A few weeks ago I flew my DJI Mini 2 (opens in a new tab) when a massive gust of wind blew it straight into a tree. I had one of those horrible, heart-sinking moments where I imagined the worst and imagined my drone being stuck there forever. Lucky for me, it fell out of the tree (albeit hitting every branch on the way down) and landed on the floor looking pretty intact.
Much to my surprise, not a single propeller broke, the camera still worked and apart from a green scratch there was no sign of damage. That was until I checked the gimbal which was stuck right back in the abdomen of the drone unable to move freely.
These are best DJI drones (opens in a new tab)
A working gimbal on a drone is essential if you want to use it as intended. While you can still fly without one, the camera fails in trying to level itself, and all my shots were tilted from where the gimbal was stuck at a slight angle. Unfortunately, I stupidly did not take out the DJI Care Refresh (opens in a new tab) the first time i bought the drone and boy have i spent a few hours regretting it. If you take anything from this, let it be this – get insurance, you’ll thank yourself later.
Having worked at Wex for several years I have some knowledge of DJI Repair Service and from my experience it is not the best. Firstly, there isn’t a repair center in the UK, so you’ll need to send your drone somewhere in Europe. This can sometimes take weeks and feel like a waste of time if you are told that the product cannot be repaired. This leads me to my next point, DJI aren’t very good at repairing things… they usually just replace it, so unless you have Care Refresh or insurance, you may find yourself in a sticky spot… like me .
Fortunately, you can pretty much learn how to do anything on YouTube, including how to fix a stuck gimbal. I’m not really one to jump at the chance to take things apart, I’d much rather leave it to people who know what they’re doing, but my choices seemed to be:
1) own a drone that does not work properly,
2) try to fix it and possibly end up with a drone that doesn’t work at all or
3) try to fix it and be successful.
Much to my delight, fixing the problem was much easier than I thought and now I have a drone that I can use again. All I had to do to fix it was remove the 4 screws connecting the base and the top cover and then push something a little around the edge so I could take the top part off. This released any tension in the gimbal so it could snap back into place and rotate freely.
Crashing a drone isn’t fun, but it’s pretty easily done, all you need is a big gust of wind a little too close to a tree or a momentary lapse of judgment. The best you can hope for is that it falls to the ground, otherwise you’ll have to be pretty good at climbing trees to get it.
I loved my Mini 2 before I crashed it, but I love it even more now, and I have to hand it to DJI, it’s made of tougher stuff than I thought. I now have insurance and touch wood won’t crash it anytime soon, but if I do, I might just try this trick before I send it off anywhere.
Editor’s note: Attempting to repair or modify your own DJI drone will almost certainly void your warranty. DCW does not recommend that you attempt to open, disassemble or fix your drone unless you are a registered professional. Repairing your own drone is done entirely at your own risk, and DCW is not responsible for any damage or warranty reactions caused by servicing your own product.
