I recently bought a P3P and was flying yesterday.  When I landed I noticed 2 of the 4 clear plastic clips holding the gimbal to the gimbal plate had come off.  Somehow the rubber vibration dampeners were still there.  The Zenmuse gimbal on my old P2 used solid metal threaded clips to keep the gimbal on, but the P3P uses clear plastic clips that apparently can come off.  Has anyone else experienced this issue and what did you do to fix it?  It doesn't look like you can buy replacements from DJI at this point.

The P3 comes with only 2 attached from the factory. Look at the manual. I had the same concern

I'm going to put cable ties or fishing line on my gimbal so it will be extra secure

From the In the Box printout/guide, it should come with 2 of these =>
http://download.dji-innovations. ... l_In_the_Box_en.pdf

One of mine came off once - in a crash. Unless they're improperly installed, it's highly unlikely a vibration will work them loose. It just seems it will take a pretty good knock before they'll come off.

I crashed my Blade 350 a long time back and the two retaining pins (similar to the P3) came out, but that was a crash from about 50 feet onto the pavement. Two of the rubber shock absorbers slipped off (foudn them with the wreckage at the crash site) but two of them stayed intact. They did their job - my GoPro was undamaged despite the damage done to the Blade.

If you add anything at all to help retain the gimbal, just be careful not to attach something that will negate the shock absorbing features of what's already there.

I've seen several posters talk about fishing line and others mention tie wraps. Whichever you use, just don't "cinch" them tight - you'll defeat the purpose of the little rubber absorbers.

Its a pain in the *** to get those removed, maybe they dont clicked them in correctly. Once they are clicked in its nearly impossible that they get loose.

Jack57 Posted at 2015-6-25 05:04
I'm going to put cable ties or fishing line on my gimbal so it will be extra secure

The curl in the cable ties may rub the adjacent metal component of the platforms and cause a vibrational transfer between components to your camera,  notice the pins and the two platforms are totally isolated from any solid objects touching them the pins are isolated, you may defeat the "isolation" mount's purpose and function. There are only two pins opposite to each other for a reason.

mtnmaddman Posted at 2015-6-25 08:43
The curl in the cable ties may rub the adjacent metal component of the platforms and cause a vibrat ...

How about fishing line??

You really only need the two unless you crash, two is all it needs, panic less fly more

Jack57 Posted at 2015-6-25 09:36
How about fishing line??

Rob is right If something happens that the pins are compromised, You probably have some problems that the fishing line is not going to compensate for.

mtnmaddman Posted at 2015-6-25 10:28
Rob is right If something happens that the pins are compromised, You probably have some problems t ...

I've seen a lot of people adding fishing line or cable ties through the hole of the gimbal pins for extra protection just in case... I may want to do this as well

The two clear plastic clips are NOT holding the gimbal on, the four rubber mounts are.The clips should be loose and not taking any force.

The clips prevent the gimbal from coming off if the rubber mounts fail during flight or crash. You don't need to use all four.

Jack57 Posted at 2015-6-25 11:15
I've seen a lot of people adding fishing line or cable ties through the hole of the gimbal pins fo ...

Uhm If you don't mind may I ask perceived protection from what?  The phantom flying camera platform is indeed a very precise delicate instrument, and must be treated as such,  I have  had the p2+ for over a year now, no problems to worry on the gimbal mounts.  You can use the fishing cord if makes you feel better, that's all that's important anyway that we feel good about our hobby and enjoy flying are machines I have been in it a long time I have crashed some beautiful and expensive aircraft over the years, it is very dishearting but S$% happens.  PS  Over the years I have used a bunch of fishing cord, I'm sure many incidents with fishing cord on board, Cant think of one that it might have done any good on.

They are called Anti drop pins - Overrated. Remove them. I have never crashed but I have seen the results from the other forums.
What does it do? It's a contingency device so that your gimbal doesn't fall off and hit someone if the 4 white dampeners fail (and they do).
Now in a crash, the anti-drop pins do their job but they don't dissipate the energy. This leads to whip lash and the terrible camera/flex cable decapitation if you don't have a gimbal inertia guard. This happened a lot in the P2V+ V2. This also happens in the revised P2V+ V3 but not as frequently. This also occurs in the P3, but what also happens now is the plastic X gimbal mounting plate snaps where the anti drop pin is.

