Zenmuse H3-2D installation

[mdragoi]

Hi everybody!
Got my brand new Phantom (not Vision) three weeks ago, the TX unit came with the gimbal slider already installed on the back. Everything went fine, done a couple of successful flights. I thought a Zenmuse gimbal would be a nice bonus added in order to get more stable videos. Found one on eBay, owner claiming it's a brand new factory gimbal. It shipped fast. Everything looks fine, the box has every component as advertised (small suspicion of being a fake, the motors top surface has no swiss made maxon motors engraved). However my problem started after I have opened the Phantom, the MC is a Naza V2 yellow one and wiring/soldering is different from the DJI Tutorial video. I have soldered the Zenmuse unit to the main board as shown in the video, connected the 8 pin cable, but of course, I do not have any additional upgrade Naza PMU to connect to the main board and to the gimbal unit. I have seen some articles telling that users with Naza V2 (yellow) MC do not need any other additional PMU to connect with the gimbal.
Of course, the gimbal is not working (tilting, etc), I have installed the zenmuse assistant software, latest driver, installed the latest upgrade to Naza Assistant, I get a nasty 27 ERR (gps and compass calibration) and the yellow led is blinking (RC not connected, probably). Please help me, do I need that PMU V2 controller?

 

[DiscoDrew]

You will need either the PMU V2 or a Phantom Gimbal Upgrade board. I chose the upgrade board as its the lighter of the two installs. I have no plans to expand further so I did not care for the additional expandability of the PMU V2.

As for your error. That happened to me after the upgrade as well. Two things to make sure you do. Download and install the Phantom Profile from the DJI website and upload that via Naza Assistant. I believe that alone would correct your GPS issue, which is a result of the control being set to PPM instead of D-BUS. You can also manually swap that setting but I believe the parameters will get everything back to 'factory' settings after the firmware update. Hope this helps.

 

[mdragoi]

Thank you, DiscoDrew! After a lot of browsing I've came to the same conclusion and I have already ordered a PMU V2 yesterday. Didn't knew there is an upgraded board option, probably much lighter indeed. ****. Anyway, my RC came with the gimbal pitch control slider already installed.
As I recall, I have installed the 4.02 Naza Assistant software upgrade, the new driver and imported the old DJI Parameters (latest version on the dji site I think, Sept.9th, 2013) and still got the same yellow led blinking and [ERR27], but let's wait for the PMU V2, install it and see what's next. For rookies like me, setting the parameters in Naza Assistant and making the Phantom work was really a nightmare.
Thanks again

 

[chopperflyer]

The best is to return the PMU and see if you can swop it for the upgrade board it will work out better in the long run. there is less clutter in the Phantom and theupgrade may work better, the board is cheaper than the PMU. All the best

 

[Dave Pitman]

The modular pmu v2 is the correct way to go UNLESS you are positive you will not ever want to add any other dji component to your bird. If you were to go with the upgrade board, and later want to add another dji component, you would still need to add the modular pmu v2 in addition to the upgrade board.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4307

 

[map85086]

Does anyone have any idea how much weight the PMU adds? It doesn't look like it would add much weight, but I've read several posts that suggest that users picked the Upgrade kit over the PMU because of weight.

Thanks.

 

[OI Photography]

Does anyone have any idea how much weight the PMU adds? It doesn't look like it would add much weight, but I've read several posts that suggest that users picked the Upgrade kit over the PMU because of weight.

Thanks.

32.5g, including attached cabling/connectors. I'm not sure what the weight of the upgrade board is to compare.

 

[mdragoi]

Thanks again for all the tips. However, I think I'll go crazy: I have now the PMU installed but I still get that annoying << ERROR[27]: GPS not calibrated or magnetic field interference. Please calibrate GPS again in good condition. >>
I have calibrated the TX but it looks like it's not recognised by the Phantom, in Naza Assistant I have all Command sticks calibration sliders on the right side, (black sliders, off) the controls are not in the middle and not green as usual. RC is on D-Bus (after importing the DJI Default Parameters it was set on PPM and I set it manually on D-Bus, it jumped on Failsafe mode at bottom.

LED is continuously blinking yellow after powering the Phantom (short initialising sequence, then yellow continuously). From that point I'm really blocked, I cannot go any further. What's happening.
Once again: downloaded latest Naza Assistant, latest upgrade (4.02), imported Default Config, calibrated the RC, and I still get no control. Of course, Zenmuse is not working yet

 

[fuzzman]

LED is continuously blinking yellow after powering the Phantom (short initialising sequence, then yellow continuously). From that point I'm really blocked, I cannot go any further. What's happening.
Once again: downloaded latest Naza Assistant, latest upgrade (4.02), imported Default Config, calibrated the RC, and I still get no control. Of course, Zenmuse is not working yet

I have exactly the same problem after upgrading the main board and installing H3-2D. Gimbal is working but I cannot get GPS mode. All other systems are fine but I will not fly without the GPS up and running as failsafe modes will not work. Help please.

 

[Corben]

The 4.02 software upgrade seems to be faulty. I have the same issue. Tx and phantom are v1.1. The error 27 keeps happening but you can do the gps calibration outside and it works. The internal pairing led keeps blinking as we'll. three times every minute or so. My IOC keeps turning off when I hook to software assistant. I'm also having problems with the gimbal. I'm running the pmu v2 and it is blinking green and the gimbal works but no tilt. I've tried everything to get the tilt but no luck. The zenmuse assistant is reading correctly. Camera looking straight down is 1000. I just can't control it.

