Phantom 2 RC tilt knob mod

[Damienlovegrove]

Hi, I've read many posts on the matter of replacing the 5K linear pot and lever control with a decent rotary pot. I wanted to increase the rotation needed on the control to move the camera through 90 degrees. I did a bit of testing to find the perfect value and settled on 100 degrees of rotation. I then did some test and measure exercises with pots and fixed resistors to achieve my goal.

I found I needed a 1k Lin pot and some fixed resistors to get the travel I needed for my control knob. The fixed resistor values are pin 1, 1820 ohms (2x 910 ohm resistors) pin 2, 910 ohms and pin 3, 910 ohms. I fitted the pot on the right hand side of the controller top plate and I can operate it really easily in conjunction with either of the control sticks. My next mod will be to fit a switch and a socket so I can use an external pot controlled by someone else to operate the tilt function on more adventurous tracking and craning shots.

 

[ZonComGMZ]

Very nice. Wish I saw this yesterday before I did my mod with a 5K linear Pot. I do get about 90 degrees with it though so I am pretty happy. Nice job.

http://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/3080578898_dgNp65x?width=640&height=360&noshare&nohome&nologo

 

[rodemic]

Is it possible to just solder wires for the new pot onto the metal pins of the existing pot - essentially have two tilt controllers?

 

[GJB]

No... It would not be possible to solder wires for a new pot in place of the existing.

 

[GJB]

I did the pot mod but changed the resistor values slightly... 910 ohm resistors, while available, can not always be readily accessed. So... In lieu of the 2 x 910 I used a (single) 1.8K and for the other two 910's used a couple of 1K resistors.

One thing that was missed(?) was details of the pot connections. They need to mimic the original otherwise the control will not work properly. Most importantly the centre connection on the replacement pot needs to connect to the 12 o'clock position of where the original was removed. If the control works backwards - or has limited range - then reverse the two connections on the PCB end.

You also need to be very careful when cutting out the old pot. A pair of small precision side-cutters is best

 

[idan_estee]

I did the pot mod but changed the resistor values slightly... 910 ohm resistors, while available, can not always be readily accessed. So... In lieu of the 2 x 910 I used a (single) 1.8K and for the other two 910's used a couple of 1K resistors.

One thing that was missed(?) was details of the pot connections. They need to mimic the original otherwise the control will not work properly. Most importantly the centre connection on the replacement pot needs to connect to the 12 o'clock position of where the original was removed. If the control works backwards - or has limited range - then reverse the two connections on the PCB end.

You also need to be very careful when cutting out the old pot. A pair of small precision side-cutters is best

Did you just remove the old pot with wires leaving the excess connectors still soldered on the board and you just soldered the new wires onto the excess?

 

[rodemic]

I ended up leaving the original pot on there...just soldered wires to the existing pins and made sure they were not touching anything else. I was scared about removing the original pot in case I damaged the board. It is all working well!

 

[idan_estee]

hey just thought I'd update you guys on my successful mod for the tilt. You can check it out here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFAeA5E5 ... e=youtu.be

 

[ronair]

Where can you get these 910 ohm resistors and pot from ? would like to have a go at that

 

[FedeVision]

I found I needed a 1k Lin pot and some fixed resistors to get the travel I needed for my control knob.

Hi, I just did the 1k pot mod too, and didn't add the resistors, just calibration on RC assistant first,
then calibration on phantom asistant and works great.

 

[smallman28]

I appreciate this is a bit of an old thread but rather than start another topic along the same lines I thought I would ask here
Does it matter what wire is soldered where?
I mean you have 3 wires coming off the new pot,do they just solder in any order to the existing one on the transmitter board or what?
Thats the one bit I cant see
Thanks.

 

[sgrim70]

Quick question. What difference is there when using a 10k vs. 5k or 1k switch? The reason I ask is I have a 10k mini volume control switch (radio shack brand) laying around and I wonder if it would work for this? Also I have seen vids on YouTube regarding this mod but they show a very small twist of the knob results in a large movement of the gimbal. I would rather have a larger range of movement on the knob resulting in a small amount of gimbal movement for more precise fine movements. Thanks in advance for your reply!

