FC40 Receiver Board

ABLE1 · Jun 5, 2015

Hello all,

I know that this may be the wrong board for this quest but it may reach the individual that can assist.

I have a FC40 with a bad receiver board. The board is a Phantom II 5.8G TX RF V3.

I can't seem to locate a V3 board from any source that I have contacted.
Please answer the follow questions so that I may make a decision in this matter.

1) Where can I get a V3 Receiver board??
2) Is the V3 board obsolete??
3) Even though the available V5 receiver board is not a direct fit, will it in fact work with my FC40??
4) Do I have any other choices or options??
5) Do I now have an expensive paperweight as a result of this dead receiver board??

Any assist would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

Les

ABLE1 · Jun 6, 2015

Very interesting!!
It seems that I have posed some challenging questions.

Thanks for viewing.

sherpa · Jun 6, 2015

ABLE1 said:
Hello all,

I know that this may be the wrong board for this quest but it may reach the individual that can assist.

I have a FC40 with a bad receiver board. The board is a Phantom II 5.8G TX RF V3.

I can't seem to locate a V3 board from any source that I have contacted.
Please answer the follow questions so that I may make a decision in this matter.

1) Where can I get a V3 Receiver board??
2) Is the V3 board obsolete??
3) Even though the available V5 receiver board is not a direct fit, will it in fact work with my FC40??
4) Do I have any other choices or options??
5) Do I now have an expensive paperweight as a result of this dead receiver board??

Any assist would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

Les

prob. lots of used fc40's for sale. Maybe go that way?

ABLE1 · Jun 6, 2015

sherpa said:
prob. lots of used fc40's for sale. Maybe go that way?

Yes I am sure. But I don't want to jump to that conclusion too quickly. I still have hope of finding the part, maybe.

Thanks for the reply.

IflyinWY · Jun 11, 2015

You've got to have this resolved by now, don't you?

ABLE1 · Jun 11, 2015

WY,
No I really do not. First have been VERY BUSY making a living. Too many customers want more stuff done.

The fiasco with the V5 board vs what I needed a V3 board got worse when I sent it back, the vendor reimbursed the cost plus his shipping $2.49 but the instructions I received to return was to use a supplied shipping label from eBay. That shipping label cost me $13.00 to have the item shipped back. Seller, said 'huh' you need to talk to eBay about that. Trying to get through to eBay is harder than trying to see the back side of the moon. Needless to say I lost $13.00.

Presently, with out any inputs to answer my questions previously posted I am a bit stuck. I even sent the list of questions direct to DJI even though I did not expect a response. My last line was "Please prove me wrong!" So far I am not wrong. It has been almost 2 weeks.

My thoughts are that my next attempt (since no one (4 sources) carries a V3 would be to get another V5 hook it up to try to link. And if it works try and force fit it in the case. Failing that I will have to post all for sale as is. My biggest problem is time.

Thanks for asking and moving this post to the top of the pile,

Have a good day.

Les

discv · Jun 11, 2015

Not a lot of help I know- but it seems the 5.8 FC40/Vision receiver has only been available as one version for some time.
What makes you think they are not interchangeable.

I have just fitted a 2.4 dual antenna Rx into a FC40- everything lined up ok.

The real mystery is why some receivers have the 6 servo cable pins close together, while others are in 2x banks of 3.

discv · Jun 11, 2015

The more I think about it- I am sure that it is the v5 that is obsolete.

Edit- sorry- this is incorrect.

discv · Jun 11, 2015

Since it's not my money!- I'm going to stick my neck out here.
If you order this part you will get a v3 5.8 Ghz Rx;

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1054350-REG/dji_cp_pt_000057_receiver_for_phantom_2.html

ABLE1 · Jun 11, 2015

discv said:
Not a lot of help I know- but it seems the 5.8 FC40/Vision receiver has only been available as one version for some time.
What makes you think they are not interchangeable.
.

The V5 may be a replacement. But not easily. When I received the V5 it did not fit. The mounting screw holes in the board were at least 1/8" difference in center to center. What this means is that I can get one screw in and not the other.

That was a red flag to me in that it won't fit. I did not connect it to the NAZA to see if it would link up. I did not want to take a chance it might make something worse. So I sent it back.

I have sent a email to B&H Photo to ask about the board you suggested. Hopefully I will have a response soon.

Will post the answer.

Thanks,

Les

ABLE1 · Jun 14, 2015

ABLE1 said:
I have sent a email to B&H Photo to ask about the board you suggested. Hopefully I will have a response soon.

