Zero Gimbal Z1400 User manual

ZERO Gimbal Z1400 User Manual
www.zerouav.com

SAFETY INFORMATION
Thank you for purchasing our product. Please carefully read and observe the following safety information before using this
product. Our company assumes no liability or responsibility for equipment damage or for injury caused by ignoring the
following safety information.
Do not modify the gimbal or related structure. This may impact the function of the gimbal or in serious cases, destroy the
electronics.
Before leaving the factory, the center of gravity of the Gimbal Z1400 is adjusted for the Panasonic GH3 camera with a
Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 lens. If a different camera is used, it must be adjusted. If not, the gimbal does not need to be adjusted;
all that is necessary is that the camera be attached.
The gimbal must be operated with a load equivalent to a camera with its center of gravity regulated to the best position.
（The camera should remain static and balanced when deployed at any angle. If the gimbal is not loaded it will shake
uncontrollably and may burn out the motors or electronics.
The Gimbal must be matched by a flight control system designed by our company and should be used and commissioned
in an open and safe site and in normal weather conditions.

Before energizing the gimbal should be manually rotated to ensure it is free from obstructions which may destroy the
motors.
Do not forcibly operate this equipment. If there is any doubt about its correct operation or if it does not move freely, please
contact our technical staff or sales department.
© The information in this user manual is protected by copyright, without prior written permission of our company, such
information or data shall not be photocopied or duplicated in any way. The Company reserves the right of final interpretation
of this notebook and relevant information.

Contents
1General Product Information................................................................................................................................................................................ 1
2Product Inventory................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
3Gimbal wiring....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
3.1 Definition Of Gimbal Controller Interface..................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Independent Gimbal Operation ................................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.3 Non-independent gimbal operation ............................................................................................................................................................. 8
4Installation of camera........................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
4.1 Installation Steps (taking Panasonic GH3 as an example).......................................................................................................................... 9
4.2 Adjustment of Center of Gravity ................................................................................................................................................................ 11
5Gimbal Working modes ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
6Setting up the Remote control transmitter ......................................................................................................................................................... 13
7Gimbal Operation............................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
7.1 Check before operation............................................................................................................................................................................. 14
7.2 AaOperational steps.................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
8APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 18

8.1 Resetting the gimbal Gyro......................................................................................................................................................................... 18
8.2 Upgrading the firmware............................................................................................................................................................................. 19
8.3 Adjusting parameters ................................................................................................................................................................................ 21
8.4 SPECIFICATION....................................................................................................................................................................................... 24
8.5 Zero UAV Technical support and videos................................................................................................................................................... 27

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1GENERAL PRODUCT INFORMATION
The Z1400 gimbal is a three-axis brushless motor direct drive gimbal researched and developed by Zero UAV especially for
professional photographic applications. The three axes are each driven by a Brushless Motor with high accuracy and a high
speed driver module developed by us. When used with our Multi-Rotor Autopilot, the Zero UAV Gemini the gimbal has super
strong stability, super high accuracy and super sensitive response.
GH3/4/α7 professional 3-axis motor driving gimbal with
high stability
Can be operated independently and is compatible with
other mobile gimbals
360°panorama shooting function
Supports various lens options
Simple access to CF card（memory card）
Perfectly matches Zero UAV Multi-rotor flight control
systems
3-axis rotation angle without limit
High precision IMU module
Rotation speed of all 3-axes is controllable
Expandable wireless remote focus following module
Can be further upgraded and expanded to carry RED
and other cameras

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Gimbal direction
Yaw axis
(360° continuous rotation)
Tile axis
(360° continuous rotation)
Roll axis
(360° continuous rotation)
Gimbal retention clip
Damper ball
IMU module
Pendant above camera
Motor driver 2
Pendant below camera
Motor driver 3
Motor driver 1
Figure 1 gimbal: Schematic diagram

