can someone take a look at this bl gimbal please?

[mrmurder1975]

ive been looking into getting a ';artf'; brushless gimbal. purely to save myself sourcing parts,a few quid and waiting for delivery of the individual parts. ive found this but being as i dont really know much about them, i wondered if some of you brushless gimbal guru';s could cast a beady over it and give me your opinions please.

putting the gimbal together wont be a problem, but how about setting up the control board? will i need to flash it? is this something a noob could tackle without killing it? I have experience of flashing esc';s and kk2 boards but thats it.

any input would be great. thanks.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2-axis-BGC-Brushless-Camera-Gimbal-GoPro3-Controller-PTZ-aluminum-Full-set-of-parts/1585412479.html

[JT]

 You can buy the gimbal itself and controller separately from ebay here in the uk for not much more. Some of the boards have a preflashed knocked off version of Alexmos software which works with just a bit of pid tuning but you cannot update the software on them, not that it';s a problem, I';m using one and it works really nicely Or you can get a board ready to be flashed with BruGi software via the arduino environment which works good too(and is updateable).
It takes a bit of tinkering but it';s not brain surgery HTH.

[mrmurder1975]

hmmm. thanks JT. i did see on a thread further down called ';ebay gimbal'; the exact same gimbal as im looking at but without the board, for 26 quid. none in stock though but im sure i could find another on there if i looked. do you happen to have a link to the board you got please? im not too worried if i cant update the fw, as long as it works i will be happy.

***actually it would work out  bit dearer to order the bits separate. and the board is coming from china anyway. might be better in my position to get the whole thing in one go. my only worry with that is am i going to have to update the board before i can even use it. and what gui do i need to tune it. the screen shots of the gui';s i have looked at look very complicated and im not even sure if the ones ive looked at are the right ones for this gimbal.

dont want to order it until i know i will be able to use it and find the sw/fw to allow me to do so. its all a bit confusing!

[JT]

 Just had a quick look on fleabay, there is one with board included with 2 hours to go and it';s only up to £36, might be worth watching.

Give us a minute and I';ll find the links to what I got.

[mrmurder1975]

that would be good, unfortunately im broke until saturday so it wont be me buying it 

[JT]

Here you go.
Gimbal.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brushless-Camera-Mount-Gimbal-w-2-Motors-for-Gopro-Hero-1-2-3-DJI-Phantom-FPV-/291020307293?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&var=&hash=item43c2297b5d

Board.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BGC-3-1-MOS-Large-Current-Two-axis-Brushless-Gimbal-Controller-Driver-alexmos-K-/201058121626?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item2ecfff779a

[JT]

 The alexmos flashed ones are done with alexmos 2.2 so you would just need the GUI for that version. It';s not too difficult to set up.

[mrmurder1975]

Thanks JT, i appreciate that 

[mrmurder1975]

what fw comes with the gimbal i linked to in the first post? not really sure what im looking at tbh. is that alexmos as well?

[JT]

Not sure tbh.  I';ve got a feeling when they say german firmware they are talking about martinez/brugi.  I could be wrong though.

[mrmurder1975]

thanks mate. gonna go for this one: http://www.goodluckbuy.com/dji-phantom-brushless-gimbal-camera-mount-w-motor-and-controller-for-gopro3-fpv-aerial-photography.html

comes ready to go. a few vids on the tube about it, people take it out the box, sit the camera on it, power it up and its good to go. if mine works like that i will be very happy. wont even mind a little tuning if i have to,just want to avoid having to flash one in case i end up bricking it. comes with 3.1 fw now too so should do the trick just fine

[JT]

 OK mate, but just to let you know, that is exactly the same as the board(it';s already flashed, so you wouldn';t need to) and gimbal I linked to from ebay with the same alexmos 2.2 firmware! You will still need to download the simpleBGC 2_2b2 GUI from basecamelectronics.com to tune it, they do work with the standard settings but not that well. (the 3.1 refers to the model of the board)

[mrmurder1975]

ahhhh right ok. that makes sense. i thought the 3.1 was the fw version. always something to learn in this hobby. just when you think you have a handle on things,something else crops up lol. Im going to have to look more closely at all this before i make a decision

seems to be marginally cheaper with the glb one, but instantly offset by the wait for it to arrive. Decisions Decisions!

[JT]

LOL! don';t be put off, the tuning is easy to get your head around and the results are fantastic!

[mrmurder1975]

yeah i think im gonna go for it, i want to dl the gui now so i can have a nose and familiarise myself with the layout a bit but it gives me the option for the 8 bit gui or the 32 bit....any idea which one i would need mate?

** ah hang on, the 3.1 board is 32 bit i think?

[HowDoIfly]

yeah i think im gonna go for it, i want to dl the gui now so i can have a nose and familiarise myself with the layout a bit but it gives me the option for the 8 bit gui or the 32 bit....any idea which one i would need mate?

** ah hang on, the 3.1 board is 32 bit i think?

Have you decided yet? I ordered one from GLB but it';s probably enjoying a nice slow cruise around the world before it gets here

[powerlord]

8 bit GUI. 

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[mrmurder1975]

Have you decided yet? I ordered one from GLB but it';s probably enjoying a nice slow cruise around the world before it gets here

yep,ordered the silver one from GLB this morning, except via their ebay site. really looking forward to getting my hands on it and finally getting some smooth shots, hopefully jello free!

im assuming you ordered yours before today? if so can you let me know when it arrives please, gives me a rough idea of long i can expect to wait then. and id also be interested in hearing your thoughts on it.