Best solution - as mentioned before - zip ties. What you want to do is install loose zip ties with heaps of play. What you want to is bend them into long rectangles to minimise them from interfering with the dampeners. Just install 2 at opposite ends.

Awesome responses, thanks a bunch everyone for all of these insights, super helpful.  I did find the extra clips in the anti-static bag.  After seeing how they clip to the gimbal, I must have not noticed that there were only two holding my gimbal plate to the body.

I think you all are right that there are only two installed when you get the phantom and then you have to install two more yourself.  Not sure why they'd do this other than to force you to learn how your gimbal attaches.  If I have any issues or a crash, I'll definitely just use a loosely attached zip tie then trim it off.   

This is what I did to mine.

jc1764 Posted at 2015-6-26 02:06
Awesome responses, thanks a bunch everyone for all of these insights, super helpful.  I did find the ...

You only need two. The other two are spares.

Maybe do a once over before sending the bird up in future, or read the manual?

mtnmaddman Posted at 2015-6-25 11:46
Uhm If you don't mind may I ask perceived protection from what?  The phantom flying camera platfor ...

When I first got my Blade 350, I read in numerous places about the "bumpers" on the gimbal - they're almost identical to what's on the Phantom 3. Lots of people complained they didn't work, one guy said his GoPro literally fell off (along with the gimbal). So I super-glued mine to all the contact points.

The crash came pretty early - pure panic on my part. A couple of the rubber shock absorbers were semi-ripped from their mounts but the gimbal did NOT separate from the Blade. Amazingly, considering from where the Blade fell through the trees onto the street, the GoPro was undamaged.

My personal opinion - on the surface, it doesn't look like a very strong attachment. On the other hand, in the event of anything other than a sheer disaster, it would appear the energy expended as things start to fall apart would do its job and help prevent the destruction of both camera and gimbal.

After two crashes (fortunately they both turned out to be essentially minor skirmishes) and seeing those plastic retainer pins remain intact, I think they're just fine.

As someone else pointed out (probably more than once) the Phantom 3 is an aerial camera platform. It ain't no bumper-car!

mtnmaddman Posted at 2015-6-25 08:43
The curl in the cable ties may rub the adjacent metal component of the platforms and cause a vibrat ...

Had a minor problem with one of my quads a couple of days ago. After the flip over in the driveway, I lost one of the little plastic washer/retainers. Dropped a line to the manufacturer. Within a day or two they responded, telling me that those pins were not meant to be sold individually. Apparently they come with the gimbal mount assembly only. They recommended wire ties. My guess is that a couple of very loosely fastened ties put together to make one long link and then wrapped around something on the quad might work, if only to prevent total loss of the camera. However...

Went snooping last night for parts (mainly just browsing) for the Phantom 3 - on the Drone Nerds web site. They're listing parts for both the little rubber shock-absorbers, *and* those plastic retaining pins. The pins on the "other" quad appear to be slightly larger than the ones used for the Phantom, but I think they might fit.

The site also lists a replacement camera for the Advanced ($450) but not for the Pro.

myhondas Posted at 2015-6-26 02:39
This is what I did to mine.

That's what I also have in mind. On a competitor's quad I heard of a guy flying off with the "standard" mounting (much like what's used on the Phantom 3) and his quad returned - without the GoPro. Somewhere, during the flight, the camera fell off. Apparently the lower half of the gimbal mount came off, taking the GoPro with it. Perhaps the two retaining pins were not in place?

Following that revelation, I super-glued my rubber mounts to the plastic gimbal mount - both top and bottom. After the crash that damaged but didn't destroy the quad or my GoPro, I found that the rubber shocks had been slightly torn - right where I had placed my dollop of glue.

So, like you, I'm also going to try the tie-wrap approach.