I would like to repair my Phantom 4 Pro+ that inexplicably crashed several minutes into a flight, following a battery change. This was the second flight of the day and nothing seems to be wrong with the second battery.

While one of the rotor arms took the brunt of the crash, the camera gimbal was also damaged. The gimbal arm was bent and the gimbal ribbon cable had some slight damage that may or may not have been enough to affect gimbal operation. I've replaced the bent gimbal arm and the damaged ribbon cable, however, that has not restored the gimbal to normal operation.

Below are the current gimbal failure symptoms:

- during aircraft startup, the camera roll servo seems to level the camera normally and lightly resists any attempt to manually reposition it.

- the camera tilts fully up and then fully down, as is normal during startup, but then stays pointed down and becomes limp - it does not resist any manual attempt to reposition it after that.

- the Overall Status on the remote controller indicates "Gimbal Roll Error" and "Gimbal Pan Error". However, Gimbal Status reads Normal.

- there does not appear to be any gimbal Yaw/Pan action at all.

- during an attempt to update the aircraft firmware, it failed during the gimbal update step of the process.

- the camera itself seems to work just fine and transmits normal video back to the remote controller.

- the camera tilt/pitch wheel on the remote controller does not change the camera tilt.

- the gimbal arm circuit board module gets pretty hot fairly quickly after the aircraft is turned on.

- there is no gimbal reaction to any aircraft attitude changes.


If I disconnect the Yaw/Pan motor from the gimbal circuit board, I notice the following changes:

- the startup camera dance is normal - it ends pointing forward and now strenuously resists being manually repositioned.

- the camera roll servo levels the camera normally and now strenuously resists being manually repositioned.

- the Overall Status indicates Normal. The previous Gimbal Roll Error and Gimbal Pan Errors are gone. However, the Gimbal Status now alternates between Normal and Gimbal Motor Overloaded. The master status bar at the top of the main screen also alternates between normal and Gimbal Motor Overloaded.

- after disconnecting the Yaw/Pan motor, there was no problem applying a firmware update to the aircraft. The update did not fail during the gimbal update portion like it did before.

- except for the lack of Yaw/Pan motion, the camera Tilt/Pitch and Roll gimbal functions react normally as the aircraft attitude is changed.

- the tilt/pitch wheel on the remote controller now adjusts the camera tilt normally again.

One additional observation is that even if both the Roll and Yaw/Pan motors are disconnected, the gimbal control board still gets hot.

So, my questions are as follows:

Is the gimbal circuit board damaged and causing these symptoms? If so, what is the part number and where can I get a replacement?

Or, has the Yaw/Pan motor failed? This would seem to imply that a hot circuit board is normal as it still gets hot without the Yaw/Pan motor being connected.

Or, is some other damaged component responsible for this gimbal malfunction? (main control board?)

I've rebuilt the gimbal assembly, replacing the physically damaged parts, and I'm about to replace the damaged body components and get the craft flying again, but I need some help to resolve the gimbal problem. I'm hoping someone can identify the failed component from my observations so that I won't have to purchase and replace parts unnecessarily by guessing which one has failed.

Thanks and sorry for the long post.  I wanted to give all the facts up front.

Sorry to read your post. It is not recommended to disassemble at your end as this may void the warranty. If you need further assistance, I sincerely suggest sending the unit in for a fully diagnosis. You can start a case from here: https://www.dji.com/support

Hi there.. did you find a solution to this problem? I have the exact same issue... just wondering how / if you resolved it thanks in advance

Hi was there any fix to this problem?

Thanks

Same issue here. Drone is out of warranty, so no need for Admin to tell me I might void it.

What part do I need to order and replace please?

I'm still on the lookout for useful, accurate information to help pinpoint the cause of the gimbal problem.  I'm certain it's the pan/yaw motor and/or the gimbal control board - both are parts I can easily replace.

Shortly after the original post, I replaced the upper and lower shells of the body, in effect, tearing down and completely rebuilding the entire aircraft - a very satisfying and rewarding process for me.

I wish DJI would recognize that there are a few aircraft owners that are highly qualified to do their own maintenance/repair and would assist them in doing so by providing a parts list and useful feedback.  Advising to send it in was not something I wanted to hear.  I really dislike paying a fee for a service that I can and want to do myself for a lot less money.  I wish DJI would become more self-service friendly.

Sounds most likely the Yaw Motor is bad !  Also, because the camera can't stabalize, the circut board will get hot and eventually fail. Very expensive board !

This is common in a crash, that even though the yaw motor looks ok, the  sensors on the motor get easily scratched in a bump to the camera and the camera will not stay  stable or function properly. You can check the sensors with the yaw motor off the gimbal with a magnifying glass. There are two of them and the housing hits it and scratches the sensors in a crash. You have to separate the housing from the motor and put the old housing on the new motor. You may need a press to remove the housing as it is pressed on, but there are other ways of doing it by knocking the pin out. But if you do it wrong, you may damage the new motor.

Watch all the video's you can on how to check the sensors and how to replace the yaw motor.

Be sure to change the original housing (the Round Magnet) to the new Yaw motor as it is precalibrated to the gimbal. (There are video's of how to do that)

Again I say, do your research on how to replace the yaw motor and swap the old housing to the new yaw motor !

This is from my experience with gimbals when the Camera goes limp or won't point the right direction after startup.

Doing this type of repair is not something everyone can do and most just send it to DJI for repair !


Good Luck