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2PRODUCT INVENTORY
Product
Instruction
Gimbal Z1400
Built-in Zero professional brushless motor speed controllers, integrated camera video
output cable, shutter release tec.
HDMI lead for GH3 / GH4 camera
Links between camera HDMI port and gimbal HDMI video output.
AV video extension cord
Extends camera video output to connect video equipment.
Gimbal CONTROLLER
Gimbal controller connects the Zero Data Bus from the flight controller to the gimbal.
Receiver cable
Connect to S-BUS receiver (only one S-BUS cable needed).
Power cord
Supplies power for gimbal controller and gimbal.
USB cable
Connects PC to gimbal controller to adjust parameters and upgrade firmware.
PTZ1 / PTZ2 / PTZ3 connecting
cable
The gimbal controller communicates with GEMINI dual or GEMINI individual units vis
this connecting cable.

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Hot-shoe
Assists fixing gimbal to camera.
2×8PT socket head cap screw with
flat head
Fix camera on pendant above gimbal.
3×8PT socket head cap screw with
flat head
Fix camera on pendant above gimbal.
4×12PT socket head cap screw
with flat head
Fix camera on pendant below gimbal.
1/4×10 BS screws
Fix camera on pendant below gimbal.
3×6 socket head cap screw with
round head
Regulating weight.
3×8 socket head cap screw with
round head
Regulating weight.

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3GIMBAL WIRING
Please carefully read and observe the following instructions before wiring the unit to avoid serious personal injury or
equipment damage.
All connections must be in strict accordance with the wiring diagram, otherwise the equipment will not perform normally
and may even be damaged.
Use a 6 cell (6S) Lithium Polymer (LIPO) battery to supply power to the gimbal.
The standard power supply module supplied, must be used to supply power to the gimbal controller and flight controller,
if not, the equipment may be burnt out.
When installing, please note that arrow printed on the gimbal must correspond to the forward direction of the aircraft. If
this form of installation is not possible, parameter regulating software may be used to change the deviation angle between
the forward direction of the gimbal and the aircraft head direction.

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3.1 Definition Of Gimbal Controller Interface
Figure 2 definition of gimbal controller interface
3.2 Independent Gimbal Operation
If you need to use the gimbal independently (without being mounted on an aircraft), a Gemini or individual
GEMINI-M/GEMINI-S flight control unit must still be used with the Z2000 Gimbal. After connecting the gimbal to the flight
controller it will provide the gimbal with posture data corresponding its three-dimensional position. The arrow on the gimbal
needs to keep consistency with the arrow on the Gemini flight control.

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S-BUS
receiver GIMBAL
clock line (CLOCK, green and black line)
data line(DATA green line)
video(yellow and black line)
power(black and red line)
5.7V PSU 6S Li battery
AV video
Figure 3 Connection diagram for independent gimbal operation

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3.3 NON-INDEPENDENT GIMBAL OPERATION
The Gemini auto-pilot or individual GEMINI-M/GEMINI-S flight control units can provide the Z2000 gimbal with high precision
positional information and will guarantee the normal flight of the aircraft. . The arrow on the gimbal needs to keep consistency
with the arrow on the Gemini flight control.
S-BUS
receiver GIMBAL
clock line (CLOCK, green and black line)
data line(DATA green line)
video(yellow and black line)
power(black and red line)
5.7V PSU 6S Li battery
AV video
S-BUS receiver
Figure 4 Connection diagram for non-independent gimbal operation

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4INSTALLATION OF CAMERA
4.1 INSTALLATION STEPS (TAKING PANASONIC GH3 AS AN EXAMPLE)
Step1, install the hot shoe to the slot of camera.
hot shoe
slot
Figure 5 push the hot shoe into the slot
Step2, fix the camera to the upper pendant by screws in figure

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camera upper pendant
2×8PT screw (2×10PT screw for old version)
3×8PT screw (3×6PT screw for old version)
Figure 6 fixing with upper pendant
Step3, fix the camera to the lower pendant by screws in figure
camera lower pendant
British system screw 1/4×10
4×12PT screw
Figure 7 fixing with camera lower pendant
Step4, use standard HDMI video switch line to Gimbal video port and camera video output port
Note:

