Let us diagnose. Let us calibrate. Let Us Drone. If your Phantom 4 or Phantom 4 Pro gimbal is twitching, whirring, buzzing, cockeyed, growling, vibrating, bouncing, or limp, this post is for you! Those symptoms will likely be accompanied by a gimbal motor overload error.

Not only is it frustrating to receive a gimbal motor overloaded error on your screen while flying, but it can be terrifying if you look down at your screen and it looks like your Phantom 4 Pro is going through a washing machine. This sometimes happens when your Phantom has a gimbal motor overload, causing the gimbal to act all kinds of wonky. So, what is causing the gimbal problems, and how do you fix it?

There are a few different causes of a gimbal motor overload, and thus, a few different solutions. Step one is to determine if it's a hardware or software issue, followed by a thorough inspection of the gimbal hardware. Calibrate the gimbal and IMU and try upgrading/downgrading the firmware. We'll dive more into these steps below along with more tips and causes of the Phantom 4 Pro gimbal overload.

Gimbal motors

Before we get into too much of the lingo, I wanted to give you this diagram of a Phantom 4 Pro gimbal so we can all be on the same page. If you have a Phantom 4 Advanced, everything in this post will apply to you as it has the exact same gimbal/camera setup. For those who own a Phantom 4, mostly everything will apply to you with a couple of exceptions due to the different camera the original P4 has.

Phantom 4 Pro gimbal warranty and care refresh

Before getting into what causes a gimbal motor overload and how to fix it, I want to briefly touch on DJI's limited warranty and care refresh since I will be referring to them below.

The camera/gimbal on a Phantom 4 Pro comes with a 6-month limited warranty out of the box. This warranty covers manufacturer defects. Before attempting to take apart your P4 Pro, I strongly recommend that you check your warranty status as disassembling the drone will void your warranty. Learn more about the limited warranty here.

Care Refresh is an extended warranty that you can buy for your drone. If you have Care Refresh and you know that the gimbal has hardware damage, I'd recommend just sending your Phantom 4 Pro to DJI and let them fix it. Learn more about Care Refresh here.

Causes of gimbal motor overload

So what causes the gimbal motor overload on a Phantom 4 Pro? Really, there are quite a few potential culprits, which can make troubleshooting a tough task. Hours of scouring forums combined with my own personal experiencing owning a Phantom 4 Advanced has allowed me to get a pretty good understanding of these gimbal problems/solutions.

Here are some common causes of Phantom 4 Pro gimbal motor overload:

I'll now walk you through the steps of what to do if one of the above situations applies to you.

A crash where the gimbal hardware gets damaged

Crashing your drone can obviously be the cause of many issues. What you may not realize is that although physical damage may not be visible, there are small sensors within the gimbal that can easily get damaged and cause problems. A common sensor to get damaged during a crash is the yaw motor sensor. Check out this YouTube video of a guy talking about this.

If you suspect that your Phantom 4 Pro gimbal has been damaged during a crash (or hard landing if something made contact with the camera/gimbal), I wouldn't recommend trying to repair it yourself as this would void your warranty.

If you are getting a gimbal motor overload error after a crash but you don't see any damage, I'd recommend calibrating the IMU and gimbal (see below for calibration steps).

If it's obvious that there is physical damage, you may be looking at up to $764 for repairs ($699 for the gimbal/camera and $65 for the service fee). You could also pay as little as $66 if it's just the gimbal vibration absorbing board that needs to be replaced.

Check out this breakdown of gimbal components and prices.

Very high winds that stress the components of the gimbal

According to DJI, the Phantom 4 Pro can withstand winds up to 10 m/s or about 22 MPH. I have personally flown in winds close to (maybe higher) than that and haven't had issues. Other's have reported getting a gimbal motor overloaded error after flying in high winds. This is likely because of the end-range stress that is placed on the gimbal.

If it's windy and you get a gimbal motor overloaded error while flying your Phantom 4 Pro, I'd recommend that you land as soon as possible. Power everything off and back on before taking any further steps. If the error is still on the GO 4 app, calibrate the gimbal and IMU. This will likely clear the error code as permanent damage from wind is highly unlikely.

A firmware problem that requires upgrading/downgrading

If you recently upgraded your Phantom 4 Pro's firmware and have since been receiving gimbal motor overload errors, there is a high chance that there is a correlation.

