Install an Immersion Tx inside a Phantom II

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I've had my P2 for a few months and just got an FPV setup for Christmas. The Rx is an Immersion and I thought I'd seen a post where someone had mounted one inside their P2. I'm a bit insecure about mounting it on

Does anyone know about this? Can you point me in the right direction to find it?

Also, is it worth installing inside?? Will it overheat (600mW)?

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
Hi,
I installed an FPV transmitter, iOSD and filter inside my Phantom 2 earlier in the year and it has worked a dream. There is space below the mainboard behind the battery contacts just big enough for the transmitter. I used a Boscam 600mW transmitter and found no heat issues. At the same time I upgraded the GPS antenna, added additional screening under the antenna, bonded the motor wires to the ESCs using silicone, gutted the iOSD, removing it's case and the external CAN-Bus socket, and directly wired it to the board.
My P2 has worked flawlessly with full FPV since (Fingers crossed, this will remain the case), with ranges of well over 1 mile.
Plenty of videos and DIYs posted here of each mod - I just bundled them all together.

G
 
I've had my P2 for a few months and just got an FPV setup for Christmas. The Rx is an Immersion and I thought I'd seen a post where someone had mounted one inside their P2. I'm a bit insecure about mounting it on

Does anyone know about this? Can you point me in the right direction to find it?

Also, is it worth installing inside?? Will it overheat (600mW)?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Check you personal messages. There's a red number next to the envelope.to right of your screen name.
 
Thanks for the comments thus far. Any other comments/suggestions???

Bob
 
Thanks again for the answers, Gerry and Jason. Frequency changing is a good case for external mounting. Probably best to leave the Tx on the outside for now and appreciate the photos, will keep that in mind.

I'm going to mount things on the outside for now - they can always be mounted internally later if I choose to go in that direction. The internal mounting provides protection. External mounting provides ease of access.

I now have to make a camera protection plate. I see that some folks have them for sale but I think I can make one with some CF sandwiched between some ply.

Bob
 
I've seen a few mods of a Tx inside a Phantom, but I'm not too comfortable drilling holes in the shell for the antenna. I'm happy with mine stuck on the bottom of the outside of mine. I'd probably be afraid of it overheating as well...
 
I would prefer that there was a more solid mounting to the outside than double-sided tape. I bought a fresh roll of the 'good stuff' (i.e., Scotch 3M) but I wish that it could be tied off somehow with, say, a thin zip tie. We'll keep looking. I never got around to putting the FPV together. Perhaps tomorrow I can assemble it all.
 
I would prefer that there was a more solid mounting to the outside than double-sided tape. I bought a fresh roll of the 'good stuff' (i.e., Scotch 3M) but I wish that it could be tied off somehow with, say, a thin zip tie. We'll keep looking. I never got around to putting the FPV together. Perhaps tomorrow I can assemble it all.

I use 3M extreme double sided mounting tape to mount my immersion TX and it is extremely hard to remove. There are 3D printer mounting enclosures but more weight to the craft. The 3M tape is carried by Home Depot in their paint dept.
 
Hello Ken,
I wonder which tape you're talking about. Mine is about 1/16" thick foam with double sided tape and a green backing. It seems to adhere well. The stuff that I got is for general household use. I don't think I've ever seen this stuff with the red backing. Is it for some specialized use? Available at the Home Depot, et al? Is the adhesive especially aggressive for what you get?? Tell me more about this stuff.

I'm not certain what you meant by printing some plastic enclosures and using it on landing gear.... Do you mean that you 3D printed your own landing gear??

Thanks
 
Hello Ken,
I wonder which tape you're talking about. Mine is about 1/16" thick foam with double sided tape and a green backing. It seems to adhere well. The stuff that I got is for general household use. I don't think I've ever seen this stuff with the red backing. Is it for some specialized use? Available at the Home Depot, et al? Is the adhesive especially aggressive for what you get?? Tell me more about this stuff.

I'm not certain what you meant by printing some plastic enclosures and using it on landing gear.... Do you mean that you 3D printed your own landing gear??

Thanks

The 3M extreme mounting tape I pcked up at Home Depot also had red backing and 3M is printed on the backing. That tape can holdup 30 lbs and the package should say 3M scotch 1 in. x 1.66 yds. extreme mounting tape. The tape itself is black.
 
I had the same TX on my P2 and mounted it on the outside with the 3M heavy duty Velcro Stuff. Worked great..just FYI....don't power up the AC without an antenna on the TX...it'll burn up the TX.
 
Hello Ken,
I wonder which tape you're talking about. Mine is about 1/16" thick foam with double sided tape and a green backing. It seems to adhere well. The stuff that I got is for general household use. I don't think I've ever seen this stuff with the red backing. Is it for some specialized use? Available at the Home Depot, et al? Is the adhesive especially aggressive for what you get?? Tell me more about this stuff.

