Troubleshoot Your Quadcopter Vibration Problems | REAL WORLD TROUBLESHOOTING David R. 

I just realized that watching Joshua troubleshoot things is as soothing as watching Bob Ross paint a happy landscape; you know you'll enjoy the conversation and the result will be pleasing.

4years later and still extremely helpful video. Thanks again JB

I didnt know you could check for bad motors using the motor tab. Amazing vid!!

This is the single greatest video on vibration troubleshooting I have seen. I went through all the steps to try and figure out my quads oscillations. Wasn't the tune, the props, the motors, or anything. I soft mounted the flight controller, and motors and still it oscillated. It wasn't until I stumbled upon this video that I discovered I had the same exact issue... the damn camera board was lose.... such an easy fix. Copter flies great again thanks to you!

Thank you so much Joshua! You're supporting the community so well. Thanks for your effort to provide all that important Infos! Without all these Infos, it would had been impossible for me to get into miniquads. And dang, its just great. btw with the help of this Video, i was able to get rid of my mid throttle vibrations (a Motor shaft was bent slightly, only visible on motortest with accelometer) thank you!!! And as important as that been said: Thanks to Boris B for this great software and gui of Betaflight!

Man this video was a real eye opener.....that motor check thing....how sweet is that after a bad crash when things don't run the same. Great job!

Exactly the same happened to a fat shark 700TVL camera of mine. Thank you so much! Without you, my 285 would be sitting on the bench for forever. You are one awesome individual! Please do not change. Cheers!

I just wanted to say thank you for everything you do brother! I was having the EXACT same problem and was getting ready to put a match to my quad with some gasoline because I could not figure it out. My friend finally found your video on this and I had the same problem and now it is fixed!!! Thanks again!

By far the best troubleshooting video so far! Please give us more of this content :)

Great video. Thanks for continuously cranking out very useful, relevant videos. We all appreciate it.

Thank you thank you. Today I was flying one of my quads and have a vibration exactly the same. I'll be doing your checklist soon!!!! This is the best style video!!!

Great video - helpful to see your approach and process of eliminating possible sources.

Just wasted a week, before I finally shook the cam and heard clickity click and remembered this vid. Foam fix, fly again. Thanks Joshua :)

THANK GOD FOR THIS VIDEO! I've been troubleshooting my ultra weird gyro issues on punchout for a week now and followed most of the steps you talk about in your different troubleshoot videos. I incriminated wrongly my motors / FC / props... and it turns out it was a beeper i added last minute that was just hanging loose and was touching the gyro ribbon cable... i strapped it down and bingo it's as smooth as butter

Detective skills are amazing on this. "What is loose?" What is in there?" "Why does taking the lens off make it not happen?" Was great.

Very informative video man! keep the troubleshoot ones coming, i find them really interesting to watch ;)

Cheers Bardwell, your emporium of videos are a godsend for all in the hobby, stay awesome

Thanks for everything you do man. This stuff is so helpful. Nobody else I know of is doing stuff like this man. Thank you.

I like this format, looking forward to more. very good.

Great step by step Troubleshoot. Explained for beginners and someone who begins to Play with PIDs I‘m waiting for Part II 😋

like a bloodhound, zeroring in on a scent. Two thumbs up!

this is why ive contributed as a Patreon. i have had this exact issue lately. now i know what to check. also check the motor bolts too, loose ones cause the same vibrated image and are often hard to see unless you grasp the motor and try to wobble it whilst watching the motor screws to see if they move. // . yet another piece of helpful insight on keeping the quad flying

Thanks Josh!!! I have been struggling with figuring out this same exact problem after a crash. Bought new motors, esc, and still had a bad vibration. Took out my Runcam swift and shook it and aha!!...found the culprit. You've helped a lot with your vids, this one saved me, thanks for what you do.

Just found this vid after changing numerous amounts of props and even a new set of motors. Daaaaah Cheers i can smile again

Great video format and really useful to see a real world troubleshoot. Great practice for the viewers to try and guess the issue or next course of action. Thanks for posting.

THANK YOU! This video saved my FPV life. I have the Runcam Swift with the same exact problem. The vibration was horrible. I balanced the props many times, changed antennas, video tx, wires, but never thought the camera chip/board might be lose. Quick fix with a piece of foam, and boom, crisp, clear video. Thanks again!