I read about a guy who tried everything to figure out what was causing the gimbal overload error. As a last ditch effort before sending the drone back to DJI, he rolled back his firmware to the previous version using DJI Assistant 2 and the errors immediately disappeared. Pretty wild! This may be the fix for you as well.

On the other side, you may be in need of a firmware update as your current firmware could be giving you the gimbal motor overload errors. Try upgrading/downgrading accordingly to see if you can eradicate the errors.

Camera rubbing on the ribbon cable can overload the gimbal motors

If you are flying along and notice that the gimbal is acting funny when you attempt to tilt the camera up or down, there is a good chance that the back of the camera is rubbing on a ribbon flex cable.

Land as quickly as possible and power-off the drone. With the drone off, tilt the camera up and down to see if it is making contact with the ribbon flex cable. There is only a couple of millimeters of clearance between the two right out of the box, and a loose cable or one with gunk on it could easily come into contact with the camera.

If there does look to be debris on the cable, see if you can carefully clean it off with a fine tool. Use caution when doing this as those ribbon flex cables are very fragile.

This is one of the more common reasons people get the gimbal motor overload error on their Phantom 4 Pro.

Never attempt to manually move the camera with the drone still on!

Debris in or around the gimbal motors

If sand or other debris gets around the roll, pitch, or yaw motors, you're likely going to have gimbal problems. Chances are that you'll hear grinding or crunching noises if this is the case.

If you hear odd noises coming from the gimbal, inspect the housing and area around the gimbal/camera. Is it dirty? Have you taken off from dirt or a sandy area lately?

Get a washcloth wet and carefully clean the area. You can also get a can of dust off (check price on Amazon here) and spray around the motors in an attempt to clear out any debris.

I highly recommend using a landing pad (check price on Amazon here) when taking off and landing on dirt or sand.

Bent hardware can overload the gimbal motors

Maybe the roll or yaw arms have been bent from impact or improper storage. As you can imagine, having a component that is bent on the gimbal will cause substantial stress to the moving parts.

Have you ever bent the rim on your bicycle? Riding around on a bent rim is not only uncomfortable but incredibly inefficient as well. Same goes for your Phantom 4 Pro gimbal if it's bent.

Parts are available online of you have determined that a bent component is causing the gimbal motor overload error, but I again urge you to check your warranty status before attempting to do any home repairs.

The camera hitting grass or other raised surfaces can overload the gimbal

The camera tilts up, down, then straight ahead when you turn on the Phantom 4 Pro. There's only about .5″ of clearance between the camera and the ground when the camera is facing down, and that's on a completely smooth surface.

When the drone is on grass or another uneven surface, the camera will continue to repetitively point up, then down, until you lift the drone because the camera is making contact with whatever is beneath the drone.

This wasn't as much of a problem with the Phantom 4 as the camera was smaller, but the better camera's on the Phantom 4 Pro and Advanced make for such little clearance.

There are times when I don't notice that the camera is still going through the up/down cycle until I glance down at my screen and I see sky-ground-sky-ground. When this happens, I simply pick up the drone and the camera points directly forward as it should.

There are reports of people that attempt to hold the drone off the ground in an effort to create clearance but the camera proceeds to do the up/down sequencing. If this is happening to you, try turning on/off the drone and controller.

If this doesn't work, then calibrate the IMU and gimbal.

Overheating can overload the gimbal

Most people launch their drones relatively soon after powering them on. The Phantom 4 Pro counts on airflow to cool down its parts, including the gimbal components.

If you were to leave your P4 Pro sitting there for a while, the gimbal is likely going to heat up, especially if you live in a warm area. If possible, try not to leave your drone sitting for long periods. If you suspect that the gimbal motor overload error is being caused by an overheated gimbal, I'd recommend that you power off the drone and let it cool down to room temperature before booting it back up.

I've never had a gimbal motor overload error from leaving by drone sitting idle for extended periods, but I often do have my drone on while not flying to refer to while writing these blog posts or tutorial videos.

Others have reported getting overheated gimbals while the drone was sitting idle though.

Related post: Is it Safe to Fly My Drone in Hot Weather? – Should you take that prized quadcopter up or knock out a few tasks on your to-do list instead? According to DJI's website, each of their drones can be flown in temperatures up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). 

Moisture can overload the gimbal motors

It really is not a good idea to fly your drone in the rain. Electronics and water simply do not go together. If you do happen to find yourself flying while there is moisture in the air and a gimbal motor overload error appears, there's a good chance that some of the components got wet.