[HowDoIfly]

yep,ordered the silver one from GLB this morning, except via their ebay site. really looking forward to getting my hands on it and finally getting some smooth shots, hopefully jello free!

im assuming you ordered yours before today? if so can you let me know when it arrives please, gives me a rough idea of long i can expect to wait then. and id also be interested in hearing your thoughts on it.

I think I ordered mine last weekend but chose the free shipping option so not expecting it for a few weeks yet. Even then, I haven';t started building the hex the gimbal is destined for so testing could be delayed even more.

[mrmurder1975]

I think I ordered mine last weekend but chose the free shipping option so not expecting it for a few weeks yet. Even then, I haven';t started building the hex the gimbal is destined for so testing could be delayed even more.

ah right. i chose the registered mail, race ya! see who';s gets here first lol. i would guess yours as you have a week on me.....and registered is prob no faster than non registered anyway .

its all pretty much blind luck when it comes to buying from china anyway isnt it. you might get your item in a week, you might be waiting a month or more. Ive learnt now to just fire and forget when i order from oversea';s. 

But i always have that 45 day cut off in my peripheral though 

[HowDoIfly]

Well this is odd. Another purchase I made is an APM (also free unregistered shipping but with HK tracking number) off ebay from seller called gadgetextreme but their confirmation emails were from GoodLuckBuy. Tracking of the APM says it arrived in the UK two days ago so should be here soon (not seen postie today yet). While the gimbal from GLB website was bought several days before and I have no idea where in the world it is right now.

[HowDoIfly]

The gimbal arrived (wednesday). I won';t be testing it in anger for some time as I';ve yet to start my hex rebuild but I did power it up and it works straight out the box. Needed a bit of re-jigging as I didn';t like the wire routing but I';m happy with it so far.

It is a bit larger and heavier than I imagined but that';s because I';ll be fitting a tiny mobius rather than the larger/heavier gopro it';s designed for.

[mrmurder1975]

thanks for the heads up!  mine arrived in the uk in the wee hours of today (saturday) so with a little luck i might see it tuesday/wednesday.

a few people have said that the wiring needed rearranging on theirs as well so i fully expect to have to do mine too,but no biggie.

will post back with thoughts on it when it arrives 

[HowDoIfly]

Oddly enough, I';ve yet to have the APM delivered. 

[mrmurder1975]

probably just caught up in the easter weekend backlog, having thought about it some more i prob wont see my gimbal until more like the end of next week as well. But who knows, we may get lucky and see our stuff on tuesday.

[Biffa]

It';s like a grown up Christmas waiting for stuff from China

I get so excited when I know my stuff has arrived at LHR knowing it';s only a day or two away

[mrmurder1975]

lol yep, i find myself watching out for the postie coming down the other side of the road knowing he will be doing my side when he gets to the end of the street. always a nervous wait wondering if there will be a knock on the door in the next ten mins! and always a big let down when i see him go past the window without knocking :crylol

[mrmurder1975]

gimbal arrived this morning. balanced the mobius on it, plugged it in and................


it worked! 

nice and smooth compensation on the pitch and roll axis, all wiring looks good, the little sensor thingy hot glued under the camera tray,nice and secure. solder looks very neat and tidy for a change! (usually looks like a partially sighted chimp has done it from my experience!)

wiring routed so it does not interfere with any moving parts, contrary to a lot of reports id seen on this gimbal when i was deciding if i should get it or not.

it also included a handy cable that allowed me to connect the pitch pin in the board to the f2 pin on my naza so i have pitch control via my tx.

none of the high pitched whine when powering it as a lot of people have noticed on theirs. i guess they changed the pmw frequency at the factory when setting it up to eliminate that. saves me doing it anyway.

the one thing i have noticed,and i dont know if its normal or not having never used a bl gimbal before is that when its plugged in, you can feel a vibration running through it, nothing so violent that it shakes the camera but you can feel a distinct vibe running through the gimbal. is this normal?

all in all, for 40 odd quid, no complaints from me. i was looking for a plug and play gimbal from the word go and was very pleased to find this one. just need it to stop raining long enough now so i can go out and test it.....

[HowDoIfly]

I got my APM this morning so was wondering if your gimbal arrived too. 

That vibration is obviously tremor from the motors which I would assume could create jello. I can';t suggest any possible fixes as that would be the blind leading the blind so will watch this thread with interest.

[mrmurder1975]

yeah thats what i assumed it was too, although you cant actually see the motors twitch with the eye, but you can feel it with your fingers. maybe there is a setting in the gui i can tweak to stop them doing it, but i will have to wait for someone who knows what i should be adjusting to advise me as i dont have a scooby what it would be. Maybe setting the pwm setting back to the noisy setting would do it? who knows? not me lol.

i have found out that trying to update this nulled board via the gui will brick it, just fyi for anyone reading this that has the same board i do, so i wont be trying that lol.

i currently have the mobius mounted in the tripod case it comes with and that fixed to the camera tray with some velcro. im kinda hoping that will be enough to blot out any vibration so that i dont have to be messing with different mounting methods,but then, nothing is as easy as that is it.