Best OSD for Phantom

[The Don]

Please forgive me if this is an old topic, but I'm interested in getting an OSD, if for no other reason than to know my battery status. There are so many options that it's hard to pick one. I'd like to hear what you guys use and how difficult the installation was. Here are some models I'm interested in:

First there's the E-OSD by HobbyKing. It's small. I assume it's light. It has no frills, just a timer and battery meter, but maybe that's all you need. At $13 the price can't be beat. Looking at the installation instructions, however, gives me a headache.

Next there's the Tiny OSD. It doesn't look too hard to install. The price is higher at around a hundred bucks. This bad boy gets props for having an interface that turns your Phantom into a fighter plane. Check this out:

Finally I was looking at the EzOSD. I'm leaning towards this one. It's made by Immersion RC, and I'm a fan of their products. It was made with Fat Shark integration in mind, so hopefully installation wouldn't be too painful. It's expensive, though. Almost $200! I really like the interface. It has all the info you want without looking cluttered. See:

I understand that there's a Team Blacksheep version that's much improved over the standard version.

Aside from these three I'm sure there are many other options. Please share your opinions and experiences with OSD. I'd appreciate the input.

 

[DeweyAXD]

A blatent plug (for shame!) but if it is just battery you were interested in I have made this...

A fairly simple method of being able to see the status LED in your Goggles/on screen. I nearly went the EzOSD route but decided voltage in your goggles is all well and good it won't tell you exactly when your Phantom is about to auto land itself whereas a constant flashing red LED will. It is not a new idea and you can do this DIY without too much headache.

Of course if you are looking for more data it is no good at all (although you could use it in conjunction with any of them). Also in the interest of information I've not tested it on a gimbal and hence can't at this stage advise. Lens ring is 2g but its the drag caused by wind on the cable that might cause balance issues.

It all depends what you want out of it really. The TinyOSD with full GPS and horizon is really overkill for a Phantom but essential if you are looking to do loooooong range plane flight (like 5-10 miles). Of course if you are doing that you will have spent a fortune on UHF systems, big *** helical antenna and a small legal team for when it lands in a car windshield 6 miles out :lol:

FO-OSD (Fibre Optic OSD)
A method used by a few people before. The idea is to use fibre optic cable to take show the output of the Phantom's status LED in your FPV goggles/monitor. This is very handy as it tells you when the voltage warnings actually kick in as opposed to OSD systems that just display voltage levels. Pictures/Vids say a thousand words (flight test vid coming soon).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_doIZhQztvs[/youtube]



My kit comprises of two parts:
1) GoPro FO-OSD Lens Ring for Hero3



This pushes snugly around the lens and allows the cable to be held in front of the lens. It can be rotated into the correct position depending on what mode you are using on your Hero3. It set in place via a grub screw or glue but I have never needed either personally.

2) Phantom Rear Mount

Like my FPV Custom Undertray this fits the rear over 2 x 25mm M3 hex spacers. You don't need the FPV Custom Undertray for this to fit but you do need the spacers or long strong bolts. When it place it allows the other end of the fibre optic cable to be pushed or clamped in place and held up to the status LED. This sends the light output down the cable to the GoPro lens ring. No need for opening the case at all.

For this kit to work all you need is the spacers and a really cheap thin 'Toshlink' fibre optic cable... like £2 max and the thinner the better. You snip the connectors off, shave the wire down until it is a nice fit at one end, cut it to length and shave/fit the other end. Easy!

 

[netphreak]

I've used firebug OSD on a couple of crafts, it works pretty **** well. Pulls GPS data from the puck, flight mode data from the NAZA, and an artificial horizon too. It's a pair of the MiniOSD and the Arduino.

 

[martcerv]

I just installed the dji minosd, looks great but havent flown it yet. Specificaly designed for use with naza and dji gps units so no need for extra parts. Total weight of it was 45g for pmu v2 and miniosd plus all cables. After install I only gained 40g as I modified my existing fpv cable by cutting out some crap I didnt need.