Will post the answer.

Thanks,

Les

Ok, I have received a response for B&H and the board that they have is in fact a V5 board NOT a V3.

Sooooooo I still search. I have tried another dealer in Florida.
Still waiting for a response. Does not look good.

If I could get a confirmation that the V5 will in fact work with the FC40 I would get another and see what happens.

This may be a never ending story...............................................

Les

discv · Jun 15, 2015

I can see in the enlarged B&H photo what you mean- the screw hole at the bottom is a fair bit nearer the edge of the PCB.
I wonder why they did that. Maybe v3 & v5 are not interchangeable.

Tallyrver · Jun 15, 2015

discv said:
I can see in the enlarged B&H photo what you mean- the screw hole at the bottom is a fair bit nearer the edge of the PCB.
I wonder why they did that. Maybe v3 & v5 are not interchangeable.

The board will work with the Phantom,it may not fit perfectly in the spot it came out of but in our hobby that's the norm. If you can get one screw in,you may be able to use two sided tape on the other side. I have mine mounted with tape on my F550.

Wayne

ABLE1 · Jun 15, 2015

Tallyrver said:
The board will work with the Phantom,it may not fit perfectly in the spot it came out of but in our hobby that's the norm. If you can get one screw in,you may be able to use two sided tape on the other side. I have mine mounted with tape on my F550.

Wayne

Wayne,

Yes that is my challenge. I am quite sure I can get the V5 board jammed in someway or another. However, with all of the versions. of this version or that, firmware upgrades that happen overnight, compatibility issues of this not working or shoulda done something over there type stuff. My concern is WILL the V5 work with MY FC40 the same as the original V3 before it got whacked??

Needless to say, if the V5 works to link the txmitter and then the FC40 does a fly away or something really stupid. Then was that right decision??

Trying to contact DJI got me no where. That posting must have gone into a black hole at the edge of the universe.

Initially thinking is was a simple board swap and finding the replacement was 2 versions ahead had me concerned. Not being able to find an exact replacement sends me down a different pathway. I can't quite get my head around the possibility or belief that I am the first on this issue. I was hoping that somebody would have been the guinea pig and chimed in here.

I am currently waiting for another response from a different dealer. After that, and without any other choices I guess I will take the plunge.

If it works or not I will have to do some sole searching to decide if I should share my findings with the world or not.

Thanks for the response.

Les

discv · Jun 15, 2015

Found on ebay- not the cheapest solution- but the solution none the less.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DJI-FC40-Receiver-5-8-Ghz-ver-3-/321783513034?

ABLE1 · Jun 15, 2015

discv said:
Found on ebay- not the cheapest solution- but the solution none the less.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DJI-FC40-Receiver-5-8-Ghz-ver-3-/321783513034?

Yeah, WOW!!! That is going to take a bit of thinking about.

How can I justify that???

Thanks for the input.

ABLE1 · Jul 5, 2015

Hey guys,

I have been AWOL for a while due to massive work load.
Now it is the holiday weekend, it's raining, and the phone is not ringing...................................

Here is the latest on my challenge of the century.

I found a used Phantom 5.8 TX RF V3 on eBay. They guy had it listed as Parts Only. I contacted him and he explained that he was having trouble with the board crapping out in flight and the bird would return to home. In conversation he indicated that he replaced the receiver with a V5 board and that he only used one screw to hold it in place and made some other modifications to get it to fit. It linked in with no problems and he is flying again. All good news for me since it answers most of my question on the V5 board as to compatibility.

Since I do not know if the Receiver board is my only problem with the FC40 I decided to roll the dice and picked up the V3 board for a few bucks. Today I installed and powered up. Link LED blinks Red................... Push the Link Button LED changes color to what I assume is yellow (actually looks more green to me) and blinks................ Turn on the receiver and.................. no change. It will not link up to the receiver. I tried a multitude of different variations to the link process and nothing works as I understand it should.

So either the replacement board is really bad or I have some other issues going on.

Still have the ERROR 29 syndrome. Assuming that is due to the fact the receiver is not Linked to the Receiver.

Questions:

Is the Receiver Link to the Transmitter independent to the NAZA controller operations?? In other words will the RX and TX Link when powered, if all is working and the rest of the Phantom does not need to be connected??

Anyone have a thought or two as to what I can do, as to an alternative method or different trick to determine the source problem??

Is it "It either works or not." End of story!!! OR This procedure will show that it is a problem with X, Y, or Z??

Thanks for any input.

Les