Super interesting! Thanks to you, I know have a better understanding of what can cause vibrations and how to investigate. Happy flying!

I am sure glad you posted this. Got a brand new RunCam Swift and took it out flying this morning. I had this exact issue happen. Used some hot glue and the issue was gone. I would never of suspected that the board within the case was loose.

Nice troubleshooting. I had a similar problem and my footage looked identical to his. Mine actually ended up being the glass lens itself was loose inside the metal lens housing. Finding that just about drove me crazy. It was a bugger to diagnose but when I fixed it, my footage was smooth as can be. Thanks for the video.

I was troubleshooting a similar problem, determined it was an issue with two motors and ordered some replacements. Two days later, RU-vid recommended I watch this, so I checked the camera. Indeed, there was a rattling! It turned out to be the lens optic itself inside the lens housing, so I'll pick a new one up and see if that helps. Thanks for this video and glad RU-vid recommended it before I finished installing two new motors!

Wow, that was a great Rotor Riot episode. Oh hang on, this is Joshua's channel :D Great concept you have there - I think you are onto a winner with this approach to interactive troubleshooting the issues of a fellow pilot. Well done.

Love the smoke stopper! thanx Joshua

Hey I enjoyed watching this video. It shows the diagnostic procedures you take and your thoughts as you do them which I really find helpful. More like this in future if it's possible would be great! Thanks!

Awesome video Joshua lots of good pointers.

Every troubleshooting vid should be like this. Sub earned

this is interesting.i had the exact same issue. I thought the video might show the same issue I was having. my issue was a ground on the hubosd. I was getting so much noise on yaw gyro. unplugging my VTX and cam fixed my gyro noise. I then rewired my grounds and my yaw gyro is now clean. good video. we need more of these.

Hey Joshua Bardwell, I learned something today. Thanks!

Love your vidoes! Quality. Good take away - always assume that more than one factor can contribute to one problem.

More like this! Wow, it was so incredibly useful to see you run through these steps. So glad it wasn't the motors, the video would have been much to short :P

I JUST KEEP LEARNING MORE AND MORE EVERYDAY

Thanks for the great vid! I notice you have your HD2 goggles on, are you going to do a review or overview of them?

I've got a brand new build that was having problems with it taking off on arm. Checked prop direction and motor direction numerous times, but it would still spaz out. So thought I'd check for vibrations causing issues, and decided to do the motor vibration test and performed it quicker than you did in this video. Smoked my SpeedyBee F405 V3 Stack 😂. Defo learnt something today 👍

That was gold, I would like to see more like that.

the only thing is bad is that I live too far to get your troubleshooting in the real world. Great video, thank you!

now thats some crispy trouble shooting. I am working on trouble shooting a aio camera now. Got a babyhawk in the mail today. tested camera before I set everything in betaflight. once I was ready to fly zero picture. so tomorrow I will pull cam and go from there. great video, I really love the real world trouble shooting videos. cheers.

I had this same problem happened to me years ago and it took me forever to figure out that the FPV cam is the problem lol. Great video

We need more videos like these!

thanks great Josh,and can you tell me what's GCS are you using ?

Very informative and helpful troubleshooting video. 🤓

Needed to add more of my notes of the day. Did the camera fix anyway, I see the issue with the camera, only two screws and the other two corners are free to move. Done. Then the motor test. One of my motors noticeably was louder and had way more vibration. I got a number of over 10+ !!!! So, next out to the field to see if the camera fixed helped or that darn motor is the issue. Thank you so much. Question. Is the number on Cleanflight/Betaflight a number that comes from vibration of the FC due to the Motor vibrations?

Holy smoke. I tried everything on my new build and didn't think off the camera. Thanks Joshua!

Excellent video. What program did you use to check the vibration on the motors? How do you balance your propellers?

what an amazing video! Thank you !!

every one of these videos I watch, I'm always thinking how jealous I am of that property. what a great place to live and hobby!