 

[LuvMyTJ]

You buy the pot in the value you need. And yes, they are usually marked. They come is various value's such as 1K, 2K, 5K, 10K, 20K, 50K, 100K, etc. You will want to look for a 'LINEAR' pot, not an 'AUDIO' pot. Most people use 5K as I did but I have seen a few 1K pots being used also. I bought mine online but a popular Radio Shack part number is 271-1714 which is a 5k-Ohm 500VDC Linear Taper Potentiometer. Knobs can be bought there also in a variety of styles. It is really an easy project to do. I chose to remove the original pot from the board by de-soldering it vs cutting the legs off of it. As I recall the legs were 2 on one side and one in the middle on the opposite side. Connect the new one the same as the original... the two legs on one side go to the outsides, the single leg went in the middle of the three on the new pot. Don't forget to recalibrate everything in the proper order. Happy soldering!

 

[sgrim70]

You buy the pot in the value you need. And yes, they are usually marked. They come is various value's such as 1K, 2K, 5K, 10K, 20K, 50K, 100K, etc. You will want to look for a 'LINEAR' pot, not an 'AUDIO' pot. Most people use 5K as I did but I have seen a few 1K pots being used also. I bought mine online but a popular Radio Shack part number is 271-1714 which is a 5k-Ohm 500VDC Linear Taper Potentiometer. Knobs can be bought there also in a variety of styles. It is really an easy project to do. I chose to remove the original pot from the board by de-soldering it vs cutting the legs off of it. As I recall the legs were 2 on one side and one in the middle on the opposite side. Connect the new one the same as the original... the two legs on one side go to the outsides, the single leg went in the middle of the three on the new pot. Don't forget to recalibrate everything in the proper order. Happy soldering!

Thank you very much for the info, your help is greatly appreciated!!!! I was planning on desoldering my original pot in case I want to switch it back at some point. I guess I will start with a 5k and see if I like the result, if not I will try a different value pot.

 

[sgrim70]

You buy the pot in the value you need. And yes, they are usually marked. They come is various value's such as 1K, 2K, 5K, 10K, 20K, 50K, 100K, etc. You will want to look for a 'LINEAR' pot, not an 'AUDIO' pot. Most people use 5K as I did but I have seen a few 1K pots being used also. I bought mine online but a popular Radio Shack part number is 271-1714 which is a 5k-Ohm 500VDC Linear Taper Potentiometer. Knobs can be bought there also in a variety of styles. It is really an easy project to do. I chose to remove the original pot from the board by de-soldering it vs cutting the legs off of it. As I recall the legs were 2 on one side and one in the middle on the opposite side. Connect the new one the same as the original... the two legs on one side go to the outsides, the single leg went in the middle of the three on the new pot. Don't forget to recalibrate everything in the proper order. Happy soldering!

I installed a 5ohm linear pot (Radio Shack item #271-1714) and have completed everything successfully but the following issue comes up:

Calibration of the x1 (gimbal adjustment) does work correctly. The range of motion of the new dial does not show up on the phantom assistant as a movement from one side of the scale to the other. It takes quite a bit of turning the dial before the phantom assistant starts to show the slider moving, then after a tiny bit more movement of the dial in the same direction the software shows the slider going back to its original point (the wrong way). Right now the gimbal can point straight ahead at all positions of the newly installed dial except for a very small area in the middle of its range of movement where the gimbal points straight down. There is no way to control the gimbal to get it to point anywhere but straight ahead or straight down, there is no in between. Like I said above I have tried calibrating the x1 in the phantom assistant but it does not fix the problem and the calibration visuals do not seem to be correct either. Do you have any idea what may be the issue here or how to correct this?

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Are you using the Phantom Assistant or the RC Assistant?

 

[sgrim70]

Are you using the Phantom Assistant or the RC Assistant?

Phantom Assistant 3.6 on windows 7

 

[LuvMyTJ]

First recalibrate all settings in the controller with the RC assistant, then recalibrate all settings in the Phantom assistant.

 

[sgrim70]

First recalibrate all settings in the controller with the RC assistant, then recalibrate all settings in the Phantom assistant.

Just finished calibrating with RC Assistant V1.10, then calibrating with Phantom Assistant V3.6. Now throughout the range of motion of the new dial there are 3 seperate points where the Phantom Assistant software shows some movement of the slider (very small area of the dials range of movement) but again when I continue to turn the dial the software shows the slider going back the wrong way. At these 3 points the gimbal will start to move down but then imediately go back up to its highest point if I continue to turn the dial. At one extreme of the dials range of movement the gimbal will point straight down.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Can you post a picture or diagram of your wiring? I'll crack mine open if I have to and check it.