I've noticed there's a micro USB port inside the 1.1 Tx. No downloads for it yet though....

It's like the x1 channel isn't communicating with the receiver in d-bus. Anybody else having this issue?

If you haven't ran the zenmuse assistant, make sure you do that. You will need to pop the top and plug a micro USB directly into the GMU to get it to connect.

 

[fuzzman]

I have installed the upgraded main board which includes the GMU. I can't get into GPS mode so am unable to calibrate the compass as flicking the S2 switch on the controller only signals ATTI - ATTI no GPS means I can't transfer between the two in order to enter calibration mode.

I have no error messages in the Naza assistant and the gimbal works perfectly including the tilt function. All firmware is updated to the latest version it is just that the main board is not allowing the GPS info to reach the Naza controller. I suspect a faulty main board but after seeing other operators with similar problems I was hoping there would be a simpler fix than replacement.

 

[mdragoi]

Another detail: quick continuous yellow blinking according to manual means Lost connection with the TX (RC). Also, on the DJI Wiki, there's a section about linking the TX with the MC, and they say there is a red LED and a small button (on the new Phantom, v1.1, that led is on the battery compartment side of the main board, I have located that. DJI is saying if the red led is on, not off, that means the connection with the RC is lost. My led is continuous red, is not off, -> I have no connection with the Phantom. I'm trying to make the link (according to DJI, press button, keep throttle down, turn on power on RC and the LED on MC should go off) but this operation is not successful, LED keeps being lit, red. Could be a bad connection inside the Phantom? A misplaced connector?
How can I make sure I have the connection done? Without that, I cannot do any further step, gps calibration, flying, nothing.

 

[mdragoi]

Hi, everybody! Just a short update: my Phantom is now perfectly working, you cannot imagine what was the real issue: after two hours of testing we have discovered a tiny, tiny piece of tin (1,2 mm length, 0,001 mm diameter ), a leftover from soldering the zenmuse to the main board. While hot, the tin flowed like mercury over the MC and I haven't noticed that microscopic piece solidified right over the RC circuit. As soon as we have removed the tin and made a new TX calibration, the RC led on the battery compartment turned green (remember, that LED is now in the battery compartment) and I was able to do a GPS calibration, got rid of the nasty ERROR 27. As for the gimbal, it started working before all this mess (don't ask me how, but most probably because we have installed Naza Assistant on another PC, driver installed again, Parameters imported again).
So happy now, made first flight with the gimbal on!

As a lesson, would be much much better for Phantom users not to be pushed to make any soldering in order to install any additional DJI component. That's pretty strange and unintuitive, not every drone flying passionate has DIY skills and appetite. I agree that things right now tend to be ready-to-play with out of the box and that's maybe killing our skills and abilities to make/repair/understand devices, but I also want not to be pushed to this kind of operations.

 

[Chubad]

Just installed the Zenmuse. DJI needs to update their video instructions. Mine was so much different than the video that it was worthless. The mount needs to be taken apart and the screws inserted from the back meaning that you have to do the connection by the rubber mounting isolators. No more Swiss made motors. Also it came with 7 packs of screws, lock nuts, washers, hex bolts, and machine screws with absolutely no documentation for their use. Took me almost 3 hours but I finally got it installed, the firmware upgraded and the gimbal operational. The mounting of the GoPro is terrible. Takes a 2mm hex wrench to loosen the tiny screws. WTF? Just to pull the battery from the GoPro is a pain. Not that GoPro's ever need their battery removed to reset. Now to wait for spring to fly it. The high temperature for today is -1 F.

 

[mdragoi]

Totally agree, DJI's video tutorials are obsolete by now. Trying to guess what's different in my Phantom (v.1.1 I guess, there's no label telling me what Phantom version I do have) is not what I expect from such an expensive device. I know innovation comes with a lack of knowledge sharing (too many products, features and updates/upgrades) but common, I have paid the price of an iPhone and an iPad together for all these devices combined.
DJI's support area is terrible too. Had no answer about my issue, totally opaque. Told them the Romanian reseller has no technical support for my issue, there's no answer. I was totally captive in a market lacking support.
The gimbal: mounting it is another painful experience. I agree, attaching the gopro with a frame with screws is again a stoopid and unintuitive idea, totally not user friendly. The whole idea with the GoPro is to have this little beautiful device as universal and ready to switch mounts as fast as possible. With the screws DJI just blocked that. Going to ski, I'll need to carry a screwdriver with me, now that's just wonderful.

All in all, a big thumb down for customer support and for all the extensions coming with the Phantom. Looks like they are forcing you to buy Phantom Vision and that's another story.

 

[fuzzman]

I have installed the upgraded main board which includes the GMU. I can't get into GPS mode so am unable to calibrate the compass as flicking the S2 switch on the controller only signals ATTI - ATTI no GPS means I can't transfer between the two in order to enter calibration mode.

I have no error messages in the Naza assistant and the gimbal works perfectly including the tilt function. All firmware is updated to the latest version it is just that the main board is not allowing the GPS info to reach the Naza controller. I suspect a faulty main board but after seeing other operators with similar problems I was hoping there would be a simpler fix than replacement.

Just an update.

I purchased a new upgrade board and problem fixed! Seems the original board was a faulty one which possessed a broken link from the GPS plug.

Now to try and get a refund for the first board.

Thanks to those who tried to assist.

Cheers.