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Inspire 2 Zenmuse X5s - Camera Sensor error

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Dec 17, 2019
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Hello all, I've been flying a Phantom 4 standard since they 1st came out, the goal at that time was to get experience to one day buy the inspire, well, that time came early this year when I bought the inspire 2 and the Zenmuse X5S....I'm currently studying for my part 107 licence and so far I've only taken the Inspire out 3 or 4 time for short flights, mostly getting used to the camera settings and features of this awesome drone. One of the things i noticed right off was that while the Phantom 4 turns like a sports car, the inspire turns like a freight liner semi truck.
Recently we sold our home and I thought what a great opportunity to do some real estate type photo's and video's.
I get the drone and camera all set up, i take a few shots and videos from the street at about 40 feet up (the area I'm in has a 100 foot ceiling)...
So what are the odds???,
I then decide to come in for a closer view of the front of the house by following the walk way, I brought drone down to about 3 feet off the ground, there's some bushes and trees in the yard so I'm being extra careful and slow...oh so very slow...really really... slow, and the drone is in tripod mode, I'm thinking this is great practice flying, and I'm concentrating so much on the Drone that I pull a rookie move and don't activate the camera...so now, as I get nearer to the house...well lets just say....all hell broke loose...a sparrow bolts out of a near by bush towards the drone, in the blink of an eye the sparrow collides with the inspire and all i see is a cloud of feathers and the drone spinning backward and bounces onto the lawn with a thump...thankfully the drone was still in a landing gear down mode and was over the grass, it landed (bounced) with no visible damage other than 1 broken propeller and needing to be cleaned up, but sadly, the little sparrow was not so fortunate.
So after I checked everything out, replaced all the props and cleaned everything up, I now have a "Camera Sensor Error" and no camera feed to my screen (the onboard inspire camera is working fine), On startup the gimbal still runs through its start up functions (rotating/spins etc.), I also took the camera lens off and reattached and still have the same sensor error, I'm also seeing a error to the effect the the gimbal is not attached. Other than this the drone flies and functions fine, just no camera feed from the X5S.
So I'm thinking the gimbal mount cable may have come loose or damaged, I do have a spare gimbal mount but my question to some of the many experts out there is should i pursue changing out the gimbal mount and cable or should I be looking at the X5S camera instead. (which also has no visible damage)
 
I've been flying the Inspire 2 for over a year and on my second one. I jumped in with both feet after just flying the Spark. I'm on my third X5S. The gimbal/camera system is probably the weakest link on the bottom of the Inspire. Another words, if you bounce your drone, more than likely you tweaked your X5S. After my last crash onto concrete, the configuration that the camera attaches to took the biggest loss. I sometimes get a "Camera Sensor Error" too and I think something is still wrong because my EV rating never changes no matter what camera settings I change. I would look there.
 
Make sure that the pins which rotate to engage the camera mount are lining up correctly.
Pulling on the wires connected to the gimbal damper can over stress them, a short here will cause the cinecore unit to fry, if it was operating at the time. Damper can be replaced. That may solve the issue, if the cinecore module is toasted, it won’t help but both will need to be replaced.
Good luck.
 
Thanks so much for the feedback, and yes, pins line up, I've done a few simple steps to try and resolve the issue, I do have a new unopened gimbal mount to try out, looks like a pretty fairly drawn out process to replace it and I'm gonna attempt it over the weekend, but I'm prepared to send the camera in for repairs if this does not work, and no, I haven't dug into my pockets deep enough to try the cinecore yet ;)
 
ok, spent a couple of hours and replaced the vibration damper and I now totally believe aliens walk among us...either that or I want whatever those guys were smoking when they designed that thing...who comes up with connections like that??? ;) anyway, the end result was the same camera sensor error and "check if gimbal is installed...so the camera is now packed up and ready to ship out for repair...Thanks again for the feedback
 
While we're on the subject; I did a shoot the other day and when I switched from the 15mm to the 45mm & the pancake lenses, neither of the other 2 lenses would focus. I haven't seen any firmware updates or any conflicts like that; nothing will focus besides the 15 mm.
 
