FPV Setup

Joined
Apr 25, 2015
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Age
48
i am looking for videos/instructions/posts to help with my FPV setup. I have a Phantom 1, and looking to install a miniOSD and DJI AVL58 with a Black Pearl monitor. I do not have a gimbal.

If anyone has a link to old posts ( searching but have not found yet ) or to videos to help with this or a similar setup, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
I'm also looking to set up my Phantom 1 with fpv and looking for suggestions.

I'll try that search app. Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Hey Upandaway, welcome. IflyinWY gave some good advice. I tried his search tool when I was beginning to learn about FPV setup on a P1.1.1 and it helped greatly. Everything I studied to gain a competent understanding of FPV installation and usage came from this forum and YouTube. The best advice I can give you is do a LOT of research before you ever purchase. I just lost my fully configured FPV P1.1.1 on March 12 and now I'm almost finished with assembling the replacement with mods and FPV. This time I made some more realistic decisions on equipment and saved quite a bit of money. Good luck and come on back with your questions and adventures...

Happy and Safe Flying....
 
Hey Upandaway, welcome. IflyinWY gave some good advice. I tried his search tool when I was beginning to learn about FPV setup on a P1.1.1 and it helped greatly. Everything I studied to gain a competent understanding of FPV installation and usage came from this forum and YouTube. The best advice I can give you is do a LOT of research before you ever purchase. I just lost my fully configured FPV P1.1.1 on March 12 and now I'm almost finished with assembling the replacement with mods and FPV. This time I made some more realistic decisions on equipment and saved quite a bit of money. Good luck and come on back with your questions and adventures...

Happy and Safe Flying....

Thanks Rebel,

Does your signature reflect your new mods?
 
Yes it does. After I lost the first bird, I went back and edited the sig for the new equipment. The biggest change was the Blue Beam Ultras and the N1 NAZA OSD. With the N1 OSD, all the icons are switchable on/off and you can position them anywhere on the screen, unlike the iOSD-mini. Also it's only around $25 instead of $130 for the iOSD mini/ PMU V2 combo. Haven't had a chance to test the BBs yet, 'cause I'm waiting on the vTx transmitter mount shelf. Shouldn't be long though...:D
 
Well there you go folks.
That's what one member has selected after doing the homework. :D

Hey Rebel,
If you're bored, maybe some links to the deals you got???
 
Well there you go folks.
That's what one member has selected after doing the homework. :D

Hey Rebel,
If you're bored, maybe some links to the deals you got???


Thanks IflyinWY and Rebel! Yes some links would be great if you have time.
 
OK guys, what else have I got to do? We just had a huge rainstorm and as soon as it quit, I went out flying. After all, I had three charged batteries and that old familiar itch. But after about five minutes of hotdogging, it started sprinkling again, so I had to bring her in (cry).

OK, so for the video transmitter, AKA vTx, this is the one I settled on after much research. It's one of the most expensive, but its price is stable across the Internet, even in the el cheapo Chinese sites. It's a Flysight TX 5804 5.8GHz 32 ch. 400mw FPV transmitter and comes with a bunch of PnP cables, which doesn't help a lot if you're equipping a P1, FC40, or P1.1.1.
https://www.dronesmadeeasy.com/FlySight-5-8GHz-32-Channel-Transmitter-400mW-p/ib-dksp-t87k.htm

I got the Black Pearl 32 Diversity Receiver/Monitor at Amazon. Not a big discount, but again prices seem stable across a number of vendors. I've seen it as low as $225, but I wanted Prime.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KR69WHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

BTW, for anyone considering a new FPV build, don't worry about power that much. This same video transmitter comes in a 600mW and a 1200mW version, but that's just extra weight and heat, not to mention vibration caused by the fans on the bigger units. For long range FPV, antennas play a much bigger role than video transmitter power, so keep that in mind. Speaking of antennas, they can be expensive, so don't be in too big a rush to purchase them. The stock TX5804 antenna and the two stock Black Pearl antennas gave me over 700 meters before a little snow appeared. So get used to FPV with the stock antennas first, then upgrade when you can.

One more word of caution. FPV is not only addictive, it's terribly exciting, so BE CAREFUL. My unrecoverable crash in the swamp on March 12 with an over $1000 P1.1.1 was due to my getting lost in the excitement of FPV and not watching the battery readout on the screen. I learned an expensive lesson. Plan ahead and pay attention.

