Gimbal when turned off

[dgriffnz]

Hi folks,

Silly question time - today I noticed that my Phantom 4 Standard's gimbal moves easily from left to right when the drone is turned off.

This seemed odd - I could have sworn there was always some resistance to left and right movement - in fact I thought it held itself quite sturdy on that side to side axis.

...or am I just mistaken and am going mad? Could the gimbal always have been this "floppy"?

What's the usual behaviour of the gimbal? It seems to function fine when turned on.

 

[Erised]

Yes this is normal when your craft is off. The gimbal has motors (direct drive) that position it, when it's off there is no power to the windings and it just goes limp. And maybe your just getting stronger! lol

 

[dgriffnz]

Yes this is normal when your craft is off. The gimbal has motors (direct drive) that position it, when it's off there is no power to the windings and it just goes limp. And maybe your just getting stronger! lol

Thanks - I'm no noob; I've had mine since July 2016. It's just something I've never noticed before.

 

[dewein]

Yes this is normal when your craft is off. The gimbal has motors (direct drive) that position it, when it's off there is no power to the windings and it just goes limp. And maybe your just getting stronger! lol

So Erised... I realize this isn't the P4P Plus area but do you know... Is there a problem if the lens cover is on when the aircraft is powered up? You need to have the aircraft on to do so many non-flying things like updates or using the video editor. Is it okay to just turn it on without taking off the cover? Again, I have the P4P+ but I assume the potential for damage is the same.

 

[Erised]

So Erised... I realize this isn't the P4P Plus area but do you know... Is there a problem if the lens cover is on when the aircraft is powered up? You need to have the aircraft on to do so many non-flying things like updates or using the video editor. Is it okay to just turn it on without taking off the cover? Again, I have the P4P+ but I assume the potential for damage is the same.

I have a P4 but if you are talking about the gimbal lock that has the lens cover it has to be removed when you power up the bird as the gimbal does the calibration dance, if you forget it on the motors will overload and the craft will power down the gimbal to protect it and you should have a gimbal overload message. In order to change the crafts setting using GO the craft has to be on with the gimbal lock off. If you do this in the house leave the props off for safety.

 

[dewein]

Thanks! Pretty much what my gut told me but I forgot to remove it once and wondered what the possible outcome could be. It's worked okay since but you never know/

Thanks again!