Josh I just want to say thank you for such a great catalog of fpv how to and not to I just got a nazgul 5 v1 it's use but it flys and it all thanks to you
Come on people! Who couldn't give up 5 bucks a month for this kind of info? I feel it's worth more. So I give more. You should too. You know who you are... PATRION! This is his job! Thank you JB! I learned something today.
Josh, you explain everything very well, I've learned soo much from this video series! Thank you so much for your attention to detail and all your hard work. Video series like this are the reason why a Carpenter like me can even attempt to build a FPV mini quad having no prior background in electronics. Thank you and keep 'em coming
Just wanted to say a massive thankyou to you Josh. I have just completed my first betaflight setup. She flies like a beauty. Without your videos as reference I would never have got through. Genuinely, my thanks.
I'm going back and binge-watching your old videos so I can answer some of the questions that come to my mind without having to ask! I know, what a concept! Anyway, I think this particular video is by far one of (if not THE) best you've done to convey information. Thank you!
Joshua, thanks for doing this. I wish I had access to this series when I started out. It would have saved me days of frustration. I still learn new things from every one of your vids. I always used the same ground pad for Cam and VTX, but it was out of convenience..not need. I've enjoyed good video by accident! Your work is greatly appreciated. I'm sure JC is smiling down on you right now.
Great info as usual J! Thank goodness we have people like yourself helping the community! This NOOB really appreciates it as I wouldn't have an earthly clue🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿😔😜😜😜😜👏
@Joshua Bardwell, excellent series. I have built a few quads and never really knew the logic behind each component, but was able to piece things together. Watched your series and went back to my quads and corrected the wiring and now have full functionality!! Great series and you explained it in a very easy to follow manner!
Josh, Thanks again. I think you hit upon maybe exactly what my problem was on my Armattan Chameleon build. Recall I have the following components: BF-F3, Aikon SEFM 4-in-1 ESC, AKK X1P 5.8Ghz 40CH 25mW 200mW 600mW Switchable FPV AV Transmitter, and a FS-X6B Receiver and a Runcam Swift 2. Recall my issue was that I had video dropout on fast flips. I finally got it working, but it was from maybe one of two things: 1) As you mentioned about your Raceflight Revolt issue, I was originally using the regulated 12V from the Aikon ESC PDB to power both the camera and the vTX. Part of the reason was because previously I had a different vTX that got too hot using VBAT, just too close to the upper voltage range I guess, so I decided to put both Cam and vTX on the regulated 12V on the ESC. As you know, that board has Q=2 regulated 12V and GND output pads. I used one pair for the Cam and the other pair for the vTX. From you description about ground line separation, and with using the Aikon 12V for power, maybe this was a similar issue. Now, using the AKK and the Swift 2, tey can both run off VBAT (4S) and I wired them back to the RAM pin, together, with the VBAT bridge on RAM selected. 2) As you know this build, there is not a real nice way to stack your vTX and Receiver on the tail end of this copter. I had to basically zip-tie them down on top of each other. I did have a little foam between them, but there did appear to be the potential for them to maybe touch together during high acceleration moves. So I added a more full sized foam to keep them separated from any potential contact together. After seeing your video, I suspect 1) was more the issue. Good news is that I'm good to go now and loving the build. BTW, I could never find any definitive datasheet that provided the current rating for the regulated 12V output on the Aikon SEFM. Do you have this info?
I don't know what the 12v regulator on that board is rated at, no. In my case, I was running both Cam and vTX from vBat, so regulator was not at all the issue. It was 100% the location of the ground wire.
Hello Bardwell I've seen most of your videos and saw one that talked about how to get clear video on my FPV feed. I'm getting horizontal black lines as i throttle up. And on one of your videos you where talking about Black horizontal line in FPV feed. I can't seem to find it!! You think you can help me out to find it! Lol thank you Bardwell!! Keep up the great work to help us drone illiterate people get better on working on out quad copters!! Lol
Never mind Bardwell i got it!! 🤣 P.S. i love your AIO Bardwell FC!!! I installed in in my Chameleon!! And don't regret it!! Ima use that board on my future builds!!!
Thanks for posting- Great Information! I use mostly Tramp and RR-RunCam Swift combo and have had no noise issues until I used the CL Racing F4- First the VTX had only intermittent power from the 7.6v regulated onboard power so I wired the Tramp + direct (also left the Runcam in the 7.6v power) to battery main power but kept the grounds in their respective pads for OSD. Still have light noise so I'll try the wiring to same ground pad trick to see if that helps... will let you know
Thank you so much for sharing your vast knowledge in such an effective and engaging manner. Your materials have been immensely helpful to me during a current project. I have made pages upon pages of notes. Cheers!
Thanks Joshua. These videos are a seriously invaluable resource for the community! I will definitely be referring back to them when I'm putting together my quad in a few weeks. Why do you think manufacturers are so bad about disclosing power consumption? It seems especially important since it's a very DIY hobby, and people are going to have very different setups and need to compute how much draw their components will have. I appreciate that ImmersionRC straightforwardly says that the Tramp power consumption is "~4W max. @ 600mW, ~1.9W @ 200mW". But on the other hand, I can't find any specs for the RunCam Eagle 2. Also, stating power consumption in terms of amp draw is pretty confusing for components that accept a range of input voltages.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I am dealing with some cam. and vtx issues right now and I do believe it is to to low power and ground separations. We'll see, thanks again.
I can confirm that powering camera AND unify pro from filtered ram 5v is problematic because of the voltage drop across the two diodes the camera won't run. However I found a simple solution and it works great. You need to solder a small piece of wire from an output capacitor of the 5v SBEC (make sure it is the positive side with a multimeter) to the output side of the red diode (thereby bypassing the diodes). Make sure the ram pad is NOT bridged to either 5v or vbat or bad things will happen. You end up with filtered 5v from the onboard LC filter going to both the unify pro and the camera. Works great with no issues what so ever. I used a 22awg wire of about 2cm length.
That diode is there to protect against reverse current (and personally I think is unnecessary at that location) . It feeds into an LC filter so by bypassing diode it is just like adding your own LC filter between the BEC and the video gear. I don't believe the diode has any role other than reverse current prevention but I may be wrong.
Somebody pointed out that I ignored microphones altogether, so that needs to get touched on. I think we are getting pretty close to the end. Maybe I could cover other less-common peripherals like LED strip. What do you think is missing?
Joshua Bardwell I suppose LED's would be useful and possibly the EL Wire that seems to be popping up recently. Apart from that I don't really know. I think you've pretty much answered everything wiring wise. Maybe a video (not wiring related though) on different sizes of FPV camera lenses, FOV etc and how that, if at all, effects the choice of FPV goggles.
IN the soldering example for the CL_Racing F4 / RaceDayQuads, your grounds go to different pads. Is this an mistake, or is there a specific reason that you broke your "rule" here? --Thanks - great video series
Is this all still accurate? The part about the same ground pad specifically. I'm building my first quad and got to the point of installing the VTX and camera, had no idea if I should wire to the FC first or straight from cam to VTX. Super glad I found this before I started!
Thanks for the video! I'm a big ole' noob and in a bit of a spot. I'm doing my first build and I have a mamba f405 mk2 flight controller. I was soldering the vtx pads and like an idiot, burned up both of the tx3 pads. I still have a tx6, which I soldered up just fine, but now do I go about making sure the ports tab in BF are configured right for the tx6 pad?...SAVE ME!!!
