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Z3 dead on arrival?

Joined
Aug 26, 2016
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Age
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Location
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I have just received my Z3, but when I power on the Inspire I get nothing, no dance, no movement and no image transmission in the DJI Go app. If I put my X3 back in it springs into life as soon as the inspire is powered so I am pretty sure there is no pin damage anywhere.

I did find a post where some people were having initialisation issues unless the camera was angled in a particular way, but this didn't work for me.

I am on the latest FW on the inspire and latest DJI go app. Any suggestions before I return it?

Thanks in advance.
 
I have just received my Z3, but when I power on the Inspire I get nothing, no dance, no movement and no image transmission in the DJI Go app. If I put my X3 back in it springs into life as soon as the inspire is powered so I am pretty sure there is no pin damage anywhere.

I did find a post where some people were having initialisation issues unless the camera was angled in a particular way, but this didn't work for me.

I am on the latest FW on the inspire and latest DJI go app. Any suggestions before I return it?

Thanks in advance.
Sounds like another dead one I'm afraid.
DJI quality control strikes again!
 
Thanks - I've now sent it back to the supplier. Unfortunately, there are no Z3's in stock in the UK so I might be waiting a while before I can find another.
 
Thanks - I've now sent it back to the supplier. Unfortunately, there are no Z3's in stock in the UK so I might be waiting a while before I can find another.

Who told you there are none in the UK? (Let me guess Quadcopters.co.uk?)

Heliguy have them (pre order) but delivery for Thursday
DJI Zenmuse Z3 Zoom Camera - Heliguy

Wheelspin have them in stock (shadow stock for now)
DJI DJI-Z3 - DJI Zenmuse Z3 Camera

2 in stock via Amazon...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DJI-Zenmuse-Gimbal-camera-white/dp/B01J6DKSDA

BOYD have them in stock
DJI Zenmuse Z3 3 Axis Zoom Camera Up To 7x Zoom Build Your Own Drone

DJI have them (ships in 2 days but that's normal for them)
Buy Zenmuse Z3

Digibroadcast have them
DJI Zenmuse Z3 Camera
 
Who told you there are none in the UK? (Let me guess Quadcopters.co.uk?)

Heliguy have them (pre order) but delivery for Thursday
DJI Zenmuse Z3 Zoom Camera - Heliguy

Wheelspin have them in stock (shadow stock for now)
DJI DJI-Z3 - DJI Zenmuse Z3 Camera

2 in stock via Amazon...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DJI-Zenmuse-Gimbal-camera-white/dp/B01J6DKSDA

BOYD have them in stock
DJI Zenmuse Z3 3 Axis Zoom Camera Up To 7x Zoom Build Your Own Drone

DJI have them (ships in 2 days but that's normal for them)
Buy Zenmuse Z3

Digibroadcast have them
DJI Zenmuse Z3 Camera
Am I allowed to say Quadcopters suck? Obviously I'm generalising ;-)
 
I had same issues at first. Playing around with controller firmware and ac firmware fixed that
 
I had same issues at first. Playing around with controller firmware and ac firmware fixed that
Can I ask what firmware you ended up with to get it to work? I was optimistically thinking that being on the latest would be the best option :)

Also what do you think of the Z3?
 
Who told you there are none in the UK? (Let me guess Quadcopters.co.uk?)

Heliguy have them (pre order) but delivery for Thursday
DJI Zenmuse Z3 Zoom Camera - Heliguy

Wheelspin have them in stock (shadow stock for now)
DJI DJI-Z3 - DJI Zenmuse Z3 Camera

2 in stock via Amazon...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DJI-Zenmuse-Gimbal-camera-white/dp/B01J6DKSDA

BOYD have them in stock
DJI Zenmuse Z3 3 Axis Zoom Camera Up To 7x Zoom Build Your Own Drone

DJI have them (ships in 2 days but that's normal for them)
Buy Zenmuse Z3

Digibroadcast have them
DJI Zenmuse Z3 Camera
I brought the last one from BYOD so they are out of stock and can't get any more at the moment, but will look at the others, thanks.

I've just spoken to Heliguy and they don't have them and don't know when they are getting them. Will try the others...
 
