DJI Mavic 2 Teardown: What’s inside?

The DJI Mavic 2 Pro is the successor to the fantastic Mavic Pro quadcoter. Its folding design makes it super compact but also quite complex to work on. We were keen to see how this latest Mavic drone was built and what’s inside the new body so we took a brand new Pro edition out of the box and began our Mavic 2 Teardown to see how this drone really unfolds. Please note : This is not intended to be an instructive guide for dismantling your drone, but more a documentation of our investigation into the architecture of the new quadcopter. We take no responsibility for any potentially warranty-invalidating work carried out on your Mavic by yourself, it is at your own risk.

Tools Required

• 1.5mm Hex driver
• 2mm Hex driver
• J00 Cross head
• Tweezers

Note: You can click on any of the images in this article to view them at a higher resolution

Mavic 2 Teardown : Dismantling Mavic 2 Pro

First off, remove the propellers and the battery before extending the arms. As per other Mavic's the propeller blades are permanently fixed to the hubs and cannot be removed so we will skip past these. Removing the plastic caps under the front arms reveals the top shell mount points, similar to the original Mavic Pro There are 4 screws under the battery and a further 2 on the rear of the drone that hold the top of the Mavic 2 shell on We opted to remove the nose of the craft first as it overlaps with the top shell. It fits on the front of the drone tight and required some work to slide off. This reveals the front vision position sensors and the start of the gimbal mount. With the front removed the top lid was levered off The lid itself is different with windows for the upward vision positioning sensors [gallery columns="2" size="medium" link="file" ids="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0263/8469/5395/files/Mavic-2-Pro-Teardown-lid-detail-top.jpg|"] The new side and upward vision positioning block is fixed together at the rear With the lid removed we can get a better look at the ESC/power board for the new 4S powertrain with battery connector and fan. You can see with the front mounted fan lifting hot air up from the processors on the mainboard below, the air flowing through the front intakes and out the rear of the craft. The top board is also visible with satellite positioning (GPS/GLONASS) receiver as seen below [gallery columns="2" size="medium" link="file" ids="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0263/8469/5395/files/Mavic-2-Pro-Teardown-satellite-positioning-top.jpg|"] Removing two more screws on the underside of the craft allows removal of the air intake and allows the metal bottom shell to swing up. Interestingly this is not a heatsink part as per the original Mavic Pro. Removing the flex cable allows for its full removal from the craft. [gallery columns="2" size="medium" link="file" ids="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0263/8469/5395/files/Mavic-2-Pro-Teardown-lower-shell-components.jpg|"] You can see the daughter-board attached to the inside and one ribbon cable connects this to the mainboard. We unscrew these components and lay them out. Along with the downward facing sensors this board also includes the landing light LEDs, bind switch and SD card slot. [gallery size="medium" columns="2" link="file" ids="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0263/8469/5395/files/Mavic-2-Pro-Teardown-sensor-daughterboard-bottom.jpg|"] To remove the mainboard underneath we unlatched the 4 connector cables, the antenna, removed the black bridge lens mount for the front downward facing camera and undid the multiple screws holding the board down. The board with the fan then lifts out. The board itself has the two downward positioning sensors, the usb-c port and the majority of the processing units and more on the bottom, with the fan on top. [gallery columns="2" size="medium" link="file" ids="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0263/8469/5395/files/Mavic-2-Pro-Teardown-mainboard-removed-bottom.jpg|"] At the rear of the craft the sensor module uses two screws to hold it to the chassis. It features sideways facing sensors, rear sensor and the upward ones. Its a neat little unit that sit upright in the frame out of the way of the battery. [gallery columns="2" size="medium" link="file" ids="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0263/8469/5395/files/Mavic-2-Pro-Teardown-rear-sensor-module-bottom.jpg|"] Next we returned to the craft to remove the IMU and satellite sensor board which is screwed into the 'head' of the drone. The IMU is suspended a rubber damper to minimise vibrations from the motors. [gallery size="medium" link="file" ids="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0263/8469/5395/files/Mavic-2-Pro-Teardown-IMU-board-unraveled.jpg|"] The front vision position sensors are held in the front of the craft with two screws and two ribbon cables, one for each sensor. Here is the familiar sensor board removed.

Mavic 2 Motor Removal

To release the leg from the motor base, you must remove the plastic cap from the LED and undo the screw that is underneath it. Following this you can unscrew the three screws under the motor to release the leg revealing the wires that run back down the arm to the mainboard. The motor can be removed by unscrewing the three 2mm hex bolts that hold it onto the arm. It will need to be de-soldered from the power-board and then carefully pulled through the arm housing.

Mavic 2 Teardown : Gimbal Removal

When you have got to this stage, removal of the gimbal and camera is quite simple. Two screws (visible externally) behind the camera and two at the very back where the hinge is (visible when the top is off) plus removal of a ribbon cable from either the camera or mainboard end.

Mavic 2 Pro Camera Dismantling

Four screws allow us access into the rear of the camera body, The metal back of the camera is heavy, presumably as a counterweight and also a heatsink. Six further screws hold the sensor and board in place plus a lead. From here the curious technician can take look at that big one-inch sensor. [gallery size="medium" columns="2" link="file" ids="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0263/8469/5395/files/Mavic-2-Pro-Teardown-camera-opening.jpg|"] We are impressed by the new gimbal which mounts at two points to the camera body for better stability.

Replacing just the Gimbal and camera on the Mavic 2

As many people have asked, it is possible to replace just the gimbal and camera, with the right tools. Working from the bottom of the craft you would remove the air intake cap, disconnecting the gimbal flex cable from the leading edge of the board. From there only four screws prevent you from taking the entire gimbal/camera module out of the craft, with replacement the reversal of removal.

Mavic 2 Teardown : In conclusion

Whilst we have not dismantled a Mavic 2 zoom, we are reliably informed by DJI that the only differences between it and the Pro drone are to be found in the gimbal and camera unit. In the future we would be interested in swapping the gimbal and camera units over to see if they were simply plug and play. The drone chassis itself shares several similarities with the original Mavic Pro and could be considered an evolution of the original air frame design. We are always impressed at just how many sensors DJI can pack into a drone and this one is no exception! And that concludes our DJI Mavic 2 Teardown. If you found this article interesting and would like to see others like it, check out the rest of our Teardown Series on our blog. The Mavic 2 Pro and its brother the Mavic 2 Zoom are both available on our webstore, where you can learn more about either of them. If you have any questions or would like anything clarified, feel free to drop us a message in the comments section below and we will do our best to get back to you.