What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40 (Basic Guide)

[PsychopathRC]

My long term plan is to upgrade. If I'm not mistaken, I will need:

A Gimbal:

Walkera G2D - £50 - £60 - Amazon/Ebay #3 #6

A Camera:

SJ4000 - £60 - £75 - Amazon/Ebay #2

SJ5000 - £90 - £120 - Amazon/Ebay #2

A VTX/VRX: (Needs to be 2.4GHz or less as to not interfere with the FC40 5.8GHz control signal)

Boscam TS321 Transmitter + RC802 2.4G 500mW Wireless AV Receiver Kit For FPV RC - $55 Ebay.com (Can't find 2.4GHz via Ebay.co.uk, Banggood.com or Amazon.co.uk) #4

A Set Of Antennas: (Unless antennas come with the VTX/VRX and are half decent)

N/A

A Mount For VTX Equipment/Batteries:

Dual Battery Mount Glass Fiber for DJI Phantom Quadcopter FPV Aerial Photo/Video - £6 - £10 - Ebay

A Monitor:

FPV 4.3 Inch TFT LCD Monitor Screen For RC Models - £12 - £16 - Banggood/Ebay #1

5" 800*480 TFT LCD HD Screen Monitor For RC Models - £15 - £20 - Ebay #1

A Power Supply For Monitor:

KDQ1 NEW 12V 3000mAh Lithium-ion Super Rechargeable Battery Pack + AC Charger - £8 - Ebay #1

An OSD:

FPV Flight Controller N1 OSD Module for DJI NAZA V1 V2 NAZA Lite GPS - £20 - £25 - Ebay/Goodluckbuy

A Tilt Lever For Transmitter:

Pitch Control Lever Kit for DJI Phantom Transmitter - £10 - £20 - Ebay

Other:

USB To AV Out Cable For SJ4000/SJ5000/GoPro Action Camera For FPV - £2 - Banggood #2

Rhino 610mAh 3S 11.1v 20C Lipoly Pack - £10 - £15 - Hobbyking #3 #4

Velcro Strips - £2 - £5 - Ebay

Heatshrink Wire Wrap Sleeve - £3 - Ebay

DJI Innovations Part 21 Phantom 2 & Vision Screw Pack - £5 - Ebay/Argos

Dupont Cable Color Connector 20cm Female To Female 1P-1P Arduino Shield - £1 - £2 - Ebay #6

1S-8S RC Lipo Battery Low Voltage Alarm Buzzer Indicator Meter Checker Tester - £2 - £3 - Ebay #7

Lipo Balance Extension Charger Cable Lead 3S JST-XH (3 Cell, 11.1V) - £1 - £2 - Ebay #7

Estimated Total Cost: £227 - £315

My questions:

1. Have I missed anything?

2. Can you recommend any specific products?

4. If you've 'upgraded' your FC40, what's your set-up and how much did it cost?

Info will be VERY much appreciated!

 

[landwomble]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

Same boat. Waiting on a Chinese 2d gimbal and an SJ4000 along with a tilt lever for the controller. Fpv can wait although the sj4000s do video out whilst recording at same time.

Flytrex does telemetry.

 

[PsychopathRC]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

I reckon quite a few people find themselves in our position eventually. Let me know how things go please.

So FlyTrex is something for me to look into? I'd like an OSD and so far only know of DJI's IOSD Mini.

The SJ4000 does video out whilst recording?

 

[Tallyrver]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

I have the Walkera D2 gimbal with SJ4000 wifi camera,the wifi range is not too good. I filmed yesterday and lost signal around 150 ft. The SJ does support video out and recording at the same time but you need a special cable. You have to go into the menu and select TV mode . There are videos showing how to mod a mini usb cable for the SJ. I ordered one but didn't want to Wait 2 weeks ,so I made one and it worked. I tried it on my tv.

I ordered a Fpv transmitter setup in the 1.3 ghz . The parts should be arriving today.

 

[Wiseman]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

I too am also looking for the best way to upgrade the FC40 setup....

The Ilook+ camera looks quite impressive for video quality and range( not to be confused with the iLook camera)

iLook = 720p
iLook+=1080p

and 50 pound price difference between both but here is a video of the too compared

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H90mtgxM30Q

 

[zerodb]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

I too am also looking for the best way to upgrade the FC40 setup....

The Ilook+ camera looks quite impressive for video quality and range( not to be confused with the iLook camera)

iLook = 720p
iLook+=1080p

and 50 pound price difference between both but here is a video of the too compared

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H90mtgxM30Q

Just remember you can't use ANY video setup that operates on the 5.8ghz band (like the iLook) unless you change out your controller transmitter/receiver.

 

[zerodb]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

I have the Walkera D2 gimbal with SJ4000 wifi camera,the wifi range is not too good. I filmed yesterday and lost signal around 150 ft. The SJ does support video out and recording at the same time but you need a special cable. You have to go into the menu and select TV mode . There are videos showing how to mod a mini usb cable for the SJ. I ordered one but didn't want to Wait 2 weeks ,so I made one and it worked. I tried it on my tv.

I ordered a Fpv transmitter setup in the 1.3 ghz . The parts should be arriving today.

Keep us posted! I agree the SJ4000's wifi range is absolute garbage, so I've kept using the FC40 camera for video feed but it's never pointed the same way as my gimbal is tilted so my video is crap!

