ARRIS CM2000 Brushless Gimbal for GoPro

[Audaciter]

Have you guys thought of using larger 9" Graupner style carbon fiber props ? I think they fly smoother, than a similarly
sized DJI style prop.
The lift ratio may not be the same, but they aren't as abrupt in the way they move air.

Just food for thought. :?

 

[chad556]

I installed the Arris onto the Phantom, 24 hours ago. Im just about ready to throw it out the window. First of all, for anyone that is about to install one, the instructions that came with it are useless. They do not even show it being installed on a the Naza, so chuck them. Needless to say, the test footage they send you is not on a phantom, nor a naza controller, so the test footage is also mute in my opinion. My version is unlike any of the others I have seen. Its a version 3.1 b1 red board, but whereas all of your came with a 3 wires for pitch, roll, and ground, mine only came with 2. Also on the board it only has 2 "prongs" not 3. So its my assumption that the two prongs are for ground and pitch being as the phantom doesn't allow for roll control.

I watched all of the how to videos from rcreview100 on youtube, and they too are pointless because his version is outdated. Furthermore, his unit must have been 1 of the 2000 that worked flawlessly out of the box.

I have turned on the gimbal in the naza assistant software. Adjusted the output frequency to 400hz and changed the pitch and roll settings to 5.00 as suggested by rcreview100.

I just cant seem to get rid of the shakes on it. Its unstable as all hell. Works great for a couple flights, then its back to the drawing board.

 

[R.Murphy]

Re: ARRIS CM2000 Not working

Just received my gimbal, it's not working!!!

Out of the box I put the GoPro on and plugged it in, small movment when battery was plugged in but it's not working. Now What?

Help!

 

[pteittinen]

whereas all of your came with a 3 wires for pitch, roll, and ground, mine only came with 2. Also on the board it only has 2 "prongs" not 3.

My CM2000 came with only 2 wires, although the board has 3 prongs.

 

[Gizmo3000]

I installed the Arris onto the Phantom, 24 hours ago. Im just about ready to throw it out the window. First of all, for anyone that is about to install one, the instructions that came with it are useless. They do not even show it being installed on a the Naza, so chuck them. Needless to say, the test footage they send you is not on a phantom, nor a naza controller, so the test footage is also mute in my opinion. My version is unlike any of the others I have seen. Its a version 3.1 b1 red board, but whereas all of your came with a 3 wires for pitch, roll, and ground, mine only came with 2. Also on the board it only has 2 "prongs" not 3. So its my assumption that the two prongs are for ground and pitch being as the phantom doesn't allow for roll control.

I watched all of the how to videos from rcreview100 on youtube, and they too are pointless because his version is outdated. Furthermore, his unit must have been 1 of the 2000 that worked flawlessly out of the box.

I have turned on the gimbal in the naza assistant software. Adjusted the output frequency to 400hz and changed the pitch and roll settings to 5.00 as suggested by rcreview100.

I just cant seem to get rid of the shakes on it. Its unstable as all hell. Works great for a couple flights, then its back to the drawing board.

Its definitely bizarre that they would send out a gimbal that didn't have 3 wires.
I guess that for a short time, they might have mistakenly thought that a ground wasn't necessary, as most users were plugging into their 3s battery or aux power which provided the same ground to the NAZA/Futaba (but then realized that people who were running separate 3s batteries for the gimbal were out of luck).

They do test out each unit before being shipped, and generally I'd say most of the time they work ok when merely plugged into a power source,. but a lot of people run into troubles and frustration when doing pitch (especially when the gimbal is pitched too far downward). And then things get even more whacked when users start tossing in other parameters and such.
Other times users might not be attaching their GoPro's perfectly in the middle of the tray, causing imbalances.
plus the gimbal is very sensitive to other external vibrations which can confuse the sensors

They don't actually sell the CM2000 as a DJI/Phantom-specific gimbal, so can't blame them for using a more generic quad for their testing purposes. (they didn't even know if the gimbal would work with the NAZA until later in development, and nobody knew about the 7th lever PhantomTx either)

But needless to say, these things are very finicky, and sometimes they send out a dud, so best to contact them and they'll send you out a replacement if necessary.

 

[Gizmo3000]

Re: ARRIS CM2000 Not working

Just received my gimbal, it's not working!!!

Out of the box I put the GoPro on and plugged it in, small movment when battery was plugged in but it's not working. Now What?

Help!

What they'll probably tell you is to connect the gimbal to a PC and run the software to try to read the controller.
for some reason for a few people , the settings seem to blank out, and if this is the case you might have to re-enter the info.
-or reset the controller somehow.

Getting the software installed and reading the controller can sometimes be a headache, but just try to follow the steps and install JAVA RTE if necessary.

