Back to a damper question

[bobfa100]

Drone survives without landing gear and stripped the bracket which holds the gimbal in place to the frame. I found a complete replacement kit for the landing gear including assembly. Camera is not tested yet as I know too little. I was able to super glue the top assembly for the gimbal in two places and reconnect two rubber grommets back into place. No wires were disturbed and the camera should be working. The camera will run along the track to attach it to the frame, however there is not enough rail left to hold it into place. Any suggestions, or am I forced to replace the camera? If replacement is the only solution, is their a cheaper model I can use until I can replace the GC03+ which I have. i.e. can I use a Q500's 4K camera short term? Thanks for any assistance.

Vertigo Drones has a great selection of Yuneec parts. I used them to fix my Q500 recently.
Yuneec

 

[Mrgs1]

Here we go again with damper confusion. At least once a month this issue comes up, and only a very few of us are aware of the problem associated with using these dampers. Even Yuneec seems unaware of the hazard of using this specific damper on the CGO3+.

This kit above comes with the short ball shaped dampers. Despite the fact that many CGO3+ gimbals came with these dampers, this does not make them the correct damper to use in this application. These will work in the CGO2 & CGO3 gimbals, but are too short for the 360° CGO3+ gimbal and could cause the slipring wires to rub on the upper metal gimbal plate and cause a short. This can result in a system shutdown mid flight and a fall from the sky. A member here reported just such an incident, and that prompted me to inspect mine. Sure enough, my wires were rubbing but I caught it before the insulation had completely rubbed off. I urge anyone with a CGO3+ to use ONLY the taller 3-rib/bellows style. These provides enough room for the slipring wires to breath and will never rub. The photos below were taken with the gimbal plates pulled apart as far as possible and have red arrows indicating where the wires exit the slipring and where they WILL rub on the top metal gimbal plate if you use the short round style dampers.
View attachment 16215View attachment 16216View attachment 16217

The only problem is making sure you are getting the right dampers because this part number issue goes all the back to Yuneec, and most suppliers have no idea this is a problem. The responsibility for acquiring the proper dampers rests on the consumer, and this has become a challenge. Do NOT rely on a part number or the package description, rather do a diligent search and make sure the dampers you buy for the CGO3+ look like these below, even though the say they are for the Q500, these are the ones you should be using if you want to avoid the potential shorting problem.
View attachment 16213

You have been warned!

Rubber sleeve over the slip-knot wires?

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Rubber sleeve over the slip-knot wires?

If you are so inclined to do that modification, I think a short length of shrink wrap will be a better choice. Just a short length, leaving some slack to accommodate some movement between the upper and lower plates.

 

[DCH]

Rubber sleeve over the slip-knot wires?

If you are so inclined to do that modification, I think a short length of shrink wrap will be a better choice. Just a short length, leaving some slack to accommodate some movement between the upper and lower plates.

What is being overlooked with this solution is the fact the gimbal is not free to move in all directions if it is rubbing on the top plate while supporting the weight of the camera. It's movement is impaired if it is rubbing all the time. This also means it can transmit vibration from the aircraft to the camera, because there is contact between the two gimbal plates, defeating the very reason we use dampers.

 

[jandjfrench]

That's interesting. My month-old H has the ball gimbals. Anyone have success getting Yuneec to send the right parts, or am I gonna have to eat the cost?

The ball gimbals are correct for the Typhoon H Pro. I don't know about the standard H. With the Pro, and you were flying inverted, the wiring would contact a plastic insulator but this shouldn't be of much concern.

 

[DCH]

The ball gimbals are correct for the Typhoon H Pro. I don't know about the standard H. With the Pro, and you were flying inverted, the wiring would contact a plastic insulator but this shouldn't be of much concern.

Anytime there is a potential chance for a crash, that is ALWAYS cause for concern, especially when an issue has been identified and reported more than once.

All indications from Yuneec suggest the ball dampers are correct, I am not arguing that point. Correct dampers or not, the issue remains and the risk is real. This is clearly an engineering oversight that is taking time to manifest and make itself evident. It takes a bit of time to rub thru insulation, how many more reports there will be remains to be seen. ...Will the next victim be you? The odds are not great that every CGO3+ gimbal would short, and only a few have reported it so far. All I am doing here is identifying the issue and bringing it to the attention of those with a CGO3+ using the ball dampers. I'm not telling what dampers to use, by all means use the dampers of your choice, I'm merely pointing out what might happen if you use the short ones.

