How to Fix a Vertical Camera on a Parrot Bebop

Despite being a discontinued model, the Parrot Bebop is a very popular drone, if you can get your hands on one. Of course, one of the things that make it as good as it is can be linked to how this drone is more stable than most other drones available, and that is due to how it uses its vertical camera in conjunction with its sensors when it is in flight. But there are times when the Parrot Bebop won’t fly due to a vertical camera error. So, how do you fix the vertical camera error on your Parrot Bebop?

If you get a vertical camera error message on your Parrot Bebop, that means there might be a factory defect or a software problem. You can start by trying to reset your Parrot Bebop. The most radical fix you can try is to glue the connector between the vertical camera and the motherboard in place.

The vertical camera error for the Parrot Bebop or any other Parrot drone can be quite common among different Parrot drone owners. As such, this problem tends to be something that doesn’t have a specific cause but can often be fixed with simple solutions. Before paying for expensive repairs, take a look at our list of solutions to try when it comes to the vertical camera failure message that you get with your Parrot Bebop.

What does the vertical camera do on your Parrot Bebop? #

One of the most popular drones from Parrot, which is arguably the second-best drone company in the world, has been the Bebop and Bebop 2 over the years. Unfortunately, Parrot has discontinued the manufacture of the Bebop and Bebop 2, along with most of their other consumer drone models, although they are still to be found around on the market, at least for now. 

One reason why the Parrot Bebop is as popular as it is can be attributed to the fact that it comes with an amazing flight system that allows it to fly in a manner that is as stable as possible through the use of different instruments and sensors.

This includes a 3-axis sensor and a vertical camera when it comes to achieving the best kind of flight stability it could possibly get. Its vertical camera specifically has one job, and that is to measure speed so that the Parrot Bebop can still stay stable in flight regardless of how fast it is going.

So you can see how important the vertical camera is for the Parrot Bebop, as this is one of the instruments the drone uses to make sure that it stays stable during flight. When there is a problem with the vertical camera, the Parrot Bebop won’t be able to fly properly. This is true to such a degree that the drone won’t even initialize or respond to commands at all if the vertical camera is not functioning.

When you get a vertical camera failure message on your Parrot Bebop, you won’t be able to fly your drone unless you fix that error. 

What is causing the vertical camera failure on your Parrot Bebop? #

Now that you know what the vertical camera is for, let us now look at some of the underlying causes that may be the root of this issue for your Parrot Bebop. Knowing the cause of the failure may be able to allow us to find the solution.

However, the thing you need to know here is that sometimes the vertical camera seems to fail for no apparent reason. There have been many user reports stating that the failure message just suddenly popped up out of nowhere even though the drone didn’t crash or meet an accident of any kind.

Sometimes this can be attributed to a simple software error that Parrot can fix with a quick software update. In this case, it’s a matter of updating your firmware, or even waiting for the next firmware update to be available. Then again, it could also be a hardware error on the part of Parrot as well.

In some cases, it seems that the connector between the Bebop’s vertical camera and the motherboard can get loose when the drone has been flown a lot. This can lead to a disconnection between the vertical camera and the motherboard, and this will prompt the drone to display the error as it could no longer detect the vertical camera.

Then again, if you did crash your Parrot Bebop in the past, then the crash might have been a cause for the vertical camera connector to come loose from the motherboard. The crash might not have immediately disconnected the two but it could have been a precursor that eventually led to the pin connectors loosening up a bit.

How to fix the vertical camera failure for Parrot Bebop #

Whatever the reason may be as to why your Parrot Bebop is showing a vertical camera failure, the best thing to do now is to find a quick fix to the solution so that you will be able to remedy it as soon as possible and begin flying your Bebop again.

If your drone is still under warranty, then the quickest and easiest fix is to send your Parrot Bebop to a Parrot service center so that they could fix the issue under warranty. This is the most logical and reliable way for you to deal with the situation.

However, if you are no longer under warranty (which is why you are here), one of the first things that you can do is to try to reset your Parrot Bebop. That’s because this could be related to a software problem on the part of your drone. A reset may be able to help fix any of the software problems that it might have. You could even try updating the drone or removing and re-installing the app from your phone to see if that works.

But when it comes to the most extreme cases, such as when the cause of the problem is a loose pin connector between the Parrot Bebop’s vertical camera and the motherboard, you may be able to fix the situation by gluing the connector in place so that the vertical camera won’t come loose. 

Before you try this type of solution, make sure you are confident about how to open your Parrot Bebop and determine which part connects to the vertical camera and where it connects to the motherboard.

If you are a bit on the techy side and you know how to tinker your way through your Bebop’s electronics, then this shouldn’t be a problem for you. However, if you are not that confident with your techy skills, simply try a drone reset. If that doesn’t work, better send your Bebop to a service center.

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