2 Questions: Black Pearl and SJ4000

[rebelyellNC]

Hey Guys, I have a few questions that have come up while using my FPV setup

1) The Black Pearl Diversity Monitor has an integrated battery and on the back of the battery it says, "Attention! Remove Battery When Not in Use". Is this practical and necessary? Is there any harm to the unit or battery if it's left in?

2)I'm supplying 5v power to the SJ4000 through the A/V micro USB cable, so I don't have to have the battery installed. I noticed today that the red led on left rear at the bottom of the camera that indicates charging, is flashing super fast. It's almost like those fake flame light bulbs in chandaliers, but much faster. I don't know if this is normal and I just haven't noticed it before, or if it's a problem with the 5v power being supplied by the Flysight 400mw video transmitter. Any SJ4000 owners out there know if this led is supposed to flicker really fast or burn steady? The reason it is a concern is that I lost video from the camera with about three minutes remaining in flight time. The iOSD mini data was nice and clear on a black screen, but no view from the cam. Also the fourteen minute video it took was unplayable. It had the right filename and extension, but would not play. Any thoughts???

Thanks in advance...

 

[MrC]

I read that too on the black pearl. I left mine in for a couple of weeks and it ran down to about 50% while turned off so I removed it after charging again and it ran itself down little bit while removed for a week (1 bar gone on the battery display) so seems to be a small parasitic drain. Or the battery state reading on the BP isn't too great.
I read about other people with problems with self discharging batteries but they sounded much worse..

What voltage are you feeding the vtx with as it states "Power Output Feature (same voltage as input)." So to get 5v out I assume you are feeding it 5v-6v? The vtx says it can can function from 6v-28v dc.

Your video would not play on what? PC? What software? Try vlc media player.

 

[rebelyellNC]

Hey MrC, thanks for your response.

What voltage are you feeding the vtx with as it states "Power Output Feature (same voltage as input)."

My spec sheet doesn't indicate they are the same. I'm feeding the vTx with the 12v aux from the Phantom and I read the power out leads with a DVM and it shows a regulated 5.02v.

Your video would not play on what? PC? What software? Try vlc media player.

Yes, on the PC. VLC is what I use for all my videos from any media.

One thing I failed to mention, I guess because I don't want to accept that it could have happened. That is that this is the first flight and video recording after a low voltage autoland and crash. I had done an adjustment in NAZA M Assistant software on the second level voltage warning to get more flight time. I found out too late that anything lower than 10.1v results in a sharp decline in voltage, and I mean really sharp and fast, sort of like unexpectedly stepping off a loading platform! On a flight yesterday, I noticed it was less than 10 seconds from 10.1v to autoland, and it wasn't gentle either.

I was fortunate in the crash though, it happened over a logging site and it fell into some downed branches and debris that cushioned the fall. Only damage was two broken prop guards and a loose vTx antenna. I hate to accept it, but I guess there could have been something internal with the camera. Even if that's the case, I guess $79 for a new SJ4000 wouldn't be as bad as a GoPro It was a valuable lesson learned.

 

[MrC]

You say Flysight 400mw, is it the TX5804? I just looked one up, ie here - https://www.dpcav.com/xcart/5.8GHz-AV-7 ... sight.html where it mentions the output voltage being the same as the input but if you tested with a multimeter and got 5v then...

 

[rebelyellNC]

it mentions the output voltage being the same as the input but if you tested with a multimeter and got 5v then...

Here's where I got my information about the regulated output being 5v

 

[MrC]

Forgot all about this one.. Yeh, weird that other site says same as input, a mistake then I guess.

Did you get it sorted in the end?

 

[rebelyellNC]

Sure did. I found out that since I didn't hit the "record stop" button, it causes the file to corrupt. If you just remove power, like unplugging the battery or in this case, battery dying, the video file corrupts. The filename is the proper format and the file size is correct for the amount of time recording, but it won't play.

Now here's a sad update. On March 12 I took what was supposed to be a short FPV flight with the original 2200mAh battery. I'm so used to the Multistar 4000, that I didn't pay attention to the time. I was too absorbed in what I was seeing on the screen. When I realized my battery level was at the 2nd warning, I was still over 1km away and descending. The screen started to breakup and about 10 seconds later, all snow. It was exactly like the crash in this thread that I mentioned earlier. Five days of searching later with four people involved, and ...no Phantom.

It's even harder learning the same lesson the second time, especially with a total loss this time. But I've already started saving for a replacement, so hopefully by summer I'll be high in the sky once again

Later...

 

[MrC]

Ah that sucks. Good luck finding it, im sure you will have another look. Like dropping a screw on the floor, look for it in the last place you would have thought
Hope you get back out there soon.