Shaky gimbal

[Pupsocket]

This is a first for me, lots of fast yaw jitters on the camera, like there's little to no stabilization on that axis. Pitch and roll look steady. On the previous flight, I was trying to adjust gimbal roll manually with little success during a very windy flight. Before this flight, I did a gimbal calibration on a level floor, vinyl over concrete slab. First attempt failed, second attempt succeeded and looked very level both indoor and out, as well as during the flight.

The flight was with visual obstacle avoidance off, radar displaying. Almost all my flights to date I do this, otherwise I occasionally get refusal to fly over 1-2 mph even at altitude.

Any ideas? What should I check first? App updated recently, and I've seen no requests to update firmware on controller or battery. Is there a way to check this? Force an update?

Sample clip:

 

[Madhungarian]

Seems like gusts of wind.

 

[Pupsocket]

Seems like gusts of wind.

It was almost completely calm.

 

[jcommstudios]

This is a first for me, lots of fast yaw jitters on the camera, like there's little to no stabilization on that axis. Pitch and roll look steady. On the previous flight, I was trying to adjust gimbal roll manually with little success during a very windy flight. Before this flight, I did a gimbal calibration on a level floor, vinyl over concrete slab. First attempt failed, second attempt succeeded and looked very level both indoor and out, as well as during the flight.

The flight was with visual obstacle avoidance off, radar displaying. Almost all my flights to date I do this, otherwise I occasionally get refusal to fly over 1-2 mph even at altitude.

Any ideas? What should I check first? App updated recently, and I've seen no requests to update firmware on controller or battery. Is there a way to check this? Force an update?

Sample clip:

@Pupsocket How windy was it? Looks like jello due to the wind. Did you accidently start the EVO without taking off the gimbal guard recently? Weird that you can only fly 1 or 2 mph and you shouldn't need to turn off the obstacle avoidance. Add a bit more info if you can. I've had 0 problems with my EVO since I picked it up 9 months ago. However I don't fly it in high winds over 20 mph.
I have a couple of Typhoon H I use in windy conditions. You may want to do a manual update via the SD card.

 

[jcommstudios]

It was almost completely calm.

@Pupsocket You should not be getting jello if there is no wind. You have a problem with the gimbal.

 

[rkymtnflyer]

I had the same issue. I sent video footage to Autel for review and they had me send in the aircraft. There was an issue with the gimbal and they replaced the entire assembly under warranty. Fantastic customer service. The only drawback was not having my drone for 2 weeks.

 

[Pupsocket]

Weather hasn't allowed any flights since then. I'll try again when I can and see if it persists.

 

[Fly-a-holic]

I experienced the exact same thing today at the lake. It was windy but not really gusty. I would say a steady 15mph wind. I landed and calibrated my gimbal and it seemed to have went away. I will try and post some videos if I have any of the jittering.

 

[Ansia]

I had the same issue. I sent video footage to Autel for review and they had me send in the aircraft. There was an issue with the gimbal and they replaced the entire assembly under warranty. Fantastic customer service. The only drawback was not having my drone for 2 weeks.

You got lucky. My Evo has been a week at the hands of Autel and I have yet to get an email from them indicating what is wrong.

 

[rkymtnflyer]

You got lucky. My Evo has been a week at the hands of Autel and I have yet to get an email from them indicating what is wrong.

I’ve had great experiences with Autel. It took about a week to hear from them, and for me that’s understandable. I figure they have an existing queue and then they need to troubleshoot. 2 weeks turnaround was a bit long, but they totally took care of me. I’m sure they’ll get you taken care of too.

 

[Ansia]

I’ve had great experiences with Autel. It took about a week to hear from them, and for me that’s understandable. I figure they have an existing queue and then they need to troubleshoot. 2 weeks turnaround was a bit long, but they totally took care of me. I’m sure they’ll get you taken care of too.

How did they take care of you? This is my first experience with Autel, but I have had experiences with the evil drone corp. The day they received my drone, I got an update indicating that they got it. On the third day it was repaired and on it's way back to me. In all, it took 8 days to come back to me.

My complaint is that they didn't even bother to email me saying they got the drone and it's current;y in queue.

 

[Madhungarian]

How did they take care of you? This is my first experience with Autel, but I have had experiences with the evil drone corp. The day they received my drone, I got an update indicating that they got it. On the third day it was repaired and on it's way back to me. In all, it took 8 days to come back to me.

