How does the gimbal gauge what level is?

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I think it would help a lot of individuals having gimbal level problems if we knew how the gimbal calculates its position on each axis. I am not at all familiar with how it works, so I ask if anyone out there knows how these things work?

Do they interface with any of the copter components like the IMU to calculate level? Does it use the copters gyro outputs to counter the movements? Or any other components? Who knows.....maybe the shadow knows.
 
Gimbal level is determined by the actual P2's IMU. If your gimbal is not level, put your P2 on a perfectly level surface (check with some sort of level) then do a basic IMU calibration and an advance IMU calibration. This should fix most and if it doesn't then it could also be the mount that attaches the gimbal to the P2.
 
shartlza said:
Gimbal level is determined by the actual P2's IMU. If your gimbal is not level, put your P2 on a perfectly level surface (check with some sort of level) then do a basic IMU calibration and an advance IMU calibration. This should fix most and if it doesn't then it could also be the mount that attaches the gimbal to the P2.

Out of all the threads regarding the gimbal leveling issues, this is the first time I've seen someone say they know the P2V+ IMU also levels the gimbal. Just wondering, how you know this? Multiple people have said they've done an IMU calibration and it hasn't helped level the gimbal.
 
Okay, I just did an Advanced IMU calibration since updating to version 3.04 and to my amazement, my gimbal is level on the roll axis! What was strange is that halfway through the IMU calibration, it said it was too hot. I'm aware of the "too hot bug" and usually there is an option to disregard it but this time there wasn't. It only said, "Yes". When I clicked it, it just went back to the IMU settings page. I clicked to do Advanced IMU calibration again and this time it went through in about 1 minute and it completed without saying it was too hot. Now my gimbal is level and the startup yaw twitches have ceased. :D This is awesome. Hopefully it stays level and doesn't develop the problem again.
 
YeeaaBoii said:
Okay, I just did an Advanced IMU calibration since updating to version 3.04 and to my amazement, my gimbal is level on the roll axis! What was strange is that halfway through the IMU calibration, it said it was too hot. I'm aware of the "too hot bug" and usually there is an option to disregard it but this time there wasn't. It only said, "Yes". When I clicked it, it just went back to the IMU settings page. I clicked to do Advanced IMU calibration again and this time it went through in about 1 minute and it completed without saying it was too hot. Now my gimbal is level and the startup yaw twitches have ceased. :D This is awesome. Hopefully it stays level and doesn't develop the problem again.

Nevermind, it stayed straight for 2 startups. It sat tilted on the roll axis again on the 3rd startup and the ones after, BUT I did get it to level out again. I have been power cycling it on my pool table with no props attached. When it started up and I saw it was tilted on the roll axis, I picked up the Phantom and leaned it around in all different directions then set it back down. Sometimes I had to do it twice. I leaned it just a little farther than it would normally ever have to lean in flight, even on an extremely windy day. It somehow consistently fixed the roll axis from being tilted. This was with the props off and motors off. It's like I had to shake the tilt out of it. Obviously I wasn't literally shaking my Phantom but I did just lean it around in different directions. When I set it back down on the level pool surface, the roll axis tilt was always gone. It also stayed level even when I turned the motors on. I don't know if it will stay level for actual flight but if it does, I guess I'll have to shake my Phantom around before each takeoff. I know it's not really a fix, but I'll test it tomorrow. I'll try anything at this point.

Also, the startup jitter issues are completely gone every time.
 
there must also be a IMU in the camera, because if you move the camera by hand, it knows to move back to the level state.
 
Alib said:
there must also be a IMU in the camera, because if you move the camera by hand, it knows to move back to the level state.

couldn't the camera send its position data back to the main IMU? maybe the IMU just needs to know what position to return the motors to to achieve a level state. IF that was true, then calibrating on a level surface would be very important, as the motors would send their "level" position to the IMU and that becomes the foundation for movement?
 

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