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Take out the peripherals of the camera(such as filter and hood),camera center of gravity need to be adjusted again by
customer if other peripherals need to be added.
Check the installation of battery ,memory card and focus; shutter speed need to be set to 1/120s,otherwise may lead to
jelly or jitter.
4.2 ADJUSTMENT OF CENTER OF GRAVITY
1. Before leaving the factory, the center of gravity of the Z1400 Gimbal is pre-adjusted for the Panasonic GH3 camera with
the Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 lens. Re-adjustment is required when changing camera or lens. If the camera or lens is not
changed, then there is no need to modify the mechanical structure or the installation mode of the gimbal. All that is needed
is to fix the camera.
2. The gimbal must be equipped with a camera load, and its center of gravity must be adjusted to the best position (the
camera should stop and remain static when deployed at any angle. Do not energize the gimbal under a no-load condition,
this would lead to the gimbal jittering, and might burn out the motors or the controller. A video tutorial demonstrating
camera adjustment can be seen at: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODkwMjc5ODky.html

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5GIMBAL WORKING MODES
This equipment supports two working modes: gimbal working mode and remote control rate mode:
Position
Gimbal working mode CH5
Remote control rate mode CH6
1st
position
Non-direction lock mode，i.e. the direction of the gimbal does not change along
with the change of direction of the aircraft.
Slow gimbal movement speed.
2nd
position
Direction follow mode without allowance, i.e. the gimbal direction and aircraft
direction track each other exactly, the size of the angle can be regulated by the
transmitter sticks.
Median gimbal movement
speed.
3rd
position
Direction follow mode with 5º allowance, i.e. the gimbal only follows the aircraft
direction when the angle between them is greater than 5°.
Fast gimbal movement speed.

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6SETTING UP THE REMOTE CONTROL TRANSMITTER
Your RC transmitter (TX) must use “fixed-wing mode”, do not set up any mixes. If using a Futaba TX, none of the channels
should be reversed. JR, Tiandifei and possibly other remote controls should have all channels reversed.
Video refer to: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/e1ai526Mbt4/.
Gimbal remote controller channel definition
Channel
Definition
Description
CH1
Aileron channel
Gimbal roll control
CH2
Elevator channel
Gimbal pitch control
CH3
Throttle channel
Add force to the gimbal when pushing up,decrease force to the
gimbal when pulling down
CH4
direction channel
Gimbal direction control
CH5
position 1
No direction follow
position 2
Direction follow lock
position 3
Direction follow with 5° lag

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CH6
position 1
Low speed
position 2
Mid range
position 3
Fast
NOTE: method to view remote controller channel: power on remote controller→MOL→SERVO.
Gimbal remote controller setting step
1. Set a 3-position switch to CH5,controlling gimbal work mode; set a 3-position to CH6,adjusting gimbal revolving speed.
2. Retractable landing gear control: If the signal wire of retractable control module is plugged in an empty channel of gimbal
receiver, then correspond channel is set into 2-position switch or knob switch, for controlling the retractable landing gear.
3. CH8 is set to a 2-position switch, controlling the shooting and recording.
7GIMBAL OPERATION
7.1 CHECK BEFORE OPERATION
1. Check the installation of parts is accurate and the wiring firmly fastened.

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2. Inspect the power supply to the gimbal, if all gimbal indicators light up, successful energizing is indicated.
3. Check the center of gravity of the camera: it should be stable and centered i.e. when unpowered, move the camera to any
position, it should stay static in its current position after release.
4. Check that all screws are tightened to avoid instability and shaking.
5. Check that channel settings on the transmitter are correct.
7.2 AAOPERATIONAL STEPS
1. Supply power to the gimbal (When using the spark prevention plug it must be inserted at the bottom, otherwise the gimbal
will be in an abnormal power supply state).
2. Switch on the transmitter
3. Self-inspection of gimbal: by hand, rotate the camera in at least one complete circle (360°) along all three axes, i.e. make
sure it freely and continuously rotates in pitch, roll and yaw (pan) directions.
NOTE: The gimbal must be allowed to carry out its self-inspection every time it switched on to ensure that it functions
correctly.