Fitting it all in was a challenge along with my futaba receiver.

Love all the info it gives and its not too expensive but needs pmuv2 to install cost me $133 for both at multiwiicopter.

It doesnt show rssi which hopefully may make it in a firmware update or gps co-ordinates. Has everything else you need including all important naza gps levels and warnings if compass or calibration issues come up.

 

[thetac]

martcerv...where did you get the dji minosd?
Thanks

 

[martcerv]

http://www.multiwiicopter.com/products/dji-iosd-mini

 

[The Don]

A blatent plug (for shame!) but if it is just battery you were interested in I have made this...

What I like about your setup is the ease of installation and the price. It also gives you Phantom specific data that the others don't have, like what mode you're flying in, if the GPS loses a satellite, everything that we're used to getting from the status light. I'd rather not have the light in my flight videos, but as you've pointed out, that can be cropped out. I fly and record in 4:3 aspect ratio so I could easily crop to 16:9 and cut out the indicator. Also, I'm a huge fan of your stuff.

 

[The Don]

I've used firebug OSD on a couple of crafts, it works pretty **** well. Pulls GPS data from the puck, flight mode data from the NAZA, and an artificial horizon too. It's a pair of the MiniOSD and the Arduino.

See, this I like. Why have a separate GPS receiver and/or altimeter when there's already one in the Phantom? They have three different models, though. The videos on their site show one with a really slick, small, color interface, and one with a very cluttered and obtrusive interface.

 

[netphreak]

The only one he's currently selling is the gold, which is what includes everything you need.

 

[DeweyAXD]

A blatent plug (for shame!) but if it is just battery you were interested in I have made this...

What I like about your setup is the ease of installation and the price. It also gives you Phantom specific data that the others don't have, like what mode you're flying in, if the GPS loses a satellite, everything that we're used to getting from the status light. I'd rather not have the light in my flight videos, but as you've pointed out, that can be cropped out. I fly and record in 4:3 aspect ratio so I could easily crop to 16:9 and cut out the indicator. Also, I'm a huge fan of your stuff.

Thanks Don... all comments very much appreciated there. Makes all the difference when I am toiling over designs (though i am a selfish designer that makes stuff I can use too :lol: ). Martcerv deserves thanks for the cropping idea though. I might have discovered it my accident but his work lead me to that suggestion.
I can't wait to test it on a gimbal just in case it might work without inbalance. I am also working on a lens ring to fit the Hero3 waterproof case right now as I know many prefer this when not using a gimbal. The ring of course can be used on any craft with a status LED output so F450, F550 etc.

It is a real shame Jay of FBOSD has stopped developing (though I can't blame him... soooo much work put into it!). He used the output signals from the NAZA LED cable to display what mode you are in. With a little more time I am certain he could have made it possible to flash up a 'Low Batt' warning from that signal. Problem he had was that DJI kept changing the NAZA status lights and that of course confused FBOSD.

 

[netphreak]

Through the miniosd you can configure it to flash battery warnings on screen at a certain voltage, it's just a setting you have to enable. It would be nice if you could enable it via the flight mode settings though.

 

[Driffill]

Through the miniosd you can configure it to flash battery warnings on screen at a certain voltage, it's just a setting you have to enable. It would be nice if you could enable it via the flight mode settings though.

The FBOSD shows:
# of GPS satellites, and the lat/long numbers
battery voltage and will also flash as "battery low" warning at a predetermined voltage,
it "should" also show what flight mode you are in (I say should as mine is having issues with this, but others are working ok).

Can also show a bunch of other data (but above is pretty much the led related info). What do you mean by enable it via flight mode settings?

Depending on what craft I decide to go with for my next quad I'll probably grab another ghost and use it on that too. There are other OSD that are probably more refined, but I don't mind having to tinker a little

 

[martcerv]

Had my first fly of the phantom with the DJI mini OSD, works great but flight was a little short as it started to rain after a few minutes. Well worth looking at for guys looking for a good OSD and will likely stick with a DJI controller. I wanted to do some speed tests to see what my pimped out phantom can get up to and with no wind got to 21.5m/s at 1190g total weight but didnt give it much of a go as the rain came just as I switched to manual mode.

