Is it likely that this damaged my gimbal motor?

JS1500 · Mar 2, 2019

I just did something with my Evo that I promised myself I'd never do -- I turned it on with the gimbal cover still on it, and the drone tried to go through its gimbal calibration sequence before I noticed that the cover was still on. After taking it off and rebooting the drone, I didn't get any gimbal error messages or anything, and the gimbal seemed to work normally during flight. Is it likely that this one instance damaged the gimbal motor at all? I'm sure it's fine, but this stuff bothers my OCD quite a bit, as I try my best to take care of my Evo the best I can.

Jagerbomb52 · Mar 2, 2019

It could but since it fired right back up after taking it off with no issues I think you are safe. Many of us have done this in the past and there seems to be some forgiveness when this happens.

Madhungarian · Mar 2, 2019

JS1500 said:
I just did something with my Evo that I promised myself I'd never do -- I turned it on with the gimbal cover still on it, and the drone tried to go through its gimbal calibration sequence before I noticed that the cover was still on. After taking it off and rebooting the drone, I didn't get any gimbal error messages or anything, and the gimbal seemed to work normally during flight. Is it likely that this one instance damaged the gimbal motor at all? I'm sure it's fine, but this stuff bothers my OCD quite a bit, as I try my best to take care of my Evo the best I can.

Would it make you feel better if I told you like I have done it 2 times and it still works fine. YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Franlac · Mar 2, 2019

I also made this mistake several times !!
No worries the gimbal works well.
But since then I put a piece of red cloth to remember to remove it ..

JS1500 · Mar 2, 2019

I actually e-mailed Autel about it, and here's the response they gave me:

Thank you for contacting Autel Robotics Support. I completely understand your worries, I have done this with my Evo and have had the same reaction as well!

Evo's gimbal does have a built in response to this situation actually! It will shut all of the gimbal motors off if they come under too much stress so that there is no damage to the motors themselves. When the gimbal guard is on and you attempt to turn the camera on, this is exactly what Evo will do.

So you should be okay to continue to use Evo normally without any issues, but if you do notice any camera performance issues please let us know and we would be more than happy to help you out. Also, if you have any other questions or concerns please let me know, until then enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy flying!

Franlac · Mar 2, 2019

Autel the best customer's support !!!

xspwhite · Mar 6, 2019

I've done this dozens of times on my XSP.

UnRanged · Mar 7, 2019

Yep... I'm in the club too... A few times.

EvoFanatic · Mar 9, 2019

I've done that a few times as well. On my Spark, Mavic air and my Evo. I know the feeling, it's like 500 finger nails across a black board. I read where one guy was flying and thought his camera was broken. He forgot to remove the gimbal cover ?. At least I have never taken off with one still on.

xspwhite · Mar 9, 2019

Yep, that would kinda be like taking your boat on the water with the trailor still attached.

EvoFanatic · Mar 9, 2019

Yes Sir, makes you cringe all over. Horrible feeling. Then later you laugh and think WTF???. lol I don't mean to offend anyone. Just saying that was my experience.

sprtbkrydr · Mar 9, 2019

I've did it so many times now I can't count! Heck no it didn't hurt it. Worry not my friend.

EvoFanatic · Mar 9, 2019

Yea, no damage no harm no foul. Just a creaped out feeling and you know that you don't want to do it again...

EvoFanatic · Mar 9, 2019

"lol, yeah just don't make a habit of doing that and you'll be fine. Won't hurt anything. But don't do that every time you fly lol.... Just be calm you'll be a perfect flier.....

dafish · Jan 18, 2020

Came across this thread after starting mine with the cover on. Thought for sure I had damaged the gimbal motors but everything seems fine after a restart. This thread did put me more at ease about the mistake, something I hope to not repeat.

macoman · Jan 20, 2020

dafish said:
Came across this thread after starting mine with the cover on. Thought for sure I had damaged the gimbal motors but everything seems fine after a restart. This thread did put me more at ease about the mistake, something I hope to not repeat.

I did it once as well and no issues.