Camera calibrates at 270deg relative to H :Repeat

[DronePastor]

I posted this in another forum with zero response. forgive my double post but I am really hoping for a response.

Trying to calibrate the camera and all seems well with the pan switch in center position, but as soon as I flip to "front" mode (switch all the way up) the camera turns quite decidedly to the left and locks at 270 degrees relative to the frame.

I was unable to get a "frontal" alignment at all until I open up the gimbal and reset all the plugs. Now I can get a good solid calibration, but the switch sends it to 270deg.

Is there a decent fix for this or is this another gimbal disassembly?

Thank you,

 

[rdonson]

Did you have a crash? Were you previously successful with gimbal calibrations?

Please share with us the positions of the following controls when calibrating.

- Tilt Mode switch
- Pan Mode switch
- Tilt Rate Slider

 

[DronePastor]

Did you have a crash? Were you previously successful with gimbal calibrations?

Please share with us the positions of the following controls when calibrating.

- Tilt Mode switch
- Pan Mode switch
- Tilt Rate Slider

Yes I had a crash, minor altercation with an oak tree.

Previous calibrations would stop but the camera would never go to front in the f position. now it tries, but is facing wrong direction.

Tilt mode: all the way up or centered, seems no different.
Pan mode: centered or top positions. centered is when it tries to go to front but fails. top does not ever try to go to front
Tilt rate: always level or top most position.

 

[rdonson]

Have you removed the camera and looked at the connections to the H? Does everything look like a good connection is being made? Are the contacts clean?

I don't know if this is anything but I alway calibrate my gimbals on a level surface with Tilt Mode switch up, Pan Mode switch up and Tilt Rate slider in the middle position.

Sorry for all the questions but I'm trying to understand where you're at with the H.

 

[Ty Pilot]

@DronePastor this is the right place for this question, the one in the H Plus discussion will find no help as that aircraft is completely different and in fact does not exist as yet.

Okay, I'm curious, when you boot up and turn everything on and position all the camera control toggles to the top - the camera pans to the 270 degree position - essentially the aircraft's left - is this correct? At this point is the camera transmitting an image to the ST16 as normal? Can you record video and take pictures? If so does the gimbal work - when you pick up the aircraft and turn it, what does the camera and gimbal do?

Edit - I meant to say aircraft's left above

 

[DronePastor]

Have you removed the camera and looked at the connections to the H? Does everything look like a good connection is being made? Are the contacts clean?

I don't know if this is anything but I alway calibrate my gimbals on a level surface with Tilt Mode switch up, Pan Mode switch up and Tilt Rate slider in the middle position.

Sorry for all the questions but I'm trying to understand where you're at with the H.

Always calibrate on the level and as noted, the switches I have been playing with to eliminate possible errors (mine).

Had the gimbal off and pretty much apart after the oak tree intervention. It actually seems to be improved as far as at least trying to face front. Before it never even tried to face front. . .Hence the intervention.

No worries about the questions. I get it. I appreciate the help.

Is it possible that the actual gimbal mount is physically out of calibration? Is there and encoder that could be incorrectly oriented?

 

[DronePastor]

@DronePastor this is the right place for this question, the one in the H Plus discussion will find no help as that aircraft is completely different and in fact does not exist as yet.

Okay, I'm curious, when you boot up and turn everything on and position all the camera control toggles to the top - the camera pans to the 270 degree position - essentially the aircraft's right - is this correct? At this point is the camera transmitting an image to the ST16 as normal? Can you record video and take pictures? If so does the gimbal work - when you pick up the aircraft and turn it, what does the camera and gimbal do?

You pretty much nailed it, but let me expound on your questions.

Upon boot up, with all switches at top position the camera is "front" positioned at the drone left or to my right as looking at the realsense bar. Camera is transmitting well, ST16 receives well. Photos/videos appear to be happening as expected (although I have not actually checked the card, just observed the screen).

When picked up and rotated in the yaw, the camera stays set in the same yam position (270 deg). but does a little tilt adjusting as I would expect.

To my guess it functions as intended just -90 deg off from front and center when in "f" position.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Have you gone into "hardware monitor" and checked all the switches? It may help if you had a known working ST 16 to compare but the problem you have I have never seen or heard of, it sounds like the gimbal is working but that one or more of the functions of the camera controls may be faulty. Let me ask this: with it all booted up, select Global Pan Mode with the switch all the way at the bottom - can you use the knob and pan left and right, and if so; can you center the knob and stop the panning at a different location?

 

[CraigCam]

I have a camera that goes 180 every time. I purchased it from a friend in a deal on a real sense. I have to send it in to someone to get this fixed. It needs factory calibration to fix. This was sent back to them from Yuneec post power up fix with this problem. I’ve tried taking it apart and reversing its mounting but it still spins back 180’. I can go into system settings and inhibit the first switch position on the pan switch so I can use the pan to bring it to the front. This way, a flip to the return doesn’t do anything. But it also became kind of in its own follow me and was not reliable for proper video orientation relative to heading. My efforts to fix have made it worse. If you’ve always had this problem then it needed some warranty love right away unfortunately.