 

[Flykam]

Feel for those having problems getting it going. :?
All I did was bolt it to the Phantom, put my GoPro3 on, give it some power and off it went.
It was only a few days later I finally installed the software and had a play around.

Now as for this vibration, I have stiffen up the balls and added foam, its helps but still have to fly very slow and steady.
Next up is the http://www.nomojello.com/store/ bracket, did not want to use it as it will make the gimbal hang lower but if it works it's going to have to be.
...Stay tuned.

 

[Gizmo3000]

Feel for those having problems getting it going. :?
All I did was bolt it to the Phantom, put my GoPro3 on, give it some power and off it went.
It was only a few days later I finally installed the software and had a play around.

Now as for this vibration, I have stiffen up the balls and added foam, its helps but still have to fly very slow and steady.
Next up is the http://www.nomojello.com/store/ bracket, did not want to use it as it will make the gimbal hang lower but if it works it's going to have to be.
...Stay tuned.

Hmmm,. I dunno about hanging the gimbal off os something like that, imagine it might sway around a LOT!

 

[Flykam]

Okay stiffened up the gimbal now and added in Vibration PU Gel dampener between the Phantom and top plate.
I basically cut some electrical power cable and slide it into each ball. Nice tight fit.
Then I got some pool noodle foam and wedge in each side of the two plates.
Much better now although not perfect but I dont think one will even get them perfect on little quads like this.

 

[pteittinen]

Received the carfon fiber frame for Hero3 today. I had a few problems installing it:

1) if you look at the photos in http://www.hobby-wing.com/gopro3-cbron- ... m2000.html you'll see the small MPU PCB is supposed to fit partway inside the frame. My MPU does not; it's too wide.

First I tried attaching it using the provided double-sided sticky tape on top of the small ledge on the left hand side of the frame. Nope, the connector on the MPU hits the motor and the PCB gets twisted downwards because of that. As a temporary (yeah, right) solution I placed the MPU on the underside of the small ledge. Now it doesn't hit the motor, but it's the first to hit the ground if you don't have an extended landing gear.

2) The screws which attached the original camera tray to motor are slightly too large to fit easily through the slits machined to the frame. A bit of force had to be used, and as the screws don't slide in and out of the slits freely, I had to pre-install the screws into the frame, then try to match the screws to the motor. Not impossible, nor even very difficult, but an irritation nevertheless.

Next up, a re-calibration of the gimbal, followed by a flight test.

Update: I thought it would be OK to install the MPU upside down (to the underside of the ledge) followed by a re-calibration, but no. The gimbal turns the camera upside down when powered up. Guess I'll have to move the MPU and place it the right way up.

update: used double-sided sticky tape to mount MPU on top of the carbon fiber frame. The gimbal works, but that location is far from ideal as the MPU is on the way if I need to remove Hero3 from the frame. *sigh*

A side question: how long does it take for your Phantom to go from "battery-connect" to flashing green LED, i.e. ready for engine power-up? Mine takes 100 seconds, which feels like a lot.

 

[wedobiz]

This is the gimbal that I had issues with as it has not enough clearance for the camera to operate on the ground.
Check out my 3d printable upgraded landing gear. It weights 12 gramms less than the original.
Overall Im very impressed with Arris CM2000 Brushless Gimbal for GoPro

I posted my 3d printable landing gear for DJI Phantom on Thingiverse http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:112017 for free download.

If you dont have the 3d printer, you can order it from my Ebay page http://www.ebay.com/itm/DJI-Phantom...ss-Gimbal-MANY-COLORS-TO-CHOOSE-/181169147120
I offer next day shipping and custom prints in different colors. Check it out.

Also if you have any suggestions or ideas for other DJI Phantom parts, please let me know.

 

[xzoticskillz]

Hey does anybody know the details on how the IMU sensor on the gimbal camera base plate registers motion and position in space? Reason being is that I've noticed my sensor on gimbal base (where camera sits) is offset at about 15 degrees and does not sit flush. What's really weird is that this is the same angle my roll motor turns during manual pitch. I'm thinking maybe, just maybe this could be due to my problems of manual pitching my gimbal I've been having lately (software calibration and adjusting CG does not work). I've included a picture of my sensor. Can this be the root of any sort of problems?

 

[Gizmo3000]

A side question: how long does it take for your Phantom to go from "battery-connect" to flashing green LED, i.e. ready for engine power-up? Mine takes 100 seconds, which feels like a lot.

All depends on temperature sometimes,. but sounds about right to me.

 

[pteittinen]

I did some careful modding of my Phantom today. Here are some photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98520579@N04/sets/72157634515508120/

The aim was to see if going from 2200mAh battery to a 3000mAh one would increase flight time. It did, but not much: I got 5 minutes and 25 seconds out of this set-up. The 2200mAh one gives me something like 4,5 minutes.

