Phantom 3 advanced gimbal going crazy after repair

[MarcR86]

Hi everyone,

First time post but a long time viewer of the forum.

A few weeks ago my phantom 3 advanced fell from the sky at only 12mtr altitude but it damaged the legs, bent the gimbal and damaged the vps. SO i sent in for warranty repair and they said it was a esc error and replaced the relevant parts.

Anyway, i recieved it back yesterday, charged the battery and turned on for the first time since repair and the gimbal is going crazy shaking side to side etc. Nothing will stop it imu calibration or gimbal calibration!

So p***ed off its a understatement i really wanted to fly it with the good weather coming.

Does anyone have any ideas whats causing this or if its a easy fix. Ive messaged dji already regarding the fault. Ive linked a video of the fault i have.

Thanks in advance

 

[jiminyfixit]

It is obvious the service center didn't even test the camera before shipping it back to you. The gimbal "dance" is usually an un calibrated roll motor. It is easy to check, but not so easy to fix. Remove the 5 small screws on the back plate and see if the "flat" on the shaft is pointing up and level when you hold the camera perfectly horizontal. Also check to see if the motor is loose in the motor housing. Try to wiggle 90 degrees from motor rotation. Checking these things, along with any possible nicks or tears in the ribbon cable, will help you communicate with the service tech. If they want to sell you a new camera, which is typical, let me know. This is a common repair I make on these cameras and is far less than a new camera.

 

[J Dot]

Hello,
Man, sorry about your mishap, and continued mishap!

Although I've not seen this on the 3's before, it is acting exactly like a p2v+ when the camera mount ( pitch motor shaft ) is out by 180 degrees. As it can be inserted either way, causing the pitch motor circuit board potentiometer to be backwards ( 180 degree out of neutral position or absolute 0 ) in other words horizontal level. Camera tries to roll under to obtain 0 by facing backwards and upside down, but cannot due to gimbal stops, and ribbon length. So it gets confused and goes berserk!
Not saying it is your problem, but worth a look. Unfortunately the pitch board cover is not easily removed for visual inspection, like the roll board is. It requires a little finagling but can be done without complete disassembly. Either way, you'll need to remove the rear cover from camera unit ( no battery installed of coarse ), then remove camera ribbon cover, the u shaped band with 2 Phillips screws, to expose ribbon, unhook ribbon from camera unit, by gently flipping up the tab, and pulling it out. ( please review YouTube videos, if you have never done one ) BEFORE you attempt. Then you'll need to unroll the ribbon from the pitch shaft to reveal a screw holding the camera unit to pitch motor shaft.
( this part is tough, because you are trying to unroll the ribbon backwards, then try to re-roll it back up, also backwards ) so please take your time! Remove the screw holding the camera unit to the pitch shaft, TAKING NOTE OF ITS CONFIGURATION, as we need to spin it 180 degrees, and then reassemble it all back together. And give her a go, if still no, than put it back the way it was, it could be a damaged mainboard, or any combination of pitch, roll boards. Also the 3 a/p uses magnets for yaw, they might be out of whack as well.
Unfortunately these gimbals are very delicate, and do not stand well in a crash, but at the same time, unless completely destroyed, they can be easily fixed, with the right parts.

This is the fix for the p2v+ like I said before, I'm not sure this is your problem, but looks remarkably familiar to a P2v+ with the problem above. Let us know your findings?

J Dot

 

[spto]

I got a similar madness of the camera, and I tried the solution suggested, but it doesn't work

Thank you anyway...

 

[Pharm]

I have a P3S and my camera points downward until startup. I noticed yours is pointing straight ahead before startup (don't know if it's the same fir a P3A or not). If it's not normal to point straight ahead prior to startup, you need to find out why (I know, THAT'S a lot of help).

 

[Duchunter]

Definitely a miss alignment issue. Its easy to fix. Try this:

 

[Duchunter]

Could also be this one.