So what is broken here??

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After a crash the gimbal apparently took the brunt of the damage as one of the metal arms was bent back and had to be straightened with pliers. Now that everything is back together again, the Phantom 2 flies normally, but there's a problem with the gimbal camera elevation/angle control. When I move the lever on the controller instead of a smooth up & down it jerks. Takes some doing to get it to the full up position. Then when I try to move the lever to point the GoPro down it just kinda’ FLOPS down all in one motion. Two questions:

1. Is the issue more likely with the internals of the gimbal itself, or perhaps in the Phantom and what it uses to control the gimbal? I do hear a buzzing noise of some kind when the gimbal is pointed all the way up which makes me think it's more likely the gimbal. Not good of course but cheaper to replace the gimbal than the Phantom!

2. Whatever the issue is, would something like this typically be a candidate for repair, or would my only options be to fly with the camera in one position otherwise replace it?
 
If the gimbal took the brunt of a crash then it's highly likely that some internal components are damaged. Have you checked all the ribbon cables to make sure they're secure and undamaged?

You can verify that the CONTROLLER is sending smooth movement to the gimbal using the Phantom Assistant software, on the Basic / RC tab... of course you need the Phantom 2 plugged in to the computer and powered on. anyway on the RC screen you should be able to move the sticks and X1 lever and see the movements on the appropriate areas of the screen. the movements of the little black hash should be smooth, including the X1 lever. If that hashmark jumps around, then you may just need to re-calibrate it.

Speaking of calibrations, did you do an IMU cali after the crash? sometimes that helps

anyway if the X1 movement on the screen is smooth but the gimbal itself physically flops around and makes noise, I'd say chances are high you've got damage to the gimbal you aren't going to just easily repair. I'm no expert but I don't think those little motors are easily repaired, don't treat this as gospel but unless you have a buddy doing it for free, I bet you'd spend close to the same amount repairing them than just getting a new one... and that being the case I'd rather just have a new one that an expensive repaired broken one.

if you have time & patience, watch the Classifieds section of this site... I see gimbals and such in there regularly maybe you can find a deal. sometimes people convert/upgrade and sell perfectly good used ones (as opposed to crashed ones for parts, don't bother with those)
 
I think that the motor shaft is bent and causing internal pressure in the engine operation.
Some motors you can disassemble and change the shaft, other you have to change the motor.
 
Thanks much for the input-- most appreciated.

Yes, I did run through all of the calibrations and everything appeared to be normal. More evidence that leads me to believe you are correct in that the issue is internal to the gimbal itself. As I mentioned, the Phantom itself appears to fly just fine but it's frustrating not being able to control the camera angle. I went ahead and ordered a replacement gimbal and am reasonably confident that all will be back to normal when that is installed (fingers crossed).


QYV said:
If the gimbal took the brunt of a crash then it's highly likely that some internal components are damaged. Have you checked all the ribbon cables to make sure they're secure and undamaged?

You can verify that the CONTROLLER is sending smooth movement to the gimbal using the Phantom Assistant software, on the Basic / RC tab... of course you need the Phantom 2 plugged in to the computer and powered on. anyway on the RC screen you should be able to move the sticks and X1 lever and see the movements on the appropriate areas of the screen. the movements of the little black hash should be smooth, including the X1 lever. If that hashmark jumps around, then you may just need to re-calibrate it.

Speaking of calibrations, did you do an IMU cali after the crash? sometimes that helps

anyway if the X1 movement on the screen is smooth but the gimbal itself physically flops around and makes noise, I'd say chances are high you've got damage to the gimbal you aren't going to just easily repair. I'm no expert but I don't think those little motors are easily repaired, don't treat this as gospel but unless you have a buddy doing it for free, I bet you'd spend close to the same amount repairing them than just getting a new one... and that being the case I'd rather just have a new one that an expensive repaired broken one.

if you have time & patience, watch the Classifieds section of this site... I see gimbals and such in there regularly maybe you can find a deal. sometimes people convert/upgrade and sell perfectly good used ones (as opposed to crashed ones for parts, don't bother with those)
 
I believe your confidence is well founded. good luck!
 

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