And again @jandjfrench, potential short aside, you are missing the point that if the two gimbal plates are making contact, then the dampers can not do their job properly.

 

[Good time Charlie]

Rubber sleeve over the slip-knot wires?

That requires more work than simply replacing dampers.

 

[Mrgs1]

That requires more work than simply replacing dampers.

Don't a lot of modifications? And all corners covered, hopefully.

 

[jmhinsd]

Don't a lot of modifications? And all corners covered, hopefully.

Ya, that was my thinking too. Why not additionally protect wires? I was thinking maybe paint a little liquid tape onto metal plate and/or added heat shrink to wires. Actually, even if the wires don't rub, just a dab of liquid tape on the wires might be all that is needed for that nice comfy feeling.

Given the fervor, I think I'll just add this to my pre-flight checklist. #47 - "Gimbal Wires?"..."Check!"

 

[Sureshot]

Just in time. I inspected my CGO3+ mount, and the wires were rubbing against the contact retainer plate.
When the gimbal is hanging normally - no worries.
But, flight vibration, and especially the pressure applied when re-attaching the dampers are big risks.

 

[AeroJ]

After reading this thread I too was prompted to check my H, and sure enough - there were contact marks on the upper plate, which I considered a serious enough risk to not fly until I had replaced the ball dampers with the Q500 ribbed hollow ones. @DCH particularly deserves a big thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Fortunately they were in stock on Yuneec's UK site, and after phoning them to confirm the correct ones were going in the bag I have hopefully managed to avoid one of the horrible potential crash situations for £8, which I consider a small price to pay even if Yuneec should have just used the right dampers in the first place But I can't really blame them for that - as has been speculated here before, this is a problem which might take years and years to reveal itself.

 

[Mrgs1]

After reading this thread I too was prompted to check my H, and sure enough - there were contact marks on the upper plate, which I considered a serious enough risk to not fly until I had replaced the ball dampers with the Q500 ribbed hollow ones. @DCH particularly deserves a big thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Fortunately they were in stock on Yuneec's UK site, and after phoning them to confirm the correct ones were going in the bag I have hopefully managed to avoid one of the horrible potential crash situations for £8, which I consider a small price to pay even if Yuneec should have just used the right dampers in the first place But I can't really blame them for that - as has been speculated here before, this is a problem which might take years and years to reveal itself.

Rubber Damper (8pc): CGO3

Rubber Damper (8pc): CGO3 Q500 Accessories ***OUT OF STOCK***

yuneec.uk

So your using these?

 

[AeroJ]

Rubber Damper (8pc): CGO3

Rubber Damper (8pc): CGO3 Q500 Accessories ***OUT OF STOCK***

yuneec.uk

So you're using these?

Indeed I am

 

[DCH]

So your using these?

Indeed I am

A very wise choice!

 

[terrence davidson]

dch was the post from dec 2018. that said (those who are using cgo3+ dampers. after a while check you upper slipring wires for wear and exposing of bare wires. lost one e90 camera due to wire insulation rubbing off after I swapped e90 dampers to cgo3+ ones. Lost the birds mainboard as well.) ring a bell found on c23 rubber dampers (gel filled) main post.

 

[Mrgs1]

Ordered a pack so will see how it goes, I suppose the wear comes from turning the gimbal, rather than the drone? Coming from a 2 way gimbal I've never used the 360 degree probably once or twice.

 

[AeroJ]

Interesting developments guys...

Now my new dampers have arrived, and I removed the old ones, some facts I was unaware of come to light, now I can see properly !

1. The plate above those wires is not metal, even though it looked like it when inspected with all the dampers in place. Is that my H or everyone's ?

Because if it's not metal, then I'd say the risk of shorting was considerably reduced, possibly to the point of complete negation.

2. The marks I was seeing on that plate were NOT the wires rubbing - the part that was rubbing was the raised plastic part in between the 2 wiring looms which was slightly above the level of the wires.

3. My camera wires were undamaged and had no bare wires or even signs of any wear on the sleeving.

4. Despite saying so on the website these dampers did NOT come with any retaining clips.

So was my swapping out of the dampers unnecessary ? Not entirely. Now at least I know those cables (or the plastic thing between them) won't be rubbing anymore.
But now there is A LOT more side-to-side play in the gimbal, and it's wobbling about a lot more than it did with the old dampers. It remains to be seen if that comes through in flight footage, although I suspect it might.

