Ronin-S Leaning Horizon

Run&Gun

Run&Gun

Veteran
Anyone else with a Ronin-S with a leaning, un-level horizon(roll axis)?

Just received mine yesterday and I perfectly balanced my 5D mkIV w/16-35(balance test= Excellent on all 3 axis) and sits perfectly balanced visually and checking internal electronic camera and hot-shoe mounted bubble level, but once you engage the motors, it leans the camera slightly to the left(and motor menu ‘joint angle’ shows roll at between -2.2 and -3.8, but generally around -2.7). You can visually see the physical camera and gimbal arm are no longer level. I’ve run countless balance tests, all indicating Excellent balance, Auto Tune, recalibrate, recenter, reset the gimbal, loaded the latest current firmware, etc. all to no avail.

Googling, I found lots of people on the DJI forum with the same issue. I also found some people with similar issues where it drifts off level, but mine doesn’t drift, it starts out off level. I tried a trick that someone was using for their drift problem(use the “push” option to level it and then force an offset calibration in the motor menu under “joint angle”), but it doesn’t work, once you recenter the gimbal(double tap trigger).

So, just wanted to see if anyone else had experienced this or had a fix before I send it back to B&H for an exchange.
 
I don't have a Ronin S but my little Crane M I occasionally use with my iPhone does the exact same thing and I have tried the same fixes and it still does it.
I just adjust the roll axis and shoot making it as level as I can visually. My Crane 2 doesn't do this at all, the Fuji XT-3 has an electronic level and it's always perfect,
which kind of amazes me with so many variables between the Crane plate, the Swiss Arca Plate I have mounted on it and the male Swiss Arca fitting I have on the XT-3.

Sorry I don't have the Ronin S answer for you. FB Groups?
 
Thanks guys. I actually found the "Offset Calibration" trick last night and it didn't help. As soon as you 'double tap' to re-center everything, it returns the roll axis to the original un-level position.

I contacted B&H this afternoon to request a return and exchange. Turns out you have to contact their vendor/distributor for DJI directly, so I sent them a quick description of what was going on and included all the pertenent info like purchase date, reception date, the order # from B&H and the return case # with B&H. I immediately thought this was going downhill quickly, being "pawned off" on another party, but I received an email with a shipping label from the vendor in nine minutes and I dropped it off at FedEx about 30 minutes later. I'm going to email the vendor and ask what the process is and time frame will be for me to receive a replacement. Hopefully it's not the 'ole 'we have to receive it and test it and see if we can fix it first before we replace it, which may take weeks or longer'. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll work like some places that will actually do something as soon as they see the item shipped. But at best, I'll probably have to wait for them to at least receive it, before they ship a replacement out.
 
I'm guessing an off level IMU sensor, wouldn't take too much to solder that component off angle. You might have been able to "fix" it by adjusting the IMU board to make the sensor level. But on a new product you shouldn't need to mess around with it.

Also, can it calibrate with no camera attached? Just wondering if that might be something that you need to do.
 
Run&Gun said:
Thanks guys. I actually found the "Offset Calibration" trick last night and it didn't help. As soon as you 'double tap' to re-center everything, it returns the roll axis to the original un-level position.

I contacted B&H this afternoon to request a return and exchange. Turns out you have to contact their vendor/distributor for DJI directly, so I sent them a quick description of what was going on and included all the pertenent info like purchase date, reception date, the order # from B&H and the return case # with B&H. I immediately thought this was going downhill quickly, being "pawned off" on another party, but I received an email with a shipping label from the vendor in nine minutes and I dropped it off at FedEx about 30 minutes later. I'm going to email the vendor and ask what the process is and time frame will be for me to receive a replacement. Hopefully it's not the 'ole 'we have to receive it and test it and see if we can fix it first before we replace it, which may take weeks or longer'. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll work like some places that will actually do something as soon as they see the item shipped. But at best, I'll probably have to wait for them to at least receive it, before they ship a replacement out.
Click to expand...

I buy about an equal amount of stuff from B&H and Amazon but I really like Amazon with situations like this, you just order a new one, print the return label and the next day or two, your replacement arrives. So easy. BH involves more work for returns and as you are experiencing, at times you have to jump through some hoops.
I buy high end things like cameras from B&H always because of support but for $500.00 things, Amazon has been pretty good to me. I have a Kohls a few miles up the freeway and you don't even have to package up small return items, Kohls does that for you. For bigger stuff, I have UPS a mile away.
 
puredrifting said:
I buy about an equal amount of stuff from B&H and Amazon but I really like Amazon with situations like this, you just order a new one, print the return label and the next day or two, your replacement arrives. So easy. BH involves more work for returns and as you are experiencing, at times you have to jump through some hoops.
I buy high end things like cameras from B&H always because of support but for $500.00 things, Amazon has been pretty good to me. I have a Kohls a few miles up the freeway and you don't even have to package up small return items, Kohls does that for you. For bigger stuff, I have UPS a mile away.
Click to expand...

B&H is sorta easy, but having to wait for them to receive the item back(usually ground shipping) BEFORE they ship the replacement is frustrating and turns it into a week or two process*. I like Amazon's way of once the item is shipped they issue the refund(if that's the way you're going.

The vendor did email me back this morning and said that once they receive the old unit then B&H ships a new one.

Hopefully this new one will be OK, because I could definitely see the potential there, in the short time I got to play with it.

*Received the original item Monday, contacted them Tuesday, shipped it back Tuesday, but pretty sure I missed the ground cut-off, so it probably didn't actually ship until today(Wed), ground back is probably two days, so the vendor should get it Friday, so B&H probably won't ship the replacement until Monday at the earliest which would mean I get it on Wed.

They should ship the replacement as soon as the original is dropped off(tracking # shows up in the system), which means I would have my replacement Friday.
 
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They fixed the leaning horizon issue on the SC (new firmware, app), perhaps on the S too:

 
I saw that last week. But there was nothing indicating as much in the release notes for the S. It appeared to mostly be camera compatibility related additions.

I ended up returning the original and received my replacement on Wednesday. There was a little mix-up on the return and I actually received two. So I definitely made sure the replacement was working properly(no horizon lean) before I returned the other unit. So far, so good...
 
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