Hello guys.
I too am experiencing an error after a crash.
Aircraft Encoder Error
Camera Sensor Error
The unit is an inspire 2 X5s. The gimbal plate has been repaced with an oem , brand new plate, including power and video signal cables. The x5s powers up intermittently without any video signal feed to the app.
The x5s does respond to gimbal pitch input.
The x5s moves up and down very smoothly.
The fpv camera does send a good clear video feed to the app.
The processing board located in the nose, shows no signs of impact or damage. I double checked all of the connections that I connected and visually inspected both sides of the board. All looks to be in order.
I do not have dji care refresh. I know, not wise.
I am aware that without having this unit in possession, it is impossible to know why this error exists.
Just curious to know if anyone else has experienced this error code and might be able to point me in a good direction for diagnosis.
I have already removed and replaced the x5s lens in the hopes that it may reconnect.
The new gimbal plate pins all look to be in order.
Even though the vibration plate is new, I have also visually inspected the signal and power cables.
Everything looks good.
Any input will be highly appreciated.
Thank You!!
 
ok, spent a couple of hours and replaced the vibration damper and I now totally believe aliens walk among us...either that or I want whatever those guys were smoking when they designed that thing...who comes up with connections like that??? ;) anyway, the end result was the same camera sensor error and "check if gimbal is installed...so the camera is now packed up and ready to ship out for repair...Thanks again for the feedback
Hi, I have the same issue, if you resolve it can you tell me what it was?
Thanks you
La
 
Hi, I have the same issue, if you resolve it can you tell me what it was?
Thanks you
La
Hi there, I'm so sorry you are having this issue, I know all to well how it feels...

I wound up sending the camera in to DJI under warranty, it came back about a week later with the very same issue, wound up sending it back in again, this time when it came back I had a picture from the x5s but it was extremely grainy and the picture froze after about 5 seconds, (by the way, I never got anything back on what they did or didn't do to the camera either time).
I did some basic trouble shooting (making sure the pins lined up, made sure there was no damage to the connecter, cleaned the contacts at the gimbal mount as well as the contacts on the camera lens, once again I had that same grainy picture and it froze again after about 5 seconds...

I wound up calling called DJI, told them the issue and they suggested I send in the Inspire and camera....a few days later I get an estimate to repair at $1,720.00 for parts and labor.

They wanted to replace the gimbal mount (which was brand new and replaced as part of my own troubleshooting) they also wanted to replace the main controller as well as the center screw section for the landing gear.

I filed a dispute based on a few things, there was nothing wrong with the landing gear and the gimbal mount was brand new, I wanted an explanation as to why they felt the landing gear and gimbal needed to be replaced and I wanted to know why the camera had such a grainy picture....

So they tell me someone will get back to me within 24-48 hours, this was a Friday and a holiday weekend, and we have the covid nightmare, so I figured it could be a few days, a week later I call and tell them I haven't heard back, so they tell me they will escalate the issue and to expect a call in 24-48 hours, I give it a week, no contact, a few more calls and a few more "24-48 hours" later turned into 10 weeks!

I called once more and explained the situation all over again and tell them that 10 weeks is extremely excessive. So again I get the "I'll escalate this right away and you should expect a call in 24-48 hours"...2 days later I get a notification via email my inspire is on its way back and repaired an no charge (warranty repair).

Once again I have absolutely no clue what exactly they did to repair my rig...so, apologies for the long winded scenario...but that's my story, it's fixed and the picture is fantastic...BUT... I don't know what they did to it and I'm afraid to go fly it for fear it will go back to that sensor error at any time...

The only thing I ever got on the repair process was a picture of my inspire next to a keyboard and a screen shot of the "Camera Sensor Error" on the App.

I highly recommend you try to find someone near you that would be willing to let you try a known working camera on your rig to eliminate any doubts that your camera is the issue... (I highly suspect that is what was wrong with mine all along)...(I'm in Sacramento Ca. if that helps)

If your rig is still under warranty, by all means, send it in, if its not under warranty, I'd recommend finding another source for repair (that's my opinion based on the lack of disclosure on the repair process)
 
Hi, I work on the issue this weekend after I get back my drone from the repair shop... they apparently don't know what is wrong and for the begin they want to change the gimbal absorbing bracket and if doesn't work they want to change the ncore, and if doesn't work...
I tell them I come pick up my drone because apparently they don't know what they are doing.
I found this weekend it's a firmware issue each time I refresh the firmware the camera work like magic, and disappear again when I shut off and change the battery and I noticed a small click every minute in the camera...
I work on that few hours this weekend and the camera have no problem...
The problem is the firmware update and the other problem my drone doesn't want to take any downgrade under the V01-02-0400.
I am going to contact DJI to see if they want to help me...
If they are someone in the community can help me to downgrade this drone...
Thanks
 
What has probably happened is the cine processor shorted out during the crash, that happened to me.
I was shooting video, hit a tree limb.
Camera gimbal was broken, twisted a landing leg. I tried replacing the vibration board but it didn’t help since the processor burnt up.
$1200 DJI quote, wouldn’t cover under warranty but offered a discount of $400.
 

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