gimbals gimbals gimbals???????????

[toorboy]

hi all i am looking into these gimbals for the fc40 but the more i look into it and see the shocking battery
flight times is it worth the hassle? as i sayed before i am not the brightest light bulb lol the fc40 can take
an additional 250g weight if i have read this correct but adding a gimbal and hd cam is well over the 250g
depending on the gimbal and cam used?
the only way to increase flight is by using a bigger battery adding more weight to the phantom and this will shorten
the life of the motors. i have 9450 props i have not used them yet but even with these props its not going to save any amount of juice in the battery.
does this mean you need to upgrade motors to handle weight difference? and has anyone created a home made gimbal? without using electrics?
using something like lead weight for tilt? yes i know your thinking what the hell? lol i have been thinking about this all weekend that's
what the smell of burning is :shock: lol
i have seven batteries for my fc40 six 2200mah and one 2800mah last thing i want to do is buy more bigger batteries if i do this setup
can i ask what is your setup and how long are you getting in flight times? as i am still 50/50 in should i do this or not.

thanks for any help

 

[Fuji-Flyer]

You need to ask the question; do I have the FC40 to fly around (camera/pictures are not important) OR do you want to have some video / pictures from various heights. Obviously long video of interesting areas is a plus but I have taken some good footage albeit limited by time. If its video/pictures then a gimbal with the FC40 / other camera and its stable platform is a plus from the FC40 camera on its mount. There is a Gimbal for the FC40 named Cyclops ?? but I have no idea how expensive or if its worth it.

So decision to be made......

 

[toorboy]

hi Fuji flyer it is for pics and videos m8 that's what I like
about my drone I seen the Cyclops gimbal $249.00 man
bit steep in price :shock: even then it could be the same
battery drain and a six minute flight

 

[lake_flyer]

The white G-2D Walkera gimbal is about the lightest on the market. Cost is around 70$ on Banggood. It's almost plug and play.
With a Gopro, this Gimbal, and even the FC40 camera mounted on the nose you should be able to get 12-13 minutes with 2 2200 batteries.
With 1 battery probably 8.

Might as well ditch the FC40 camera and replace it with a 2.4 or 1.2GHz (or 900Mhz) FPV Tx and OSD, it's about the same weight.

 

[toorboy]

hi lake_flyer yeh I was looking at the walkera G-2d and G-3d gimbals at the weekend
I forgot to mention I am not interested in installing pitch control to a gimbal only tilt buddy
so many people have done these mods in different ways using the fc40 cam for fpv
I would only use an hd cam for short range flights I am comfortable flying in a 200m range
in wide open space with no fpv its just the flight times that are pants with extra weight
I think 8:52 was the longest gimbal flight on u tube with an fc40

 

[Mauske]

I can fly about 7 minuts with a gimbal and gopro hero3+ black, fpv, flytrex and osd on a 2200Mah battery.

 

[toorboy]

hi mauske did your fpv set up require soldering? I want to avoid anything to technical buddy
when I see what you guys do to these phantoms I think its amazing some of the setups
I just need a light gimbal with tilt and no pitch control that I can swap between hd cam and fc40 cam
without sacrificing to much flight time everyone is selling these gimbals you would think
there would be a gimbal for different types of needs of the pilot or am I being a picky git :lol:

 

[mikeg26]

I am flying with the Walkera 2D gimbal, GoPro 3+ Black, Multistar 4000 mAh 10c battery, std props with total weight of 1090g. Handles fine. Am achieving average of 12 1/2 minutes and can probably get more time by discharging further.

I am using the Amped SR10000 repeater and getting at least 600 feet video to an iPhone 4S or iPad 3 with a minimum video delay of one second. The repeater would NOT work with my Nexus 5. But, I have full control of the cam with the standard GoPro app.

This suits my needs because I am more interested in taking videos and photos no more than 500 feet away.

 

[Tallyrver]

I am flying with the Walkera 2D gimbal, GoPro 3+ Black, Multistar 4000 mAh 10c battery, std props with total weight of 1090g. Handles fine. Am achieving average of 12 1/2 minutes and can probably get more time by discharging further.

I am using the Amped SR10000 repeater and getting at least 600 feet video to an iPhone 4S or iPad 3 with a minimum video delay of one second. The repeater would NOT work with my Nexus 5. But, I have full control of the cam with the standard GoPro app.

This suits my needs because I am more interested in taking videos and photos no more than 500 feet away.

i have the same battery setup,also with a SJ4000 camera.with vision props .i mounted a small fpv camera on the gimbal so i can see what the video camera is recording. i tested the Multistar 4000 mah battery this weekend , with the transmitter running on the main battery i averaged 12 min. from liftoff to auto land. with a small 400mah lipo running the gimbal and transmitter i got 15.
i have a 1.2 ghz fpv transmitter and mini osd . i went over a 1/4 mile until i lost visual sight of the quad. still a very strong signal with the video link. how did i fly my FC40 without fpv the last 3 months?


i just ordered 3 more Multistars :mrgreen:

 

[toorboy]

hi mikeg26 and tallyrver I just contacted a local dji retailer in Edinburgh
and they quoted me £60 for the gimbal installation which I thought was good
as Id rather have someone knowing what there doing instead of me screwing
it up completely lol and I have been looking at lake-flyers walkera 2D white plastic gimbal
which is lighter than most

 

[J.James]

Dont worry about the motors they can handle it and they use the same motors as the phantom 2s all do . *except for the v3s which now have bigger motors and escs that burn out )

But the phantoms are already a lot heavier even with out a gimbal and camera. And the 1222 motors still work fine.

tho a bigger set of props might help with the added weight or a set of t motors which have a lil bit more power out put and use less power from the battery.