As for the gimbal, the carbon fiber frame improved things slightly. I'm still getting some stuttering on yaw axis, but it's clearly less than before. Weirdly enough, I also got some horizontal striping. The last time I saw that was when using the Hero3 attachment that came with the Phantom. This, to me, says the gimbal is too stiff. I'll remove the rubber rods for next flight to see if it has any effect.

 

[wedobiz]

This looks like an awesome setup. I was thinking of switching my battery too.
What is the total weight of your phantom now with battery in?

I did some careful modding of my Phantom today. Here are some photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98520579@N04/sets/72157634515508120/

The aim was to see if going from 2200mAh battery to a 3000mAh one would increase flight time. It did, but not much: I got 5 minutes and 25 seconds out of this set-up. The 2200mAh one gives me something like 4,5 minutes.

As for the gimbal, the carbon fiber frame improved things slightly. I'm still getting some stuttering on yaw axis, but it's clearly less than before. Weirdly enough, I also got some horizontal striping. The last time I saw that was when using the Hero3 attachment that came with the Phantom. This, to me, says the gimbal is too stiff. I'll remove the rubber rods for next flight to see if it has any effect.

 

[Gizmo3000]

I did some careful modding of my Phantom today. Here are some photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98520579@N04/sets/72157634515508120/

The aim was to see if going from 2200mAh battery to a 3000mAh one would increase flight time. It did, but not much: I got 5 minutes and 25 seconds out of this set-up. The 2200mAh one gives me something like 4,5 minutes.

As for the gimbal, the carbon fiber frame improved things slightly. I'm still getting some stuttering on yaw axis, but it's clearly less than before. Weirdly enough, I also got some horizontal striping. The last time I saw that was when using the Hero3 attachment that came with the Phantom. This, to me, says the gimbal is too stiff. I'll remove the rubber rods for next flight to see if it has any effect.

Odd,. i get around 6 minutes with my Phantom OEM batteries before the red light starts flashing.
..tho even with my crappiest 3rd part batteries, I always get more than 5 minutes (but barely).
that's running FPV and Arris off the internal battery.

Yaw is the missing 3rd axis that the gimbal doesn't correct for, so it becomes much more pronounced when the gimbal makes pitch and roll so much smoother.
Only way to correct for that is perhaps to use a better Tx that can be less sensitive, or use a little correction in post stabilization

 

[pteittinen]

This looks like an awesome setup. I was thinking of switching my battery too.
What is the total weight of your phantom now with battery in?

Your post reminded me that I forgot to buy a scale today. Meant to, in order to weigh the Phantom, but forgot :/

I'll let you know the exact weight once I get a scale... but I think all the extra bits add something like 700-800 grams to a bare Phantom. It certainly feels heavy when lifting it with one hand. On the plus side, wind doesn't throw it around as much. I should receive a power cable Y-splitter early next week; I have two 1800mAh Zippys waiting for a twin-battery set-up.

 

[pteittinen]

Odd,. i get around 6 minutes with my Phantom OEM batteries before the red light starts flashing.

I used to get something like that before my Phantom took a particularly nasty tumble, from the top of a 30-foot tree straight down to tarmac. I've noticed clearly shorter flight times after that.

 

[xzoticskillz]

After many tests, I found out that this is exactly the reason why you get shaky video in forward flight. The props are channeling the wind directly at the gimbal causing it to shake. I'm considering moving my whole gimbal back further. The problem is gone when reversing direction of the phantom and I get smooth footage always going in reverse. I'm pretty sure its because the gimbal is too far forward and is simply is a design flaw. The only problem is that I may have to create new drill holes to screw the base plate to my phantom body. Anybody else try this yet?

I just came back from a flight after moving my gimbal back some.
Vibration still there so that's not it.
Flying slow its okay but gets some speed and it pretty bad.
Next I have a NoMo Jello frame that I will try.[/quote]



You're idea worked. I found my nomojello that I discarded, put high tension on the wire and installed between phantom body and arris gimbal base and I've noticed significant less vibration! I also put ceramic bearings in 2 of my motors and balanced all my motors as well. But I think having the nomojello mount between gimbal base and phantom body helps with prop wash as an additional benefit and it sits lower so I have less props appearing in my footage. I definitely recommend if anybody is serious about reducing as much vibration as possible with the arris gimbal. I'll post a pic soon!

 

[Flykam]

Great to hear, I still have not got around to trying out my NoMo Jello.
Please post a pic or video when you can.

EDIT, I have to say the NoMo Jello helps quite abit.
Tighten the wires right up and bolted the gimbal underneath.
I guess I got to get into the habit too of flying slow and smooth and not like a mad man.
Flying flat out or into the strong wind I think the turbulent wind is just blowing things around.