With regard to whether to power a VTx off vbat or from the FC, the Tramp manual states: "DO NOT power the tramp from a 12V regulator on a 4s powered quad, such as a Polulu. The Tramp is designed to run directly from the LiPo, and includes an advanced switching regulator, and plenty of filtration to clean up the noise from the ESCs." www.immersionrc.com/?download=5016 That seems like a pretty strong statement that it should be powered with vbat. Is this just because the Pololu's have other shortcomings that don't affect the regulators/filters on modern FCs?
I am trying to wire a AKK FX2 vtx to your JB f4 flight controller with 'smart audio'...would love to see you do a video on this! the FX2 is a great long range 800mw vtx but im kinda unsure of your flight controller and smart audio? power, video in and out, and were in the world does the audio wire go?...lol
Nice timing Josh-;-) just wired this all up YESTERDAY! Your vids are a great service to us. I choose to power the Eagle 2 to the revolt BEC5V pad, and grounded correctly with the unify 5V. Is this the best way to power the Eagle 2? I'm using Bolt 4in1 & revolt-4S batts.
I usually feel uncomfortable running FPV equipment off its lowest rated voltage. Well, if this were some expensive piece of German or Japanese engineering, maybe. But FPV equipment is often "optimistically rated". If things work okay, great. But if you have any issues maybe try running the Eagle off of vBat. Whether that is better or worse will depend on how much noise your quad has.
Much appreciated! I'm having trouble finding VBAT on the revolt. I thought VCC? But that's bridged at 5V...so is there a better higher V pad on the revolt? Also no OSD through the revolt? Using S.Audio but running video straight to the UNIFY...VTX page is working on the QX7 thankfully.
I am trying to replace IRC Vortex 250 Pro parts with a RR version RunCam Swift V2 and a TBS UNIFY PRO 5G8 HV Video Transmitter. Do I need to get a Betaflight flight controller to solder it all up and still have full OSD functionality, or what is the best way to accomplish this? And thanks SO much for all your work, Joshua.
Thank Joshua for your help with my Wizard 220 I got it up and working today. I was thinking about buying a pair of fat shark HD3 to use with my wizard would you happen to know if this will work right out of the box.
Yup. HD3 will work out of the box. If you would consider using one of my affiliate links I'd appreciate it. Banggood - goo.gl/inzpbH ReadyMadeRC - goo.gl/VEMpjB Amazon - amzn.to/2uDdhVF GetFPV - goo.gl/k71W16
Thanks for all your great videos! Any chance you have the new Matek Vtx in your hands? Super excited for another option to the tramp and unify that you can control through the osd. It also uses solder connections! Quick question though, is the way the tramp communicates through the osd a proprietary language that only Immersion can or should be using?
Great job Josh, I think I have watched almost all your videos (more entertaining than Game of Thrones) ! Question about your example : RunCam > Unify Pro HV > Betaflight F3. I have exactly this. Why not powering the RunCan with the Unify Pro ? Any cons ? As my OSD is inconsistent, I'm troubleshooting...
BFF3 has filtered power specifically for cam and vTX. Wiring back to the FC or PDB is cleaner than wiring cam->vTX directly. Like I said in the video, splicing two wires is ugly. Soldering to a PDB is neat. Also, I'm not fully confident in some equipment's ability to operate at the bottom of its rated range. So if the camera is rated 5-36 volts, maybe it needs absolutely 5.0 volts and not 4.9, and it starts to brown out under some conditions. The only time I would consider using the on-board 5v regulator is if I didn't have another regulator (of course) or if I was getting video noise and thought I needed more filteirng. Putting the camera on the 5v regulator will filter its power more and might help clean up video. Inconsistent OSD usually points to grounding issues. My recommendation is to run the camera and Unify HV from RAM, bridged to vBat, and put the ground wires on AGND. I run this setup on several quads with zero noise issues.
I might also add that the Unify Pro HV tends to run on the hot side due to its compact build and high power output. Running from another power source for the camera should allow the vTX to run cooler as it won't have a camera drawing amps from the vreg. I had to attach a heatsink and run the camera from separate power to get the Unify Pro HV in my wing to run at full power without overheating.
Joshua, you know what, you are my God ! Just get rid off the external regulator and powered my Eagle 2 with RAM from BFF3, and YES, no more inconsistent OSD :-)
Thank you Joshua. You have been big work with these courses and I had big work to look these through. I'm making my first rc copter Catalyst machine Merica and I wondering witch way propels have to rotate. Is it other matter than two spin clock ways and two counter clock ways?
Joshua, where is the best place to ask you a question? I have a new build where I have a 4-1 ESC that has a current sensor wire. Since I love the BFF3 board, I saw your video where you wired the BFF3 shunt in so you could use it to monitor amps. I read, and saw in the Betaflight settings how there is an ESC sensor setting under the current settings. Doing a little more reading shows how the KISS controllers could send info so it could be displayed on the OSD. Do you know if that would work with the 4-1 controllers as well so that the install wouldn't need the additional wiring?
What about the setting under current in betaflight that lets you pick ESC sensor vs the ADC onboard? Could this be used to receive the existing current sensor wires from 4-1 right now?
So why on the cl racing f4 do you use different ground pads. Reason I ask I've got two and have tried different ways to wire it up except that way thanks again learn a lot from your hard work
The CL_Racing F4 was specifically designed to give good video, so I would be inclined to wire it as specified first. If it works, great. If I had noisy video, I would move the ground wires together next.
I see you have already answered my question my bad but thank you for the response. I was all ways under the impression use same ground have been sending all grounds to battery after having no luck with using the 5v and ground from tramp HV will try the propper was the designer intended. PS any chance of new video of PID tuning for idiots
The VRAM pin provides power directly from the battery, right? I wondering if the voltage is constant or if the variation could harm the camera or vtx. I undertand that either camera and vtx could work in a voltage range (sometimes not same range), but I don't undertand about the battery.
On the BFF3 board, the RMA pin can provide either 5v or vBat depending on how you set a solder bridge. The RAM pin is filtered, so voltage spikes should be prevented, but the voltage will decrease as the battery discharges. This change in voltage won't hurt anything, as long as the battery voltage is always within the acceptable range for the device.
The voltage from the battery decreases as you fly (Joshua mentions this at around 8:10). But devices that are designed to run off battery voltage will be able to handle the variation. For example, a fully charged 4S battery provides 4.2V * 4 cells = 16.8V. Most people land when their battery voltage gets to ~3.7-3.8V per cell, which is ~14.8V for a 4S battery. Even if you fly a bit longer than that (which may risk damaging the battery), the voltage difference of ~14.5V to 16.8V is well within the range of components that can run off battery voltage. For example, the RunCame Eagle camera can run off 5-36V.
Doing my 1st build BFf7 FC 7 using Tramp HV noticed there 2 ground wires from tramp do I need both on same spot of FC also tramp has tel wire and audio I'll want use smart audio but also mic on my swift2 do I hook Tel to sa on FC then audio on tramp to audio on cam ? Thanks for all you info!
Hi! Thank for your videos! I have a little question. I can power VTX and CAM from PDB 12v, yes I can. But. Is it good? So OSD does it job on FC it changes video signal. video signal is just 5v voltage signal relative ground. Should wiring VTX and CAM ground be as close as possible to OSD pins? If I use PBD pins it's far enough to FC, isn't it? Thanks!
