I have a company DJI PRO 4 which has worked great for the last 4 months. I use it to take jobsite photos once a week. Last week it was windy when I took it up and the flight was very rocky, at the time I assumed it was because of the wind, however it persisted when I tried flying it indoors. I tried again the next day in lower wind and it worked good enough to get the pictures but not great. Today I have almost no wind, but the drone does not fly as steady as it once did, I fear it may just tip over and fall out of the sky. The signal strength also seems weaker (although it could be my imagination). If I look at the status screen I see a red note that flashes gimbal motor overload, followed by a green Normal. These each flash for about a second before being replaced by the other. I did recently download a software update for my phone which I use to control the drone.

  

  

I contacted Tech Support chat, but the rep just told me to ship it off to the DJI warehouse and let them look at it for 2-3 weeks. Its possible that will be necessary, but I don’t want to be without my drone for a month and I would like to try the basic steps first, so I am posting the problem here to see if anyone has a suggestion I can try.

  

  

Problem: Unsteady flight

  

  

Possible causes:

  

  

Wind

  

Recent Software update

  

Hardware problem with gimbal

  

Setting up a 2nd device to use the drone

Something else

  

  

I would at least like to reset the settings to how they were when I unboxed it to see if that will work. This is especially true of anything that governs the gimbal.

Anyone have any advice?

Hi, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. May I know if the version of the firmware of the DJI Phantom 4 Pro? Did you try to calibrate the gimbal? Please follow this video tutorial :

When the outdoor issue occurred: Where you below 10 meters and had VPS on?
If so, you may want to calibrate VPS.
For the indoor part: If VPS is on, sufficient light is required for stability.

A gimbal issue won't result in impaired drone stability.
The drone doesn't use the gimbal/camera image for stabilisation. It uses GPS and barometer. Plus VPS below 10m if activated.

Jobsite:
Make sure you are not taking off from rebar concrete or metal. That might throw off the drone as compass and GPS don't agree with each other.
But if that was the case you should get a warning, usually resulting in the drone switching to Atti mode.
I guess that didn't happen in your case.

Unsteady flight:
If I have my drone in the air being close and on a windy day, it bugs me. The unsteady hovering and the noise are disturbing.
First thing I do in order to not get 'feelings' about it I fly it out until I don't hear it anymore.
Better for objective evaluation ;-)

Stephen Thanks I will try that video to calibrate my gimbal, it is almost 5 so I wont update you till Monday if it worked. I don't know how to check my firmware. On the status screen it says Normal (Latest Firmware)


Eric13 I agree I wouldn't think the gimbal would impact flight performance. However it is the only error I see. It is worse at higher altitudes most of my tests have been done at about 5 feet off the ground so I can walk around and inspect it,  but the problem is noticeably worse the higher I go, however I suspect this is due to it getting windier. I usually operate at 80 feet. This problem is new, it flew stable for the last 4 months. I do take off and land on concrete right outside, its the only thing around remotely flat.

GCCB Posted at 2018-7-6 13:39
Stephen Thanks I will try that video to calibrate my gimbal, it is almost 5 so I wont update you till Monday if it worked. I don't know how to check my firmware. On the status screen it says Normal (Latest Firmware)

" I don't know how to check my firmware."

See this screen grab (outdated in regards to Go4 app version):

GCCB Posted at 2018-7-6 13:39
Stephen Thanks I will try that video to calibrate my gimbal, it is almost 5 so I wont update you till Monday if it worked. I don't know how to check my firmware. On the status screen it says Normal (Latest Firmware)

"I do take off and land on concrete right outside "

I still don't think that is part of your specific issue but you NEVER want to take off from rebar concrete.
I learned it in my early flying days being on a concrete harbour pier.

But you don't have to change location big time: Use something that elevates the drone.
A wooden pallet will do it.
Or some stupid camping table ;-)

GCCB Posted at 2018-7-6 13:39
Stephen Thanks I will try that video to calibrate my gimbal, it is almost 5 so I wont update you till Monday if it worked. I don't know how to check my firmware. On the status screen it says Normal (Latest Firmware)

' I do take off and land on concrete right outside, its the only thing around remotely flat. '

NEVER do this. Concrete often contains rebar which will confuse your compass.

Stephen, I have run the gimbal calibration. I still get the error message stating gimbal overloaded. I also noticed when the camera is rotated the drone makes a slight grinding noise, this might be normal I wouldn't worry about it if I wasn't looking for problems. I wonder if something got into the gimbal motor, is  their any method of cleaning the gimbal? Visually it looks fine.

The App version is 4.2.22
The aircraft version is 01.05.0600
The remote controller is version 01.04.01.00

Eric: I am certain the concrete I am taking off from has rebar as I inspected the rebar prior to the concrete poor. I have a small pile of dirt nearby that will become green space. I might be able to grab a shovel and make a flat landing pad. Would taking off directly next to a building mess with the obstacle avoidance? the pile extends out about 12' from the building edge but the far point is to narrow to land, I would likely land 6-8' from the building edge. Alternatively I could build a drone landing pad with a sheet of plywood and a pallet, how high off the concrete does it need to be?

Today the air was still and I watched the drone carefully and while the camera shakes a lot, giving the appearance of a rough flight, the drone was flying smoothly. I also noted that even when the drone was 1' away from the controller (while landed) it has poor reception. Not sure that is relevant as no reception related problems have impacted me, but I was looking for anything off..

GCCB Posted at 2018-7-9 07:26
Stephen, I have run the gimbal calibration. I still get the error message stating gimbal overloaded. I also noticed when the camera is rotated the drone makes a slight grinding noise, this might be normal I wouldn't worry about it if I wasn't looking for problems. I wonder if something got into the gimbal motor, is  their any method of cleaning the gimbal? Visually it looks fine.

The App version is 4.2.22

I would get a landing pad so you are flexible with take off locations.
I have one made of aluminum and you can place it on concret or whatever.
You can also get yourself a small foldable/camping table. It'll be also good for precision landing trials :-)

It does look like you have a gimbal issue. Maybe there is something that obstructs it.
There are quite some YT videos about the grinding gimbal.
See this one and read the update the OP posted below:

GCCB Posted at 2018-7-9 07:26
Stephen, I have run the gimbal calibration. I still get the error message stating gimbal overloaded. I also noticed when the camera is rotated the drone makes a slight grinding noise, this might be normal I wouldn't worry about it if I wasn't looking for problems. I wonder if something got into the gimbal motor, is  their any method of cleaning the gimbal? Visually it looks fine.

The App version is 4.2.22

You can use a plasitc box, it should raise it enough so that there should be really strong magnetic field to mess it up, also the transport box it came in (if you has that) is of great use as landing pad.