There is no doubt that Zhiyun’s gimbal line is the most popular set of 3-axis handheld gimbals on the market right now, and while their range of gimbal stabilizers has justifiably acquired a good reputation, we occasionally receive reports of overheating problems. We saw a notable dearth of literature on the subject, so we decided to create our own guide to assist any of our users who are experiencing difficulties with their Zhiyun crane overheating.
This is not limited to a particular gimbal generation but can be used to anything from the original Zhiyun Crane all the way up to the Zhiyun Crane 3 lab, which is their most recent gimbal at the time of writing. Having said that, we believe that these suggestions will be applicable to any future Crane gimbal that is introduced to the market in the next years.
Check that the gimbal is properly balanced.
We realize this sounds obvious, but the major reason we see any gimbal overheat is that it has not been properly balanced for the camera rig that you have installed on it. The video above demonstrates a quick and easy way to balance a Zhiyun gimbal in under a minute, however many users ignore this step.
Remember that in a perfect environment, you would rebalance the gimbal after modifying the payload in any way. Assume you want to capture some b-roll, so you balance your gimbal mount your camera with a lens attached to it, and shoot the necessary b-roll video footage. Then you decide to connect a heavier lens and a microphone to the camera but fail to rebalance the gimbal.
The gimbal is attempting to balance a completely different payload than what is actually installed on it, which causes additional, unanticipated effort for the motors, which quickly generates heat. So, every time you alter your payload weight, rebalance your gimbal for best performance and to prevent the possibility of overheating.
We know that some of the more contemporary Zhiyun gimbals include auto-adjust functions that can compensate for a changing payload on the gimbal. However, as previously said, the purpose of this post is to cover the older gimbals in their range that do not provide this technology, and in our opinion, the latest gimbals with auto-adjust technology are not quite there yet, so a regular re-balance is typically easier.
Reduce Your Payload
After rebalancing, the next major issue that we notice that might cause your gimbal to overheat is users exceeding the gimbal’s maximum load capacity. We are aware that there are different methods and attachments available that can allow the gimbal to be stable appropriately with a bigger weight than it was meant to handle, but this can lead to future issues. If you have done anything similar in the past, there is a significant likelihood that this is why the gimbal is overheating now owing to probable damage to its stabilizing motors.
Check the maximum load capacity of your Zhiyun gimbal and then the weight of your camera setup. At the time of writing, the older versions of Zhiyun gimbals had a maximum weight capacity of slightly under four pounds, while the newest gimbals have a maximum load capacity of roughly ten pounds.
It is quite frequent for folks to change their lens to a bigger one without considering gimbal payload weight and end up accidentally beyond what it can sustain. This needed a significant amount of additional work from the motors in order to provide the requisite picture stabilization and can frequently result in overheating.
Are you using third-party batteries?
Although less common than the two mentioned above, utilizing third-party batteries might result in overheating difficulties in your gimbal. We realize that the official Zhiyun Crane batteries (Click here to check for product pricing and availability) are difficult to find these days, but they have been precisely developed to function with the gimbals.
Third-party batteries may be appealing to Crane owners since they are often less expensive and simpler to get than official batteries. However, you never know the quality of the batteries or their dependability. Because many individuals purchase backup sets of batteries for their gimbals in order to extend battery life, this might be why your gimbal is overheating.
Use the official batteries that came with the gimbal to test whether it overheats. If it does not, fill it up with third-party batteries and use it for a while; if it overheats, you may have identified your problem.
The Gimbal could be Faulty
After all of this, the gimbal stabilizer may have a flaw. Although Zhiyun does everything possible to decrease the likelihood of this happening, a very tiny fraction of the gimbals they create may contain flaws that cause overheating. If you purchased your Zhiyun gimbal used, your odds of this increase significantly because you have no clue what the prior owner used the gimbal for or how it was maintained.
If your gimbal is still under warranty, you should be able to acquire a replacement; if not, contact Zhiyun official support to see if they can provide any further guidance.
Conclusion
This concludes our essay on Zhiyun crane overheating remedies, and we hope you found it helpful. We understand how annoying it is to have troubles with your new device, but the recommendations above should help you resolve the issue and get you out and about taking some extremely smooth video footage soon!
