Gimbal Sudden Tilt Glitch

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I was out flying my P4P+ when suddenly my gimbal tilts hard out of no where. It scared me because it made me believe I hit something and my P4P was tumbling out of the air from like 350 feet up.

But I didn't hit anything, it was just the gimbal freaking out.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is it a defective unit or just buggy software hopefully soon to be patched out?

Here is a short clip of the incident

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This issue is happening to some Jim! Including me every now and then. It's usually in a pretty hard turning situation with wind as well. Seems to happen more when camera is pointed down some in a turn too. It is scary the first couple of times for sure. Especially if your flying in pretty close to your area! Hoping this can be fixed with an update but fingers are crossed. Mine also still has the little tiny twitch every now and then as well.
 
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This issue is happening to some Jim! Including me every now and then. It's usually in a pretty hard turning situation with wind as well. Seems to happen more when camera is pointed down some in a turn too. It is scary the first couple of times for sure. Especially if your flying in pretty close to your area! Hoping this can be fixed with an update but fingers are crossed. Mine also still has the little tiny twitch every now and then as well.

Interesting. It was definitely windy the day this happened.

It is sad that this is a thing. If I was filming something important that wasn't repeatable and this glitch happened and ruined the clip I would be so pissed
 
Interesting. It was definitely windy the day this happened.

It is sad that this is a thing. If I was filming something important that wasn't repeatable and this glitch happened and ruined the clip I would be so pissed
Understand your feelings on it for sure. Yeah the wind is usually really blowing to cause the hard flip like you had here. Mine has prob done that hard flip maybe 4 times in 6 months I would say. The tiny twitch is not happening that much lately either btw.
 
Had it happen once but the camera was twitching very badly, my heart sank as it looked like it was tumbling from the sky on the screen, at the time it was 120 metres up and 500 metres away!!!!!
 
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Happened here also and yes it was pretty windy. I also thought the Phantom was falling out the sky and really relieved when it returned to normal. Only the once though.
 
I have had this happen a about 5 or 6 times now. Twice on the same flight a couple of days ago. I think from memory, only since the last firmware upgrade. I frequently fly (Phantom 4 Pro+) in windy conditions but not exceptionally strong/gusty just normal maritime winds close to the coast. It could be mechanical turbulence (wind over sand dunes, trees or whatever) but I don't think so and I haven't been flying the unit with large or extreme control inputs as I have been doing photography or video. Its a real nuisance with the video as wanted a long run at what I was videoing with continuity ie no breaks.
I have flown in similar or worse conditions before with no problems. In fact I have been quite surprised at how stable the drone is at times for the conditions.
First reaction was that I had lost a prop or been attacked by a bird but that wasn't the case thank goodness. A bit of deductive thought and a search through the internet/look at others footage etc and I reckon it is a strange short lived gimbal tilt very similar to that shown above.
If I work anything out I will post it here but so far no ideas.
 
I have had this happen a about 5 or 6 times now. Twice on the same flight a couple of days ago. I think from memory, only since the last firmware upgrade. I frequently fly (Phantom 4 Pro+) in windy conditions but not exceptionally strong/gusty just normal maritime winds close to the coast. It could be mechanical turbulence (wind over sand dunes, trees or whatever) but I don't think so and I haven't been flying the unit with large or extreme control inputs as I have been doing photography or video. Its a real nuisance with the video as wanted a long run at what I was videoing with continuity ie no breaks.
I have flown in similar or worse conditions before with no problems. In fact I have been quite surprised at how stable the drone is at times for the conditions.
First reaction was that I had lost a prop or been attacked by a bird but that wasn't the case thank goodness. A bit of deductive thought and a search through the internet/look at others footage etc and I reckon it is a strange short lived gimbal tilt very similar to that shown above.
If I work anything out I will post it here but so far no ideas.
The P4P gimbal flip, or more accurately, gimbal failure, resulting in a flipping camera, after hitting a gimbal stop, is well documented, and not caused by any FW update, nor is it fixable with any future FW update. It is a physical limitation of the gimbal (aka design defect), which is incapable of handling the P4P camera with the same stability of the P4. Keeping speed to under 30mph by using OA helps significantly in minimizing the occurences. However, left turns are the triggering event, and pointing the camera straight down seems to exacerbate the problem. YMMV.
 
The P4P gimbal flip, or more accurately, gimbal failure, resulting in a flipping camera, after hitting a gimbal stop, is well documented, and not caused by any FW update, nor is it fixable with any future FW update. It is a physical limitation of the gimbal (aka design defect), which is incapable of handling the P4P camera with the same stability of the P4. Keeping speed to under 30mph by using OA helps significantly in minimizing the occurences. However, left turns are the triggering event, and pointing the camera straight down seems to exacerbate the problem. YMMV.