Thanks Josh. KISS!!!!! is it possible to do tranis Lua script with kiss fc? I want a way( ANYWAY AT ALL) to change settings on my unify pro with out doing it on the vtx itself?
hi ace video colud you tell me if the tramp vtx should be wired to the battery as it saying wire to the battery wire , or can I wire it to the ram pin on the betaflight f3
Josh, do you have anything on installing servos the FCs or from a PDB to a FC? And how bout detialed setting up switches(5,6,7,....) on the Taranis and seeing them correspond on INAV. There are videos out there but know are in great detail as I discover as I start my installs and that is frustrating.
There is actually a FC with LC Filter integrated. I read in the specs: "On-Board Video Filter (only can supply 5V to VTX and Camera)" www.banggood.com/Original-Airbot-Omnibus-F4-Pro-V3-Flight-controller-SD-5V-3A-BEC-OSD-Current-Sensor-LC-Filter-p-1319177.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN According to what you are explaining here I am not sure it will be good to give only 5V to both VTX and camera....
Hey Joshua, I keep wondering, my FPV cam can take 5-40V, is there any difference if I use difference voltage regulators for it? most important, will i see any difference in noise? Thanks and great video!
Haven't seen any testing to see if using a 9v power to cam would show less/more noise than 5v, would love to see that out of curiosity. Thanks for replying :)
That's a pretty open ended question. The answer depends on what other equipment you're wiring to it. However the Matek site has some diagrams that might help: www.mateksys.com/?portfolio=f722-std#tab-id-3
+Lalith Kishore NTSC and PAL are two video standards. NTSC has higher framerate bit lower resolution and worse color. PAL has lower framerate and higher resolution and better color. Use either. Make sure you set the Betaflight osd tab to the correct standard Thst your camera is using.
I’m having trouble figuring out where to hook up the purple Vsen wire on a xsrf4 board. The hglrc elf that’s in it doesn’t have this wire. It has a three wire plug and the new foxeer cam has a 5 wire plug. I know to solder the red black and yellow to the same place on the board that the other camera is soldered to. I’m just not sure about the voltage sensor wire.
Vsen usually is used to allow the camera OSD to show battery voltage. If the camera is powered from vBAt, then Vsen isn't needed. If the camera is powered from 5v or 12v regulator, then the OSD will just show 5v or 12v all the time. Then you connect Vsen to a battery positive source, such as ESC+ or the battery positive pad where the main power lead connects. If you are not using the camera OSD, you don't need any of this.
Hey Josh I bought an external mic for my quad so i can get audio, im using your barwell F4 FC, do I wire the signal to the CAM_S pad? or do I just wire it to any 5V pad?
Any help would be appreciated, video only works when connected to the vtx. So, in order to get osd I took the camera and connected it to the flight controller but get nothing now:(
Hi, I have found a radio transmitter with an iPhone clamp thing, is there a way to view the fpv on my iPhone using a camera like the runcam split and being able to control when it records in hd from my iPhone?
Does anyone know what the pink wire is on the back of a Foxeer falkor micro fpv camera is ? Any help would be great tried looking everywhere for it can't find it
Hey Joshua. Quick question. Powering VTX from batt leads. Powering camera from 5v BEC. VTX cannot power camera. Where is the best place to put the VTX video ground?
Thank you for getting back to me. I mean, its just a signal ground, right? So it should always be with the camera's signal ground. I just wanted to confirm. Much appreciated.
I have my camera and VTX wired up to the 12v pin on my PDB. I actually solder on a JST to the PDB and make up a wire to plug in which splits the positive and negative between the two, but this is just to allow me to take the top of and unplug it. As I do not have an OSD the video goes straight from camera to VTX. However I do find that when my battery is low my signal starts to get worse. I also find that the signal is quite poor and breaks up at around 200m. Just looking at the PDB specs I see that the 12v regulator is rated at 500mA. From what you are saying it think this might be what the problem is (not thought to look before now). Can you confirm that this could be why I'm getting such bad range and what I should do to correct it?
The regulator's on the pdb which would be a pain to replace. Maybe I'll try the camera on the 5v and the vtx on the 12v. Would it still be OK to put the grounds on the same pad?
Do you solder the vTX and camera to the exact same ram pad and ground pad? Or do I need 1x pad for each? And is it possible to use the same vbat pad for both vTX and camera or should I solder them to one vbat pad each?
I use the same pad for both. It's a little more annoying if you have to change hardware because you have to de-solder both but usually there isn't a spare pin for it.
@@JoshuaBardwell I tried to change around my wires but now I got a new problem. As soon as I give any kind of high throttle, throttle, full pitch etc my quad just shuts down and restarts/reboots. I have tried to increase power on my motors one by one and it also happens then around 30% power. I also tried to remove both my camera and vTX but the quad still shuts down and restarts once I give power. Any idea whats causing this?
You said to use the same ground pad but then on the clracing f4 they dont. Ive done mine like your diagram, but should I resolder the ground to a common pad? I am getting some noise
+Sloth FPV it's worth a try. On a board like the cl racing, which is designed specifically for clean video, I would give the factory layout 's try. But if there was noise, I would try moving the ground.
Joshua Bardwell i fucking love you, the noise is gone entirely :D i still have another problem though, occasionally after flips or rolls my osd dissapears momentarily and i get a series of dashes in the middle of the screen. Dp you know what that could be? Doesn't make any sense to me.
+Wholly Mindless yes. Which I know is against my own advice. On a board like cl racing where I know it is designed to give good video, I would give the factory layout a try. If I had video noise, I would try moving the ground.
The intent in a situation like that is usually that 9v is used for vTX and camera, and 5v is used for receiver and other similar accessories. But the only hard and fast rule is that the input voltage has to be within the correct range and the load on the regulator must not be too high. So if you had a Unify Pro, you'd run it off the 5v regulator. And honestly, most receivers can take 9v, so you could put the receiver on the 9v regulator if you wanted.
You said there's a manual for the BFF3??? 20:31 Where can one find this elusive document? :) Does the RAM pin have a max current draw if it is set to VBAT?
The max current for the RAM pin is always approximately 600 mA regardless of supply voltage. The "manual" I'm talking about is the FPV Model product page. FPV Model is the creator of the board and their product page has guidelines for its use. www.fpvmodel.com/betaflightf3-flight-controller_g1231.html "Friendly Reminder: Choosing your power supply for video is relatively simple. Betaflight FC has two options, 5v and battery voltage. Choose your camera voltage by jumping RAM with either the 5V solder section or the Vbat solder section. (its recommended to use Vbat, Most cameras and Video transmitters can run off battery voltage) If using 5v it is recommeded to only power your camera and get the power for Vtx from another source."
Is there any latency or problem on wiring the signal wire from the ESC through the pdb like the matek board (PDB-XPW)? Then wiring all your wires from the pdb to your flight controller like it shows in the instructions. It looks like an helps in working on the board if you have to take it apart and move the flight controller out of the way.
Joshua, I have a Unify HV And Swift 2 with a new Hobbywing Xrotor 4in1 which has a VBAT port. Couldn’t I just wire the Power from the Unify HV and the power from the Swift 2 including the blue VBAT wire directly to the VBAT port on the FC. I know most say run the Unify HV power and ground straight to battery terminal, and feed the 5v off the Unify HV To the camera. But would it be easier to go straight to the VBAT port Since both the VTX and camera can take HV in. Hopefully you can help me understand this. Thanks...
Joshua bardwell, my foxeer tm25 switcher has yellow, white black wires, which I assume that means video, power, ground. Correct? Then it has red, green, black...what are those? And do they need to be hooked up for the vtx to work?
