P4 camera looks slightly left regardless what I do.

Holding drone in front of me waist high or so peering down over its body, camera facing straight out away from me. I rotate the drone itself a little bit left (causing gimbal to react then correct) then back to straight ahead, camera tends to recover going back to its centered position.

However rotate drone body right then back to straight camera ends looking slightly left, does not return to center.

Happens now and then either direction and more often then not settles in looking slightly left, not a lot but visibly off center.

No crash and always handled with kid gloves

New replacement from Dji as of 8/28/2018

Flashed to latest firmware, flashed back to original (nothing in between I guess) reset to factory etc etc.
Calibrated on flat level surface sitting on landing gear, calibrated laid on its backside.

Any fix for this? or does it have to go back to Dji for warranty work?

Whole thing that brought this on was I found it didn't fly right, flying in a straight line but rotated/yawed to one side while viewing live stream. Watched it in flight it is yawed yea but camera is also a problem as it doesn't center itself.  


Both my drones are calibrated on a flat perfectly level surface (IMU/gimbal) here in the house, the compass calibration done while out in an open field, nothing metal within several hundred feet.

Thank you for any help you might offer,

Dan

  

Ok got in another round of tests, wanted to figure out if its corectable or needs to go back. I updated yet again to the latest firmware version. I did this half a dozen times by the way, downgrade upgrade downgrade upgrade... ad nauseam so didn't expect much but hey it is what it is.

Took it out for a little test before and after doing so. Flight before updating firmware version, as expected it flew sideways/yaw, standing in line with it flying it straight out and back you can see through the landing gear forward and backwards. Should only see between the landing gear legs each side front and rear legs in line with each other, not through between the front and rear legs too!

So back in the house for yet another round of firmware change/IMU calibration. Took it back outside for another test, this time flys right, front and rear legs inline with one another standing in line with it flying out and back.

Camera problem seems to be gone too, need more testing as mosquitoes have me grounded around here last couple weeks, bad out there. The wind today is rather stiff allowing for a moment or two for tests. Wind had them knocked down....wishful thinking as it turned out.


Anyway it held its place rock soild, I was happy to see that. Winds 15mph and gusting to over 30 and while I didn't fly above the tree tops I flew up near there to see what'd happen.

Even while being rocked around by constantly varying wind directions and gusts, it held its place rock soild and did so without rotating. I was real happy with it and for the first time after getting this one from Dji. The first one was rock soild right out of the box, this one not so much. Same firmware same controller and same computer running Dji assitant 2.

Wanted to add that I had zero issues with assitant 2, no fails no disconnects etc with it.  Take a little time yea as expected but eventless other than that start to finish each time.


Need a good frost before I can get back out there, mosquito die off couple of weeks (with any luck).  Perhaps finally got a good copy of that firmware installed this time around wasn't before? See how it acts next time out.

Dan

Good to hear you got your problem sorted out

Cold out this morning as well as zero to little wind so better test flight, nothing has changed.

I try and fly down the shoulder of the road and it's looking left flying right, can always see the left front prop in the live view and in P-mode full power forward and really shouldn't see either one let alone just one.

If I fly down the shoulder on the right side of the road looking parallel down it using the cross hairs lining it up carefully, it goes well away from the road and out over the trees and quickly. I have to turn left as so the cross hairs are over the left shoulder way out in front of it to stay over the shoulder on the right side of the road, that is "straight". Return trip the drone will quickly try and cross over the road (I do not allow it but would if I did), same line up procedure, while trying to fly straight down the same shoulder of the road on return trip.

It's like driving a car down a straight section of road but instead of looking straight forward from the drivers seat out the windshield, its having to look out the center or even the passenger side of the windshield to view direction of travel out ahead of you (not what any one would consider minor "dog tracking").

Perhaps one of Dji's employees would chime in? Am I just spinning my wheels here? wasting my time and battery cycles? A fix I can do from here? or do I send it in for a replacement?

My mavic acts nothing like this nor did the original phantom I had before this one, I can't get this one to fly straight to save my....

looked at it again and pretty sure all if it is the fact that the gimbal/camera fails to return to true center after yaw, now that the drone itself still appears to fly straight. Recover from slight course corrections in flight such as necessary lining up to follow edge of road where "it" hits the fan.

"Gimbal  yaw synchronized follow" setting = "enabled" naturally, I did not try turning it off as I do not wish to run with it disabled and shouldn't have too.

The drone in a hover its body/camera pointing north for example. Yaw left then yaw back to facing north again full stop, gimbal reacts to body rotation as designed and gimbal tends to return the camera barrel to its true center point as it should.
Same as above but yawing right then back to point north. The gimbal reacts as it should but then gimbal fails to return camera to its true center point. Not making it quite far enough ends looking ever so slightly left and just about every time, degree of that error varies.

I can measure it here on the table working from its landing gear. While it varies it can be off as much as 3/64". A pronounced angle in the 1-1/4" span of the camera barrel.
Camera of center causes the illusion that it is flying sideways.  

Watching it in flight after the last update down near the ground its body is flying straight now..... looks good Just don't look down at the screen!

Rotate one way it will appear to be flying straight on the screen, very very close to it. The other way it will appear on the screen as its flying yawed. Reason the left front blade is showing in the live screen view. Fly straight going by screen view it will track right.

