China Gimbal on Phantom 2 - HELP!!!

[helifornia]

Hi All,

I have a question.

I have a cheap goodluckbuy China gimbal off ebay and I have a Phantom 2 ver 2.

I have done the fitting of the gimbal to the Phantom 2, however I am wondering about how to power up the gimbal.

On the Phantom 2 board there are the red / black cables soldered on the board from the 5200mha battery.

Can I simply solder the power calbles red to red, black to black atop of the power cabled directly coming from the Phantom 2 battery?

Basically will it be 100% ok or will I fry anything?

As it comes to the Phantom 1, one would simply need to connect the gimbal to the battery and there we go, however does it work on the Phantom 2 the same way?

I can not seem to find a single thred or google result on China gimbals + the Phantom 2.

Is there a reason?

Thanks a lot for all your comments, they are highly appreciated!

 

[cellarboy]

Something I'm interested in knowing to as I'm about to do exactly this. I find it hard to believe everyone bought a zenmuse!

 

[Pilot_FML]

Hi All,

I have a question.

I have a cheap goodluckbuy China gimbal off ebay and I have a Phantom 2 ver 2.

I have done the fitting of the gimbal to the Phantom 2, however I am wondering about how to power up the gimbal.

On the Phantom 2 board there are the red / black cables soldered on the board from the 5200mha battery.

Can I simply solder the power calbles red to red, black to black atop of the power cabled directly coming from the Phantom 2 battery?

Basically will it be 100% ok or will I fry anything?

As it comes to the Phantom 1, one would simply need to connect the gimbal to the battery and there we go, however does it work on the Phantom 2 the same w
I can not seem to find a single thred or google result on China gimbals + the Phantom 2.

Is there a reason?

Thanks a lot for all your comments, they are highly appreciated!

Maybe this can help... the video appears to be for a P1 but if power connections appear the same in the P2, it's hard to see why you'd it wouldn't work. If you're still hesitant maybe some other guys familiar with both setups can chime in ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPaIFZFije8

 

[helifornia]

Thanks for your reply.

The only difference is that the Phantom 2 uses a very different battery as it comes to the connectors or plugs.

While the battery of the Phantom 1 has a plug directly available to power the gimbal the Phantom 2 uses a very different plug on the board specifically designed for the Zenmus gimballs.

The only problem is that the Zenmus costs around 4-5x the price of the China gimbal.

I just need to make sure that I am not doing something bad if I directly solder the gimbal's power red / black cables to the board on the Phantom 2 where the battery cables are soldered to, aka directly powering the gimbal from the 5200mha Phantom 2 battery.

I have done this and it seemed to be ok, but I was not brave enough to keep it on, until someone confirms that it is ok.

So please comment if you have done anything similar.

Thanks...

 

[cellarboy]

The red and brown wires on the video cable that hangs out of the P2 leg provide 11.1v. Guess those could be used. I need two power outputs though - one for the Gimbal the other for the fat shark transmitter I've ordered.

 

[helifornia]

Which Fatshark did you order?

Well yet again, if it is ok to solder the gimbal's wires (red/black) on the board directly over the cables (red/black) coming out of the battery ending up on the board, than you gimbal is powered and you can use the (red/brown) on the video cable.

Anyone with any other suggestion?

 

[cellarboy]

I ordered the 250mw. Not looking for long distance flying.

I ordered this so-called plug and play cable to hook everything up.

http://www.firstpersonview.com/cables/i ... tter-cable

Only to discover unlike their other cables it did not supply power to the Tx. Kinda stretches the definition of "plug and play" when I still have to figure the power out....

 

[EMCSQUAR]

To answer your original question - YES you can solder your power leads from gimbal to battery connection on board. Have done it many times.

 

[helifornia]

Thank you for both of your answers.

How come no one is seems to be going for the China gimbals on the P2?

 

[EMCSQUAR]

Thank you for both of your answers.

How come no one is seems to be going for the China gimbals on the P2?

A handful of reasons:
Most are heavier and quiky vs Zenmuse. Setting them up can be a task, alot are using pirated software and setting PIR rates can be a headache.Consistency in production is a big question mark - seen two and three of same brand and boards/sensors mounted differently/incorrectly, instructions are vague. Except FeiYu units are plug & play (somewhat) The Zenmuse is more expensive, is pretty much plug & play and is fairly light.

Most folks buy the GLB Chinese gimbals to save money. Personally I like the Zenmuse but the FeiYu is a pretty good alternative at about 2/3rds the price.

 

[helifornia]

Thanks EMCSQUAR,

I appreciate your help.

It seems for now as I am on the budget, I will have to see how my $89 China gimbal works.

Later on though I am sure to purchase a Zenmus.

Can you also suggest a relatively 'long' range (for woody California area) fpv solution?

I am planning to use my Mobius camera instead of a Gopro for now. Something aroud 0.5 - 1 mile would be interesting.

 

[antm64]

Hi helifornia

Just checking if you went ahead soldering the gimbal power wires to the red & black wires to the board all is OK?
I'm just about to do the same.

Thanks.