Well, I had a crash with my P4, hit the ground from a height of five feet, and it from then on it occasionally demonstrated this gimbal twitch. Eventually had the camera and gimbal changed (expensive) by a third party DJI 'approved' shop but I firmly believe that it was the ribbon cable that had been slightly damaged. When I suggested that the ribbon be changed rather than the camera I was told that it was unavailable from DJI,
 
Well, I had a crash with my P4, hit the ground from a height of five feet, and it from then on it occasionally demonstrated this gimbal twitch. Eventually had the camera and gimbal changed (expensive) by a third party DJI 'approved' shop but I firmly believe that it was the ribbon cable that had been slightly damaged. When I suggested that the ribbon be changed rather than the camera I was told that it was unavailable from DJI,
The P4 can also exhibit this behavior in extreme conditions at high speed and in high wind, but very rarely. The P4P will do it consistently, at speeds over 30mph, mostly when turning left. The P4P gimbal is just not as capable as the P4 and P3P gimbals at high speed over 30mph. It's a small tradeoff for the vastly superior video!:cool:
 
My new P4p does not exhibit any gimbal twitch as such, at any speed, left or right, but I am finding that the videos are quite often hesitant, as if it is buffering.
I am using the SD card supplied with the P4p so I can't think that is the culprit, and the computer I download to is an 18 month old Apple mac with bags of memory.
As I am due to visit Az in a couple of days I am concerned that my 'once only' shoots will be marred by this. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about it?
Also, it now seems that the range is restricted to 8000 ft, is there a way round this?
And, for info, at first the horizon 'tilt' was quite noticeable but was cured 100% by recalibrating the gimbal.
 
My new P4p does not exhibit any gimbal twitch as such, at any speed, left or right, but I am finding that the videos are quite often hesitant, as if it is buffering.
I am using the SD card supplied with the P4p so I can't think that is the culprit, and the computer I download to is an 18 month old Apple mac with bags of memory.
As I am due to visit Az in a couple of days I am concerned that my 'once only' shoots will be marred by this. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about it?
Also, it now seems that the range is restricted to 8000 ft, is there a way round this?
And, for info, at first the horizon 'tilt' was quite noticeable but was cured 100% by recalibrating the gimbal.
What resolution are you recording video where you're getting frames dropped from the SD card recording? If you're recording 4096×2160, you'll always drop frames. The camera can't handle it. It appears that much data is barely too much for the encoding h/w to handle recording 100% to the SD, you''ll drop frames every minute or so. If you're recording UHD at 3840×2160, you should be OK without any dropped frames.

To maximize range use 5.8Ghz AUTO. In the US, you can get 4+ miles range with a clear LOS connection.
 
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My new P4p does not exhibit any gimbal twitch as such, at any speed, left or right, but I am finding that the videos are quite often hesitant, as if it is buffering.
I am using the SD card supplied with the P4p so I can't think that is the culprit, and the computer I download to is an 18 month old Apple mac with bags of memory.
As I am due to visit Az in a couple of days I am concerned that my 'once only' shoots will be marred by this. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about it?
Also, it now seems that the range is restricted to 8000 ft, is there a way round this?
And, for info, at first the horizon 'tilt' was quite noticeable but was cured 100% by recalibrating the gimbal.
The buffering you are experiencing is likely a playback issue, and not a recording problem. It isn't cured by more memory. It requires a faster processor and faster graphics card to play smoothly, especially if 4K 60fps. Play the recorded video at half speed and see if the "hesitations" disappear. Find a high end desktop gaming machine and try playing back the files there, too. Create proxies to smoothly edit your recordings.
 
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What resolution are you recording video where you're getting frames dropped from the SD card recording? If you're recording 4096×2160, you'll always drop frames. The camera can't handle it. It appears that much data is barely too much for the encoding h/w to handle recording 100% to the SD, you''ll drop frames every minute or so. If you're recording UHD at 3840×2160, you should be OK without any dropped frames.

To maximize range use 5.8Ghz AUTO. You can get 4+ miles range with a clear LOS connection.

Thank you for that, John. I'll switch to UHD at 38409x2160 and try it out. I did back off from 4k but, without checking, I think that I am at 4096 right now.
I'll also have a go at 5.8 Ghz AUTO for increase in range.
 
The buffering you are experiencing is likely a playback issue, and not a recording problem. It isn't cured by more memory. It requires a faster processor and faster graphics card to play smoothly, especially if 4K 60fps. Play the recorded video at half speed and see if the "hesitations" disappear. Find a high end desktop gaming machine and try playing back the files there, too. Create proxies to smoothly edit your recordings.
The buffering you are experiencing is likely a playback issue, and not a recording problem. It isn't cured by more memory. It requires a faster processor and faster graphics card to play smoothly, especially if 4K 60fps. Play the recorded video at half speed and see if the "hesitations" disappear. Find a high end desktop gaming machine and try playing back the files there, too. Create proxies to smoothly edit your recordings.

Thanks 'Gadget Guy' (do you have a name?) I am going to try reducing the recording resolution as suggested by John Locke. I think that you are absolutely right in suspecting the playback system, so reducing the res should solve problem. But, I will have a word with my son and ask to borrow his gaming equipment!
Creating proxies are somewhat over my head .......
 
Thank you for that, John. I'll switch to UHD at 38409x2160 and try it out. I did back off from 4k but, without checking, I think that I am at 4096 right now.
I'll also have a go at 5.8 Ghz AUTO for increase in range.
Try a windsurfer too, that helps greatly to focus your signal at the drone, as well as catch more video signal from the drone, like a catchers mitt. It will also shield the RC from rogue signals behind you which could potentially interfere with your video signal.

Just search Amazon for "Phantom range extender"

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