So 100% dependent on where the gimbal settles the camera back in to what it thinks where "center" is. Effected by even minor course adjustment during flight, say for example as required to get lined up to run down the edge of a road.

Resulting in off by a little or off by a lot and either way equals a very undesirable craft to fly.

Ended up sending it in, the problem was due to the Yaw-axis Motor.

I received it on the the 9th back from repair for Gimbal yaw-axis motor repair/replacement. I did get the same drone back just in case anyone is wondering. \

The weather here an is lots of places these last few days hasn't been the best for flying drones. I was able to take it for one quick test flight and unhappy to report that I did not see much difference in the way it acted.
I am happy to say the camera, at least the couple of times I checked it, does center itself as it should each time. So successful repair in that regard so far.

Was kinda windy that day but nothing the P4 can't handle, I flew on a north south line, wind coming in from the west. The camera view still off to the left of direction of travel, same going both directions and to the same degree both ways, so that eliminates the wind as the cause. At least in my mind it would but holding out for another test flight in a day or two.

Once again before that flight I calibrated the IMU and gimbal on a level flat table here in the house, give it the best shot at flying straight and level. Reading here on the boards and elsewhere I understand get better results when the drone or rather its imu is cold for that process.

So waiting for rain to clear I put it in the fridge for about a half hour to cool it off first, all previous calibrations might have been while it was "warm" or what might be considered hot.

That said same would apply to my mavic, did it when it might have been warm.

This time I noticed a pretty significant change in the process, the first of the five steps didn't fly by like each time in the past. "Warm" that blue progress bar, it just jumps quickly to the end, immediately zips right across then requests me reposition the drone for step two like it did nothing for the first step of the process. Didn't need it? I don't know?

Now this time, that blue progress bar slowly a little at a time advanced across the screen taking perhaps as much as a minute or better like it was actually doing something for that first step of the process. Then as normally would see it, it request the drone be re positioned for each successive step following that one taking a moment after each move.

So time will tell when I get the weather needed to do a test flight, see if a "Cold" calibration makes any difference.

I did the same with the MP, noted that same change in the first step of the calibration process although didn't have problem with it. Figured what's good for the goose is...well you know.

Waiting for nice flight weather to try it again.

This can't be "normal" for a Phantom 4,



It will sometimes center itself, more often than not it settles in off center of where it should be.

Note: just in case it's not readily apparent in the video, I am holding that rule locked to the measurement to where the camera would be, when in its true centered position.

The camera wouldn't be pushed back nor would there be any gap if it centered itself correctly after moving the drone each time.

Its a pretty simple and straight forward question Dji,
many days have gone by yet not a single reply from any of you.

Should the drone in the above video, its gimbal act like that under those conditions?

I can say this much, the same action with my Mavic Pro, doing those same exact movements? it does not act that way. Its gimbal the camera mounted on it, it self centers itself each time the drones movement has stopped and without the slightest hesitation doing so.

Some kinda reply would be nice, even if only to say you do not know. (hard to believe but would be something at least)

And if you don't know first hand and no one to ask? it would only take a few minutes to get one out of the box, power it up move it around same as seen in the video and see how it acts for comparison value.

I gotta go with "no", that that is not "normal" gimbal function in a phantom 4 drone. Not after years of use and not brand new out of the box either one.

Dan B-P4 Posted at 10-27 08:39
Its a pretty simple and straight forward question Dji,
many days have gone by yet not a single reply from any of you.

Is there any change noticed when adjusting gimbal yaw in DJI Go 4 to centre it ?

Aardvark Posted at 11-22 17:43
Is there any change noticed when adjusting gimbal yaw in DJI Go 4 to centre it ?

Well yea but the problem was that it'd be centered when powered on it would fail to return to center, or not, after yaw/heading changes.

I posted in service got a reply from Dji, sent it in and they once again replaced the yaw axis motor.

I have had a couple of short test flights after getting it back this time around and so far it seems to be fixed, have to wait for warmer weather before can run it though it paces, see if it's truly fixed or not so the jury is still out far as that goes.

My impression is that yes it is fixed now though and just to bad lost the remainder of flight days this summer to warranty work/shipping time with that one.

That said, so far I've had nothing but positive experiences in my dealing with Dji/warranty services. Last trip it went "second day air" zipped right through the process for quick turn around and back to me again.   

I believe they replaced more than just the yaw axis motor this last time around too.

First time they "fixed" it I believe the failure on their end was test flight VLOS before sending it back. They don't/didn't fly it via the live stream so it would have appeared to work just fine. Working great and due to that type of test flight. Had they flown it Via the live stream instead, as in "FPV" they would have noticed it was still not right. Camera not returning to center each and every time as should, doing so only part of the time.

No doubt they don't have lots of time to spend doing test flights before returning to owner after repair, quick flight over field or parking lot out behind building about it.

This time I got it back the serial number was the same again but I had to activate it this time like a new one never been flown before.

Hey. I thought I was having yaw axis motor issues to. I was getting the gimbal overload warning. I just discovered that it was just getting hung up on something, but only when you tilt the cam toward the front. Otherwise it spins freely. So it still works, wasn't my gimbal motor. Does anyone know why the gimbal would be getting hung up on something or encountering resistance when it is tilted toward the front ( as it would be flying forward). When you turn the drone on its top, you can free it from its stuck point by just pushing the gimbal aft, then everything is free to pivot. It only gets stuck if you tilt forward.