Gimbal Can Fall Off

[WTWProductions]

Hi, been flying for a week, and no major problems, until today. I was flying when the gimbal and camera detached. On landing, I found that the camera plate which holds the gimbal and camera had dropped from the four rubber connection points, and the two small cables were not enough to stop it falling. Result is one broken camera/gimbal. I see there is no backup tether for the gimbal assembly. I was flying in higher summer temperature (32 centigrade) in Australia. Lodged a ticket with DJI and await their reply. But beware.

 

[The Editor]

At a guess then - the higer temperature made the gimbal mounts softer and they popped off !

Of course DJI working spec says -10 - +40degrees C but since they illegally released the iOS app and are now suffering the fallout it makes you wonder whether they even bothered heat testing the machine to within their own quoted specs at all !

 

[mem_ny]

Others have secured the entire assembly with plastic ties or braided fishing line, basically stating that rubber mounts are not sufficient. You just proved their point. Thanks for the post.

 

[jplayer]

+1 for the loosely secured zip ties
This was a common fix to "secure" the gimbal on the phantom series.
While I have not done it on the Inspire yet I have messed around with the rubber mounts and they are hollow so this could be done in 10 seconds...

 

[damoncooper]

Might be worthwhile adding this to the FAQ and list of known issues. Losing a camera - bad.

 

[BrianSelf]

Is there any more info on making the retrofit for a "gimbal leash" for the Inspire? Can anyone make a DIY sticky thread?

 

[blade strike]

This is very odd. Anyone that has tried to remove the gimbal plate knows that this cant come off unless it was caught on something or it wasn't installed properly!

Did you have a hard landing or did you catch the gimbal on something when landing?

 

[GizaDog]

Zip ties Engaged! Great idea too!

 

[Tahoe Ed]

This is very unusual. I would ask the same question as Blade. If anyone has tried to pull the plate off, it is a bear. There was something else going on here. I would be careful about putting zip ties on you may be defeating the purpose of the gimbal vibration isolation balls and induce unwanted vibration and jello. I will report to DJI.

 

[blade strike]

Correct, I don't see this happening under normal flight conditions, Hot or cold.

 

[GizaDog]

This is very unusual. I would ask the same question as Blade. If anyone has tried to pull the plate off, it is a bear. There was something else going on here. I would be careful about putting zip ties on you may be defeating the purpose of the gimbal vibration isolation balls and induce unwanted vibration and jello. I will report to DJI.

The zips are very loose and don't effect the Gimbal. I had the entire thing fly off in a crash and never found it so that it not going to happen again in my world.

 

[GizaDog]

This is a Three THOUSAND dollar machine! Why the F! should we have to zip tie anything?!?! Freaking stupid!

Guess it was not tested in very warm situations. They are only rubber. The zip ties give me piece of mind when flying till the issue is resolve since I like to play it safe.

 

[damoncooper]

With the Phantom it was similar in that in case of crash the gimbal and camera could come off and go flying without the DJI-provided plastic clips which acted as a safety catch when the rubber balls disconnected.

DJI should have factory installed similar clips on the inspire I should think.

In lieu of those clips, using small plastic zip ties loosely attached is a fine replacement IMO. Just be sure they are slack and not applying ANY pressure on the rubber insulator balls at all or gimbal performance will be degraded.

 

[slim.slamma]

Zip ties Engaged! Great idea too!

My prop and gimbal locks since day 1

 

[slim.slamma]

This is very unusual. I would ask the same question as Blade. If anyone has tried to pull the plate off, it is a bear. There was something else going on here. I would be careful about putting zip ties on you may be defeating the purpose of the gimbal vibration isolation balls and induce unwanted vibration and jello. I will report to DJI.

Dental floss

 

[Mlebout]

Zip ties Engaged! Great idea too!

Just a thought, aren't the gimbal assembly's designed to break away in the event of a light crash or hard landing? I know mine came off when it put down, on it's own, due to cold battery temps. The camera detached and so did the ribbons (only damage was a broken prop). If it had been securely attached the camera and or gimbal may have been damaged.

 

[NEJO/Wisconsin]

Has anyone looked at that picture closely there is damage on the side of the plate a lot more has happened here then a hard landing!!!

 

[nabilriaz]

Has anyone looked at that picture closely there is damage on the side of the plate a lot more has happened here then a hard landing!!!

yes I noticed the same, it has been clearly caught on something or crashed.

 

[NEJO/Wisconsin]

There also looks to b a chip inside where the camera portion attaches?

 

[blade strike]

Correct. Like I said, anyone that has tried to remove the camera plate will know that this can not happen under normal conditions, hot or cold.