Have I overdone it with add-ons?

[JimMoore]

I have flown a P1 for over a year and loved it. I added FPV with no problem and have been happy with that also. However, DJI stopped building the Zen Muse gimbal for the P1 so I was unable to add it to make my videos better.

As a result, I recently purchased the Phantom 2. I also purchased an iOSD mini and the ground station. I plan on moving my FPV setup from the P1 to the P2.

Here is my question (finally). Am I adding too much and if not, does anyone have a few pictures of how you have configured the P2? I found a very good video on SkyPixel (http://skypixel.org/post/83254735947) and wonder if anyone has tried this arrangement. In the video, he installs the iosd and the ground station air end inside of the P2 case. It is so cramped, he removed the cases from the iosd and the ground station and reinstalled them as bare boards.

Have any of you folks done this successfully?

Finally, if you have an image of how you configured the outside of your Phantom 2 with the FPV board and the interference board I would love to see it.

I'm stuck for a week or so waiting on a replacement gimbal. Unfortunately, when I ordered all the above, Atlanta Hobby accidentally shipped me a defective gimbal that had been reboxed to return to DJI. I spent two days trying to figure out how to install it minus parts and then once installed, trying to figure out why it was not working properly. I was actually relieved to find out I had a defective gimbal that had been reboxed minus the accessory kit (where the missing parts were located). Stuff happens but it was a bit frustrating.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy post. I appreciate any help you can offer.

 

[QYV]

if you mean the iOSD Mini, Groundstation link, and FPV... is THAT too much? no. While I personally don't have the groundstation link I know what it is, it just taps into the CAN-BUS right? those other 2 cables are antennas I believe (they don't connect anywhere) right?

removing the black plastic cases from the iOSD Mini or Bluetooth link is no big deal, they're just a plastic shell. I did that myself on my iOSD Mini you just need to be more careful with the connections and such not to break them when you're working.

the short answer is yes, you'll want to set it up very much like the link you posted from Skypixel. you'll want to mount this stuff internally to keep it clean and tidy, so to start you disconnect the CAN-BUS connector from the leg, pull the cable up inside the shell and then re-attach the connector. Now your can-bus connection is inside the shell. first goes the iOSD mini because it has a female can-bus port on it you will plug the Bluetooth link into (the bluetooth link does not have a female for more connections).

Now, let's talk about the non-can-bus parts... you need to power your FPV transmitter (2 cables - power and ground) and patch the iOSD into the gimbal's video feed (2 cables - video/ground) before then going out to the video transmitter. Check out this video... it's a little dated now (for an H3-2D) but the concepts still work for understanding some things - the first 2-3 mins of the video will show you a little more detail than your Skypixel article about moving the can-bus cable but more importantly it will show you the internal 2-pair ribbon cable and explain which pair is video/ground and power/ground. This is the cable you will use to both power your video transmitter, and patch into the iOSD video signal cable.
Hopefully between that video I gave you and the Skypixel article you'll get a better idea of all the tasks, each transmitter and it's cabling are a little different but the important concepts are understanding which ribbon cable pair is power so you patch that into the transmitter's power, and then from that video all the iOSD patching, knowing which pair is video/video ground. The groundstation link is basically an afterthought, just plug in can-bus.

As for actual mounting of the FPV transmitter indeed, run the cables out a leg hole and mount the FPV transmitter on the bottom of the Phantom... some people put it out the rear, others out the side, and others at an angle like SkyPixel picture... I think it's mostly personal preference. If you mount it straight out the back don't CENTER the transmitter or you won't be able to get the battery out... shift it to one side slightly at least (or turn it diagonal or sideways if you prefer)

that should get you started.

 

[EMCSQUAR]

I have a P2 w/Zenmuse, Iosd mini & GS - I move factory canbus cable inside connceted OSD inside but left tx and GS air end outside. The reason is I transfer GS & tx between 2 other P1.5s

 

[p2fullyloaded]

Hi Jim!

Skypixel's approach to removing the cases is a sound practice. Much like yourself my P2 is "fully loaded" (thus the screen name lol)...I'm running P2 with H3-3D, H3-3D anti-interference board, DJI FPV Hub, TS832 FPV TX, Ground Station 2.4ghz receiver, flytrex core 2 and iOSD mini to round things out. With all those parts stuffed into the shell, then battery and props installed, I'm weighing in at 1379g. A bit heavy but I haven't had any problems to date and the extra few grams make for a more stable machine here in the sometimes windy great white north.

Actually I had the DJI AVL58 FPX TX installed originally but found it a bit heavy at 39g (without antenna) compared to the TS832 at 22g (without antenna), not to mention the AVL58 has a fan that I'm convinced was drawing too much juice and taking away a minute or 3 of precious flying time...

Have you received your replacement gimbal as yet?

-P2FL

 

[UrAwFuL]

Talk about overloaded, my initial P2 build was H3-3D, GP3+B and the add-ons were AVL58, FPVHUB, Groundstation, BTU, CF landing gear, GPS tracker, leg extensions, and BUS-HUB.

Kitchen scale reported 1700g. :lol:

I ended up ditching everything but AVL58, hub, tracker for 1400g.