intermittently, I guess. No 3rd party accessories on the gimbal either. But I don't rule out that some sand got into the mechanism, or that  strong wind during my last flight caused it to work too hard. I'll keep following this.

I have a landing pad that i bought with my SPARK and it just works fine when landing on grass...

Yes, like I said I too own one and have used it. But it was a sandy environment and a rather windy day, so I can't rule the possibility of a little sand blowing into it.

djiuser_Kf4iPA3 Posted at 2017-10-6 00:21
Thanks. That's a comprehensive list and it all makes sense.
The gimbal isn't broken, otherwise I would have gotten this message constantly and not intermittently, I guess. No 3rd party accessories on the gimbal either. But I don't rule out that some sand got into the mechanism, or that  strong wind during my last flight caused it to work too hard. I'll keep following this.

Strong wind can cause a minor impact too but the ESC's will take most of the force from the wind to stabilise the drone itself. My Mavic Pro gimbal suddenly lost connection once for no reason whatsoever and it hasn't happened again since - I flew in Sport mode for 20 minutes during that flight though... In most cases, a delicate clean of the gimbal will sort it.

broken? if so, usually it's the Flat Cable for mavic, just change it then...

William Yuandi Posted at 2017-10-6 01:24
broken? if so, usually it's the Flat Cable for mavic, just change it then...

No need - it obviously just over heated on that day and has worked perfectly since.

I started a thread 3 days ago on the same issue with log and screen capture
https://forum.dji.com/thread-115333-1-1.html

My gimbal overload happen in Pano mode (9 pics 3x3), the camera could not look all the way down on the second down pan. Could be something fouled the gimbal, cause a day earlier my land gear broke and I did not use any landing gear. Just received my new landing gear today

Hankmeister Posted at 2017-10-6 10:27
I started a thread 3 days ago on the same issue with log and screen capture
https://forum.dji.com/thread-115333-1-1.html

blew air into gimbal area and that did the trick, Spark flew with out error in the 3x3 pano mode

What about the performance of the gimbal? Is it behave like normal when you got this error?

DJI Diana Posted at 2017-10-9 02:09
What about the performance of the gimbal? Is it behave like normal when you got this error?

Can't say I tested it much on that flight, I wasn't manoeuvering too much.
Anyway, the error has not returned since.

djiuser_Kf4iPA3 Posted at 2017-10-9 02:25
Can't say I tested it much on that flight, I wasn't manoeuvering too much.
Anyway, the error has not returned since.

It might be a false warning. Anyway, glad to hear that the error disappeared.

DJI Diana Posted at 2017-10-9 03:04
It might be a false warning. Anyway, glad to hear that the error disappeared.

I have a Spark and the gimbal pitch has stopped working.
Gimbal Motor Overloaded and Gimbal Motor Protection warnings appear.
When I turn off the drone the camera moves gently up and down by pushing with the finger. When turning on the drone and moving the camera down, the gimbal's position indicator goes down but the camera does not, if at this point I push the camera down with my finger, it moves. I installed the new version of software and went back to the old version, now I have the most current version. How should I proceed to resolve this?

Bruno Galev Posted at 2017-10-31 17:00
I have a Spark and the gimbal pitch has stopped working.
Gimbal Motor Overloaded and Gimbal Motor Protection warnings appear.
When I turn off the drone the camera moves gently up and down by pushing with the finger. When turning on the drone and moving the camera down, the gimbal's position indicator goes down but the camera does not, if at this point I push the camera down with my finger, it moves. I installed the new version of software and went back to the old version, now I have the most current version. How should I proceed to resolve this?

When did this issue start? Did anything happen before, like hard landing or crash? What is the Gimbal Pitch Speed? Set it as 50, then try it again.

DJI Diana Posted at 2017-11-1 23:05
When did this issue start? Did anything happen before, like hard landing or crash? What is the Gimbal Pitch Speed? Set it as 50, then try it again.

The problem started 10/31/2017. I did very few flights with this drone, and it suffered no crash or hard landing. I changed the pitch speed to 50 and the problem still continues.

Bruno Galev Posted at 2017-11-2 07:42
The problem started 10/31/2017. I did very few flights with this drone, and it suffered no crash or hard landing. I changed the pitch speed to 50 and the problem still continues.

Sorry for this, you may need to send the drone in for diagnosis and repair, please contact the Support to start a case, this link is for your reference. http://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav

ACW Posted at 2017-10-6 00:11
This is mainly caused by the gimbal motors having to use extra power to mechanically stablise the camera. There are a number of factors that can cause it such as: -
1. The camera/gimbal being pressed against something on initial start up such as grass or an uneven surface - turn the flymore bag on its side and use that to rest the drone when starting up
2. Turning the drone on when it is still in your hand - this can cause aggressive tilts and the gimbal motors can overload to compensate

Should we replace the gimbal or what is the solution for this gimbal overloaded prob lem

vidya Posted at 2018-3-8 22:39
Should we replace the gimbal or what is the solution for this gimbal overloaded prob lem

The solution is to follow the 6 points I previously stated and if yours is broken then I suggest returning it to DJI for repair.

A mi lo que me pasa es que despues de estar volando el Spark, como a los 6 minutos de vuelo, muevo el Gimbal hacia abajo y ya no regresa a su posicion normal, es cuando me sale el dichoso mensaje de "motor overload Gimbal" voy a tratar de comprar el kit de mantenimiento de la camara por que si lo regreso con la mano he sentido que esta un poco duro es probale que sea polvo.

