Totally lost on eBay gimbal?

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Steve Nunez

Member
Hey guys, been flying my DJI F450 and Phantom for awhile now with the GoPro 3 hard mounted and while cool, nowhere near as nice as the footage I've seen some of you guys post. I know you serious guys run stabilized gimbals and having scoured eBay I found this one and ordered it:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151078302213?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Gimbal received today~~~

Problem is- as ad states no instructions and no support at all.
I'm at a total loss as to how to wire this up to my F450 (Naza Lite w/GPS)...
....from my guess there's a single connector which seems to be a LiPo balance connector which I assume to power the gimbal and when plugged (to a 3S LiPo) shows LED's on the gimbal board as lighting green and red with the green LED blinking. Included with this gimbal was a "servo" lead with both ends looking like Futaba type connectors which I assume to be an optional connector for the "Pitch" option via radio.....problem is, I'm unsure......

(No software was included- do I need anything to set this up.....I see a data USB port on the board?)

......any of you guys think you can shed some words on this?
Bummed out I'm not able to figure this out- I can usually figure things out but this one has me a bit stumped.

Photos:
View attachment 13503View attachment 13504View attachment 13505
 

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tstrike

pendejo grande
The ebay listing says Alex Mos board but at 99 bucks for gimbal and controller I'd guess it's a martinez knockoff running Alex M firmware.
 

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Steve Nunez

Member
After some research, it seems as if this gimbal requires the SimpleBGC software version 2.03 of which I've downloaded and connected with the appropriate drivers....
...few issues; the 2 utilities the site says to use to upgrade the Firmware to version 2.2 don't work, each time I attempt to upgrade the firmware the software reports the upgrade failed! I've tried the earlier updates and those fail as well.
The software is very technical and the gimbal just sways down and stays there and pulses....I have no clue as to a baseline setting to refine and aside from some poorly written PDF, instructions are sparse at best....

....I'll try to print the PDF and go step by step but I have a gut feeling this might not be the best purchase for me.
At $99 I thought this was the deal of the decade but it doesn't appear so right now....

....I'll plug away tomorrow and see if I can get his sorted.
if anyone here has one of these and has set it up, I'd love to see the settings!
cheers fellas-
 

SleepyC

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
Welcome to brushless gimbals. Really no one else's setting will help because almost every board is different. I learned this recently.
You can order 3 boards, and all 3 will come with different IMU's. nd I had the same problem with Xloader and the other app to upload the firmware. A friend redid my firmware and then everything started to work.
Expect many hours of tuning... it's kind of where the boards and software are right now.
 

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Steve Nunez

Member
Thank you Sleepy for the reply.How did your friend reflash the software if the 2 utilities won't upload them successfully?

I'm thinking if I can get the gimbal to accept the new firmware this would go along allot better!

********Was just contacted by the eBay seller and was told these gimbals have encrypted firmware and can't be upgraded and that they were flashed before shipping to be ready upon delivery.......such hasn't been the case for my unit and I've explained it to the seller.......waiting for a reply, will update you guys!********
 
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Steve Nunez

Member
Ok, so been bouncing email with the seller and he's had me check the obvious like connections, wiring etc but the gimbal still pulses and does not self level as he stated it should. I took video of what it does when powered up and gimbal simply flips the cam mount upside down and pulses.....eBay seller then tells me I have the camera mount wrong, of which I don't but tell him the video shows it correctly.
The seller's English isn't too good and he doesn't seem to realize it doesn't initialize and stabilize as he indicates it should.....at this point I haven't heard back from him and I may be out $99 for this gimbal ( returning it would cost over $80 so not cost effective.)
 

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tstrike

pendejo grande
You put your camera in the gimbal and position it so it's balanced in all directions (tilt to the right it stays, tilt to the left it stays, tilt down varying degrees it holds position) before you power up the gimbal? They flop like the fishes without any weight in the cradle.
 


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tstrike

pendejo grande
I had a martinez board that would go berserk when I plugged it in, ended up having the tilt motor plugged in to the roll and vice-a-versa. Maybe try swapping your plugs? Also make sure your imu on the camera tray is facing the right way.
 

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Steve Nunez

Member
In this case it wouldn't be the motor plugs as they are plugged in the right places....the lower motor has its plug receptacle on the lower part just where the plug ends, so all is well with the plugs.......thanks anyway.

Discovery: I haven't given up and i think I've found something......it appears as if the "tilt" motor is set backwards.......when I power up- the GoPro gets turned around and stabilizes but with the camera facing backwards and the mount upside down.....this is looking like someone mounted the "tilt" motor backwards..........going to work on this more!!!

See video here;
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/445220/P1080150.mov

 
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Steve Nunez

Member
OK, success..........it appears the board on the lower arm was mounted backwards (or wired incorrectly, as it appears it should have been mounted as it was)....the gimbal now stabilizes perfectly.....fine tuning to come...thanks to all whom responded!
Happy camper now................off to test this on my DJI F450..... to Hollywood Beach, FL!

See pic of the corrected mounting position which is now working~ View attachment 13517
 

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jeffmtnman

New Member
I know it's an old thread but I'm new to quads and gimbals and am having a similar problem. Side to side (yaw ?) works fine. Front to back (tilt ?) not so much. I sent the seller this video and they asked me to check that the wires were not impeding movement of the motor, I assure you they are not.
Also, the board on mine is much smaller than Steve's and appears to be mounted upside down from the way his is.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/9cltz5
https://www.sendspace.com/file/x5qpen
https://www.sendspace.com/file/d7vt7d
 

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