Hi all,

I can see from older posts that there has been plenty of gimbal related issues in various Phantom models including sudden temporary tilts.
Would like to get guidance on what is expected anomaly (e.g. in extreme conditions) and at which level I should be considering having it repaired?

I have a recently purchased Phantom 4 Pro v2 so would assume this is the latest and greatest as far as Phantoms go.
Have been pushing on purpose the envelope each training / test flight to get to know the drone as well as possible.

With the latest (8th Oct) firmware I saw this problem. Was hovering at approx. 145 meters in P-mode and wind was within limits (no warnings and ground level wind about 4 m/s gusts 7 m/s). Looks very scary when camera suddenly tilted 45 to 90 degree and at first I thought I lost it. Then the picture recovered in few seconds.

Same happened later on lower altitude (30m) in high speed turn (S mode). Sudden extreme tilt for 1-2 seconds.

Other posts suggest gimbal motors may not be up for the job in all conditions.
I don't mind the S mode malfunction as would not use that for shooting video, but the P model hovering gimbal failure is a concern. That happened quite early into the flight.

Any advice / info welcome.

Thanks!

Hi Hotas, thank you for reaching DJI Forum. We do apologize for the troubles you had. Have you calibrated the gimbal already? We do suggest to perform calibration before sending it for repairs. Let us know what happens. We're here to help you.

https://repair.dji.com/repair/index

DJI Gamora Posted at 2018-10-13 01:50
Hi Hotas, thank you for reaching DJI Forum. We do apologize for the troubles you had. Have you calibrated the gimbal already? We do suggest to perform calibration before sending it for repairs. Let us know what happens. We're here to help you.

https://repair.dji.com/repair/index

Thanks for the tip.
I will try calibration and come back if still see the issue.

Your gimbal is probably in FPV follow mode. Although I've seen this happen in strong cross winds, you indicate that wind was calm, so I'd say the FPV follow mode was enabled. This toggle function is assigned to the C2 button underneath the controller and is easy to inadvertently press, causing this erratic behavior. It took weeks for me to figure this out, as it was happening on some flights but not others. Reassigning the button to another function stopped this from happening.

I even replaced the yaw motor and it still does it, although it does not seem quite as sharp, its more like  a used car with now shocks now lol

It will do it when there is too much wind on the gimbal and normally only day it turning one way, for  its turning left i think, and yes, its much worse in sports mode but will do it in gps mode if theres too much wind

Mark Weiss Posted at 2018-10-13 21:02
Your gimbal is probably in FPV follow mode. Although I've seen this happen in strong cross winds, you indicate that wind was calm, so I'd say the FPV follow mode was enabled. This toggle function is assigned to the C2 button underneath the controller and is easy to inadvertently press, causing this erratic behavior. It took weeks for me to figure this out, as it was happening on some flights but not others. Reassigning the button to another function stopped this from happening.

That does not explain why it tilted when the aircraft was hovering, as reported by the OP. Sure, it migfht be FPV mode when flying along, but when hovering it should not tilt at all.

Geebax Posted at 2018-10-14 21:11
That does not explain why it tilted when the aircraft was hovering, as reported by the OP. Sure, it migfht be FPV mode when flying along, but when hovering it should not tilt at all.

A moderately strong cross wind will cause this behavior. I've had it happen with 30mph wind. And then I yaw a few degrees and the tilting stops. Seems like the P4P has less range of correction with crosswinds than head on.

My Mavic Air did something very similar a week or so ago (on their latest firmware). Re-calibrated everything and it now (like my P4PV2) just has the random yaw drift problem.

Mark Weiss Posted at 2018-10-13 21:02
Your gimbal is probably in FPV follow mode. Although I've seen this happen in strong cross winds, you indicate that wind was calm, so I'd say the FPV follow mode was enabled. This toggle function is assigned to the C2 button underneath the controller and is easy to inadvertently press, causing this erratic behavior. It took weeks for me to figure this out, as it was happening on some flights but not others. Reassigning the button to another function stopped this from happening.

Hi Mark Weiss,
I suspect this was not it at least not in hovering.
However, I can not rule this out completely as a factor.

To do so going forward,
I will reassign the button now triggering FPV since I do not need short cut to that mode.

Thanks for the tip.

Hotas J Kilo Posted at 2018-10-18 00:40
Hi Mark Weiss,
I suspect this was not it at least not in hovering.
However, I can not rule this out completely as a factor.

It's a good idea to reassign that button anyway, because it's too easy to accidentally press it and have the resulting intermittent "gimbal problem" when flying sideways.

Hotas J Kilo Posted at 2018-10-13 11:22
Thanks for the tip.
I will try calibration and come back if still see the issue.

Have not seen the issue since calibration plus reassignment of FPV button.

I had never used the fpv follow mode before but after seeing this thread i had a try in case mine was in that mode and no, sadly it wasnt,  but if you WAS in that mode, you would know it as soon as you changed direction, left or right, but if you flew a straight line to your hover spot then you would not have realised something was a miss, but going from your 1st post explanation, it just sounds just like the normal gimbal trait that many have, i also  tried it in p mode and could not replicate it but, it was a very calm day, even in sports i had to give it some stick to replicate it, for future ref; the windier it is, the more pronounced the issue becomes, it would have to be hellish windy for it to happen in a hove though, let alone p gps mode

Bashy Posted at 2018-10-21 19:59
I had never used the fpv follow mode before but after seeing this thread i had a try in case mine was in that mode and no, sadly it wasnt,  but if you WAS in that mode, you would know it as soon as you changed direction, left or right, but if you flew a straight line to your hover spot then you would not have realised something was a miss, but going from your 1st post explanation, it just sounds just like the normal gimbal trait that many have, i also  tried it in p mode and could not replicate it but, it was a very calm day, even in sports i had to give it some stick to replicate it, for future ref; the windier it is, the more pronounced the issue becomes, it would have to be hellish windy for it to happen in a hove though, let alone p gps mode

Hi Bashy,
Haven't seen the issue for a while and keeping my fingers crossed I do not bump in to it again. I do have noted there is a lot of gimbal issues being reported so looks like there is more into this than just the FPV button or calibration.

My older drones the cameras will sometimes kip over on their sides and its pretty damn hard to fly or land safely after that. But they are almost 2 years old now so gimbal problems are to be expected. But on a brand new drone it is unacceptable. Both of my 4 Pros wobble when the drone stops moving sideways, even when moving slow. It's like the camera is too heavy for the gimbal to handle. If my old drones start doing that I just blow the dust or pollen out of them while turned off and they work fine for a good while. I wish I had not purchased either of the 4 pro's.

GottliebPins Posted at 2018-10-24 14:25
My older drones the cameras will sometimes kip over on their sides and its pretty damn hard to fly or land safely after that. But they are almost 2 years old now so gimbal problems are to be expected. But on a brand new drone it is unacceptable. Both of my 4 Pros wobble when the drone stops moving sideways, even when moving slow. It's like the camera is too heavy for the gimbal to handle. If my old drones start doing that I just blow the dust or pollen out of them while turned off and they work fine for a good while. I wish I had not purchased either of the 4 pro's.

Sorry to hear that. Seems a lot of people have issues with Gimbal..