The Ultimate FC40 FPV Mod (Update 1780m=5840ft +)

[PsychopathRC]

So let me get this straight.. You buy yourself an AR Drone, strip it down, stick it's main board onto the FC40 (It even plugs right into one of it's plugs?) and BAM! You get yourself a basic Vision Plus? No soldering? No TX mods? I'm tired so I'm a little slow..

short answer YES

That's really cool! Too bad this thing is catching on. Last I heard, the price of damaged AR Drones is rocketing!

 

[dtitus6297]

I just ditched my amped wireless sr10k and ordered up the tp link wr703n and a antenna mod kit along with a sunhans 2.5w amplifier. I am hoping I will get some serious range with it along with my ar drone external antenna mod. Was thinking about putting an amp on board too but heard there is some interference then from the amp. We shall see, I'll have it in a few days

 

[dtitus6297]

All of the sudden, on my app whenever I change profiles or switch to the gps hud view the drone takes a minute or so to disconnect and reconnect. Has anyone else had any issues with this? Everything is working still, just kinda sux that whenever I change the screen it takes a minute or so to get back into it. Any suggestions other than reinstalling the app, I tried that already and it was a pain in the butt cause I had to re edit the xml file and redo settings n stuff

 

[fire4120]

its too bad some pictures cannot be view. So where and how do u connect into the main board of the FC40. does someone have pictures to share. thanks

 

[dtitus6297]

Search u tube for ar drone external antenna mod and u will find a video showing the details. I am not tech savvy enough to post a link to it, but it does take some sodering skill as the wifi test pad (where u sodering onto)is small small small. There are some other things like disable wifi chip and old antenna also. Good luck and use low heat sodering gun cause u don't wanna burn the board. Also garrock who invented the mod has a service for doing it for you if you send him your board. He has posted on this thread recently and has a link to his site under every post. He may have info on his site about doing it yourself also. Good luck

 

[dtitus6297]

Thanks IIVII, for bringing this mod to my attention and for all the help along the way. I just had a chance to try out the tp-link wr703n with dd-wrt and external antenna and 2.5w booster. ..I can seriously say wow. My old setup is nothing compared to this.

Any advice on tweeking the settings on dd-wrt for this to work even better? I was wondering if you can set it to increase the recieved sensitivity more than the transmit power since only the one side is needed for fpv setup?

 

[IIVII]

All of the sudden, on my app whenever I change profiles or switch to the gps hud view the drone takes a minute or so to disconnect and reconnect. Has anyone else had any issues with this? Everything is working still, just kinda sux that whenever I change the screen it takes a minute or so to get back into it. Any suggestions other than reinstalling the app, I tried that already and it was a pain in the butt cause I had to re edit the xml file and redo settings n stuff

sorry for the late reply .. i was outa town :roll:

there are 2 things can cause this :

1- when the app is installed on a slow grade 4 or less SD card .
2- the connection between the nav & main board is loose due to vibration .. u'll need to re-solder those 8 tiny legs on the main-board side back into place .

check the attached pic ..

 

[IIVII]

Thanks IIVII, for bringing this mod to my attention and for all the help along the way. I just had a chance to try out the tp-link wr703n with dd-wrt and external antenna and 2.5w booster. ..I can seriously say wow. My old setup is nothing compared to this.

Any advice on tweeking the settings on dd-wrt for this to work even better? I was wondering if you can set it to increase the recieved sensitivity more than the transmit power since only the one side is needed for fpv setup?

i didn't try the dd-wrt , cuz the TP firmware worked well .. u should give it a try .

 

[dtitus6297]

Thanks for the suggestion, I bought mine and it came flashed with dd-wrt already so I never got to try it. I love the dd-wrt but there is definitely a learning curve with it. Lots of settings for increased power and stuff and I'm still trying to tweak the settings. I got It all working and have gone out to 750m so far which is plenty far enough. I could have gone a little further but it was starting to get choppy.
Now I'm just addicted to trying to get more distance out of it. I'm running tp link 703 with sunhans 2.5w and 7dbi panel antenna and ar drone 2 external antenna mod. Pretty much everything you recommended to me.

Is that about the distance you were getting with that setup?
Thanks again

 

[IIVII]

Thanks for the suggestion, I bought mine and it came flashed with dd-wrt already so I never got to try it. I love the dd-wrt but there is definitely a learning curve with it. Lots of settings for increased power and stuff and I'm still trying to tweak the settings. I got It all working and have gone out to 750m so far which is plenty far enough. I could have gone a little further but it was starting to get choppy.
Now I'm just addicted to trying to get more distance out of it. I'm running tp link 703 with sunhans 2.5w and 7dbi panel antenna and ar drone 2 external antenna mod. Pretty much everything you recommended to me.

Is that about the distance you were getting with that setup?
Thanks again

nice u r on the right track

with the above setup i went as far as 1780m and still had a solid signal as u can see in the vid below ..

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dri_BAgWhIY[/youtube]

try different antennas on the drone's side , i've tested alot of antennas and the best result i got was with a cheap black omni 3dbi that comes with most APs ..

