P4 Gimbal problem.

[lousurfer]

Greetings from the Emerald Isle. Got my new Phantom 4 last week and have been trying to master the steep learning curve to drone flying. It is an absolutely fantastic piece of technology and the first time I used the ActiveTrack function on my daughter and I at the beach, I was blown away!! We cycled our bicycles whilst this autonomous intelligent machine flew around slightly above us tracking our every turn.

Anyway, on to my tale of woe. I have had my third crash (all my own fault) in which the Phantom got the props caught in some plastic-coated wire mesh over the top of a waterfall that I was trying to gracefully glide over in 120fps. The motors stopped but the gimbal was suspended in the fresh mountain water for a minute or so. I took it home and tried to dry it out. I removed the screw-on lens cover from the front of the lens and left it for a bit, but there was still condensation inside the lens. I opened the rear of the camera and dried out the boards inside gently with a cotton bud then re-assembled the rear. I left a small gap between the rear plate and the camera body and placed all into a bag of rice. Today the condensation is gone. but I am having an issue with the gimbal. When I power up the Phantom it goes through the initialisation process and all seems fine with the motors, light etc. However the gimbal snaps the camera fully up, then fully back then sticks at this point. It does not complete its routine resulting in it ending forward facing. When I opened the rear of the camera there were traces of a red, gel-like substance which is now gone. I also powered up the machine before fully drying it. It seems properly dry now, but can anyone suggest how I might restore my poor gimbal?

Thanks,

Louis.

 

[lousurfer]

Oh yeah, and I updated to the latest firmware today.....

 

[Sim597]

Hope you get her fixed. You crashed it 3 times already? I got my new P3P into some small branches and crashed it too already (1 month) ordered a new shell for $59. That's the easy part, now to get the guts out of old one, thing is it still flys great, had to bend an arm back into position.
Hopefully if you HAVE to maybe you can just buy the part you need.
Good luck

 

[lousurfer]

Thanks, yeah I have emailed DJI to see what they say. Hope if there is no easy reset that I can get a replacement part. Might try flying and recording tomorrow to see how bad thing are. 2 minor earlier crashes one drift sideways into a shed (no obstacle detection) and one clip against a branch. No damage then, but third time unlucky. My new motto is to keep my distance. Lot's to learn yet.

 

[Sim597]

The thing that your post tells me? Is that your out DOING IT MAN! Good for you!
I love the dual IMU and compasses on the P4 and I am considering returning it really, just for that, I don't need the extra speed, the vision system working at 30ft is also nice. I have the antenna mod and to be honest, shoukdnt have bought it, I'm a nervous wreck anytime it's in flight and just cannot take it very far without worrying the entire time, until I can see it clearly. I do have trees and cannot say the mod is better at "punching" through obstructions, I didn't do any test before and after
So, your not "one of those"? Like me? I don't get why some of you guys, or these guys just fly them at extremes without constantly worrying!
I cannot fly far without being so overly scared its gonna fall and hurt someone (I don't fly over people, but it could drift or fly crazy) or, even if it's my own roof, or a neighbor, I don't want to ruin a rooftop either lol, or my quad to be sure.