I really think you should look up the pinout for the vTX instead of guessing. My guess is green is audio, red is 5v output for a camera, and black is ground for the camera.
I've just rebuilt my racing quad with a Matek F4 AIO FC and a Runcam Split. The Split is noisy as f*ck and unusable for racing. Someone on RC Groups has pointed out your rule about running cam and vtx ground to the same pad. I'm yet to try it, but I am sure hoping that this fixes my noisy Split. And yes I am running a cap (tried several in fact).
If the Split is noisy, make sure it is getting absolutely 5v. It really needs a solid, clean supply. If you are even at 4.8 or 4.9 volts, the Split won't be happy.
Thanks :) The 5v pad is giving me 5.08 V so that should be fine. I have the Unify HV hooked up to the battery terminals so took the ground off, joined it up with the Split ground as suggested and wired up the Split to the 5V. Unfortunately now I am getting nothing from the Split's camera. The Split powers up but no picture, just the Runcam logo. Not sure if its the shared ground (I can't see why) or if the ribbon cable has come loose. This Split has been nothing but a PITA from the day I got it out of the box. I ran out of time this morning to check everything so will have a look tonight when I get home.
Armattan certainly knows what they're talking about. I would need more info about your situation to know why they made that recommendation. I believe the VID+ and CAM+ pads on the CL_Racing F4 are 7.6 volts. The main reason why I think somebody would suggest using 5v is that the vTX didn't take 7.6 volts.
One thing that's not noted on there is that there are two 5v pads, one on top and one on the bottom. To power up the VTX, it's recommended to use the RX 5v on the bottom as the LED 5v pad on the top does not provide enough current to power up a VTX (This is what they told me as i was having problems)
Thanks, this was exactly my question, I am using the TBS unify pro 5V version and was getting skeptical to soldier it to the cl racing f4 cam + pad... Did it work out with the bottom vtx pad FPV FANATIC?
I have a Mateo pdb and was planning on powering my vtx off of its 12v reg and the camera on the 5v reg. I'm running an omnibus so I don't need the 5v for anything else. I think the 5v reg is already 1A and the 12v is 500mah. I'm running a ts5828 banggood eachine 200mw vtx down here in Florida where it is always at least 80 degrees and humid. Do u think I could get away with running a vtx off of the 12v reg or should I run vbat? Also, I'm running spedix esc's which have like 12 little caps and myrcmart motors which I think are pretty balanced so I think the system will be pretty clean. However, the vtx is $12 and I'm gonna assume it has no filtering. But the cam will be getting 5v, so would that help the noise if I decided that the 12 v reg was too small an had to run the vtx on vbat?
what is the audio wire on the vtx used for i know about smart audio on tbs vtx but i have it on a foxeer vtx does it work the same , can i use it for smart audio like the tbs ones
Hey Josh, I run the TBS FPV Vision, am I able to tap the camera audio output onto the 'smart audio' cable that connects the cameras osd to the vtx so that I can have the microphone work but also still have control over cam settings from my osd?
Hi Joshua, since I have terrible(unflyable) video feed from my eachine wizard, can I ask you whether you made any mods to the FPV wiring on that quad? There is no OSD and if I don't remember wrong GRNDs are not soldered to the same pad. Do you advise to solder together the video (in/out) wires too? Thanks! P.S.: very useful video as usual!
I might have plugged in the battery with the vtx antenna off for a few seconds, could it be I've fried it? Consider that the image was fine until I took off, that's why I suspect some heavy noise is coming from the ESCs/motors...
hey josh , im going to use this comment area like a forum because im a rebel...no, a lazy ass. Is it possible to use a walkera runner 250 fcs on a rodeo 150, since they have the same 40pin flat cable connection to the pdb? then make the necessary adjustments. I cracked my original fcs and 58 dollars is a lot compared to 20 for a runner 250 fcs.So, is it do-able?
Josh I just want to say thank you for such a great catalog of fpv how to and not to I just got a nazgul 5 v1 it's use but it flys and it all thanks to you
Come on people! Who couldn't give up 5 bucks a month for this kind of info? I feel it's worth more. So I give more. You should too. You know who you are... PATRION! This is his job! Thank you JB! I learned something today.
Josh, you explain everything very well, I've learned soo much from this video series! Thank you so much for your attention to detail and all your hard work.
Video series like this are the reason why a Carpenter like me can even attempt to build a FPV mini quad having no prior background in electronics.
Thank you and keep 'em coming
Just wanted to say a massive thankyou to you Josh. I have just completed my first betaflight setup. She flies like a beauty.
Without your videos as reference I would never have got through. Genuinely, my thanks.
I'm going back and binge-watching your old videos so I can answer some of the questions that come to my mind without having to ask! I know, what a concept! Anyway, I think this particular video is by far one of (if not THE) best you've done to convey information. Thank you!
Joshua, thanks for doing this. I wish I had access to this series when I started out. It would have saved me days of frustration.
I still learn new things from every one of your vids. I always used the same ground pad for Cam and VTX, but it was out of convenience..not need. I've enjoyed good video by accident!
Your work is greatly appreciated. I'm sure JC is smiling down on you right now.
Great info as usual J! Thank goodness we have people like yourself helping the community! This NOOB really appreciates it as I wouldn't have an earthly clue🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿😔😜😜😜😜👏
@Joshua Bardwell, excellent series. I have built a few quads and never really knew the logic behind each component, but was able to piece things together. Watched your series and went back to my quads and corrected the wiring and now have full functionality!! Great series and you explained it in a very easy to follow manner!
Josh, Thanks again. I think you hit upon maybe exactly what my problem was on my Armattan Chameleon build. Recall I have the following components: BF-F3, Aikon SEFM 4-in-1 ESC, AKK X1P 5.8Ghz 40CH 25mW 200mW 600mW Switchable FPV AV Transmitter, and a FS-X6B Receiver and a Runcam Swift 2.
Recall my issue was that I had video dropout on fast flips.
I finally got it working, but it was from maybe one of two things:
1) As you mentioned about your Raceflight Revolt issue, I was originally using the regulated 12V from the Aikon ESC PDB to power both the camera and the vTX. Part of the reason was because previously I had a different vTX that got too hot using VBAT, just too close to the upper voltage range I guess, so I decided to put both Cam and vTX on the regulated 12V on the ESC. As you know, that board has Q=2 regulated 12V and GND output pads. I used one pair for the Cam and the other pair for the vTX. From you description about ground line separation, and with using the Aikon 12V for power, maybe this was a similar issue. Now, using the AKK and the Swift 2, tey can both run off VBAT (4S) and I wired them back to the RAM pin, together, with the VBAT bridge on RAM selected.
2) As you know this build, there is not a real nice way to stack your vTX and Receiver on the tail end of this copter. I had to basically zip-tie them down on top of each other. I did have a little foam between them, but there did appear to be the potential for them to maybe touch together during high acceleration moves. So I added a more full sized foam to keep them separated from any potential contact together.
After seeing your video, I suspect 1) was more the issue. Good news is that I'm good to go now and loving the build.
BTW, I could never find any definitive datasheet that provided the current rating for the regulated 12V output on the Aikon SEFM. Do you have this info?
I don't know what the 12v regulator on that board is rated at, no. In my case, I was running both Cam and vTX from vBat, so regulator was not at all the issue. It was 100% the location of the ground wire.