Last edited:
Following up on my post - managed to get another Z3 (from kooltoyz) and tested today. First time fitting and nothing, appeared dead. Then tried by holding the yaw motors aligned vertically (as found on an rcgroups post) and powered on and she powered up.

I had tried the vertical alignment on the previous Z3, but it did nothing. Oddly once the shop got it back they tested on their inspire and it worked. We were both running the latest firmware, DJI go app etc so no idea why...

My initial (very brief) tests with the Z3 for photographic purposes are extremely positive!
 
You have to rotate the Z3 to its correct horizontal position or it appears dead if it's vertically aligned.

There is no stop like on the X3 so it goes to a dead zone for storage.


Also note a number of users are having picture breakup in 4K with the Z3, folks are waiting for DJI to provide a fw fix.
 
You have to rotate the Z3 to its correct horizontal position or it appears dead if it's vertically aligned.

There is no stop like on the X3 so it goes to a dead zone for storage.


Also note a number of users are having picture breakup in 4K with the Z3, folks are waiting for DJI to provide a fw fix.

When you say the correct horizontal position, can you elaborate (just in case I was lucky to get it to work)? Thanks!
 
When you say the correct horizontal position, can you elaborate (just in case I was lucky to get it to work)? Thanks!

Like this

7872169687a0516aa954342e3ae7bf4a.jpg


Not like this

5ce796efee2d331ca3552ef821114532.jpg



Take it out the case, fit it and rotate it so it's arms are horizontal before turning on, it does not have to be bang on but it work fire up vertical.
 
Has anyone had any problems calibrating it ? Mine stops half way and displays an error 'gimbal has reached full rotation' or something like that. Haven't tried the suggested arms horizontal when powering up so that may fix my issue.
 
Given the gimbal has stops (allowing just 360 degree rotation) have you checked that the camera is in the middle position, in relation to the white line, when attaching (so it can rotate 360 degrees either way?
 
Who told you there are none in the UK? (Let me guess Quadcopters.co.uk?)

Heliguy have them (pre order) but delivery for Thursday
DJI Zenmuse Z3 Zoom Camera - Heliguy

Wheelspin have them in stock (shadow stock for now)
DJI DJI-Z3 - DJI Zenmuse Z3 Camera

2 in stock via Amazon...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DJI-Zenmuse-Gimbal-camera-white/dp/B01J6DKSDA

BOYD have them in stock
DJI Zenmuse Z3 3 Axis Zoom Camera Up To 7x Zoom Build Your Own Drone

DJI have them (ships in 2 days but that's normal for them)
Buy Zenmuse Z3

Digibroadcast have them
DJI Zenmuse Z3 Camera

MarionvilleModels in Edinburgh have some in stock - got mine from there.
 
When mine arrived and installed on my v2 inspire running the latest firmware it was terrible re lag and the image breaking up. Sent it back to the dealer and the cure is downgrading the bird to the one before the latest firmware (1.8 instead of 1.9 ????). Getting it back tomorrow so I'll be able to re-test on my bird.
 
Given the gimbal has stops (allowing just 360 degree rotation) have you checked that the camera is in the middle position, in relation to the white line, when attaching (so it can rotate 360 degrees either way?

Yes I have. What I have found is 1) the camera has to be as level as possible on power up 2) The 'Adjust Gimbal Roll' setting has to be set to '0.0' . Once I have done these 2 I can perform a successful gimbal calibration.
 
When mine arrived and installed on my v2 inspire running the latest firmware it was terrible re lag and the image breaking up. Sent it back to the dealer and the cure is downgrading the bird to the one before the latest firmware (1.8 instead of 1.9 ????). Getting it back tomorrow so I'll be able to re-test on my bird.

I get breakup and lag when I record video at 4K. When I drop it down to 1080p 30 in mid flight the lag goes away. But this is at a short distance. Still to test long (> 100 m) distance.
 
I get breakup and lag when I record video at 4K. When I drop it down to 1080p 30 in mid flight the lag goes away. But this is at a short distance. Still to test long (> 100 m) distance.
I think every owner of the Z3 is having this issue... if DJI would focus on one product instead of all this new releases, I'm pretty sure the issue would've be fixed by now. Unfortunately, we all have to take it in the....
 

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