AVL58 Poor Video Quality

[J0N]

Hi,

I am new to the forum and new to the hobby and am hoping someone with more experience can help me out. I have recently bought a Phantom 2 v3, with H3-3D Gimbal, GoPro Hero 4 Black, with IOSD Mini and AVL58 transmitter. I also bough the DJI connectors to save me doing any soldering. I have a Vonista Black Peal monitor set to Band E and it will work OK on channel 4, but with poor video quality. I get alot of banding and stuttering picture which greys out for a second or so before returning. I haven't taken it beyond 200 meters yet as I am getting used to it. On all the other channels it loses picture completely after about 20-30 meters.

I was hoping for better picture quality than I am getting and hoping I have set something up wrong. The transmitter aerial is as far away from the compass but the wire does come down through the same leg as the compass wire (everything apart from AVL58 is housed internally).

It is also possible that the kids turned it on when the aerial wasn't plugged in, I know this can damage the transmitter but thought it would break it completely rather than just reduce its signal??

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Jon

 

[jsob]

Welcome to the forum J0N! I have a similar FPV setup to yours. I would recommend checking out FPVLR.com. I purchased the kit in the link below because I was only getting about 20m with one stock antenna and one Cloverleaf on the Black Pearl monitor and one cloverleaf on the AVL5.8. I have gone 400m out and 400m up with the antenna's in the link without any video issues at all. I would call FPVLR to order them to make sure you get the correct connectors for your receiver and transmitter. Good Luck!

http://fpvlr.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=77&product_id=106

 

[J0N]

Thanks for teh reply, I will check them out. Did they improve the picture quality as well as the range?

 

[jsob]

They improved both image quality and range.

 

[joukav]

I also have some problems with my AVL58 setup. It is quite similar to yours, except I did the connections with out the hub.

I have always had some interference in my fpv monitor, but it has been quite stable. My range has always been nice, maximum distance I have tried was 1800 meters.

After changing from GoPro 3+ black to 4 black the interference did get worse, including screen blacking out and some major vertical offset, When the camera is turned of I can see my iosd data without any interference, but it starts immediately when I start my camera. To make things more things a bit more difficult sometimes when testing I get quite clear image, but touching the ribbon cable in the Gimbal makes it worse again. I have tried to change the ribbon cable many times with no effect.

Could my problem be in the ribbon cable somehow? And could using the hub make things better? I know it does not effect the ribbon cable but still.

Thanks.

 

[Mako79]

Im at work and the search here isnt then best.

There is a mod to disable charging to the gopro by using sticky tape on the flex cable and leaving 2 pins exposed for visual fpv.

Just remember to have spare batteries. If the gopro batts dies during flight you will lose fpv.

 

[J0N]

I also have some problems with my AVL58 setup. It is quite similar to yours, except I did the connections with out the hub.

I have always had some interference in my fpv monitor, but it has been quite stable. My range has always been nice, maximum distance I have tried was 1800 meters.

After changing from GoPro 3+ black to 4 black the interference did get worse, including screen blacking out and some major vertical offset, When the camera is turned of I can see my iosd data without any interference, but it starts immediately when I start my camera. To make things more things a bit more difficult sometimes when testing I get quite clear image, but touching the ribbon cable in the Gimbal makes it worse again. I have tried to change the ribbon cable many times with no effect.

Could my problem be in the ribbon cable somehow? And could using the hub make things better? I know it does not effect the ribbon cable but still.

Thanks.

Thanks for your response, It would be interesting to see if a GOPRO 3 would give a better picture. Seems strange that the newer Go Pro is a backwards step with regards to FPV video quality.

 

[J0N]

Im at work and the search here isnt then best.

There is a mod to disable charging to the gopro by using sticky tape on the flex cable and leaving 2 pins exposed for visual fpv.

Just remember to have spare batteries. If the gopro batts dies during flight you will lose fpv.

I will have a look online for this mod, thanks for letting me know about it!!

 

[J0N]

I have quizzed the kids and it looks like they did turn it on while the aerial was unplugged. Could this have reduced its power?

Thanks

Jon

 

[joukav]

Thanks for your response, It would be interesting to see if a GOPRO 3 would give a better picture. Seems strange that the newer Go Pro is a backwards step with regards to FPV video quality.

Thats why I think it might be something to do with the usb cable signal.

Here is the link to the ribbon cable mod:
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=19936

I saw this before, but since I only had some minor horizontal banding with my GP3+ I decided that I can live with it and have my camera charged. Now I could give it a try.

 

[joukav]

Check this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdaXPX-RxaU

I am using similar AVL58 receiver + Ikan monitor combo as show in the video. It seems that there is big differences in range between different receivers.

 

[jason]

Thanks for your response, It would be interesting to see if a GOPRO 3 would give a better picture. Seems strange that the newer Go Pro is a backwards step with regards to FPV video quality.

Thats why I think it might be something to do with the usb cable signal.

Here is the link to the ribbon cable mod:
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=19936

I saw this before, but since I only had some minor horizontal banding with my GP3+ I decided that I can live with it and have my camera charged. Now I could give it a try.

Here's better solution for h3-3d USB ribbon cable,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Video-Outpu...Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item51c4f7c592

• P2, H3-2D, GoPro Hero 3+B, AVL-58, 5.8G clover-leaf antennas, iOSD-mini, Black Pearl 7" diversity receiver/monitor

 

[joukav]

Here's better solution for h3-3d USB ribbon cable,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Video-Outpu...Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item51c4f7c592

This seems interesting. Do you know if it works with GP 4 black?

 

[Mako79]

Here's better solution for h3-3d USB ribbon cable,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Video-Outpu...Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item51c4f7c592

This seems interesting. Do you know if it works with GP 4 black?

Nope.
I cant find the link.
There was an ebay one saying it was compatible with the 4. A user purchased it said it does NOT work. I think a Goodluck Buy one was tested and also did not work with the 4.

I think GoPro have either reconfigured the pins or changed the output settings so that it only works with the GoPro equipment.
DJI moved away from the rear port because of proprietary issues. That's why all H3-3D are shipped with the side USB port (referred as the H3-3D 1.1).

Another factor is that Gopro is working on there own Aerial Platform

 

[jason]

Here's better solution for h3-3d USB ribbon cable,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Video-Outpu...Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item51c4f7c592

This seems interesting. Do you know if it works with GP 4 black?

Nope.
I cant find the link.
There was an ebay one saying it was compatible with the 4. A user purchased it said it does NOT work. I think a Goodluck Buy one was tested and also did not work with the 4.

I think GoPro have either reconfigured the pins or changed the output settings so that it only works with the GoPro equipment.
DJI moved away from the rear port because of proprietary issues. That's why all H3-3D are shipped with the side USB port (referred as the H3-3D 1.1).

Another factor is that Gopro is working on there own Aerial Platform

Mako79 your absolutely correct that that modification will not work with hero 4 black as the pin connections are not the same as all the other gopro cameras. In fact the hero 4 black will not work on h3-2d gimbal either for the same reason. But for those who are still using hero 3 or 3+ black with the h3-3d it will work and is far better than the ribbon cable.