I saw gimble moter overload give solution

Hello

I bought usee, not crashed Spark where camera was stucked somehow. I tried the advices I found from the Forum, but they didn’t worked. So far what I have tried:
- resetting the Spark upside-down
- resetting the Spark with severan seconds holds (2/3-beeps)
- different fw’s
- factory reset
- compass and IMU calibrations

Seems like gimbal tries to do initialize procedure during start and its failing (see the video: )
- when it has fully started, it stucked, camera oblique about 22 degrees. Its able to move up and down, only. Pitching doesn’t do anything.
- when I move the camera manuallt straigth, it holds the position but doesn’t follow any controls.

Whole time there is ”Gimbal motor overload” warning and I can record video and photos and all the flying functions work perfectly.

I don’t wanna send it to DJI support, since the DHL etc are expensive and there is no quarantee for solve this problem. I can pay the parts, if needed...

Can you advise me to try something which has worked or something new?

ksetala Posted at 2018-8-5 00:28
Hello

I bought usee, not crashed Spark where camera was stucked somehow. I tried the advices I found from the Forum, but they didn’t worked. So far what I have tried:

Looks really wierd this one, is gimbal mooving freely in all directions when spark is off??? And if you did try different firmwares, i am afriad gimbal or motherboard is fault...my thought is water damage.

ksetala Posted at 2018-8-5 00:28
Hello

I bought usee, not crashed Spark where camera was stucked somehow. I tried the advices I found from the Forum, but they didn’t worked. So far what I have tried:

Hi, sorry for the inconvenience that it caused. It seems that we've already done the possible troubleshooting steps that we can do as well as the DJI Assistant 2 right? If yes, may I know where did you purchase the unit and is it brand new? Please hit "Reply" for me to be notified and for further help.

DJI Tony Posted at 2018-8-5 10:08
Hi, sorry for the inconvenience that it caused. It seems that we've already done the possible troubleshooting steps that we can do as well as the DJI Assistant 2 right? If yes, may I know where did you purchase the unit and is it brand new? Please hit "Reply" for me to be notified and for further help.

I bought it from earlier owner, so I don’t know where it was purchased and when. So that’s why I’m ready to take part of expenses on me, if there is quaranteed solution. I haven’t tried the DJI Assistant with mobile phone, I have done factory reset with with my Mac OS X DJI Assistant.

Hi. The DJI Assistant 2 can only be downloaded using your PC. Since you have already downloaded the DJI Assistant 2 and still the issue persists the best thing you need to do is to contact DJI Support by sending an email to support@dji.com for further assessment of the issue and to create a ticket for your DJI Spark. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 2018-8-5 11:06
Hi. The DJI Assistant 2 can only be downloaded using your PC. Since you have already downloaded the DJI Assistant 2 and still the issue persists the best thing you need to do is to contact DJI Support by sending an email to  for further assessment of the issue and to create a ticket for your DJI Spark. Thank you.

With several emails with DJI Support, I found that y drone was bought from China and I should send it to repair center in China. Luckily the DJI Support understood my situation (cost for sending drone from Europe to China) and I got labels to send it to Netherlands Repair Center.

After two days I got respond that the Liquid Damage Indicator was ”active” and I should replace the drone and buy a new one (400 euros).

I questioned it, because I haven’t flew or crashed to any liquid. I have been flying on rain showers briefly (when noticed the rain, I landed) and on areas where humity is high. And even during these flights the camera/gimbal hasn’t work and has been tilt.

So now I’m waiting DJI’s respond if changing the gimbal is enough. Any expirience about the Liquid Damage?

I have similar issue, I accidentally crashed land my spark.
Then after a few flies the gimbal felt cranky. And it says Gimbal Motor Overloaded. After few inspections, I found that theres a screw that holds the gimbal cover. It somehow got tightened. I lossened it a bit then tested the gimbal, now it's good as new.

Bozora Posted at 2017-10-5 17:09
Pls. Note that the gimbal won’t pan up and down during flight even if u r able to take off and fly

What u do is

could this be the reason why my gimbal does not want to look up and down when i take off in about  4 cm of grass , and even if i do take of i cant look down in the air

We just bought our spark and have flown it maybe 4 times in the time that we've had it.  The last two times its come up with this warning and the gimbal has stopped working. We havent used any 3rd party products and there have been no hard landings. Why is the gimbal no longer working? Has this been common? It's brand new.. so this is really frustrating. We're hoping to use it on an upcoming trip..

If you have a gimbal lock/cover to keep it stationary during travel, it has to be off before powering up.  If you are taking off from a gravel or grassy site, sometimes the gravel or grass will impede the gimbal as you power up.  Check response #9 in this thread and make sure none of those apply.

-Spark-

I've also had the same warning within the last couple of days. Usually I will tilt the drone and watch it stabilized by zeroing in on a level axis. I'm hoping this doesn't lead to a more serious issue in the near future. I also use a landing pad that came with the bundle when I purchased my Spark.

Turns out I was having this problem and what was causing it was the two micro screws on the side of my gimbal were screwed in too tight, after receiving the drone from DJI care. It caused the camera to be too tight to swivel like it was supposed to up and down causing shaky footage and the inability to get a 90° vertical shot.