Hello,

I purchased a Mavic Pro two days ago, flew it for a few minutes yesterday and all appeared fine. However I noticed today that upon startup, when the gimbal self calibrates, it makes a loud knock - almost as if its hitting something - before it centers itself. I've included a video below to demonstrate. Sorry about the audio, the phone is picking up the Mavic's ultrasonic noises, but you should be able to hear the loud knock on the final calibration spin of the gimbal.

I also noticed that the gimbal is not perfectly centered and seems to be turned to the right by about 3-4 degrees, and you can also make that out in the video. I've completed an IMU calibration. gimbal calibration, and compass calibration. Not sure if this is normal? I know that there is a horizontal adjustment you can make to center the image, but I don't see such a yaw adjustment - is a few degrees to the right normal? I'm afraid that knocking sound will in turn cause issues down the road - and I did check if the gimbal plate was properly below the 3 tabs as mentioned in other posts.

I spoke to the dealer by the phone and he told me not to worry about the gimbal knock, and that its perfectly fine and some gimbals will make that as they calibrate - but I've seen other startup videos where this does not happen. He also explained the 2-3 degree yaw to the right is within tolerance. I told him I'd come by tomorrow and show him just in case and will do so. Is this normal or should I push for an exchange? Thank you for any help!

My gimbal made the knocking noise from day one. I never worried about it.

So today I got 2 batteries from dji.  Before charging, i tested it them out both in the mavic to see if there were any updates for the battery. I notice that on startup, on a half charged battery from factory,my gimble didn't knock. However after charging them to full I tried it again and it knocked! I wonder if somehow this is battery or  charge related? I noticed this knock started just a few days ago.   

That's what mine started doing right before the gimbal stopped working all together. Seems to be an issue. Mine is waiting to be repaired now.

fans7ed87dd9 Posted at 2017-3-11 13:00
That's what mine started doing right before the gimbal stopped working all together. Seems to be an issue. Mine is waiting to be repaired now.

I took it to my dealer but he told me that its fine and some of them make the noise - so I flew it again today and its fine... seems OK for now.

frostrambler1 Posted at 2017-3-11 17:29
I took it to my dealer but he told me that its fine and some of them make the noise - so I flew it again today and its fine... seems OK for now.

I flew the Mavic again today and it appears ok, but still makes that loud noise when initializing the gymbal and after initialization, the camera always centers about 3-4 degrees to the right. My dealer said its within tolerances, but I'd appreciate if anyone from DJI can review the video and let me know if this is normal. All other mavic drones I've seen don't make any loud knocks when initializing their cameras.

I'm having the same issue, but instead of one knock I'm having two knocks. Beware of loud noise. My phone really picked up the ultrasonic sensors. The noise really cancels out the knocks, but for the human ear they're really loud. You can see them in the clip as two twitches in the gimbal. Im also having the same issue with the camera being of center. Tried calibration, but to no avail.

Ok, so I thought I might update you on a curious turn of events. To begin with, I got my Mavic today, haven't flown a feet with it. Just booted to update and stuff. That's when i noticed the knocking. The first update I did just went by in a couple of seconds. Anyway, I tried it with another battery that wasn't updated, the knocking went away and the camera centers as it should. Also I got another update that took way longer. So I tried the first battery again, and the knocking is still gone and the camera auto centers just as it should. So I don't know if the FW-update did it or why the first update just took a couple of seconds and the second took like 15 minutes.

But my issue is resolved.

Thanks, unfortunately my firmware is up to date, not sure why this is happening.

frostrambler1 Posted at 2017-3-15 18:34
Thanks, unfortunately my firmware is up to date, not sure why this is happening.

The loud knocking is back :/

It's not a big deal. But SOMETIMES the problem is actually the rubber bands that hold the vibration plate. As the unit ages, they get a tiny bit too much slack in one or more of them. This causes the gimbal to slap against the body during initialization. It's not a big deal, but at some point, you'll probably want to change out the mounting board. Generally this won't cause any issues but it is annoying. Othertimes, it's just the way it initializes. It seriously isn't a big deal.

I've had a dozen mavics and they all did this except one of them, even with brand new gimbal / camera assemblies on them (the entire board, gimbal motor, and camera.. straight from DJI).