Josh, yes, I used 2 separate GND pads on the Aikon for vTX and Cam assuming they were substantially connected, but maybe that was a bad assumption.
i just love this whole series, now i can get started on my new betaflight f3 quad. :) thank you
Hello Bardwell I've seen most of your videos and saw one that talked about how to get clear video on my FPV feed. I'm getting horizontal black lines as i throttle up. And on one of your videos you where talking about Black horizontal line in FPV feed. I can't seem to find it!! You think you can help me out to find it! Lol thank you Bardwell!! Keep up the great work to help us drone illiterate people get better on working on out quad copters!! Lol
Never mind Bardwell i got it!! 🤣 P.S. i love your AIO Bardwell FC!!! I installed in in my Chameleon!! And don't regret it!! Ima use that board on my future builds!!!
Thanks for a great series Joshua. Like you say "You are going to learn something today", I always learn something from your videos. Keep 'em coming!
Thanks for posting- Great Information! I use mostly Tramp and RR-RunCam Swift combo and have had no noise issues until I used the CL Racing F4- First the VTX had only intermittent power from the 7.6v regulated onboard power so I wired the Tramp + direct (also left the Runcam in the 7.6v power) to battery main power but kept the grounds in their respective pads for OSD. Still have light noise so I'll try the wiring to same ground pad trick to see if that helps... will let you know
Thank you so much for sharing your vast knowledge in such an effective and engaging manner. Your materials have been immensely helpful to me during a current project. I have made pages upon pages of notes. Cheers!
Thanks Joshua. These videos are a seriously invaluable resource for the community! I will definitely be referring back to them when I'm putting together my quad in a few weeks.
Why do you think manufacturers are so bad about disclosing power consumption? It seems especially important since it's a very DIY hobby, and people are going to have very different setups and need to compute how much draw their components will have.
I appreciate that ImmersionRC straightforwardly says that the Tramp power consumption is "~4W max. @ 600mW, ~1.9W @ 200mW". But on the other hand, I can't find any specs for the RunCam Eagle 2.
Also, stating power consumption in terms of amp draw is pretty confusing for components that accept a range of input voltages.
I just think it's laziness, honestly.
Thank you so much,,i was planning to wire my f3 tonight,,,woohoo you the man!!!
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I am dealing with some cam. and vtx issues right now and I do believe it is to to low power and ground separations. We'll see, thanks again.
This is a great series bardwell, even having a basic understanding on how all this works there is still a lot to be learned. Excellent sores sir
thank you JB! i'll revise my Stack... i'm not sure about the same ground... and i'm preparing myself to the instalation of the split. :D
I can confirm that powering camera AND unify pro from filtered ram 5v is problematic because of the voltage drop across the two diodes the camera won't run. However I found a simple solution and it works great.
You need to solder a small piece of wire from an output capacitor of the 5v SBEC (make sure it is the positive side with a multimeter) to the output side of the red diode (thereby bypassing the diodes). Make sure the ram pad is NOT bridged to either 5v or vbat or bad things will happen. You end up with filtered 5v from the onboard LC filter going to both the unify pro and the camera. Works great with no issues what so ever. I used a 22awg wire of about 2cm length.
If you remove the diode, you cut out some of the filtering though.
That diode is there to protect against reverse current (and personally I think is unnecessary at that location) . It feeds into an LC filter so by bypassing diode it is just like adding your own LC filter between the BEC and the video gear. I don't believe the diode has any role other than reverse current prevention but I may be wrong.
I think this video is the most helpful for vtx in you tube!!!well done!THANKS :)
Great info as usual JB, this sheds some light on my recent build having lots of noise in my fpv feed when I arm and throttle up.
Nice work - perfectly pitched for me.
great info... i watch your videos over and over lol.. i learn so much !!
Josh,
Why does the Eachin TX526 have two grounds and should in put the additional ground on the ground pad on my f405?
Grounding the camera and VTx to the exact same pad fixed my ground loop issues which were causing OSD flicker and choppy/wavy camera signal.
This video series is so easy to follow and understand. Thanks for taking the time to do them 👍🏼 What else is left to come in the series?
Somebody pointed out that I ignored microphones altogether, so that needs to get touched on. I think we are getting pretty close to the end. Maybe I could cover other less-common peripherals like LED strip. What do you think is missing?
Joshua Bardwell I suppose LED's would be useful and possibly the EL Wire that seems to be popping up recently. Apart from that I don't really know. I think you've pretty much answered everything wiring wise. Maybe a video (not wiring related though) on different sizes of FPV camera lenses, FOV etc and how that, if at all, effects the choice of FPV goggles.
dude.... youre a mad scientist ! great stuff, i did learn something-again. thanks for what you do*
Hey, can you please review the Eachine Pro58 RX receiver for Fatshark goggles?
14:32 that's really good practice!
Iam New to this hobby and enjoy your videos
Hi Josh
Can i ask for a full setup on Betaflight once the building is complete please.
Great instructive vlog many thanks.
Thanks for all your hard work man! Really appreciate your work and time!
hehehe... just the info i needed to go ahead with my build with a bit of confidence.
Great info! Thanks for all your awesome vids.
Thank you again for your help!
Thanks for all your help! your videos are great (Flight Controller Wiring For Beginners) : - )
Thank you for this serie, helps me alot ❤️
ram pin is filtered in the omnibus pro. Don't know about other variants.
IN the soldering example for the CL_Racing F4 / RaceDayQuads, your grounds go to different pads. Is this an mistake, or is there a specific reason that you broke your "rule" here? --Thanks - great video series
Is this all still accurate? The part about the same ground pad specifically.
I'm building my first quad and got to the point of installing the VTX and camera, had no idea if I should wire to the FC first or straight from cam to VTX. Super glad I found this before I started!
I would wire to the FC first but if you have video noise then think about wiring to the same ground pad.
@@JoshuaBardwell Thank you!
I love your videos. I can't wait for another one !
Thanks for the video! I'm a big ole' noob and in a bit of a spot. I'm doing my first build and I have a mamba f405 mk2 flight controller. I was soldering the vtx pads and like an idiot, burned up both of the tx3 pads. I still have a tx6, which I soldered up just fine, but now do I go about making sure the ports tab in BF are configured right for the tx6 pad?...SAVE ME!!!
With regard to whether to power a VTx off vbat or from the FC, the Tramp manual states:
"DO NOT power the tramp from a 12V regulator on a 4s powered quad, such as a Polulu. The Tramp is designed to run directly from the LiPo, and includes an advanced switching regulator, and plenty of filtration to clean up the noise from the ESCs."
www.immersionrc.com/?download=5016
That seems like a pretty strong statement that it should be powered with vbat. Is this just because the Pololu's have other shortcomings that don't affect the regulators/filters on modern FCs?
Nice info. What is the difference between osd in fc and osd in pdb?
I am trying to wire a AKK FX2 vtx to your JB f4 flight controller with 'smart audio'...would love to see you do a video on this! the FX2 is a great long range 800mw vtx but im kinda unsure of your flight controller and smart audio? power, video in and out, and were in the world does the audio wire go?...lol
Nice timing Josh-;-) just wired this all up YESTERDAY! Your vids are a great service to us. I choose to power the Eagle 2 to the revolt BEC5V pad, and grounded correctly with the unify 5V. Is this the best way to power the Eagle 2? I'm using Bolt 4in1 & revolt-4S batts.
