Solder DJI AVL58 to MC Board? Possible?

[tobycool23]

Hey all,

I recently acquired a AVL58 Tx and Rx for my FPV setup. I also just installed the Phantom upgrade kit, to eliminate the added weight of the PMU V2 and the Zenmuse H32D GCU.

My question is, can I power the AVL58 by soldering directly to one of the ESC points instead of having to mount a second battery to my phantom? It seems I could, because the AVL58 utilizes the same battery as the phantom...so this would make sense to me. But I'm not sure. And before I do, I wanted to check with all of the genius' here!

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[PTCX]

If you source power from one of the ESC's you might take some power away from that ESC and create a problem.
Does the upgrade board have the auxiliary power wire that is on the stock board?
If yes,solder the power wires for the FPV unit to the same points on the board as the aux power wires.

 

[tobycool23]

Thanks for the reply.

Before the upgrade board came out, DJI's installation instructions allowed for the Zenmuse GCU to be installed and soldered directly to one of the ESC contact points. This is why I don't think it would be a problem.

That said, do you have any experience with the AVL58?

Thanks again...

 

[martcerv]

I have the AVL58 setup and at first used the balance lead off the battery to provide power, this became a PITA after doing it many times. I then soldered it directly to the point where the AUX power cable came out of and took that little cable off, no issues and it works fine with quite a few flights using that setup already.

 

[tobycool23]

Would you mind taking a photo of your connections? I would really like to see what you have done...

Thanks in advance!

 

[martcerv]

Would you mind taking a photo of your connections? I would really like to see what you have done...

Thanks in advance!

Will take some photos tonight for you as I was going to open it up again to check something.

 

[Peter Patricelli]

In this video there appears to be a specific cable that powers the TX system from power from the balancing plug...with a simple compatible plug. Does this help??

http://www.helipal.com/dji-avl58-fpv-sy ... tenna.html

 

[martcerv]

Here are some pics of my setup, I also got the full setup from helipal as in the above link. I simply cut the balance plug connector off the end and soldered this to the aux power next to the bottom left of the NAZA in the first pic.



I then cut a hole in the side to pull the cables through for the vtx and gopro cable as in the second pic.

 

[martcerv]

Not sure why the second thumbnail doesnt show up here but if you click image in between the 2 thumbs it will show it.

I had to open it up anyway as I wanted to make sure my tx was in high speed mode which it wasnt so will see if this gives it any boost in performance and range. I flew both to 1.5km the other day and got a good video signal but when turning around the video gets a bit weak at that distance, I will need to try and find a way to hang the antenna down as low as possible so as to avoid the camera getting in the way.

 

[PTCX]

I had similar issue with the FPV picture when I fitted the gimbal (carbon fiber blocking antenna on return) ,so I bought an extension lead and now the antenna hangs well bellow the gimbal and it's improved.

 

[martcerv]

I did think if getting an extension just never went beyond thinking about it. Did you get it from a normal store or an online hobby shop somewhere? A link to what you bought would be great.

 

[PTCX]

martcev wrote
I did think if getting an extension just never went beyond thinking about it. Did you get it from a normal store or an online hobby shop somewhere? A link to what you bought would be great.

There's a few variations so look at the ends to be sure to get the one that matches your antenna and vtx.
http://www.multiwiicopter.com/products/ ... xed-gender
http://www.multiwiicopter.com/products/ ... female-pin
http://www.multiwiicopter.com/wires/

 

[martcerv]

Hehe thanks mate, no idea why I never checked there as thats where I get my triblades from.

I dont think I have ever seen a pic of your setup showing the antenna properly, Id like to see where you have ended up putting it.

These diagrams I found for this setup on the multiwii site, may be helpful to some.

 

[tobycool23]

Thank you all for the responses. I have been in the studio working on projects so I haven't had chance to compare things yet. As soon as I get the chance, I will. Look like you all have provided some really good info, and I totally appreciate it! I will report back. Thanks so much again!

 

[PTCX]

Hehe thanks mate, no idea why I never checked there as thats where I get my triblades from.

I dont think I have ever seen a pic of your setup showing the antenna properly, Id like to see where you have ended up putting it.

a picture of the antenna extension.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ptcx101/99 ... /lightbox/
Pictures of the frame swap build up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ptcx101/se ... 456224596/

 

[martcerv]

Thanks for the pics, looks like your antenna is just hanging loose and is it below the landing gear because it looks like it is in that pic. I will be trying some different antenna positioning though my issues are only at long range beyond 1km away. The regular position is fine for any close flying with the phantom flying in any direction just turning back to me at long range has a pretty big hit on video quality.