Disassemble camera from gimbal

[Sedoj]

Hello Sedoj,

Sorry to hear of the Gimbal motors not working, Anafi connections are very sensitive. Try disconnecting and reconnecting the motor ribbon connections. The end of the Gimbal motors ribbon connects to small motor board, the front end of this motors ribbon connects to back side of Gimbal assembly. And of course the motor board ribbon connects to main board which powers the motor board.

The camera harness connects to the main board, same board the antenna cables and vertical camera connects too.

Yes indeed, Anafi ribbon connections are very sensitive, just disconnect and reconnect.

Keep us posted, try rebooting the Anafi as well.

Paul

View attachment 2003

Dear Paul! Thank you SO MUCH for the quick and extensive and useful answer!
Currently, the situation is as:
1) I have checked the connectors, everything seems to be OK (see picture)
2) In the Freeflight the gimbal-camera icon has green color (see picture)
3) However, in the inizialisation process of the drone, the gimbal is dead (normally, it moves). Calibration process just "hangs" (see picture)

All the motors are OK, drone is flying normally, camera is alive.
So, which options do I have?

1) To take the ribbon from the new gimbal and put it to my old one (it's a pity, as the new gimbal seems to be absolutely OK, and the seller in ebay has good reputation, they claimed they checked the gimbal and it calibrates!)
2) To buy the motor card and replace
3) To buy mail board and replace (VERY expensive option (((

How can I principally understand the source of the problem? Can it be that my motor board is partly broken (because of the short circuiting during the crash)? So the main motors are working and gimbal motors are dead... Can it be that (as indicated in other thread) that the main board is somehow magically "paired" to the electronics of the gimbal, so they are not compatible??? This version looks a bit exotic to me, but...

What would you advise? I'm really scared to enter in further expenses if I will start to experiment and replace other parts... (

Alex

 

[Sedoj]

Hello Sedoj,

Sorry to hear of the Gimbal motors not working, Anafi connections are very sensitive. Try disconnecting and reconnecting the motor ribbon connections. The end of the Gimbal motors ribbon connects to small motor board, the front end of this motors ribbon connects to back side of Gimbal assembly. And of course the motor board ribbon connects to main board which powers the motor board.

PS
1) In my opinion, connectors shall be OK, because if the problem was with connection to the motherboard, the main motors wouldn't work as well! But everything is functional - main motors, GPS, lower sensor etc.
2) Is it easy to extract the motorboard? I hope I shall not remove the main board and hands in order to remove it, right? Only two screws from the small "window" from the side of the gimbal, covered by rubber oval?
Alex

 

[Waldo Pepper]

Hello Alex,

I’m starting to feel maybe these are paired as indicated on the other thread, but I believe I’ve read others have successfully changed out Gimbals with another?

The ribbon connecting to backside of Gimbal assembly, have you checked here? That can be slightly off, be careful especially here that ribbon can tear at this area.

Keep us posted,
Paul

 

[Sedoj]

This is the explanation from the other thread I mentioned above -
"Sorry, folks...
I have a hunch that the gimbal and the motherboard are somehow paired...
I had more than 10 crashed Anafis to experiment with... so this is the conclusion.
The camera board has some eprom that stores information. If you replace the entire gimbal, no joy - only video feed, but no gimbal initialization. If you keep the camera board, but you swap the gimbal electronics (motors +drivers) the gimbal starts to autocalibrate, but is not finishing it - at least for me. I can guess the drivers are also paired with the mainboard ...
So be carefull when buying gimbal replacements - who guarantees they will work just by replacing them? I hope the SDK release will shed some light on this issue."

Can it be real???

 

[Sedoj]

Hello Alex,

I’m starting to feel maybe these are paired as indicated on the other thread, we are all still learning

OMG!!! Can it be true??? But how??? Physically, how? But there are few gimbals on the market for sale, are they all just a waste of money in case if the gimbal is dead? Can't believe in this!
In my case, it is quite *possible* it was a short circuit during the crash (at least, the ribbon looks not only torn, but a bit melted as well). Probably, it is still the problem with motor board because of the shorting? But then, why the board generally works... Only questions at the moment (

 

[Waldo Pepper]

PS
1) In my opinion, connectors shall be OK, because if the problem was with connection to the motherboard, the main motors wouldn't work as well! But everything is functional - main motors, GPS, lower sensor etc.
2) Is it easy to extract the motorboard? I hope I shall not remove the main board and hands in order to remove it, right? Only two screws from the small "window" from the side of the gimbal, covered by rubber oval?
Alex

I did replace the motor board to mine, later after replacement that wasn’t the problem. Purshased the motor board off eBay from the U.K.. the problem I have again is loosing video feed, Gimbal motors are working with mine.

Paul

 

[Sedoj]

I did replace the motor board to mine, later after replacement that wasn’t the problem. Purshased the motor board off eBay from the U.K.. the problem I have again is loosing video feed, Gimbal motors are working with mine.

