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Horizon level

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Feb 16, 2015
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Hello,

I've flown the Inspire several times now, the gimbal performance is very good except horizon level drifts. I've already done gimbal auto calibration via the app.
When starting the Inspire and flying forwards the horizon level is perfect, after turning around and moving the craft in a new (opposite) direction, the horizon level is off a few degrees often. When flying afterwards in the direction I started to move the Inspire after takeoff, the level is perfect again. So it depends on the point of compass I think.
I've already done compass and IMU calibration at this flying location, but I noticed no improvement on the horizon issue after that.

What else could I do ? Did DJI announce better horizon performance for the next firmware update ?

Thanks for your help !
 
When starting the Inspire and flying forwards the horizon level is perfect, after turning around and moving the craft in a new (opposite) direction, the horizon level is off a few degrees often. When flying afterwards in the direction I started to move the Inspire after takeoff, the level is perfect again. So it depends on the point of compass I think.
Do you see drift flying just forward, or with lateral movement?
Horizon drift with lateral movement is something pretty much all brushless gimbals are affected by.
 
Drift is also there when just flying forward, but as I said only when moving the copter in OTHER directions than the direction I flew initially after takeoff. Strange...
If I adjust gimbal roll while flying, it's only ok until I turn the copter into a new direction, after turning the copter the horizon level is off again. I fly with gimbal follow mode (single operator). Should I fly in free mode ?...but then the gimbal doesn't turn with the aircraft, or am I wrong with this?...did'nt try so far....
 
So I had this happening and what I believe solved it (for my instance at least) was that I didn't have the copter on level ground when initializing prior to take off. Not having a true level on x and y access can present as a perfect level horizon till you turn, then the craft, using bad data assumes off-kilter angles. Again, that was one simple lesson I leaned up front. Best thing is, it's a repeatable and easily correctable error which is refreshing to find out.
 
Hello,

I've flown the Inspire several times now, the gimbal performance is very good except horizon level drifts. I've already done gimbal auto calibration via the app.
When starting the Inspire and flying forwards the horizon level is perfect, after turning around and moving the craft in a new (opposite) direction, the horizon level is off a few degrees often. When flying afterwards in the direction I started to move the Inspire after takeoff, the level is perfect again. So it depends on the point of compass I think.
I've already done compass and IMU calibration at this flying location, but I noticed no improvement on the horizon issue after that.

What else could I do ? Did DJI announce better horizon performance for the next firmware update ?

Thanks for your help !


Take a look at this video which I shot last night flying over my neighbourhood. As you can see (the video is sped up to 2x), the gimbal is jerking around after I executed a 180 degree turn. The horizon is just all over the place, tilting badly in both directions. I am VERY hopeful that DJI manage to fix this issue shortly with their much awaited firmware update. I can't use my Inspire for paying jobs with performance like this.

 
Yeah, that's not good. My phantom couldn't take moderate g's turning. It was because the zenmuse h32d gave out under load. Wonder if the gimbal is Buffy enough on the inspire. My turns have been pretty mild so far, nothing aggressive. The big Zenmuse on my S800 is rock solid but it sucks juice if I fly the rig hard


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Take a look at this video
You are seeing the compass loss/gimbal twitch. Each time it twitches it will be out of calibration for a while, and that's why it's always off as by the time it gets back on track it twitches again. Different problem than this topic's subject.
 
OK.... Without going too much into the technicalities involved here... ALL gimbals will do this to a degree. The trick is to get the balance right between Gyro trust, acceleration compensation and fusion between gyro and accelerometers.
The more trust the software puts in the gyro, the less accelerometers are used but can lead to horizon drift issues. However a certain amount of gyro trust is needed to cope with curved maneuvers/turns etc.
My guess is DJI are still fine tuning the gyro trust values to find a happy medium.
It would be nice if they gave us the ability in the app to alter this value depending on whether the user was going to be flying like a bat out of hell with fast dynamic movements or whether they wanted to capture images using slow, balanced maneuvers.
Of course the complication there would be that the 'out of the box' flyers would not understand it, set it wrong and then bleat about wonky video :p. Then I guess, they could always have an 'auto' option which is what it is basically set at now.
This will be a fine tuning/work in progress for DJI.
 
Last edited:
Reporting back...

Did a gimbal recalibration. Didn't help.

Did a gimbal roll adjust, that definitely didn't help.

I'm at a loss. :confused: I didn't have this issue prior to the last version/firmware upgrades.
 
I can not tell your speed because you are pretty high but sometimes it seems like you are going pretty fast. The quicker your stick inputs the more you will notice these correction. Sometimes slowing down and smoothing out is the answer.
 
I can not tell your speed because you are pretty high but sometimes it seems like you are going pretty fast. The quicker your stick inputs the more you will notice these correction. Sometimes slowing down and smoothing out is the answer.

Hate to sound disagreeable, but slowing down and slow turns is not the answer. That's how I fly so as not to get jerking "camera" movements--I'm after smooth moves. It's still and issue. I wasn't experiencing this early on when shooting.
 
O definitely not saying it is your answer. Just an observation. Some people jerk the sticks around and expect smooth vids just because there is a gimbal. Gimbals can't do ALL the work for us. It does look like the video example seems to linger sideways longer than any I have seen.
I was just making a suggestion since I could not tell the speed you were going. :)
 

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