I usually feel uncomfortable running FPV equipment off its lowest rated voltage. Well, if this were some expensive piece of German or Japanese engineering, maybe. But FPV equipment is often "optimistically rated". If things work okay, great. But if you have any issues maybe try running the Eagle off of vBat. Whether that is better or worse will depend on how much noise your quad has.
Much appreciated! I'm having trouble finding VBAT on the revolt. I thought VCC? But that's bridged at 5V...so is there a better higher V pad on the revolt? Also no OSD through the revolt? Using S.Audio but running video straight to the UNIFY...VTX page is working on the QX7 thankfully.
Awesome
I am trying to replace IRC Vortex 250 Pro parts with a RR version RunCam Swift V2 and a
TBS UNIFY PRO 5G8 HV Video Transmitter. Do I need to get a Betaflight flight controller to solder it all up and still have full OSD functionality, or what is the best way to accomplish this? And thanks SO much for all your work, Joshua.
bravo
Thank Joshua for your help with my Wizard 220 I got it up and working today. I was thinking about buying a pair of fat shark HD3 to use with my wizard would you happen to know if this will work right out of the box.
Yup. HD3 will work out of the box. If you would consider using one of my affiliate links I'd appreciate it.
Banggood - goo.gl/inzpbH
ReadyMadeRC - goo.gl/VEMpjB
Amazon - amzn.to/2uDdhVF
GetFPV - goo.gl/k71W16
You will also need a module, of course. LaForge or True-D are the obvious choices... RealACC with Achilles firmware is also very good.
What would be the best way to power a runcam micro swift + eachine ATX03 from a eachine minicube with OSD?
Thanks for all your great videos! Any chance you have the new Matek Vtx in your hands? Super excited for another option to the tramp and unify that you can control through the osd. It also uses solder connections! Quick question though, is the way the tramp communicates through the osd a proprietary language that only Immersion can or should be using?
Your videos are so great!
Great job Josh, I think I have watched almost all your videos (more entertaining than Game of Thrones) !
Question about your example : RunCam > Unify Pro HV > Betaflight F3. I have exactly this.
Why not powering the RunCan with the Unify Pro ? Any cons ?
As my OSD is inconsistent, I'm troubleshooting...
BFF3 has filtered power specifically for cam and vTX. Wiring back to the FC or PDB is cleaner than wiring cam->vTX directly. Like I said in the video, splicing two wires is ugly. Soldering to a PDB is neat. Also, I'm not fully confident in some equipment's ability to operate at the bottom of its rated range. So if the camera is rated 5-36 volts, maybe it needs absolutely 5.0 volts and not 4.9, and it starts to brown out under some conditions.
The only time I would consider using the on-board 5v regulator is if I didn't have another regulator (of course) or if I was getting video noise and thought I needed more filteirng. Putting the camera on the 5v regulator will filter its power more and might help clean up video.
Inconsistent OSD usually points to grounding issues. My recommendation is to run the camera and Unify HV from RAM, bridged to vBat, and put the ground wires on AGND. I run this setup on several quads with zero noise issues.
I might also add that the Unify Pro HV tends to run on the hot side due to its compact build and high power output. Running from another power source for the camera should allow the vTX to run cooler as it won't have a camera drawing amps from the vreg. I had to attach a heatsink and run the camera from separate power to get the Unify Pro HV in my wing to run at full power without overheating.
Joshua, you know what, you are my God ! Just get rid off the external regulator and powered my Eagle 2 with RAM from BFF3, and YES, no more inconsistent OSD :-)
Thank you Joshua. You have been big work with these courses and I had big work to look these through.
I'm making my first rc copter Catalyst machine Merica and I wondering witch way propels have to rotate. Is it other matter than two spin clock ways and two counter clock ways?
Look in the Motors tab for a correct diagram. Upper left.
Uper left, in where?
Joshua, where is the best place to ask you a question? I have a new build where I have a 4-1 ESC that has a current sensor wire. Since I love the BFF3 board, I saw your video where you wired the BFF3 shunt in so you could use it to monitor amps. I read, and saw in the Betaflight settings how there is an ESC sensor setting under the current settings. Doing a little more reading shows how the KISS controllers could send info so it could be displayed on the OSD. Do you know if that would work with the 4-1 controllers as well so that the install wouldn't need the additional wiring?
BLHeli_32 ESCs will have the ability to send telemetry to Betaflight 3.2, in which case you might not need a current sensor on the FC.
What about the setting under current in betaflight that lets you pick ESC sensor vs the ADC onboard? Could this be used to receive the existing current sensor wires from 4-1 right now?
So why on the cl racing f4 do you use different ground pads. Reason I ask I've got two and have tried different ways to wire it up except that way thanks again learn a lot from your hard work
The CL_Racing F4 was specifically designed to give good video, so I would be inclined to wire it as specified first. If it works, great. If I had noisy video, I would move the ground wires together next.
I see you have already answered my question my bad but thank you for the response. I was all ways under the impression use same ground have been sending all grounds to battery after having no luck with using the 5v and ground from tramp HV will try the propper was the designer intended. PS any chance of new video of PID tuning for idiots
Joshua Bardwell , any ideas on how to get a runcam swift micro 3 and a swit micro 2 to stop having video freezing up?
The VRAM pin provides power directly from the battery, right? I wondering if the voltage is constant or if the variation could harm the camera or vtx.
I undertand that either camera and vtx could work in a voltage range (sometimes not same range), but I don't undertand about the battery.
On the BFF3 board, the RMA pin can provide either 5v or vBat depending on how you set a solder bridge. The RAM pin is filtered, so voltage spikes should be prevented, but the voltage will decrease as the battery discharges. This change in voltage won't hurt anything, as long as the battery voltage is always within the acceptable range for the device.
The voltage from the battery decreases as you fly (Joshua mentions this at around 8:10). But devices that are designed to run off battery voltage will be able to handle the variation.
For example, a fully charged 4S battery provides 4.2V * 4 cells = 16.8V. Most people land when their battery voltage gets to ~3.7-3.8V per cell, which is ~14.8V for a 4S battery. Even if you fly a bit longer than that (which may risk damaging the battery), the voltage difference of ~14.5V to 16.8V is well within the range of components that can run off battery voltage. For example, the RunCame Eagle camera can run off 5-36V.
My M02 betafpv vtx had 2! CAM pads and one VTX pad. All three are connected to fc/cam. Explain that... .
Doing my 1st build BFf7 FC 7 using Tramp HV noticed there 2 ground wires from tramp do I need both on same spot of FC also tramp has tel wire and audio I'll want use smart audio but also mic on my swift2 do I hook Tel to sa on FC then audio on tramp to audio on cam ? Thanks for all you info!
Hi! Thank for your videos! I have a little question. I can power VTX and CAM from PDB 12v, yes I can. But. Is it good? So OSD does it job on FC it changes video signal. video signal is just 5v voltage signal relative ground. Should wiring VTX and CAM ground be as close as possible to OSD pins? If I use PBD pins it's far enough to FC, isn't it? Thanks!
If I’m wiring up my Tramp HV to my Wizard X220 do I need to wire the vtx directly to the battery leads connected to my pdb?
Quick question J.B. ?
The Hobbywing f4 g2 ; FC.
I can power the tramp vtx off the harness and camera from vtx? Correct?
Plmk if you have time, Thx
Thanks Josh. KISS!!!!! is it possible to do tranis Lua script with kiss fc? I want a way( ANYWAY AT ALL) to change settings on my unify pro with out doing it on the vtx itself?
Yes, KISS has its own Lua script that can change PIDs and rates.