I have a similar situation with my JJRC JJPRO I am testing. No changes, brand new props (HQ, DAL, etc) brand new motors, a 90% tune, even a different battery lol. I fixed the camera better, and nothing. I took the camera apart and like you showed smashed some foam in there but still about the same. I think it may just be a trashy camera as it is a cheap CMOS one since it is RTF.

lol. I spent 3 weeks troubleshooting the same issue. a bit of soft foam in the back made it all go away. cheers and thanks for posting. btw - I had this on a lantian 700tvl camera. apart from that it works great. sometimes it also pays to put a touch of hot glue or contact glue on the lens ring. something that will remove easily but will hold it all in place.

same excact issue on a foxeer predator v5 , thanks for the video Joshua.

way to go Joshua. I have had this exact thing happen three times. it usually starts showing after a hard crash. you can also tap the camera lens while it is in the frame and hear a rattle. liquid tape fixes the problem

Super cool 'concept' video it is so much nicer.

well done sir!

one of the most annoying things to have on a fresh build :(.

Great vid and wow what a simple fix. I never would've found that.

Awesome video 👍😎

I hit a fence and thereafter had a wobbly image from the camera. Sure enough, the camera sensor had come lose and was moving. Packed it in and problem solved. Thanks Josh.

Looking back! He's like an uncle that is helping you on a motorcycle or a car 😂

you should deff do more meet and tunes / meet and diag this was a great video josh.

Nice methodical approach.

jb ur a legend nice video mate

If that's a RunCam Swift I've heard of that issue before. RunCam recommended exactly what you did to put foam in the back... I guess tolerances weren't the tightest in production

Thumbs up for a troubleshooting BADASS! the greatest show on earth.

i am currently having vibration issues, with a fat shark 600tvl cmos cam... andi have found the circut board inside to be loose. thank you very much for your vids, my vibration issues have been giving me heaps of trouble. to the point where it is impossible to fly. thank you heaps

hey Joshua cool video again!, but I also need your help, when are you comming to switzerland? shall i come to visit you where are you based? cheers and continue make cool videos!

Very nice concept Joshua :) Going to the Bardwell's farm must be like going to a spiritually sacred location especially if it always ends well like that! I think i would have found this issue lol Thanks for sharing and have a great week

OMFG this is the second time you save me (usb broken for the first!)!! I had exactly the same problem and just shake my cam, it seems to be the solution ! Thanks you again

again a great video...THX! My gyros readings are jumping up and down between 0,0 and 0,78 when is sitting still with motors off. I have an omnibus f4 v2 do u have any idea what that could be?

I'm new to FPV. So new I don't even have any FPV experience or gear, but want to get into it. I have seen your video regarding adding a capacitor to the power supply to kill noise. What I'm trying to figure out is, what does the noise look like in the first place? Is it the random static in the FPV video feed that is noticeable at different times in the video? I see a lot of FPV video recordings, and it baffles me how these guys fly so fast on tight courses, while that static distorts the video so much. How in the world do people fly tight courses when their video feed is so crappy? Will adding the 1000uF capacitor clean that video feed up?

Always add small orings inside camera case, especially with Swift 2 runcam!

Tjank you mr bardwell it solved my issue

Camera is my go to whenever you find yourself scratching your head. Learnt that tip the hard way.... so glad frames now accommodate 26mm cameras. Helps rule out those flimsy brackets immediately. Unfortunately, I feel loose boards in Runcams Swifts is a thing. I have personally had to hot glue mine in place.

I actually had a lens loose inside the lens tube once on a new cam...drove me nuts! I tuned from top to bottom and back again...finally thought I had a bad QAV-r frame so I started to tear it down...as I disassembled I discovered the loose lens :)

This video helped me out so much Joshua, i wanna just say thank you for the info and finding the problem. i was just about to buy another camera. I ve been messing with this one problem for weeks, flying around with a wobble screen if i punch out. My Quad was limited too the Real Hoveround!!!

You are the best!

If I am showing 3.66 on one of the axis after resetting gyro without the battery plugged in, is it possible that movement on the floor where table is placed is causing this. I am trying to diagnose a punch out oscillations that only happens with a 4 cell, no matter which new props and different pitches dal 5x4x3,Gemfan 5x4.3x3,dal 5x4.6x3 all have high throttle oscillations ,but only on 4 cells. Does happen with 3 cell. Any ideas

There are times when you notice vibrations within your HD recorded video. So you soft mount FC and motors, PID tune, change arms, change ESCs... ...but after a while you realize your HD camera is just loose on the top plate.

