Has anybody thought about attaching a GoPro to the top of a Phantom 3.

[DirectorDrew]

Looking to put one of those sticky adhesive mounts to the top of a Phantom 3. I would really like to put the extension arm so I can lift the GoPro higher from the blade and retract it so that its looking straight up in the air. maybe I could get some cool shots like that.

This video inspired me with the idea. Anybody have tips or advice?

 

[Oso]

This guy was asking the same last week. Maybe he found a way to avoid the blades and also still allow GPS.
Gopro

 

[alokbhargava]

I don't think that's a good idea to have it on top as that will affect the stability of the aircraft. Technically CG should be as low as possible.

 

[Priccijr]

Haven't found anything. I get the center of gravity thing but I wasn't thinking of going that high. I know there are some questions about the gps but the polar pro lights cover the module and that doesn't affect it.

 

[Ed209]

Don't think the cg would make much difference. Us battery modders are strapping 350+ grams of dead weight under the vps which makes it unbalanced. No real issues. I'd be more concerned about GPS being affected.

 

[Mako79]

I don't think that's a good idea to have it on top as that will affect the stability of the aircraft. Technically CG should be as low as possible.

My concern would be blocking the gps receiver on the top shell..

 

[Priccijr]

The polar pro lights have a battery that clips right on top of the housing above the gps.
DJI Phantom 3 LED Light Kit

 

[flybid]

I have something I can share

 

[flybid]

This isn't a GoPro but a small camera that I attached.

I attached a thumb camera to some wire that I extended away from the body to catch a perspective of what is happening with the Phantom 3 Pro while it is doing it's thing at 400'. Kinda cool to see how it tips forward and sideways depending on how I'm maneuvering. Also the gentle shaking that occurs- yet the gimbal camera is steady as a rock! You can hear the rotors, and the other noise is not static, but wind! The small camera was small and light enough that the bird behaved normally in flight.

 

[Priccijr]

Looks cool flybid how much does that camera weigh? Do you have any pictures of the rig with the camera installed?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[flybid]

I'll send a pic in a few minutes.

 

[flybid]

Here's a couple pics of the setup. Made from a few hangars and a few twisties and 1 rubber band. It was pretty solid setup and easy to assemble. Total weight of wires and camera is 2.5 oz.

 

[flybid]

I may try a larger version in the future so I can get the cam farther away from the bird, but will likely need to counterbalance.

 

[alokbhargava]

The polar pro lights have a battery that clips right on top of the housing above the gps.
DJI Phantom 3 LED Light Kit

That's made of plastic. Metal will block GPS.

 

[Priccijr]

That's made of plastic. Metal will block GPS.

Wouldn't the battery from the lights affect the GPS signal? Everything that mounts the GoPro is plastic except the GoPro itself. I'm going to try it out today i'll just do a hover around I'll post here on how it goes.

 

[Priccijr]

Ok ran a test today. Was getting 0 to 4 GPS satellites. Was able to fly it in non GPS mode. took everything off and crashed the dam thing. clipped a tree flying down my street it landed on its head one motor wouldn't shutoff, battery wouldn't power down, burnt out motor.

 

[Theo450]

Thank you for sacrificing your bird. I will not try this at home...

 

[natvtrader]

Funny I just did this today. I used one of the curved mounting pads that came with the gopro. I knew I'd get signal inference but a soon as I took off I got a motor overload message. Of course I kept flying then it started to land on its own and I couldn't stop it from going down so I moved it to an open area and kept trying to get to go up again. It finally went up and got over the trees and I was able to return home. As soon as it landed the gopro popped off and two blades hit it and broke. I was surprised how slow it lifted with just the little weight of the gopro. Very unstable flying.

 

[natvtrader]

It's at about 40 seconds when things get bad. At the end I did not crash the phantom the gopro just popped off. The whole clip let loose. Then two blades hit the gopro and broke.

 

[natvtrader]

well we all know how the old saying goes. Play stupid games win stupid prizes

after further inspection and wondering why the phantom was making so much noise while flying, after taking the go pro off, this is what I noticed. This is one of the motor housings on the blade that hit the go pro