I'm not certain what you meant by printing some plastic enclosures and using it on landing gear.... Do you mean that you 3D printed your own landing gear??

Thanks

I am a computer tech for a school department, and I have access to 4-5 3D printers, so I try to print before I buy...

I was going to do this one:

DJI Phantom 2 ImmersionRC 600mw transmitter mount

But I didn't want to go through the hassle of finding long enough replacement screws, and I could never get it printed good enough that the grooves would work properly to slide the box on the mount. This mount goes UNDER the legs themselves, so you unscrew the legs, take them off, put this under it, then screw the legs back on with longer screws.

DSC00385sm_preview_featured.jpg



As for the tape, I believe it was this one:

Scotch 1 in. x 1.66 yds. Extreme Mounting Tape

Since I got it about 5 months ago I can't remember what the packaging looked like, but I'm pretty sure it was that one. It sticks VERY well. I've tried Velcro, but I can't seem to find any that sticks to either the Phantom or Immersion well, even the so-called "industrial strenth" Velcro.

Here is how mine is mounted:

Phantom Antenna.jpg
 
Thanks for all the discussion... I never thought about it, but when these things are molded, they use a mold release. I never thought to wipe the area down with alcohol where the tape is going to stick. I have to admit that I got the 9-lb stuff. I may head back and get that 30lb stuff (funny, I didn't notice it when I looked earlier, which is why I got the 9# stuff).

Ken I really like your design and I just downloaded it. Do you have access to a 3D printer or did you have an outside source do it? That's a very clever design, methinks.

Bob
 
Thanks for all the discussion... I never thought about it, but when these things are molded, they use a mold release. I never thought to wipe the area down with alcohol where the tape is going to stick. I have to admit that I got the 9-lb stuff. I may head back and get that 30lb stuff (funny, I didn't notice it when I looked earlier, which is why I got the 9# stuff).

Ken I really like your design and I just downloaded it. Do you have access to a 3D printer or did you have an outside source do it? That's a very clever design, methinks.

Bob

I have access to a bunch of 3D printers here, so I printed it all myself. Here is how it looked about 3 weeks ago. I have since installed the receiver on the lower left level rectangle area, and just yesterday (using the 3M tape... ) stuck an ImmersionRC 600 on the upper left rectangle area, and a small FPV camera on the upper right side. The battery goes under the quad. I'm having a heck of a time with motors. The ones I ordered are coming from China, and after over a month they still aren't here, so looking for substitutes. But since I don't have a clue about choosing motors it's taking a while.

Best thing about building your own is that you have a better understanding of how all of the components work together. Even though the Phantom is pre-built and all that, you still know better how it all works. And all the plastic you see was 3D printed.

Crossfire-1.jpg
 
That's impressive.... I've found a couple of places on line that can do 3D printing for me, which is shy I asked. I really like that design. What software do you use? Can it be done in, say, SolidWorks and then saved in another format? I've got SW2015 for myself.

Bob
 
That's impressive.... I've found a couple of places on line that can do 3D printing for me, which is shy I asked. I really like that design. What software do you use? Can it be done in, say, SolidWorks and then saved in another format? I've got SW2015 for myself.

Bob

The files on Thingiverse are STL files. We have MakerBot printers here, so I just load up the MakerBot software, open an STL file, check the print setting, and let 'er rip... I THINK SolidWorks can create STL files, but it can't import them. I had the Robotics teacher here try it and he couldn't, because I wanted to do a real quick mod of an STL file. So for printing software it depends on the make/model of printer. The MakerBot software even has a direct link to Thingiverse, so I can use the MakerBot software to access Thingiverse, and download the STL directly to the MakerBot software...

Get all that??? lol....

I've been working on it for about 2-3 months, and I still have a few more parts to print: leg stands, GoPro mount, stuff like that. But as son as I can get motors I'll be able to finish configuring the Pixhawk. Cool stuff... And to think this all started by getting my first quad (Phantom 2 Non-Vision) in July... lol...
 
What was the weight of the Tx case like?? I'd read somewhere that the P2 with the GoPro was pretty much at its max liftoff weight already (but don't know if that's true or not). Have you flown it with the Tx case yet? Did it seem heavier on one side or was there no noticeable difference?

Bob
 
I just tried an experiment. I'm fortunate enough to have SolidWorks 2015 and I see that I can import STL files and read them, and can convert them to SLDPRT files. Then I opened a simple SolidWorks part and was able to save it as a STL file. Perhaps this is a new feature of SolidWorks 2015?

I see you're over in Providence - close by. I'm in Brockton.

Bob
 

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