Can I fly/pair the Karma drone with the controller without the gimball and camera mounted?

[legion252]

Hi,

I bought a used Karma drone with unknown history. Bought it as it was, however, both camera and gimbal are missing.

Of course I also have pairing issues and I'm trying to figure out the problem now. I am new to this and I have realized about the problem now after buying the drone that this is a widespread problem.

The Karma controller had v2.50 installed and I downgraded it by reflashing to v2.00 as per the tutorial on youtube. It worked. However, I still have pairing issues but I don't know if it could also be because the camera and gimbal are not mounted in the drone?

My question. Can you pair the Karma drone with the controller without gimbal and camera mounted on the drone? Can you fly like that?
Would like to know this before I buy a gimbal and camera, mostly so I don't throw away the money.

Thank you

 

[bozmanx]

Hi,

I bought a used Karma drone with unknown history. Bought it as it was, however, both camera and gimbal are missing.

Of course I also have pairing issues and I'm trying to figure out the problem now. I am new to this and I have realized about the problem now after buying the drone that this is a widespread problem.

The Karma controller had v2.50 installed and I downgraded it by reflashing to v2.00 as per the tutorial on youtube. It worked. However, I still have pairing issues but I don't know if it could also be because the camera and gimbal are not mounted in the drone?

My question. Can you pair the Karma drone with the controller without gimbal and camera mounted on the drone? Can you fly like that?
Would like to know this before I buy a gimbal and camera, mostly so I don't throw away the money.

Thank you

Hi ,

You will be able to power the drone on and it will pair. You will not be able to fly it as you will get a gimble not connected error. If you connect the gimble without the camera you will get a no camera connected error. Both these errors will stop you from progressing to the screen on the controller where you are able to start the drone and fly.

 

[Ironspear]

Hi,

I bought a used Karma drone with unknown history. Bought it as it was, however, both camera and gimbal are missing.

Of course I also have pairing issues and I'm trying to figure out the problem now. I am new to this and I have realized about the problem now after buying the drone that this is a widespread problem.

The Karma controller had v2.50 installed and I downgraded it by reflashing to v2.00 as per the tutorial on youtube. It worked. However, I still have pairing issues but I don't know if it could also be because the camera and gimbal are not mounted in the drone?

My question. Can you pair the Karma drone with the controller without gimbal and camera mounted on the drone? Can you fly like that?
Would like to know this before I buy a gimbal and camera, mostly so I don't throw away the money.

Thank you

The Karma would not fly safely without the gimbal and camera (it can't). The Karma would be unbalanced without the extra equipment. Good luck.

 

[bozmanx]

The Karma would not fly safely without the gimbal and camera (it can't). The Karma would be unbalanced without the extra equipment. Good luck.

Good point, I dare say that's why they block it from entering flight mode. Let's face it, it's not some DJI with the camera hanging under it on the center point. lol

 

[legion252]

Thank you guys.
This is how I interpret your answers.

* Not possbile to fly with no gimbal and camera because of the error function preventing it to do so. Ok
* Possible to pair the drone with the controller despite no gimbal and camera mounted in the drone. Ok

Why i wonder this is that when the controller had fw v.2.50 both drone and controller could be in pairing mode forever. The drone could flash forever in pairing mode until the battery ran out.

After I downgraded the controller to v.2.00, now when I try to pair, after a while, maybe 1 minute, the drone changes its flash sequence, it switches to more frequent flashes and the on/off button turns to flash red, and then after a moment of flashing, the drone it turns off completely. This didn´t happen with v.2.50.

This is the biggest difference I could experience between v.2.50 and v.2.00. Note that I only reflashed the controller, haven't touched the drone.

So now I'm trying to find out if it can't pair because both gimbal and camera are missing? as the on/off button starts flashing red, so as if something is missing? interpreting it as an error message the drone is trying to manifest.

But since you say it should be able to pair even if both gimbal and camera are missing, then the fault must be somewhere else and I don't need to buy a gimbal and a camera to get them paired. I understand i have to have the gimbal/camera to be able to fly but if I can't even pair, then the flight is not my problem now. Then I might as well give up.

Thanks

 

[bozmanx]

Thank you guys.
This is how I interpret your answers.

* Not possbile to fly with no gimbal and camera because of the error function preventing it to do so. Ok
* Possible to pair the drone with the controller despite no gimbal and camera mounted in the drone. Ok

Why i wonder this is that when the controller had fw v.2.50 both drone and controller could be in pairing mode forever. The drone could flash forever in pairing mode until the battery ran out.

After I downgraded the controller to v.2.00, now when I try to pair, after a while, maybe 1 minute, the drone changes its flash sequence, it switches to more frequent flashes and the on/off button turns to flash red, and then after a moment of flashing, the drone it turns off completely. This didn´t happen with v.2.50.

This is the biggest difference I could experience between v.2.50 and v.2.00. Note that I only reflashed the controller, haven't touched the drone.

So now I'm trying to find out if it can't pair because both gimbal and camera are missing? as the on/off button starts flashing red, so as if something is missing? interpreting it as an error message the drone is trying to manifest.

But since you say it should be able to pair even if both gimbal and camera are missing, then the fault must be somewhere else and I don't need to buy a gimbal and a camera to get them paired. I understand i have to have the gimbal/camera to be able to fly but if I can't even pair, then the flight is not my problem now. Then I might as well give up.

Thanks

I think its coincidence that you are seeing a difference. As you said you have not changed the firmware in the drone. I have seen the same thing without changing any of the firmware. Most of the time when you try and boot the drone (with the pairing issue) the main processor will boot and fail in what appears to be an error loop (drone never shuts down). Every now and then I have seen the main processor fail and go into shutdown mode where it turns itself off. If you plug into the STMDBG connector and view its output in something like putty you will see what's going on.