As far as cameras go, I know the biggie around here is GoPro, but I can't see spending that much $300-$400 on a camera that takes 1080P HD when the SJCAM SJ4000 does the same thing for about a fourth of the price. Also, there is some misinformation on the forum (which I attempted to correct, but never got a response) about not being able to record video to the memory card and have a live video out for FPV at the same time. It is certainly possible, because I did it every time I flew. If you consider SJ4000, watch out for copies, they are cleverly done and even the packaging is counterfeit sometimes. Get it from a reliable source such as B&H Photo, which has one of the best prices around anyway. Here's the link...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1072775-REG/sj4000_sj4000_action_camera.html

Phew, I'm getting tired of typing and browsing. How about a break and more later...
 
  • Like
Reactions: IflyinWY
I hope it rains all day long. ;)

Great info, really good.
Thank you
 
Yep, that is some good info. I noticed they made a change in the voltage output of the vTx since I bought the first one (wish I had it back). On the first one, the voltage output was +5vdc, perfect for powering the SJ4000 camera, eliminating the need for the camera battery. But on my new one, same 32 channel model, the voltage out is equal to the supply voltage, so now I have to power my camera with the battery. Oh well, what's that about cake and eat it too? o_O
 
  • Like
Reactions: IflyinWY
Thanks so much for sharing! About time to get the credit card out........Since it's raining here too!
 
Sure thing Upper, here's one more link and may be the most important. If for no other reason than battery level, an OSD of some sort is critical to FPV flight. All the other things it shows, like number of satellites acquired, distance to home, altitude, lat/long, elapsed flight time, and a few others, are really nice when flying. Just remember, the info is there to be used, so it won't help you if you don't use it, like what happened to me on my last flight with the crashed machine. The last telemetry I saw was the battery voltage of 10.1v, which is the secondary warning in NAZA Assistant, and at that voltage, it auto lands (or auto crashes as my buddy in NY says) no matter where it is.

So here's where I got my N1 NAZA OSD. It's US company and knocks off about two to three weeks of waiting for something on a slow boat from China. Prices are stable across vendors.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-STOCK-FP...989?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item419019f70d

Now, here's the catch with the N1 OSD. Everything on the screen is in Chinese if you use the default screen. There are two other choices, the DJI screen, which looks similar to the iOSD-mini, and the Custom screen, which allows you to turn any icon on or off and allows you to position them anywhere on the screen. When using this screen, there are only two Chinese icons on the screen, one is latitude /longitude (which is such a large number, it's painfully obvious) and the other is altitude, if I remember correctly and it's easy to just remember one. There's one more drawback, NO USER MANUAL at all! :eek::eek::eek: But not to worry, some dude has posted some extremely helpful videos online. The first two are a general installation and setup video, as well as a followup that shows the OSD in use by placing the Phantom in his truck and driving around. The third one is the charm though, as it shows how to get through all the Chinese programming menus to set your unit up. This is kind of overwhelming at first, but gets really simple and fun to use once you get your feet wet. So here are the videos:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
this is the installation video

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
this is the follow up showing actual use of telemetry

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
this is the one translating Chinese instructions to English

These were priceless to me in getting my N1 OSD configured. The last one was just published on April 8 of this year, so I'm glad I didn't get one before then. :p

OK, have fun and ask questions AFTER researching and BEFORE buying to avoid some heartache and an empty wallet.
 
And with all that data at your fingertips, wouldn't it be great to have a DVR tied into your viewing screen? That way when everything, or anything, goes haywire, you will have the best possible record of WTH went wrong. Since it's raining and you've got the credit card out. :D

You're turning this into one sweet thread Rebel. :cool:
 
wouldn't it be great to have a DVR tied into your viewing screen

Indeed it would be, WY. But I haven't considered shopping for one, due to the amount of change I've got in it already. But I'll tell ya what, if you (or anyone) would post a few barnburner deals on compact DVRs, I would certainly check them out. I could always put a few on my wish list and fawn over them until some funds show up.

You're turning this into one sweet thread Rebel. :cool:

Hey man, I didn't even know what FPV stood for before I joined this forum. It has been a wealth of information. And it's not always easy answers. Sometimes you'll just pick up a tidbit here or there from what someone else has learned and then the REAL work begins, ...research and study. So if anyone can learn or profit in this aspect of the hobby from any advice or links I've posted, then I'm richer for it.

Y'all have fun now, ya hear? :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: IflyinWY
Thanks for the info so far. Thanks for the app IflyinWY...will give it a go. Wish I had done more research before buying. Hope to get it all up and running soon.
 
Thanks for the info so far. Thanks for the app IflyinWY...will give it a go. Wish I had done more research before buying. Hope to get it all up and running soon.

It's not an APP, it's just a link, but works good.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,358
Members
104,935
Latest member
Pauos31