I tried reinstalling the 2 retaining clips from the old dampers, but they are just not long enough, so were creating 2 hard connections between upper and lower sections, so I removed them, and will be going in search of dental floss or fishing line this afternoon...

So hopefully my updates there will help anyone else considering this replacement to consider if they need to...

 

[Mrgs1]

Interesting developments guys...

Now my new dampers have arrived, and I removed the old ones, some facts I was unaware of come to light, now I can see properly !

1. The plate above those wires is not metal, even though it looked like it when inspected with all the dampers in place. Is that my H or everyone's ?

Because if it's not metal, then I'd say the risk of shorting was considerably reduced, possibly to the point of complete negation.

2. The marks I was seeing on that plate were NOT the wires rubbing - the part that was rubbing was the raised plastic part in between the 2 wiring looms which was slightly above the level of the wires.

3. My camera wires were undamaged and had no bare wires or even signs of any wear on the sleeving.

4. Despite saying so on the website these dampers did NOT come with any retaining clips.

So was my swapping out of the dampers unnecessary ? Not entirely. Now at least I know those cables (or the plastic thing between them) won't be rubbing anymore.
But now there is A LOT more side-to-side play in the gimbal, and it's wobbling about a lot more than it did with the old dampers.
I tried reinstalling the 2 retaining clips from the old dampers, but they are just not long enough, so were creating 2 hard connections between upper and lower sections, so I removed them, and will be going in search of dental floss or fishing line this afternoon...

So hopefully my updates there will help anyone else considering this replacement to consider if they need to...

Let's hope the extra wobble isn't transmitted to the video stability?

 

[AeroJ]

Let's hope the extra wobble isn't transmitted to the video stability?

Very much hoping not ! As we stand, it does look VERY wobbly and my hopes aren't high :/ Gotta go get the floss before the tests commence !
Because of the extended travel between plates now I was also very worried about what might be happening to that while the craft was in its case on my back being jolted up and down as I navigate the country hills - sometimes there are big walks to my take-off points. If I hold the gimbal by its top plate at 90 degrees, then there is quite some serious deflection when the weight of the camera is gently allowed to hang from it. Fortunately, some 'gimbal-only-in-case' tests showed that the excellent design of that H Pro case stops that deflection from happening, so that is one fear nicely allayed at least... but whether it's all flopping about like a dick in the breeze once it's airborne remains to be seen ! Will report as soon as I know.

 

[DCH]

But now there is A LOT more side-to-side play in the gimbal, and it's wobbling about a lot more than it did with the old dampers. It remains to be seen if that comes through in flight footage, although I suspect it might.

Let's hope the extra wobble isn't transmitted to the video stability?

Nope, no side effects whatsoever from using them. I used them for months and saw no jello, no jitters, no vibrations, nothing to see but nice video. Ask @Grumpy, he has been using them for months also and we havent heard any complaints from him. About the side to side wobble, it doesn't compare with the C23 wobble, yet the C23 shows no ill effects from this either. I assure you folks, these 3-rib dampers work perfectly with the CGO3+.

About the upper gimbal plate. I never checked to see if mine was metal. However, if it is chrome plated to act as a shield, then it might as well be metal because chrome is an excellent conductor. There has been one reported crash as a result of the wires shorting there. Small chance it can happen, but the point is it can happen. And you are right, if there are any signs of rubbing on the upper gimbal plate, no matter from what, the gimbal is bottoming out and not doing its dampening job very well. It needs the extra headroom in the suspension just like your car so it doesn't bottom out.

If I hold the gimbal by its top plate at 90 degrees, then there is quite some serious deflection when the weight of the camera is gently allowed to hang from it.

Even thought this looks very tenuous hanging at 90°, I have found that there are no issues with carrying it this way. Most of my flying is done about 1/4 mile from my house, so I typically walk there and carry my H /H Plus with landing retracted in one hand, using the landing gear foot as a handle with the aircraft hanging 90°. Camera wobbles all the way there and back regularly and shows no signs of stress or coming loose. I use the upper gimbal guard that came with the CGO3+ because it affords some support when carrying it 90°