X5R needs repair

[FLYEYE]

My x5r gimbal is turning the motors off after a few seconds and I am wondering if it can be repaired
I already tried an ESC from the x3 which looks identical but doesn't work.
I think the pan ESC is the problem as it gets hot. Does anyone have a broken X5R with working ESCs
that would sell it to me or does anyone know a service in Europe (I am from) that still repairs X5Rs.
As I got 18 TB48 above 5000Mah, plenty of Props, 3 Inspire 1V2, flight cases...... I really don't want to change to an I2 at the moment.


thanks
Gunnar

 

[Donnie Frank]

If the X5 goes through POST successfully, then locks to the forward position normally, then gimbals go limp, this could be firmware.

D

 

[niki]

As I got 18 TB48 above 5000Mah, plenty of Props, 3 Inspire 1V2, flight cases...... I really don't want to change to an I2 at the moment.

If you are making money out of this rig I suggest you jump on ebay and buy a spare X5R. Just checked and there are a few options from UK and USA, some are cheap other not so but if you make money it will be no barrier to get one and it will be way cheaper than going to I2 anyway.

This is what I did about a year ago, I actuually bought brand new one X5R from CVP, probably the last one they've had on the shelf. Wasn't cheap.. something like 1600 euro without taxes and customs but I've got the money back from just 2 days on set. I bought it just to have a spare one as I had some jobs in other countries and was asked to have a full backup, drone and camera to be hired for the job.

 

[Donnie Frank]

If you are making money out of this rig I suggest you jump on ebay and buy a spare X5R. Just checked and there are a few options from UK and USA, some are cheap other not so but if you make money it will be no barrier to get one and it will be way cheaper than going to I2 anyway.

This is what I did about a year ago, I actuually bought brand new one X5R from CVP, probably the last one they've had on the shelf. Wasn't cheap.. something like 1600 euro without taxes and customs but I've got the money back from just 2 days on set. I bought it just to have a spare one as I had some jobs in other countries and was asked to have a full backup, drone and camera to be hired for the job.

Oh yeah...we never went on set without a full backup rig ready to go. We had a crash on the set of Graves and had the backup rig up and running in like 8 minutes. Insurance covered the cost of the crash, which destroyed the entire rig. I wasn't the PIC. I was camera op.



D

 

[dave canadaIhclit]

I,ve worked a few movies never saw any drones , could be becuase they were westerns I bet thats a good deal,I never knew they exsisted then! Now I,m poor over the things. lol And my inspire 1 has earned the title sir crashalot there goes another 500

 

[niki]

Oh yeah...we never went on set without a full backup rig ready to go.

Actually after 7 years of operation it was the first project I was asked to have backup as the whole production traveled to Santorini and if something happens like even malfunction there are no quick options to get replacement parts or modules like we can have from friends when close to a big city on the continent. No one to call on this island.

I have only one crash with Inspire and it was on my first film job in 2016, it was 3 days in roll 12+ hours on set and on the third one we were called at the end of the day to go with splinter team on night shooting, chasing cars on city streets. All was going well but on one of the takes I've got distracted and there was street light pole that catched on the gimbal's back motor, 3-4 cm higher and none of this would happen. The drone was flying something like 45km/h and almost tumbled over but didn't fell. The camera was hanging like no power goes to it but sending picture. After landing and inspecting I found no damage at all, as I've used some lead weights on all axes, the pole strike exactly at the added lead on the roll motor and the lead was seriously deformed but obviously took all the energy and saved the gimbal. After a few restarts the drone was fully operational and back in game, gimbal without a scratch. Very lucky.

Now I'm with Inspire 3 but bring I1 for backup, it's still capable of pretty RAW 4K picture with various set of lenses. So far we didn't had a job with I3 where the DoP asks for 8K, all are 4K jobs so it's pretty good backup.

 

[dave canadaIhclit]

wow that was a cool story , You fellows are good at these flying cameras , hats off to you , myself the way I fly I,m getting really good at repairs

 

[Donnie Frank]

Actually after 7 years of operation it was the first project I was asked to have backup as the whole production traveled to Santorini and if something happens like even malfunction there are no quick options to get replacement parts or modules like we can have from friends when close to a big city on the continent. No one to call on this island.

I have only one crash with Inspire and it was on my first film job in 2016, it was 3 days in roll 12+ hours on set and on the third one we were called at the end of the day to go with splinter team on night shooting, chasing cars on city streets. All was going well but on one of the takes I've got distracted and there was street light pole that catched on the gimbal's back motor, 3-4 cm higher and none of this would happen. The drone was flying something like 45km/h and almost tumbled over but didn't fell. The camera was hanging like no power goes to it but sending picture. After landing and inspecting I found no damage at all, as I've used some lead weights on all axes, the pole strike exactly at the added lead on the roll motor and the lead was seriously deformed but obviously took all the energy and saved the gimbal. After a few restarts the drone was fully operational and back in game, gimbal without a scratch. Very lucky.

