I am not at all sure what is happening. I crashed the Air and broke the camera cable. This was a 2nd hand machine, so I bought a 2nd hand camera. All installed OK until I went to turn it on with the controller etc. It wants to go through the activation process, but won't finish it. A message about it being the wrong device being activated comes up. If I temporarily re-connect the old camera the controller connects without any issues, but when the new camera is connected the controller won't connect.

When I turn everything on, the rear light on the drone is flashing green. The controller has a green light, but the screen has Activate instead of Go Fly. I use the default for everything except the name. Everything seems OK until the end when the Activation Failed screen appears with "The device being connected to is not the one being activated. Please connect to a genuine DJI device." The app locks at this point. I can't go either forwared or back, and have to kill the app to get back to the phone.


The replacement camera was ordered as a genuine DJI component, although 2nd hand.

What do I do from here?

Darryl

It's possible the 2nd hand camera is damaged. That's all I can think of.  I replaced the camera on my MPP with a new OEM part and it was seamless.

Hello and good day Darryl. I am sorry to know that you are having issues with your DJI Mavic Air. There could be issues internally with the said drone that is why you are experiencing this issue. I would recommend you to contact our DJI support team at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for further assistance. Just a friendly reminder that  DJI do not recommend doing a DIY in fixing the said DJI drone to avoid further damaging the said unit. Thank for your understanding and for your support.

Mavic Ace Posted at 10-14 09:41
It's possible the 2nd hand camera is damaged. That's all I can think of.  I replaced the camera on my MPP with a new OEM part and it was seamless.

Thanks. Was there anything you had to do apart from plugging it in?

DJI Stephen Posted at 10-14 10:23
Hello and good day Darryl. I am sorry to know that you are having issues with your DJI Mavic Air. There could be issues internally with the said drone that is why you are experiencing this issue. I would recommend you to contact our DJI support team at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for further assistance. Just a friendly reminder that  DJI do not recommend doing a DIY in fixing the said DJI drone to avoid further damaging the said unit. Thank for your understanding and for your support.

Hi Stephen, I had a look on that site and couldn’t see anywhere to ask questions. Where do I look for that?

Best thing to do is take apart both gimbals and put the old camera in the new gimbal. This shouldn't give you an activation error as all the camera data/camera sensor data comes from the camera board, so as far as the drone knows you haven't replaced anything.

The only other way would be to get your hands on the Mavic air dev software and update the camera sensor data so the drone & the DJI servers recognise the new camera as genuine.

Darryl Severn Posted at 10-14 20:35
Thanks. Was there anything you had to do apart from plugging it in?

I calibrated the gimbal when I powered it up and that was it.

Darryl Severn Posted at 10-14 20:37
Hi Stephen, I had a look on that site and couldn’t see anywhere to ask questions. Where do I look for that?

Hello and good day Darryl. On the link provided you may choose between sending email, online support, or telephone support to contact DJI and for us to be able to answer your questions and for us to assist you further. Thank you.

Mavic Ace Posted at 10-15 05:50
I calibrated the gimbal when I powered it up and that was it.

I can't even get to that point. Thanks anyway.

Ben Mason Posted at 10-15 00:02
Best thing to do is take apart both gimbals and put the old camera in the new gimbal. This shouldn't give you an activation error as all the camera data/camera sensor data comes from the camera board, so as far as the drone knows you haven't replaced anything.

The only other way would be to get your hands on the Mavic air dev software and update the camera sensor data so the drone & the DJI servers recognise the new camera as genuine.

Thanks - I will think through that option. I think the actual problem after the crash is a broken cable going into the camera. Now that I have pulled it apart I am tempted to just buy a cable and see what happens.

I don't feel like jumping into coding at the moment with the developers API. I run a tech business and we could do that, but I have other things that need my attention and I don't want to go though a learning curve on that just at the moment.

Darryl Severn Posted at 10-17 00:41
Thanks - I will think through that option. I think the actual problem after the crash is a broken cable going into the camera. Now that I have pulled it apart I am tempted to just buy a cable and see what happens.

I don't feel like jumping into coding at the moment with the developers API. I run a tech business and we could do that, but I have other things that need my attention and I don't want to go though a learning curve on that just at the moment.

Yeah better if it is just the cable, that would make it a lot cheaper to fix. You don't need to know about coding, the DJI dev software has a GUI, you just plug in the drone and click buttons in the software. The real problem is getting the software as DJI has it and they don't exactly just hand it out to everyone.

Is that the only error that shows up on the controller? or will it show an error with the activation process going on?

I replaced the whole gimbal/camera assembly on one of my original Mavic Pros and an error would show up for a few seconds and go away. I had to restart the RC and AC several times to get what the error was. It didn't show up in the error list. So what i'm asking is does and error show up for a millisecond on the RC?

BobB Posted at 10-17 00:55
Is that the only error that shows up on the controller? or will it show an error with the activation process going on?

I replaced the whole gimbal/camera assembly on one of my original Mavic Pros and an error would show up for a few seconds and go away. I had to restart the RC and AC several times to get what the error was. It didn't show up in the error list. So what i'm asking is does and error show up for a millisecond on the RC?

It's different with the Air, with the Mavic Pro you can just switch gimbals, you should update the camera sensor data, but not doing this won't prevent the camera/gimbal from working, however with the Air you can change the camera and get "Camera sensor error" in the overall status, despite the camera still working or like in this case you can get an activation screen(even though the MC+Camera is already activated) and then an error stating you have the wrong device, Not DJI product, not the device you originally tried to activate etc. I assume this has come about because of some firmware update as it has changed from time to time.

I’m trying to help a friend get his phantom 3 advanced in the air. It’s saying failed activation in the dji go app after it shows live view for a second and then to the activation part witch fails every time. Trying to put a good camera on a drone that was bought off amazon never used. I talked to dji and they said it was activated in April and he bought the drone in March so he must of activated it then. I tried to put new firmware and deleted the app and installed again and different phones and cables inside and outside. What should he do next

Hi there, I have the same issue. My drone hit too much water - it was all ok, except that the gimbal was not moving (the camera was ok). So I bought another one (crashed) and replaced the gimbal from this second drone. How do I activate it?

DJI does not support DYI - yeah... I send my drone to DJI Netherlands first and they didn't even bother to diagnose the problem - the only suggestion they had was to replace the whole drone (for 658 EUR!). The new original gimbal price is only a small part of it. So I would be glad to pay for the repair, but DJI didn't offer that option.

Anyway, getting back to my question - how do I activate the drone with the new gimbal?
Radek

fans7e20fda7 Posted at 12-5 11:51
Hi there, I have the same issue. My drone hit too much water - it was all ok, except that the gimbal was not moving (the camera was ok). So I bought another one (crashed) and replaced the gimbal from this second drone. How do I activate it?

DJI does not support DYI - yeah... I send my drone to DJI Netherlands first and they didn't even bother to diagnose the problem - the only suggestion they had was to replace the whole drone (for 658 EUR!). The new original gimbal price is only a small part of it. So I would be glad to pay for the repair, but DJI didn't offer that option.

Apparently you can't, the gimbal is malfunctioning. Get another gimbal replacement and try again.