Zenmuse Dead?

[justflie]

I think DJI just opened a repair facility in LA. Should speed up the process considerably! I'll be installing/testing my zenmuse this weekend. Fingers crossed.

 

[Skywave]

Mine is dead, now power, nothing, worked good for about 7 flights and then it started shaking,

sent my dealer in Calgary the details, lets see if he helps? he installed it on the 2 so I hope he will do something, big chunk of money for a paper weight :evil:

 

[tholsen]

Just joined the forum thinking that I will contribute with my experiences with the ZenMuse H3-2D Gimbal to help light up the obvious problems there are with the ZenMuse H3-2D gimbal.

I bought mine in August 2013 and installed on my Phantom. The first, well about 10 flights went succesful. After that, I noticed that the gimbal sent out some weak screaming noises from somewhere inside the gimbal. My first idea was that it was the motors due to high frequency compensation for movement, so I ignored it and kept on flying, and the gimbal worked fine, so what is the problem. The noises became even worse during next flights, and i observed at random, that the rear motor was very hot but the side motor was not. The housing between the rear motor and the Phantom was also hot. I investigated it and tested it indoor. I noticed that in some positions the gimbal motors or whereever it comes from, sends out screaming high pitched tones and in other positions nothing. In a specific position the gimbal starts shaking or going into resonance. Again the rear motor and the housing went hot and I noticed a light smell of something hot. After a few more tests, the gimbal went partly dead, sometimes it kicks in and starts level the camera, somtimes not, just gives a small click and just hangs there, except still making some weak noises.

I contacted the dealer and agreed to sent it back with the controller. Before that, I wrote down all the serial numbers on the parts. After waiting for 2 months, I got the gimbal back again. Gimbal was back on the Phantom and ready to be powered on for the first time since repair. I compared the serial numbers and could confirm that no of the motors or gimbal has been changed, same serial numbers, but there was added a silvercoloured sticker on the back of the gimbal with an RMA number. The only thing in this RMA case that has been swapped, is the PMU itself.

Now to the test: Powering up the Phantom with the GoPro onboard the gimbal, and the gimbal kicks in and leveled the camera. Trying the tilt function while still on the table, and it was a succes. Everything works fine so far. Lifting up the Phantom in my hands and trying to tilt the Phantom back and forwards and from side to side. Looks promising for the first 5 seconds, then again the gimbal starts to scream. Dissapointed as I was, I disconnect the power and found another videocamera to document the screaming, I powered up again and took the test over again. Gimbal screams and making noises, and this time it even WENT UP IN SMOKE!!, white smoke coming out from the housing where one of the small copper ribbon cables are attached with a connector. Smoke appears simultaneously with the screaming sounds. It smells horrible and the gimbal starts to cut out. Now I am back to square one with gimbal just making a small fizzling noise and camera just hangs there and gimbal is to no use.

I have contacted the dealer again to tell that I was not satisfied with the repair, but I haven't heard anything yet. Tried for about 14 days now. And trying to get in contact with DJI... just forget it.

 

[thumpinhard]

i know this is an old post..and no apparent resolution?
i keep reading other posts with similar results. makes me want to shy away from getting a p2 and zenmuse!
any new thoughts on this topic?

 

[jonboy40]

My only update is that one year on my (original) Phantom with AeroXcraft gimbal has proved to be a very reliable solution. I also haven't updated my Phantom's software for a year or more after reading so many horror stories about botched releases. "If it ain't broke... don't fix it".

I remain astonished at how badly DJI has handled the Phantom's Zenmuse gimbal problem - the product was clearly released too early, before the technology and build quality had been properly evaluated. In particular, it's baffling that they could have treated a loyal fan-base so badly - by improving their customer care they could have prevented so much negative publicity.

I aspire to upgrade to something like an S1000 one day but I'd need a lot of convincing that I wasn't in for an even more expensive learning curve with dodgy technology.

 

[thumpinhard]

i missed the part about getting the AeroXcraft gimbal. apparently you gave up on the zenmuse?
i agree that the dji customer service is inexcusable.
if you ask me the chinese are just out for the money and have little interest in creating happy customers or in creating long lasting electronics.
i work for a huge company that gets a lot of parts for high end copiers and printers from china. i am sad to say that the p.w.b.'s and motors in recent years do not hold up nearly as long as a few years ago.
i used to never replace motors and rarely replace p.w.b's..now i warrantee lots of them.
this tells me that they can not or will not do the job correctly and that we must plan on replacing electronics much more often that in the past..that makes me so mad i can hardly contain myself!
the bottom line i guess is that we get cheap pricing from china..and we get what we pay for.