Paul

Used, but functional motorboard in ebay is not so expensive, fortunately, so principally I can buy it... However, the problem is - in case if this is true (that the gimbals are *principally* non replaceable), this changes everything! Then the only way out for me is to extract (OMG) the ribbon from the fully functional, but "other" gimbal and put the ribbon back to mine. But from the first glance this looks weird! )))

 

[Waldo Pepper]

Hello Alex,

Motor board auctually has three screws holding it on, was tough removing mine very tight quarters.

Paul

 

[Sedoj]

Hello Alex,

Motor board auctually has three screws holding it on, was tough removing mine very tight quarters.

Paul

So, the problem is probably with the third one (from the side of GPS, near the power input)? Ufff... Need to remove GPS and arms?

 

[Waldo Pepper]

So, the problem is probably with the third one (from the side of GPS, near the power input)? Ufff... Need to remove GPS and arms?

Hello Alex,

Yes, to remove motor board the complete Gimbal assembly needs to be removed to remove two of the three screws holding the motor board. Be careful not to tear the Gimbal motor ribbon when the Gimbal assembly is tangling while removing the screws to motor board, and yes GPS needs to be removed as well.

You’ll get it going, I’m sure it’s minor on our end we just need to find were the issue is auctually at. I my case, it’s the camera not showing live feed.

Have patience, look at this as a learning experience that will help others with future input when others have same issues.

Keep us posted,
Paul

 

[Jagerbomb52]

With my crashed Anafi after spending all winter in that tree The gimble would not move up or down. Carefully lifting each connection just ever so slightly and pushing them back down with just enough force not to harm anything I managed to get the up and down movement to work again but in the process I lost live feed so I redid the procedure again and this time I had both gimble movement and my live feed back. I does seem to be working just like it was new. I do not think it takes very much for these connections to get out of line.

 

[Sedoj]

Hello Alex,

Yes, to remove motor board the complete Gimbal assembly needs to be removed to remove two of the three screws holding the motor board. Be careful not to tear the Gimbal motor ribbon when the Gimbal assembly is tangling while removing the screws to motor board, and yes GPS needs to be removed as well.

You’ll get it going, I’m sure it’s minor on our end we just need to find were the issue is auctually at. I my case, it’s the camera not showing live feed.

Have patience, look at this as a learning experience that will help others with future input when others have same issues.

Keep us posted,
Paul

Thank you, Paul! The only thing that troubles me is this info that gimbals could be incompatible with motherboards! In this case, all my efforts would be useless ((. How can we check this info?

 

[Waldo Pepper]

With my crashed Anafi after spending all winter in that tree The gimble would not move up or down. Carefully lifting each connection just ever so slightly and pushing them back down with just enough force not to harm anything I managed to get the up and down movement to work again but in the process I lost live feed so I redid the procedure again and this time I had both gimble movement and my live feed back. I does seem to be working just like it was new. I do not think it takes very much for these connections to get out of line.

Thank you, Paul! The only thing that troubles me is this info that gimbals could be incompatible with motherboards! In this case, all my efforts would be useless ((. How can we check this info?

hello Alex,

With the Anafi Gimbal issues, some of us will eventually figure out and repair the issue. We need to hang in there and share with others what we learned, I know it’s tough we’ll eventually figure this out as we’re all learning from one another.

As far as Gimbals being paired with mother boards, I don’t know Maybe they are. But I believe some have been successful replacing Gimbals/cameras?

I have a spare motor board, it works you’re welcome to try it see it that is yours problem but I believe it’s elsewhere. But you’re welcome to it, least we can do we’re all in this together.

All the best,
Paul

 

[Waldo Pepper]

With my crashed Anafi after spending all winter in that tree The gimble would not move up or down. Carefully lifting each connection just ever so slightly and pushing them back down with just enough force not to harm anything I managed to get the up and down movement to work again but in the process I lost live feed so I redid the procedure again and this time I had both gimble movement and my live feed back. I does seem to be working just like it was new. I do not think it takes very much for these connections to get out of line.

Hello Augustine,

Appreciate you sharing, any information for others is a big help.

Sounds like your crashed Anafi was the issue with my used Anafi. Camera was working but no motors for camera tilt or stabilizer working. Took it all apart, fixed the tilt and stabilizer motor issues which were probably a loose connection like yours, but lost camera feed.

Camera feed was regained, then it went away again. I know eventually I’ll get it working again, have plenty of patience ?

Thanks again for sharing,
Psul

 

[Sedoj]

hello Alex,

With the Anafi Gimbal issues, some of us will eventually figure out and repair the issue. We need to hang in there and share with others what we learned, I know it’s tough we’ll eventually figure this out as we’re all learning from one another.

As far as Gimbals being paired with mother boards, I don’t know Maybe they are. But I believe some have been successful replacing Gimbals/cameras?

I have a spare motor board, it works you’re welcome to try it see it that is yours problem but I believe it’s elsewhere. But you’re welcome to it, least we can do we’re all in this together.