Great troubleshooting vid! I wonder if these could be a regular thing. I know I've got some issues I wish I knew more about. For instance, I think I may be overtaxing my ESCs. But I don't really know what that would look like. Would the motors heat up if the ESCs couldn't handle the current? Could that be the cause of the stuttering I'm seeing and hearing? I'd like to know the cause before I shell out for higher current ESCs or more efficient motors... Maybe just less aggressive props would solve my troubles?

I only heard about this possible issue last week from a friend that literally change dout every single components and multiple FC. Seems it's more common than I thought as now I read a handful of same cases.

Hey Josh. I have a random question....was just curious why I don't see you calibrate ESC's with the BLHeli motors tab instead of Cleanflight/Betaflite motors tab?

saw he had a nicaragua t shirt!!! awesome!

More please.

Hey josh, you have given me advice before and it worked wonders however i have noticed that at a certain throttle and above (about 80%) my quad tilts back slightly. i have messed about with my pids however cant seem to find any combination that works. I ran the test that you showed in this video where i removed the props and span each motor up, resetting the accelerometer in between each test and i was getting at best 0.04 to at worst 0.30 depending on the motor and the axis, could this be the reason for my quad tilting (i have tried many different prop types and i still have the same issues) and if so should i try purchasing new motors and if not what can i do to try and tone the tilting down in the tuning. Thanks for any help you can give : ) (im running a naze 32 rev 5 on betaflight and well flown and crashed cobra 2206 2100kv motors)

DAMN GOOD! I am curious, how do you focus your camera lens? It seems like it focuses to different distances so I am unsure how to really make it sharp.

Great video Joshua! I had the exact same problem with the RunCam, Oscar Liang did a great tutorial mod if you have an earlier version, google runcam hot glue mod. The newest RunCam I received had a dab of glue on the crystal and foam on the back. Had some savage crashes and it's holding up fine. Hope this helps other pilots!

I had exactly the same issue. Tried to tune it out for weeks. It was my 3D Printed camera case. Hot glued the edges of the board on with a couple of drops, default pids and done.

anyone watching this in 2019?

Really informative video. I don't have a question, when troubleshooting does it help to wear the goggles on your head?

Very good troubleshooting video. BTW, what camera and microphone you use to shoot for this video?

Is it a tuning issu when i got vibration at very low to low throttle( for example when arming but not when hovering)? I'm sure that the props and the motors are well belanced.

Hi there! thanks for the great video. I had been trying to see if my Eachine X220 motors were vibrating using your tips with Betaflight "Motors". First i can't reset, but it seems to be a bug of 3.1v. But when i tried to put some spin to each motor, none of the 4 stays under 1.0, one is even to going to 16.x . My Quad is doing fine in air i guess, but i'm learning in acro and not pushing everytime. Any thoughts about the result ?

bunch of useful tips in there,...trouble shooting quads is a dark art, broke and trouble shot the shit outta my quad the other night and fixed it, and i still don't know what went wrong.... i did that thing you did on a vid to remove the deadzone on the fc output pwm, it killed the motor... it went fine and i reset all the motors to what motor 2 tested at 1955, didnt want to go thru all the motors cause its scary to run without props, then when i armed motor 2 wouldnt spin,.... i checked in blheli and they all worked and flashed fine, went to motors still motor 2 wouldn't spin up.. i spun motors 1,3,4 all fine, i reflashed everything reset and then, all 4 motors wouldnt spin up.... then i dismantled to check my awful solder work, all still fine.... then i checked the battery 3.5v..... new battery everything worked fine, which still doesnt explain why motor 2 stopped and then motors 1,3,and 4 stopped....i wish cleanflight had an emergency josh from the future button

As crazy as it sounds I was watching your video while trying to figure out where this new vibration that came out of nowhere was. I got to the point where it had to be the cam. Shook it and tchik tchik, same noise!! No noise when I took the lens off. In my case the lens had taken one too many hits and was rattling!! The coincidence!!!