 

[rdonson]

On the odd chance:

Are you running the latest firmware?
Have you reset the ST16?
Have you created another model for the H and then performed a "bind" to it?

 

[DronePastor]

Have you gone into "hardware monitor" and checked all the switches? It may help if you had a known working ST 16 to compare but the problem you have I have never seen or heard of, it sounds like the gimbal is working but that one or more of the functions of the camera controls may be faulty. Let me ask this: with it all booted up, select Global Pan Mode with the switch all the way at the bottom - can you use the knob and pan left and right, and if so; can you center the knob and stop the panning at a different location?

Yes, I have done the hardware monitor and all switches check true.

As for the Global Pan Mode: Yes, I can pan to and fro stopping at any desired position. Then returning the switch to "f" causes the -90 deg positioning

 

[DronePastor]

I have a camera that goes 180 every time. I purchased it from a friend in a deal on a real sense. I have to send it in to someone to get this fixed. It needs factory calibration to fix. This was sent back to them from Yuneec post power up fix with this problem. I’ve tried taking it apart and reversing its mounting but it still spins back 180’. I can go into system settings and inhibit the first switch position on the pan switch so I can use the pan to bring it to the front. This way, a flip to the return doesn’t do anything. But it also became kind of in its own follow me and was not reliable for proper video orientation relative to heading. My efforts to fix have made it worse. If you’ve always had this problem then it needed some warranty love right away unfortunately.

Well, now. That is not what I want to hear. . .

 

[DronePastor]

On the odd chance:

Are you running the latest firmware?
Have you reset the ST16?
Have you created another model for the H and then performed a "bind" to it?

Yes.
Nope. Didn't even think of that.
This one either. . .

I will try the last two tonight.

 

[DronePastor]

OK gentlemen,

Here is where we are. I did as everyone suggested and learned way more than I really wanted to know. On a whim I dismantled the gimbal and rotated the encoder +90 deg. powered it up and SHAZAM! It is working perfectly (as I said, I have never had this working before). Tried several reboots in various switch configurations and it always returns back to front when placed in "f" position.

One other thing I found while I was turning the encoder was a loose ground solder joint in the 6 contact mount. Probably why it never worked right, I am thinking anyway.

So all-in-all thank you so very much in helping me troubleshoot this. I would say we have ourselves a victory.

Thank you!

 

[rdonson]

All we need to hear now is that you’ve had a successful flight with great video and or stills,

 

[CraigCam]

OK gentlemen,

Here is where we are. I did as everyone suggested and learned way more than I really wanted to know. On a whim I dismantled the gimbal and rotated the encoder +90 deg. powered it up and SHAZAM! It is working perfectly (as I said, I have never had this working before). Tried several reboots in various switch configurations and it always returns back to front when placed in "f" position.

One other thing I found while I was turning the encoder was a loose ground solder joint in the 6 contact mount. Probably why it never worked right, I am thinking anyway.

So all-in-all thank you so very much in helping me troubleshoot this. I would say we have ourselves a victory.

Thank you!

You don’t happen to have a photo of what you rotated by any chance? You’ve got me wanting to try again on my wonky spare camera.

 

[DronePastor]

You don’t happen to have a photo of what you rotated by any chance? You’ve got me wanting to try again on my wonky spare camera.

I am sorry I do not. I will attempt to explain, it is quite simple really. Pay close attention to how everything is positioned when you remove the last screw. I recommend working very slowly and deliberately.

Remove the camera from the copter and open the mounting. Undo the rubber mounts and the dust cover to get at the actual payload. There will be three TINY silver screws holding the contacts in the upper housing, remove those and the PC board then remove the two TINY screws opposite that which hold the wires on the camera side.

Now you have fairly safe access to the screws we need. The PC board will stay in your way so work around it gently. This is also where I found the poor solder joint on the ground wires of that small PC board.

Now carefully remove the four small phillips screws around the silver sleeve they disappear into. These screws hold the metal piece we are after.

Once all four screws have been removed slide the metal ring just slightly out of the plastic housing, just far enough to get your grip on the metal ring. Now rotate the metal ring (inside the plastic holder) the 180 deg that you need. I set a VERY bright light to shine right into the holes, from the plastic side, to align the holes in the metal ring. Once aligned I gently slid the metal ring back up into the plastic and put minimal screws back in to test it. The plastic upper piece has a couple of ridges which only allow the metal ring to align at 90 deg intervals so you cannot get it set at another odd rotation. Intervals of 90 degrees only.

It took about three tries to get the correct alignment, so don't give up if the first try fails. Take your time and please let me know how it pans out.

 

[rdonson]

@CraigCam please take photos and notes so that we may all learn.