When i connect fpv tx to flight controller voltage goes to 10 volt and failsafe trigger why this happens
hi ace video colud you tell me if the tramp vtx should be wired to the battery as it saying wire to the battery wire , or can I wire it to the ram pin on the betaflight f3
+ggvaper of you feed it vBat, then I would use the RAM pin.
Josh, do you have anything on installing servos the FCs or from a PDB to a FC? And how bout detialed setting up switches(5,6,7,....) on the Taranis and seeing them correspond on INAV. There are videos out there but know are in great detail as I discover as I start my installs and that is frustrating.
I don't have any reference for iNav servos, but I hear they have vastly improved and simplified the setup in iNav 2.0.
@@JoshuaBardwell I was referring to how to install servos onto a FC and getting them to respond to stick inputs, no seems to be talking about that.
There is actually a FC with LC Filter integrated. I read in the specs: "On-Board Video Filter (only can supply 5V to VTX and Camera)"
www.banggood.com/Original-Airbot-Omnibus-F4-Pro-V3-Flight-controller-SD-5V-3A-BEC-OSD-Current-Sensor-LC-Filter-p-1319177.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN
According to what you are explaining here I am not sure it will be good to give only 5V to both VTX and camera....
Hey Joshua, I keep wondering, my FPV cam can take 5-40V, is there any difference if I use difference voltage regulators for it? most important, will i see any difference in noise? Thanks and great video!
You sometimes see less noise with one regulator vs another, but only testing will say for sure which is best. It depends on the quality of the design.
Haven't seen any testing to see if using a 9v power to cam would show less/more noise than 5v, would love to see that out of curiosity. Thanks for replying :)
This is a question from me and the learning impaired,. On the f722std how is it wired.
That's a pretty open ended question. The answer depends on what other equipment you're wiring to it. However the Matek site has some diagrams that might help: www.mateksys.com/?portfolio=f722-std#tab-id-3
i have a doubt what is the difference between NSTC and pal
the option s Available in the fpv cam
+Lalith Kishore NTSC and PAL are two video standards. NTSC has higher framerate bit lower resolution and worse color. PAL has lower framerate and higher resolution and better color. Use either. Make sure you set the Betaflight osd tab to the correct standard Thst your camera is using.
I’m having trouble figuring out where to hook up the purple Vsen wire on a xsrf4 board.
The hglrc elf that’s in it doesn’t have this wire. It has a three wire plug and the new foxeer cam has a 5 wire plug.
I know to solder the red black and yellow to the same place on the board that the other camera is soldered to. I’m just not sure about the voltage sensor wire.
Vsen usually is used to allow the camera OSD to show battery voltage. If the camera is powered from vBAt, then Vsen isn't needed. If the camera is powered from 5v or 12v regulator, then the OSD will just show 5v or 12v all the time. Then you connect Vsen to a battery positive source, such as ESC+ or the battery positive pad where the main power lead connects.
If you are not using the camera OSD, you don't need any of this.
Joshua Bardwell thanks josh you have helped me time after time. So I’m joining your patreon 👍
Hey Josh I bought an external mic for my quad so i can get audio, im using your barwell F4 FC, do I wire the signal to the CAM_S pad? or do I just wire it to any 5V pad?
Any help would be appreciated, video only works when connected to the vtx. So, in order to get osd I took the camera and connected it to the flight controller but get nothing now:(
Hi, I have found a radio transmitter with an iPhone clamp thing, is there a way to view the fpv on my iPhone using a camera like the runcam split and being able to control when it records in hd from my iPhone?
Andrew Keir if you did manage it, you wouldn't like it. Latency would be horrible.
21:55 different ground pads? Do this advice for soldering to the same ground pad applies to modern (F7) flight controllers as well?
Yes.
Does anyone know what the pink wire is on the back of a Foxeer falkor micro fpv camera is ? Any help would be great tried looking everywhere for it can't find it
What is it labeled?
I have the Betaflight F4. I'm going to be wiring that up with a TBS Unify Pro. Do i solder the vTX literally to the XT60 pad?
+Dylan Bogusz the Pro or the HV? HV goes to RAM pin, bridged to vBat. Pro runs off 5v and must use the 5v pads not RAM or vBat.
Hey Joshua. Quick question. Powering VTX from batt leads. Powering camera from 5v BEC. VTX cannot power camera. Where is the best place to put the VTX video ground?
Same place as the camera ground.
Thank you for getting back to me. I mean, its just a signal ground, right? So it should always be with the camera's signal ground. I just wanted to confirm. Much appreciated.
I have my camera and VTX wired up to the 12v pin on my PDB. I actually solder on a JST to the PDB and make up a wire to plug in which splits the positive and negative between the two, but this is just to allow me to take the top of and unplug it. As I do not have an OSD the video goes straight from camera to VTX. However I do find that when my battery is low my signal starts to get worse. I also find that the signal is quite poor and breaks up at around 200m. Just looking at the PDB specs I see that the 12v regulator is rated at 500mA. From what you are saying it think this might be what the problem is (not thought to look before now). Can you confirm that this could be why I'm getting such bad range and what I should do to correct it?
+D S of you suspect that you are over drawing the regulator, get a bigger regulator.
The regulator's on the pdb which would be a pain to replace. Maybe I'll try the camera on the 5v and the vtx on the 12v. Would it still be OK to put the grounds on the same pad?
Hey Joshua, when you have to splice wires from the vtx to the camera will that splice affect video footage with any kind of distortion?
It shouldn't.
Do you solder the vTX and camera to the exact same ram pad and ground pad? Or do I need 1x pad for each? And is it possible to use the same vbat pad for both vTX and camera or should I solder them to one vbat pad each?
I use the same pad for both. It's a little more annoying if you have to change hardware because you have to de-solder both but usually there isn't a spare pin for it.
Joshua Bardwell Ok thanks Joshua!
@@JoshuaBardwell I tried to change around my wires but now I got a new problem. As soon as I give any kind of high throttle, throttle, full pitch etc my quad just shuts down and restarts/reboots. I have tried to increase power on my motors one by one and it also happens then around 30% power. I also tried to remove both my camera and vTX but the quad still shuts down and restarts once I give power. Any idea whats causing this?
You said to use the same ground pad but then on the clracing f4 they dont. Ive done mine like your diagram, but should I resolder the ground to a common pad? I am getting some noise
+Sloth FPV it's worth a try. On a board like the cl racing, which is designed specifically for clean video, I would give the factory layout 's try. But if there was noise, I would try moving the ground.
Joshua Bardwell yeah, I've moved the ground and I'll see if it helps. I've also tried adding a cap but it isnt low esr so didn't really help.
Joshua Bardwell i fucking love you, the noise is gone entirely :D i still have another problem though, occasionally after flips or rolls my osd dissapears momentarily and i get a series of dashes in the middle of the screen. Dp you know what that could be? Doesn't make any sense to me.
Does the CL_Racing example show using separate ground pins?
+Wholly Mindless yes. Which I know is against my own advice. On a board like cl racing where I know it is designed to give good video, I would give the factory layout a try. If I had video noise, I would try moving the ground.
Thanks for the video JB !
Matek F405-AIO has a Dual BEC: 5V 2A & 9V 2A, which one is better for both VTX and Camera ? 9V or 5V ?
The intent in a situation like that is usually that 9v is used for vTX and camera, and 5v is used for receiver and other similar accessories. But the only hard and fast rule is that the input voltage has to be within the correct range and the load on the regulator must not be too high. So if you had a Unify Pro, you'd run it off the 5v regulator. And honestly, most receivers can take 9v, so you could put the receiver on the 9v regulator if you wanted.