All the best,
Paul

Dear Paul! Thank you for your generous proposal! I need to understand my strategy - shall I believe in this (semi-conspirological))) theory that gimbal is paired with the mother board (then I need to crack the new gimbal and take the ribbon from it) or not (then, the next reasonable step will be to change the motor board!)
Will write you PM
Thanks again!
Alex

 

[mazsola76]

Hi, folks!
I'm the author of the original post from the other thread regarding the pairing theory.
I have more than 12 crashed birds (Ebay...) and by doing all possible combinations this is my sad conclusion. I done resets after each operation, even FW updates... Nothing.
Do you have some other info from different places?
As I remember correctly DJI does the same... I have no idea (not-so-official) DJI repair centers what can do.
Nothing conspirological , probably it has a very good reason to do it (field of view, chroma, geometry adjustments - I don't know...).
The camera board has 3 chips : the CMOS imaging sensor, an Invensense 3 axis giroscope IC and an epoxy embedded something. There can be stored pairing info in the first and the last I think. Communication to the motherboard is done via the same multicore "video" cable.
Hacking a little bit with the help of the released SDK probably will help by analyzing the stored parameters. (It was partly done already to he Bebops).
As for Ebay gimbals... fingers crossed. My advice is to use them only for ribbons. BTW, I have 5 or 6 mint gimbals... only good for video feed.
The biggest question is if there are "official" Parrot gimbal repair packs . I saw none, but if there will be it will raise some questions... The same is true for "replacement" mainboards.

 

[Sedoj]

Hi, folks!
I'm the author of the original post from the other thread regarding the pairing theory.
I have more than 12 crashed birds (Ebay...) and by doing all possible combinations this is my sad conclusion. I done resets after each operation, even FW updates... Nothing.
Do you have some other info from different places?
As I remember correctly DJI does the same... I have no idea (not-so-official) DJI repair centers what can do.
Nothing conspirological , probably it has a very good reason to do it (field of view, chroma, geometry adjustments - I don't know...).
The camera board has 3 chips : the CMOS imaging sensor, an Invensense 3 axis giroscope IC and an epoxy embedded something. There can be stored pairing info in the first and the last I think. Communication to the motherboard is done via the same multicore "video" cable.
Hacking a little bit with the help of the released SDK probably will help by analyzing the stored parameters. (It was partly done already to he Bebops).
As for Ebay gimbals... fingers crossed. My advice is to use them only for ribbons. BTW, I have 5 or 6 mint gimbals... only good for video feed.
The biggest question is if there are "official" Parrot gimbal repair packs . I saw none, but if there will be it will raise some questions... The same is true for "replacement" mainboards.

HI! Thank you for coming! Welcome!)
From the fresh news - I've contacted the vendor that sells gimbals in ebay. They said - a) the gimbal is proven to be perfectly OK, b) they sell a lot of them and generally people don't complain c) they advised to make hard reset. What is the hard reset and how it shall be done in Anafi??
Alex

 

[mazsola76]

Well... As a SELLER, he is entitled to say anything ... Like a car salesman...
The "HARD" reset he is referring is the "10 second battery button" reset. In fact it is soft-reset and as I see it resets only magnetometer data (this is the only visible, probably there are more things under the hood) . It can be done from FF6, too.
I've done it... after each swap...
Believe me, I'm more than interested in a solution. I have managed to repair only one bird from 12, coming probably from a repair center (bought in one batch).
As a small consolation, I can assemble 5 or 6 birds with no mechanical stabilization, still flyable. In fact, the Anafi's electronic stabilization is soo good, it's almost usable this way . Good for practicing risky proximity shots.
As I see it is 2-axis , not only on yaw/pan axis.
I must only set the fixed angle somehow for the camera .

PS. If it a LEGIT Parrot replacement part, it could be a "virgin" one and it could work from some reason only known by Parrot... But only IF. I really doubt it...

 

[Sedoj]

OMG, so, this means I just wasted money (about hundred bucks with the shipping) for the gimbal??? My logic was to install it to my crashed drone and keep my gimbal as a spare parts (camera, gimbal motors). In case if the situation is really like this (gimbals are non compatible with other drones), seems it was a super stupid decision ?. So, you would advise to open the new gimbal, extract the ribbon and try with my old gimbal?

 

[mazsola76]

Exactly... But obviously, first try to swap it directly... See it with your eyes. Maybe I'm wrong...
As for the ribbon extraction, proceed with extreme care, very slowly. I heated all metal parts with a heatgun previously at 150 dgr C, just to peel it off easier.
Take care also when you reinsert the plugs in the driver boards. I managed to compromise one... or was it already, I dont' know. (badly crashed birds...)
It's doable, I've done it 3 or 4 times... but useless again... If the driver boards are not paired somehow, too (my theory, again) it does the calibration dance (so ribbon replacement OK), but reports error.
If you don't attach the original camera via it's video cable it even doesn't starts the dance.
Good luck!