 

[dtitus6297]

wow,thats some distance! With the alpha 7 dbi on the tx side I sometimes think I am just not aiming it in the right spot and that's why it starts to cut out. then I wuss out and start coming back...lol. ill have to push her out as far as I can next flight and see what I can get, I am using a 3dbi antenna on the drone end too but I haven't tried any others yet. ill have to start experimenting with that too. I wish I could find a screen recorder app for non rooted phones so I could get some video like u posted above.

I also noticed that your FPS doesn't get up to 30, mine is almost always at 25-30 FPS unless I am loosing signal or something or get too far. is that something that you turned down for better performance or is that just how it is?

also the above response about my app resetting, I figured it out the other day that the app was installed on my sd card so I switched it to the internal storage and haven't had any issues since. thanks for the response on that too, your da man!! now lets see if I can get up to around 1780 meters on the next nice day we get. ill post my results after I try. im gonna double check my connections on the external antenna mod too, im wondering if there is something wrong in that cause I only get about 75 meters with just my phone and the drone without the repeater. I thought I got more when I first did the antenna mod

 

[IIVII]

wow,thats some distance! With the alpha 7 dbi on the tx side I sometimes think I am just not aiming it in the right spot and that's why it starts to cut out. then I wuss out and start coming back...lol. ill have to push her out as far as I can next flight and see what I can get, I am using a 3dbi antenna on the drone end too but I haven't tried any others yet. ill have to start experimenting with that too. I wish I could find a screen recorder app for non rooted phones so I could get some video like u posted above.

I also noticed that your FPS doesn't get up to 30, mine is almost always at 25-30 FPS unless I am loosing signal or something or get too far. is that something that you turned down for better performance or is that just how it is?

also the above response about my app resetting, I figured it out the other day that the app was installed on my sd card so I switched it to the internal storage and haven't had any issues since. thanks for the response on that too, your da man!! now lets see if I can get up to around 1780 meters on the next nice day we get. ill post my results after I try. im gonna double check my connections on the external antenna mod too, im wondering if there is something wrong in that cause I only get about 75 meters with just my phone and the drone without the repeater. I thought I got more when I first did the antenna mod

- yeah the panel antenna gives ya around 35-40 degrees of beam , so u gotta be spot on when aiming at the drone under 500m , the farther u go the more forgiven it becomes ..

- for screen recording am using SCR Pro .. for non rooted phones try this app it might work for ya :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... free&hl=en

- if u r gettin' less than 100m without the repeater then u really need to try different antennas on the drone's side .

- to get less video lag (longer range) go to the app/video settings and set it as follows

 

[dtitus6297]

Awesome, thanx. I had mine set to 6000 so I switched it up to 8000. what about device video performance? Mine is set to high performance , I am using a samsung galaxy s5 which is pretty fast for everything but not sure if I should try and turn it down to get better distance or if that will just drop the quality.
Thanks again for your help, any info is always appreciated greatly

 

[IIVII]

device video performance: is to set the quality of local recording when using the phone to record live .. which i don't recommend .

6000/8000 is almost the same just make sure u uncheck (use adaptive video) , cuz if left checked it will overwrite ur manual settings .


now lets see some videos

 

[dtitus6297]

Here is my first try at posting a video on here. Sais the vid is too big so I uploaded it to u tube and put the link here. Hope it works.
Not my best distance and it cuts in and out a bit cause I was using a directional antenna and wasn't aiming it in the right spot. Also was pretty windy too, I'll post a better vid when I get a good spot on a nice day.

http://youtu.be/xm92ijqa8D8

 

[dtitus6297]

By the way IIVII, I tried a different antenna on the drone side and now get 125 to 150 m without the repeater. The 3dbi I was using must be junk cause I changed to a 2dbi I had laying around and it gets me another 100 m and it is lighter and smaller so win win. Only downside is I liked the old 3dbi cause it was white and the new one I'm using is black. Oh well I'd rather have the distance than have it look better...lol
thanks again for the advice, your the man on this stuff! My fc40 would probly still be stock if it wasn't for you and garrock...mostly you

 

[IIVII]

Here is my first try at posting a video on here. Sais the vid is too big so I uploaded it to u tube and put the link here. Hope it works.
Not my best distance and it cuts in and out a bit cause I was using a directional antenna and wasn't aiming it in the right spot. Also was pretty windy too, I'll post a better vid when I get a good spot on a nice day.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm92ijqa8D8[/youtube]

Way to go Dan

it really makes me happy to see someone else is enjoyin' this mod

 

[IIVII]

BTW.. u should get rid of these marked icons and data feeds on the screen , this will give ya a better fpv view ..besides u don't really need the marked items at least not with this mod ..

 

[dtitus6297]

Thanks for the tip, I couldn't be happier with the mod. I have been telling others about it too, everyone who sees it is impressed. I always tell em to go on here and read your thread about it. Thanks again !

 

[IIVII]

Thanks for the tip, I couldn't be happier with the mod. I have been telling others about it too, everyone who sees it is impressed. I always tell em to go on here and read your thread about it. Thanks again !

glad i can help