Here is what this OSD shows on screen

http://wiki.dji-innovations.com/en/inde ... mini_Setup

 

[jumanoc]

Hey Martcerv,
I have Stock phantom Naza V1 with Simple OSD (just voltage + timer). I want to upgrade OSD.
What do I have to buy for using DJI MiniOSD system ? How much is its weight ? It will reduce fligt time in.... minutes ?
This requires soldering or internal replacing anything? Thanks for your answer around it.

 

[martcerv]

Hey Martcerv,
I have Stock phantom Naza V1 with Simple OSD (just voltage + timer). I want to upgrade OSD.
What do I have to buy for using DJI MiniOSD system ? How much is its weight ? It will reduce fligt time in.... minutes ?
This requires soldering or internal replacing anything? Thanks for your answer around it.

You need PMUv2 which requires soldering to the main power and also most likely you will need to make up a cable for you camera and vtx. Total weight I think of the miniosd and pmuv2 with all cables was 45g, seeing as pmuv2 bypasses the need for the main board completly I think I may change some things later on there as its a tight squeeze inside with this and the futaba receiver.

Here is a quick video of my first test flight with the osd. Was actually second flight on the battery as first one I forgot to turn the camera on and still had the gopro osd on screen. Camera angle wasnt the best to actually shiw the screen I will do better later but weather looks bad the rest of the week.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf9FOC92kPE[/youtube]

 

[miskatonic]

The PMU solder is simple, it goes directly to power. The mini iosd rocks. I cannot wait to get a amateur radio license so that I can FPV .

 

[patc221]

I bought the Cyclop breeze and it was a piece of JUNK. I never could get it to work. I then bought an Immersion EZosd and it works awesome. It took me about twenty minutes to have it working with my GO Pro 2 and Fatshark Predator. You can also connect it to your I phone and it records the coordinates so if your Phantom gets lost you can find it with google map. I haven't tried it and I hope I don't have to. There is a video on youtube on how to hook this up. Good luck
Pat

 

[yalag]

Does anyone know if it's a good idea to install OSD when I already have such a heavy package (phantom+zenmuse+FPV+futuba t8j). And if so, which OSD is the lightest and highest quality I should go with? I really need an OSD because I can never tell how far away that thing is from me.

 

[jumanoc]

Hey Martcerv,
I have Stock phantom Naza V1 with Simple OSD (just voltage + timer). I want to upgrade OSD.
What do I have to buy for using DJI MiniOSD system ? How much is its weight ? It will reduce fligt time in.... minutes ?
This requires soldering or internal replacing anything? Thanks for your answer around it.

You need PMUv2 which requires soldering to the main power and also most likely you will need to make up a cable for you camera and vtx. Total weight I think of the miniosd and pmuv2 with all cables was 45g, seeing as pmuv2 bypasses the need for the main board completly I think I may change some things later on there as its a tight squeeze inside with this and the futaba receiver.
.......

The PMU solder is simple, it goes directly to power. The mini iosd rocks. I cannot wait to get a amateur radio license so that I can FPV .

I bought the Cyclop breeze and it was a piece of JUNK. I never could get it to work. I then bought an Immersion EZosd and it works awesome. It took me about twenty minutes to have it working with my GO Pro 2 and Fatshark Predator. You can also connect it to your I phone and it records the coordinates so if your Phantom gets lost you can find it with google map. I haven't tried it and I hope I don't have to. There is a video on youtube on how to hook this up. Good luck
Pat

Thanks for your answers... now checking DJI miniOSD vs EzOSD.... :ugeek:

 

[UTR]

I made a little battery monitor with a 3.3v arduino for $3 and 6 leds that light at different voltages and flash under different conditions whole thing cost $5-$6 with a 6 led status display which I just position in the field of view of my camera. I can et you have the circuit diagram and arduino code if you want it it's pretty simple. Next project is the GPS tracker