All hope is not lost if you have found yourself in this unfortunate situation though. According to an article written here by DJI, they state that “The good news is that you don’t need to worry as the gimbal will recover full functionality once it dries.” I have to say that I'm surprised DJI made such a definitive statement regarding potential water damage.

To be safe, I'd really recommend that you do literally anything else when it's raining out, as taking your Phantom 4 Pro up just isn't worth the risk.

Related post: Can I fly my DJI Drone in the Rain? – Find out what DJI's stance is on flying your drone in the rain, and what such action could do to your warranty.

Bad compass module can cause a gimbal motor overload

I almost didn't include this one because it seems unrelated, but lo' and behold there have been reports of a bad compass module causing the gimbal motor overload. Try calibrating the compass on your phantom 4 Pro to see if that eradicates the gimbal motor overload error. If the compass module is bad, I'd recommend sending it to DJI for repairs as the compass is such a vital part of flight operations.

Use a gimbal lock to prevent gimbal motor overload

When opening your Phantom 4 Pro you may have wondered if that plastic piece that was holding your gimbal in place was necessary. The answer is yes, it's very necessary.

That gimbal lock keeps your camera and gimbal components from swinging every-which-way while the drone is in your bag.

Not only does it keep everything from swinging freely, but it protects the gimbal if you were to place the drone down on an object that made contact with the camera.

If you lock or broke your gimbal lock, pick one up on Amazon here.

Other Phantom 4 Pro gimbal problems

Maybe you aren't receiving a gimbal motor overload error, but the horizon looks tilted, or there seems to be vibration.

The IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) is the device in your Phantom 4 Pro that tells your drone what level is. If you notice that the drone is tilted when there's no wind, there is a chance that you need to calibrate the IMU.

If the drone looks to be stable but the horizon looks to be tilted in the camera view, you can manually adjust the roll of the gimbal in the DJI GO 4 app.

To adjust the gimbal roll in the DJI GO 4 app, go to settings>gimbal settings>adjust gimbal. You can adjust the gimbal roll right or left from this screen. Refer to the images below to see what those adjustments will look like.

If you are noticing vibration on the live video feed, check to make sure that your props are in good working order. A damaged or bent prop will cause the drone to shudder or vibrate.

Also ensure that the rubber vibration dampeners near the yaw motor have not been damaged or torn as this would create vibrations during flight.

Phantom 4 Pro gimbal IMU and gimbal calibration

You may have noticed that I recommend calibrating the gimbal and IMU a few times in this post.

If you are getting a gimbal motor overload error on your Phantom 4 Pro, calibrating the gimbal and IMU really should be one of the first things you do.

I wrote a post that gives you a detailed walkthrough on how to calibrate your P4 Pro's IMU. You can find that post here.

To calibrate the gimbal, tap on the settings in the upper righthand corner of the DJI GO 4 app.

Next, tap on the gimbal settings at the bottom of the screen.

Then tap on “gimbal auto calibration”.

When you tap on gimbal auto calibration, a notification will pop up telling you to place the drone on a level surface with no obstructions. This is incredibly important as calibrating the gimbal on an uneven surface will cause the camera to be tilted while flying.

Tapping “ok” will begin the gimbal calibration process. You do not need to do anything here. After the gimbal moves in a variety of directions, the calibration will be complete. This process usually takes about a minute.

Let's review

I went over a lot of information in this post, and you may be a bit overwhelmed. The reason you are receiving a gimbal motor overload error was likely mentioned above, but it can be difficult to identify the cause sometimes.

I'd suggest that you take a moment and ask yourself a couple of questions that may assist in identifying the cause(s). Was the weather bad when you got the error? Did you notice the error after a hard landing or crash? Did the error show up after a firmware update? Is the camera hitting the ground when you set the drone down?

Let's sum up the main points here to bring it home.

Trevor's Take

I know just as well as anyone just how frustrating it is to get a warning or error code when flying a drone, and even more frustrating when you can't figure out what is causing the warning or error. The gimbal on a drone is a very complex piece of technology, which unfortunately has many potential problems as a byproduct. It's my hope that this post has helped you figure out what is causing that gimbal motor overload error on your Phantom 4 Pro. What's your experience with this error? Did something else cause the gimbal motor overload error and was the solution listed in this post?