Hero4 without battery = better balance?

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I noticed that by removing the battery from the Hero4 Black, the H3-3D to be better balanced than with it. It's actually a bit ligther than a Hero3/3+, by adding an ND filter it becomes the same. It doesn't make the balance perfect, but it's better, and decrease in weight should put less stress on the gimbal motors.

As the Phantom powers the GoPro, this looks like it's worth a shot - any reason I should not do this?
 
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hm... you may be on to something. I asked a similar question in a facebook group and everyone just seemed to suggest to keep the battery in. I may try doing weight comparisons of my GH3B with battery and my new GH4B w/o battery, w/nd filter.
I'd think the gimbal is concerned with overall weight and not necessaerily where all the weight is situated (ie nd filter front/side heavy)
 
Despite the Phantom supplying power to the GoPro, I'm not sure the GoPro will actually turn on when a battery is not connected? Have you already tried turning the GoPro on without the battery inserted?
 
I tried my 4 Black without the battery. It turned on with the supply from the H3-3D, but it turned itself off as soon as I tried to record (in 4K at least, didn't try any lower resolutions), as though the H3-3D alone was not supplying enough power.
 
CaptivatingCaptain said:
dptcalvin said:
Despite the Phantom supplying power to the GoPro, I'm not sure the GoPro will actually turn on when a battery is not connected? Have you already tried turning the GoPro on without the battery inserted?

He has a Hero4. They work just fine without a battery on the H3-3D (with or without an ND filter installed).

The H3 will not power on without a battery inserted.

SteveMann said:
ThePhantom said:
Keep the battery.
My Hero4 BE won't stay on without the battery.

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=31718
 
phenom3030 said:
I'd think the gimbal is concerned with overall weight and not necessaerily where all the weight is situated (ie nd filter front/side heavy)

It's not the overall weight. Its the weight distribution in the gopro causing the roll motors to stress out. Think of this: if you hold 5kgs close to you, its less strenuous. If you then reach out and hold the 5kgs, you will find it more difficult. And this same theory applies to the gopro and gimbal, Ie, gopro have moved that 5kgs around and affected the weight distribution that the gimbal has been designed for.

The motors work best at neutral balance. How do you find neutral balance? Flip the phantom over on a dead flat level surface. The gimbal with the gopro attached should just float and not FLOP to one side (ignore the tilt as this motor should have sufficient power with an ND filter installed). Use Velcro and some coins to counter the ROLL axis.
 
CaptivatingCaptain said:
dptcalvin said:
http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=31718

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPx4umMXSNA[/youtube]
Glad it works for you, but apparently it doesn't work for everyone.
 
It works for me too, just recorded a 60 sec clip at 4K without the battery.
Hero4 Black, 64GB Lexar 633x, Phantom 2 + H3-3D.

I also did some weighing:
H4B with battery is 88g
Without battery 64g
Without battery, with Snake River ND4 filter 71g

H3B/H3B+ with battery for which the H3-3D was designed weightsis 73-76g, so very close to the empty H4B + filter.

Looks like this is the way I'll use my setup from now on.
 
Heck i just leave the battery in, counterbalance for the Hero4 Black and for my Snake River Prototyping filter. Two nickels on the back lower right corner of the GoPro and tow nickels on the axis arm on the left of the gimbal. No stress on the motors. Free floats and stay in position with power off, like a properly balanced gimbal.
 
dptcalvin said:
CaptivatingCaptain said:
dptcalvin said:
Despite the Phantom supplying power to the GoPro, I'm not sure the GoPro will actually turn on when a battery is not connected? Have you already tried turning the GoPro on without the battery inserted?

He has a Hero4. They work just fine without a battery on the H3-3D (with or without an ND filter installed).

The H3 will not power on without a battery inserted.

SteveMann said:
ThePhantom said:
Keep the battery.
My Hero4 BE won't stay on without the battery.

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=31718

This is simply not true. I've shot at least an hour of footage without the battery in. The disturbing thing is turning on the camera with the gimbal stabilizing, definitely killing the life of the gimbal.
 
jcknows0 said:
This is simply not true. I've shot at least an hour of footage without the battery in. The disturbing thing is turning on the camera with the gimbal stabilizing, definitely killing the life of the gimbal.
It may not be true for you. But you cannot speak for others. Mine for instance will also not stay on when recording. Goes off after a couple of seconds.
 
In my case, 4k recording till memory card is full with no battery when connected to the H3-3D.
 
Wow I have been looking for this thread for ages.
I have ezpirencing this method for months
And every were I asked people ignored me or canceled the idea.

My phantom will lower the gopro and gimbal
The thing is after 2-7 min the gopro shutoff,
While flying.
I believe the power is not consistence
And that's why I have it.
A millisecond of lower power and its off.
I need to stabelize the gopro feed some how.

The gimbal is much more balanced this way
And I really want to make this work.

What is your findings ?
 
Last edited:
my GoPro turns off without the battery when trying to record 4k, get about a minute
 
Hmm. Some one on you tube just comment that protune off helps a bit

Sent from my SM-N915F using Tapatalk
 
There have to be a way for bypass the gimbal power and feed it.

Sent from my SM-N915F using Tapatalk
 
By the way do you have the ground cable fix ?

Sent from my SM-N915F using Tapatalk
Because I do .
It might be it....
 
I tried my 4 Black without the battery. It turned on with the supply from the H3-3D, but it turned itself off as soon as I tried to record (in 4K at least, didn't try any lower resolutions), as though the H3-3D alone was not supplying enough power.
I put the after-market Hero 3 bus connector on my Zenmuse H43D mount to power the Hero3+ Black camera, and to get audio and video feeds to the CAM bus and FatShark video transmitter. I set my Hero3+ for one-button operation so that I start recording in 2900 video as soon as power comes up. Works perfectly, and I have well over 15 hours of video that looks GREAT on the big screen HDTV!
 
I have try shooting 4k no battery 6 min flight and come back.
It works nice.

Just my gimbal is out of balance so I am on it now...

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