Thanks for your quick answer :)
You said there's a manual for the BFF3??? 20:31 Where can one find this elusive document? :)
Does the RAM pin have a max current draw if it is set to VBAT?
The max current for the RAM pin is always approximately 600 mA regardless of supply voltage. The "manual" I'm talking about is the FPV Model product page. FPV Model is the creator of the board and their product page has guidelines for its use.
www.fpvmodel.com/betaflightf3-flight-controller_g1231.html
"Friendly Reminder: Choosing your power supply for video is relatively simple. Betaflight FC has two options, 5v and battery voltage. Choose your camera voltage by jumping RAM with either the 5V solder section or the Vbat solder section. (its recommended to use Vbat, Most cameras and Video transmitters can run off battery voltage) If using 5v it is recommeded to only power your camera and get the power for Vtx from another source."
Is there any latency or problem on wiring the signal wire from the ESC through the pdb like the matek board (PDB-XPW)? Then wiring all your wires from the pdb to your flight controller like it shows in the instructions. It looks like an helps in working on the board if you have to take it apart and move the flight controller out of the way.
No, not at all. No latency issue at all.
Thanks for responding I love all your videos. Without them I think I would be completely and utterly lost
Joshua, I have a Unify HV And Swift 2 with a new Hobbywing Xrotor 4in1 which has a VBAT port. Couldn’t I just wire the Power from the Unify HV and the power from the Swift 2 including the blue VBAT wire directly to the VBAT port on the FC. I know most say run the Unify HV power and ground straight to battery terminal, and feed the 5v off the Unify HV To the camera. But would it be easier to go straight to the VBAT port Since both the VTX and camera can take HV in. Hopefully you can help me understand this. Thanks...
+Cletus Lancelot yes that's what I would do.
Joshua, thanks for the reply. This is the answer I was hoping for, now I can finally finish my quad. Your videos are great keep up the good work..
Joshua bardwell, my foxeer tm25 switcher has yellow, white black wires, which I assume that means video, power, ground. Correct? Then it has red, green, black...what are those? And do they need to be hooked up for the vtx to work?
I really think you should look up the pinout for the vTX instead of guessing. My guess is green is audio, red is 5v output for a camera, and black is ground for the camera.
Joshua Bardwell I see where it says on vtx what each wire is, but where it corresponds to a wizards pdb is a different story.
I've just rebuilt my racing quad with a Matek F4 AIO FC and a Runcam Split. The Split is noisy as f*ck and unusable for racing. Someone on RC Groups has pointed out your rule about running cam and vtx ground to the same pad. I'm yet to try it, but I am sure hoping that this fixes my noisy Split. And yes I am running a cap (tried several in fact).
If the Split is noisy, make sure it is getting absolutely 5v. It really needs a solid, clean supply. If you are even at 4.8 or 4.9 volts, the Split won't be happy.
Thanks :) The 5v pad is giving me 5.08 V so that should be fine. I have the Unify HV hooked up to the battery terminals so took the ground off, joined it up with the Split ground as suggested and wired up the Split to the 5V. Unfortunately now I am getting nothing from the Split's camera. The Split powers up but no picture, just the Runcam logo. Not sure if its the shared ground (I can't see why) or if the ribbon cable has come loose. This Split has been nothing but a PITA from the day I got it out of the box. I ran out of time this morning to check everything so will have a look tonight when I get home.
I was told by Armattan to use the 5v on the bottm of the cl racing f4. I'm by no means correcting you just asking your opinion?
Armattan certainly knows what they're talking about. I would need more info about your situation to know why they made that recommendation. I believe the VID+ and CAM+ pads on the CL_Racing F4 are 7.6 volts. The main reason why I think somebody would suggest using 5v is that the vTX didn't take 7.6 volts.
One thing that's not noted on there is that there are two 5v pads, one on top and one on the bottom.
To power up the VTX, it's recommended to use the RX 5v on the bottom as the LED 5v pad on the top does not provide enough current to power up a VTX (This is what they told me as i was having problems)
Hmm I see. So if you had a 5v vTX you'd have to use the bottom pad.
I guess
Thanks, this was exactly my question, I am using the TBS unify pro 5V version and was getting skeptical to soldier it to the cl racing f4 cam + pad...
Did it work out with the bottom vtx pad FPV FANATIC?
Hey Josh, is vbatt power to the cam Actually filtered in the bf3?
it's mrebysan FPV not meow!!
+MeOw ram pin is always filtered.
I have a Mateo pdb and was planning on powering my vtx off of its 12v reg and the camera on the 5v reg. I'm running an omnibus so I don't need the 5v for anything else. I think the 5v reg is already 1A and the 12v is 500mah. I'm running a ts5828 banggood eachine 200mw vtx down here in Florida where it is always at least 80 degrees and humid. Do u think I could get away with running a vtx off of the 12v reg or should I run vbat? Also, I'm running spedix esc's which have like 12 little caps and myrcmart motors which I think are pretty balanced so I think the system will be pretty clean. However, the vtx is $12 and I'm gonna assume it has no filtering. But the cam will be getting 5v, so would that help the noise if I decided that the 12 v reg was too small an had to run the vtx on vbat?
I think you could run the vTX under 500 mA if that's all you were pulling off the regulator.
That is all I would be running thxs for the answer!
what is the audio wire on the vtx used for i know about smart audio on tbs vtx but i have it on a foxeer vtx does it work the same , can i use it for smart audio like the tbs ones
The audio wire is for transmitting audio from a mic on the quad. The Foxeer does not support smartaudio.
Hey Josh, I run the TBS FPV Vision, am I able to tap the camera audio output onto the 'smart audio' cable that connects the cameras osd to the vtx so that I can have the microphone work but also still have control over cam settings from my osd?
Joshua Bardwell
Hi Joshua, since I have terrible(unflyable) video feed from my eachine wizard, can I ask you whether you made any mods to the FPV wiring on that quad? There is no OSD and if I don't remember wrong GRNDs are not soldered to the same pad. Do you advise to solder together the video (in/out) wires too?
Thanks!
P.S.: very useful video as usual!
I didn't have to make any mods to get flyable video. Something is up with your quad.
I might have plugged in the battery with the vtx antenna off for a few seconds, could it be I've fried it? Consider that the image was fine until I took off, that's why I suspect some heavy noise is coming from the ESCs/motors...
So, how would i run this on the 4g LTE dongle
I got my grounds running to the same pass, that good but I'm getting a No RC Link. I tried everything but I'm getting no video.
Most likely you're just in the wrong channel? Have your goggles got any kind of spectrum analyzer or band scanner?
@@JoshuaBardwell lol no, they are Eachine vr D2. I hooked it up according to what's on INAV and hooked up the grounds to one pad.
I got lines in my goggle display, if that'll help solve the problem.
hey josh , im going to use this comment area like a forum because im a rebel...no, a lazy ass. Is it possible to use a walkera runner 250 fcs on a rodeo 150, since they have the same 40pin flat cable connection to the pdb? then make the necessary adjustments. I cracked my original fcs and 58 dollars is a lot compared to 20 for a runner 250 fcs.So, is it do-able?
I really have no idea what FC they use but if one is $20 and the other is $50 it suggests they're not the same.
Does the omnibus f3 filter vbat like the bf f3 does
Yes I'm being told it does.