MAIRDA
 lvl.2
United States
Offline
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My Mavic air is the one which never calibrated compass outside of the US, since brand new. It used to fly very well, as long as I was in the 48 states, every now and then it requested compass calibration, but it calibrated quickly (as long as I was in the United States).
I did not fly it for several months, almost a year, and then I tried to fly it again this year and on the first try...
...well, now it says "main controller data error". Now, not only it does not calibrate compass not even in the US, it doesn't callibrate IMU either. Lots of errors... It does not even let you start the IMU calbration. Looking at the IMU data, it says gyroscope disconnected and accelerometer disconnected.
Of course, DJI service is not able to help me via chat. They ask me to send the unit to their authorized repair $hop, which will then mean I'm going to be subjected to $$$ (just for a technician to see it it will cost me $65. And then they will charge me for parts and labor... you can imagine the co$t of this service until I see my AC back and plu$ $hipping).
Meanwhile, my Mavic Pro had a gimbal problem, when, while transporting it, the gimbal cap fell off while I was walking, the cap was lose (the AC was in the Mavic bag and properly set in it), it eventually damaged the gimbal. When trying to fly, it said something like overload in the gimbal, and would never do its thing anymore. After going on Youtube, I learned how to fix it, there are two options: for 10 dollars you by the fex ribbon cable (the one transmitting commands to the axles of the gimbal) and change it yourself or for about $200 or less (depending how corageous you are) you can get an entire assembled gimbal with the flex ribbon already mounted. I tried the flex ribbon cable before but that was one heck of a job, and I may still do it since I have the ribbon and the original gimbal. But I gave up on that and splurged on a complete gimbal. In 30 minutes My Mavic Pro was fixed. I bought a magnified lamp for the job, since my eyesight is challenged, so add $50 to the tally.
Being successful with my Mavic Pro led me to think I can fix the Mavic Air as well. The question is: 1) is my problem the IMU module? On you tube there's a guy who removes the IMU module and heats it up with a hair dryer and puts it back on its Mavic Air and voilà (yes, it is voilà and not viola) problem solved. But his Mavic Air problem, according to what he shows on the video, was gyroscope and accelerometer "error". In my case, it is gyroscope and accelerometer "disconnected". That is, it could be a different problem.
If the problem is with the IMU module, it costs $19-20, or zero dollars iif it is about heating the thing up.
If the problem is with the ESC Circuit Board module, it is about $89-90
It is not likely to be both (20 + 90 = 110). But how would I know which one to buy? Only if you've been through this before (or a DJI technician would have the guts to tell me).
The problem could also be on the Remote Control which has its own power module (about $40 to $50)... but let's first try the AC as the source of the problem.
Either way, it will cost me a lot less than sending it to Mavic for repair.
Has anyone experienced any of these errors and have you worked on your Mavic Air? Since I'm at a loss with this POS, I figure the worse it can happen is I will throw another $110 or $160 dollars down the drain. Then at least it will clear my consciousness for when I stare at this thing and break it with a hammer, I promise I will make a video of it, and then buy something else. :-)
Please let me know, thanks!
P.S. No, I don't care about warranty, because it is past that time. And no, DJI did not offer to fix it nor did they tell me this is a recurring problem with this drone. They never even asked me to check what it read under accelerometer and gyroscope settings.
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First Officer
Second Officer
lvl.1