 

[PsychopathRC]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

I have the Walkera D2 gimbal with SJ4000 wifi camera,the wifi range is not too good. I filmed yesterday and lost signal around 150 ft. The SJ does support video out and recording at the same time but you need a special cable. You have to go into the menu and select TV mode . There are videos showing how to mod a mini usb cable for the SJ. I ordered one but didn't want to Wait 2 weeks ,so I made one and it worked. I tried it on my tv.

I ordered a Fpv transmitter setup in the 1.3 ghz . The parts should be arriving today.

I think I understand. You need 'Video Out' for FPV and of course, 'Recording' to well.. Record, lol?

This 1.3GHz set-up.. Can you tell me the name and price of it please? It may come in handy!

Best of luck! Please keep us informed!

Keep us posted! I agree the SJ4000's wifi range is absolute garbage, so I've kept using the FC40 camera for video feed but it's never pointed the same way as my gimbal is tilted so my video is crap!

My video is probably worse as I can't get a solid FPV, lol. It just lags, lags and lags some more!

 

[Tallyrver]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

This is the transmitter /receiver http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EYT ... UTF8&psc=1
The Fpv camera I ordered was too heavy for the gimbal, it's on the way back to Amazon. I ordered another mini camera from Hobby King,it just came in. Looks like it might just work.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... duct=64499

 

[PsychopathRC]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

Thank you for your input!

 

[PsychopathRC]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

Bump!

I've a question regarding the VTX/VRX. Specifically the VTX. I'm sure most of them come with wires for soldering. Where did you guys solder them? (Regardless of what VTX/VRX you have)

Could I get an adaptor that plugs into the VTX and then allows me to stick a LiPo on the end? I'd rather power my VTX from a seperate battery, as opposed to the main board on my FC40. I heard it can save power and keep flight times up. If I can't get an adapter, how easy might it be to stick some sort of adaptor on the end of these wires?

 

[Tallyrver]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

I have a 3 wire connector coming out of the Phantom, power and the gimbal control wire. I secured the wire with a zip tie so not "if" but when I crash again I won't pull the wires off the board again.
I use a small 400mah battery to power the transmitter. I get a cleaner signal using a separate battery .


I just received 3 more Multistar 4000 3s batterys :mrgreen: I did the mod and was very happy with the extra flight time.
I have been getting average times of 15 min with using 9 inch Vision props without prop guards. If I power the transmitter off the Phantom battery I lose about 2 min.

I am right at 1280 g with the Multistar battery

 

[PsychopathRC]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

Three wire connector? I know there are 2 wires hanging out of the leg (or at least there is on mine). Did you stick this in yourself?

How did you attach this 400MaH battery to your transmitter? Looks like some soldering and heat shrinking?

As far as I know, you can connect the gimbal directly to the Phantom for power by utilizing those two wires on the legs. You then need to plug the other wire which comes with the gimbal, into the FC to be able to control the gimbal. I will be looking up Youtube when I start my build. It would just be great to know how people did it though and how easy it was or wasn't.

 

[Tallyrver]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

Three wire connector? I know there are 2 wires hanging out of the leg (or at least there is on mine). Did you stick this in yourself?

How did you attach this 400MaH battery to your transmitter? Looks like some soldering and heat shrinking?

As far as I know, you can connect the gimbal directly to the Phantom for power by utilizing those two wires on the legs. You then need to plug the other wire which comes with the gimbal, into the FC to be able to control the gimbal. I will be looking up Youtube when I start my build. It would just be great to know how people did it though and how easy it was or wasn't.

I used the aux wires . After a crash that tore the wires out of the Phantom,i attached the wires inside and included the white wire for the gimbal tilt. Added a three wire connector for quick disconnect. I have an adapter for the transmitter that plugs into the Phantom power or the three wire plug . Only using the power .

 

[IflyinWY]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

Bumpity bump...

Here's a bit of antenna info:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27060

This is about connecting a gimbal:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=25901

There is a directional antenna which will get you a really long way:
http://www.fpvmodel.com/myflydream-aat- ... _g123.html

At the moment I'm working on this:

OSD - http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... _v1_1.html (still on the slow boat from China)

TX - 2.3/2.4 GHz 700mW 4 channel*
TX Antenna - 2.3/2.4 GHz Airscrew Cloverleaf Ultra*

RX - 2.3/2.4 GHz with SAW filter 14 channel*
RX Antenna 2.3/2.4 GHz Sky Hammer*

Camera - PRO700 700TVL WDR CCD (NTSC)*
or
Camera - GoPro 3+ Black

Cables - I got a bunch of stuff that was way too long from RMRC (not so ready made) so I cut, soldered and shrink wrapped to fit.*

* = purchased from readymaderc.com

It's a work in progress. Wish it was finished because right now the weather is really nice.

 

[PsychopathRC]

Re: What's Needed To 'Upgrade' The FC40

Thank you for this info guys. It hasn't sunk it yet. But it will do eventually!

 

[PsychopathRC]

Updated with stuff I have bought.

 

[sohail99]

Any way we can upgrade FC40 with Phantom v2 ESCs and 2312 motors?

I researched on it a bit, and it is definitely possible to power them, but we lose the navigational LEDs!

Just need to modify the cabling a bit.

Any thoughts on this? Anyone tried it? :?:

 

[PsychopathRC]

I've heard that the LED's on a Phantom are attached to the ESC's. So in theory, you could get the matching LED's with the ESC's? (AKA The LED's and ESC's for a Phantom 2). Not too sure though. Hope you find your answer!