Now I'm with Inspire 3 but bring I1 for backup, it's still capable of pretty RAW 4K picture with various set of lenses. So far we didn't had a job with I3 where the DoP asks for 8K, all are 4K jobs so it's pretty good backup.

All of our jobs were out on location (read: out in the middle of nowhere), so we always had backups.

The one crash we had was because the DP kept pushing our pilot to get closer and closer to the vehicle we were chasing. The problem was that there were high tension power wires that the pilot had to navigate around. Needless to say, after like 5 or 6 takes, he finally got the drone so close to the vehicle that he hit it. Needless to say, after that shoot we never let a DP push us into an unsafe shooting situation again. We learned to push back and actually did a few times moving forward.

Nowadaze all my shoots are boring "old man" mapping...LOL... We're using the M300, whose range is on par with the I3. It's amazing the difference. I don't know if you follow Trent Parker on YouTube, but when he traded his heavy lifter for an I3, I knew that DJI had finally worked out the bugs of the I1 and I2. FWIW, Trent's review of the I2 was pretty brief; "A toy" in his words.

D

 

[FLYEYE]

Just bought another used X5R but this one seems to be broken too. only the Gimbal is working but I get no Image
using a Osmo or the Inspire1 RAW the supplied SD Card gets really hot that's why I assume the mainboard is toast.
I can move the gimbal via I1 remote or IPAD-screen
This camera is for the backup system as the currently used X8 heavy lifter (T-Motor U7) with Komodo is too bulky.

 

[FLYEYE]

And If you are wondering why I dont get a I3 its simply because I dont want to invest in a DJI product anymore
as they do everything to make an investment useless after some time. I think it is ridiculous to stop repairing X5R
i never had this with other professional Cameras (ARRi, RED, AJA, Panasonic and even Sony). Things like making produkts useless
with firmware updates and many other aspects made me loose my fate in DJI some time ago.

 

[FLYEYE]

And If you are wondering why I dont get a I3 its simply because I dont want to invest in a DJI product anymore
as they do everything to make an investment useless after some time.
I think it is ridiculous to stop repairing X5R
i never had this with other professional Cameras (ARRi, RED, AJA, Panasonic and even Sony).
Things like making produkts useless with firmware updates and many other aspects made me loose my fate in DJI some time ago.

 

[Donnie Frank]

Just bought another used X5R but this one seems to be broken too. only the Gimbal is working but I get no Image
using a Osmo or the Inspire1 RAW the supplied SD Card gets really hot that's why I assume the mainboard is toast.
I can move the gimbal via I1 remote or IPAD-screen
This camera is for the backup system as the currently used X8 heavy lifter (T-Motor U7) with Komodo is too bulky.

Just curious what all of your firmwares are; Bird, batteries, cameras.

D

 

[Donnie Frank]

And If you are wondering why I dont get a I3 its simply because I dont want to invest in a DJI product anymore
as they do everything to make an investment useless after some time. I think it is ridiculous to stop repairing X5R
i never had this with other professional Cameras (ARRi, RED, AJA, Panasonic and even Sony). Things like making produkts useless
with firmware updates and many other aspects made me loose my fate in DJI some time ago.

It's too bad you don't have a second Inspire 1. The best way to isolate issues is to trade out components. It might be worth searching for another Inspire 1 in your area.

D

 

[FLYEYE]

I have 3x inspire 1 V1 V2, and RAW. FW 1.8. 1.9. and 10. the x5r behaves the same on. all of them - an the OSMO

 

[niki]

I have 3x inspire 1 V1 V2, and RAW. FW 1.8. 1.9. and 10. the x5r behaves the same on. all of them - an the OSMO

Can you see the FW of the camera in DJI GO? Maybe if it's too old you can have some problems. Did you try firmware update or refresh on the OSMO?

By the way I3 is amazing, just don't update FW as for any DJI product

Needless to say, after that shoot we never let a DP push us into an unsafe shooting situation again.

Actually after every job we had situations to rethink, most film crews are like kindergarden, not aware that we can kill someone. Almost every time I have to explain that if we do what they want and there is an accident the insurance will not cover it. It's very common to have director or DP who don't know what they want or never had a drone in the crew thinking it's like a game. On the wast job we had DP who was a drone guy having I2 and it was a pleasure to work with such guy.