My complaint is that they didn't even bother to email me saying they got the drone and it's current;y in queue.

What is wrong with your drone? Did the antennas go out?

 

[Ansia]

What is wrong with your drone? Did the antennas go out?

It never gave altitude in the EXIF data. I spoke with Autel asking why they didn't include it on the Evo, when the XSP clearly has it. Turns out my Evo was the problem.

Displaying Altitude on the Evo's photographs.

So ever since I purchased my Evo, when I took a photograph, it would indicate GPS coordinates, but show Altitude as 0. I figured it was normal from the Evos to do this, since I don't know anyone else who owns an Evo to compare. Today I contacted Autel to find out if there was a way to activate...

autelpilots.com

 

[rkymtnflyer]

How did they take care of you? This is my first experience with Autel, but I have had experiences with the evil drone corp. The day they received my drone, I got an update indicating that they got it. On the third day it was repaired and on it's way back to me. In all, it took 8 days to come back to me.

My complaint is that they didn't even bother to email me saying they got the drone and it's current;y in queue.

They fixed my drone at no cost to me, they were totally courteous, they were prompt (in my opinion)… generally speaking they met all of my expectations.
If you think they could improve on something maybe you should let them know. Based on my interactions with Autel, I’m sure they’d be happy to hear your suggestions.

 

[Ansia]

They fixed my drone at no cost to me, they were totally courteous, they were prompt (in my opinion)… generally speaking they met all of my expectations.
If you think they could improve on something maybe you should let them know. Based on my interactions with Autel, I’m sure they’d be happy to hear your suggestions.

I already talked to them and made them confirm they received my drone. In my opinion, it really isn't that hard to receive the drone, verify the RMA and update the system, and finally sending an email saying so. If they want to spend 3 months fiddling with it, so be it, but it is courteous to let the client know.

 

[rkymtnflyer]

I already talked to them and made them confirm they received my drone. In my opinion, it really isn't that hard to receive the drone, verify the RMA and update the system, and finally sending an email saying so. If they want to spend 3 months fiddling with it, so be it, but it is courteous to let the client know.

I agree, communication is huge.

 

[Pupsocket]

The only time I've seen the effects of strong wind on video stabilization is when doing abrupt maneuvering, such as full speed forward to sudden stop, and this will cause a momentary hiccup or two, with some extreme amount of props showing

I flew a flight tonight and it was doing the same thing, maybe not 100% of the time, but going from butter smooth to jittery about 50-50, which matches what I saw from before.

I started to draft an email to Autel, and turned on everything to retrieve app and firmware revision numbers. I managed to leave everything on with the app at the splash screen (with the video samples). After close to 10 minutes, the app announced new firmware V1.3.46. Since I had just recorded all my current revisions, I could see that almost everything has been updated, with only the Autel Explorer app itself and the ESC firmware remaining the same.

I updated firmware with the current battery, then installed a new battery. Again it took maybe 5-10 minutes of idling at the splash screen to announce new firmware for each of my three batteries.

Why would this take so long? Previous firmware updates showed up after about 30 seconds at the splash screen. Usually when I read here about people starting to see new beta or general updates, I start to watch the "Go Fly" screen for a spell to see if the general release is ready.

To cut this long story short, I'll try flying again with updated firmware. I'm flying with either a Samsung S6 or Note 9, both on the latest Explorer app version.

 

[Pupsocket]

Brief update: on today's flight with updated firmware, no gimbal stability problems.

Maybe it was a result of updated app plus older firmware, not sure.

 

[jcommstudios]

Brief update: on today's flight with updated firmware, no gimbal stability problems.

Maybe it was a result of updated app plus older firmware, not sure.

@Pupsocket Make sure you reset the camera via the Explorer app to allow the new fw updates for the camera.
This last update has some image quality and horizon control fixes for the camera.
I figured this out a few fw updates ago and it cleaned up some softness I was seeing with the camera.

(1) Turn on the controller and drone. (2) Tap the camera wrench icon at the bottom right and you will be in camera settings. (3) Scroll down to just after "Video Encoding Format" and you will see "Rest Camera". (3) tap the blue" Reset Camera" lettering and start the reset.
When you do make sure the EVO is on a level surface and that your gimbal guard is off. Do it after each fw update.