 

[PsychopathRC]

I am flying with the Walkera 2D gimbal, GoPro 3+ Black, Multistar 4000 mAh 10c battery, std props with total weight of 1090g. Handles fine. Am achieving average of 12 1/2 minutes and can probably get more time by discharging further.

I am using the Amped SR10000 repeater and getting at least 600 feet video to an iPhone 4S or iPad 3 with a minimum video delay of one second. The repeater would NOT work with my Nexus 5. But, I have full control of the cam with the standard GoPro app.

This suits my needs because I am more interested in taking videos and photos no more than 500 feet away.

i have the same battery setup,also with a SJ4000 camera.with vision props .i mounted a small fpv camera on the gimbal so i can see what the video camera is recording. i tested the Multistar 4000 mah battery this weekend , with the transmitter running on the main battery i averaged 12 min. from liftoff to auto land. with a small 400mah lipo running the gimbal and transmitter i got 15.
i have a 1.2 ghz fpv transmitter and mini osd . i went over a 1/4 mile until i lost visual sight of the quad. still a very strong signal with the video link. how did i fly my FC40 without fpv the last 3 months?


i just ordered 3 more Multistars :mrgreen:

Hey how did you get both the Gimbal & VTX (I assume) to be powered from a single 400MaH battery? I'd be interested in doing this if it's simple. My plan at the moment is to hook the Gimbal up to the main board, or those extra wires coming out of the FC40's leg, and then power my VTX with a separate battery.

 

[mikeg26]

I am using power from the main battery.

 

[Tallyrver]

I flew it a few more times today. With the Multistar 4000 . I moved the gimbal power back to the main battery,I couldn't see any difference in flight time. With the transmitter on the small battery I'm still getting 16-17 min. 12-13 on the Phantom battery . I'm getting about 30 min out of the small battery,if I remember to disconnect it when not using it.

I ordered a wiring cable today that will clean up all the wires. It's for a GoPro Fat Shark setup but should work.
And 3 more Multistars. :mrgreen:





I mounted a mini Fpv camera to the side of the gimbal. That way I can see what the camera is recording.

 

[toorboy]

hi chaps heres a question for ya can the old tx for the fc40 have fitted a pitch control
lever or do ya need the new tx to do this?

 

[toorboy]

I bought the walkera 2D white plastic gimbal fellas
I am looking at cameras at the moment its between the go pro hero £100
or the sj4000 £70 but with the gopro hero u cant take the cam out the waterproof
case I have heard you use the cam upside down and later invert the movies
on ya pc is this true guys? I got a £100 budget but I am not making my mind up
till I learn more

 

[plymouthphantom]

I have an FC40 but the range to my iPhone 5 was pretty poor. I did mean to try it using a kindle fire or galaxy tab 3 as they supposedly gave good range. Then I got side tracked and went shopping and ended up with the following:

Walkera G2D plastic gimbal
SJ4000 with FPV out cable (already owned)
Boscam TS321 tx
Boscam RC802 rx
TX mount
Extended landing gear
7" Screen
Mount to attach screen to controller.

Plan is to power gimbal from the main phantom battery (currently using standard 2200mah but looking into best option of dual battery or the multistar 4000), no need to power the camera as I will just charge it before it flys!
Power the fpv tx from a small battery mounted under the tx, or maybe from the phantom battery too depending on results of tests.
Screen and rx will be powered from a 2500mah lipo I have with power cables modded to suit.

Not too worried about flight times at the moment, will amend my plans as and when to suit!

Now just to wait for all this to come from china - total cost for all FPV gear, gimbal etc but without camera came to £117

 

[Tallyrver]

I bought the walkera 2D white plastic gimbal fellas
I am looking at cameras at the moment its between the go pro hero £100
or the sj4000 £70 but with the gopro hero u cant take the cam out the waterproof
case I have heard you use the cam upside down and later invert the movies
on ya pc is this true guys? I got a £100 budget but I am not making my mind up
till I learn more

I am more than happy with the SJ 4000 ,and it fits in the gimbal mount. Mine has a option to rotate the image.
If you have a FC40 you can mount it's camera on the gimbal ,but you just have to add some weight to it. The FC camera video is not too bad ,having a gimbal with it is a game changer.

 

[toorboy]

I bought the sj4000 it will do the job I hope
I will let you guys know when I get the setup
and fingers crossed
thanks guys you have all been a big help

 

[landwomble]

SJ4000 is pretty good. I have it on a cheap chinese gimbal, and can control the pitch with the knob on the back of the phantom TX