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Gimbal Motor Overload - Help

Spark4Me

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Aug 3, 2017
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19
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67
My Spark has about 1 hr on it, and no crashes. Last time I flew, I couldn't get the camera to point straight down (I was able to do so on earlier flights), and got the error message "Gimbal Motor Overload". That error went away, but the I couldn't point down.

I thought that I'd bring it into the house and cool down. I did a firmware refresh, and restart, and both IMU and compass calibrations. That didn't seem to fix anything. The range in pitch was from 0 to -60 degrees. The drone is sitting on a desk, powered off, and pointing about 40 degrees down. Manually, I can move gimbal up about 20 and down about 40, where I encounter some resistance, but can get it to point straight down. However, as soon as I let go, it springs up to about 60 degrees down.

I first thought it might be related to the cold temps (~30 F), but when the problem was still there at room temperature, it was clear that was not the case.

On a separate matter, I tried to use the screen record function on my iPhone 6 (latest iOS 11.2.2), to capture the overlaid data, but it seems that in all but one cases, the phone always somehow cancels the recording without any notice. Does anybody else have this problem? The screen record function works fine with every other app I use, so I can only speculate that the DJI GO 4 app is the problem.
 
Format your sd card or try a different one.

As for your gimbal - I’d contact DJI. Mine has only ever done that if I put filters on it.
 
...
As for your gimbal - I’d contact DJI. Mine has only ever done that if I put filters on it.


the same thing happened to me. Spark's first flight appeared the "gimbal motor overload" alarm: I had mounted a filter on the lens. I have turned off and restarted the Spark and the alarm no longer appeared. On Saturday I'll do a gimbal check with and without filters
 
the same thing happened to me. Spark's first flight appeared the "gimbal motor overload" alarm: I had mounted a filter on the lens. I have turned off and restarted the Spark and the alarm no longer appeared. On Saturday I'll do a gimbal check with and without filters

Do you have full range of elevation control i.e. 0 to -90 degrees (straight down)?
 
Gimbal motor overload means that the gimbal is not functioning properly. My guess is that the filter could be some what heavy at times where the gimbal can’t sustains its weight, or there is physically something obstructing the up/ down motor.
 
Do you have full range of elevation control i.e. 0 to -90 degrees (straight down)?

Per the manual, the gimbal only goes to 85 degrees down.
 
One thing i noticed here as i din't use a filter but when the wind comes up to 35 km this message apperars. Time to land.
 
(I sent this same post to DJI Forum: "Gimbal Motor Overload" warning)


Hello

I bought used, not crashed Spark, where camera was stucked somehow. I tried the advices I found from the DJI Forum, but they didn’t worked. So far what I have tried:
- resetting the Spark upside-down
- resetting the Spark with severan seconds holds (2/3-beeps)
- different fw’s
- factory reset
- compass and IMU calibrations

Seems like the gimbal tries to do initialize procedure during start and its failing (see the video:
)

- when Spark has fully started, gimbal stucked, camera oblique/tilted about 22 degrees. It’s able to move up and down, only. Pitching doesn’t do anything.
- when I move the camera manually straigth, it holds the position straigth but doesn’t follow any controls. Pitching doesn’t work.

Whole time there is ”Gimbal motor overload” warning and I can record video and photos and all the flying functions work perfectly.

I don’t wanna send it to DJI support, since the DHL etc are expensive and there is no quarantee for solving this problem. I can pay the parts, if needed...

Can you advise me to try something which has worked or something new?
 
Hi...If the spark is sitting in grass while initializing it can cause this. Make sure nothing is touching the camera. Also, if possible try to build your own board, where you can make the pcb assembly as per your requirements and these issues due to hardware limitations will not occur. In this case, It usually takes a minute after takeoff before that message goes away. I started using a large plastic cheese platter as a landing pad while on grass.
 
Last edited:
A persistent hardware error in a factory fresh drone is often a failure of DJI's quality control -- i.e. they sold you a broken drone.

All of the above suggestions and your previous reset and calibration should have fixed it. Something internal is binding the motor and giving overload error. It should have full range of motion manually when powered off.

If just one hour of flight you could return it to place of purchase or to DJI under warranty.
 

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