Moving your Phantom to another frame?

[Eik]

Since my phantom frame is all bent and beaten after several crashes, and it seems impossible to find a replacement, I decided to get a F450 frame, and move everything from the phantom.

I'm now wondering if this is possible at all, after I completed the tasks of soldering and moving everything over, I got stuck with a Low-Volt [4] error. Checking the assitant software, I noticed that it can't actually read the battery voltage at all.
To power up the naza, i simple soldered a servo cable to the power distribution board, and plugged it in X3.

My question is, is there additional electronics on the Phantom board that's needed for this function to work?

If so, this means you cant move to a new frame without buying a new Naza unit, which it seems has these extra stuff in the LED unit.

 

[Eik]

I verified this "problem" by just quickly connecting power to the board, and then powering the naza from the original cable. It all worked fine then, so this means you need the parts on the original power distributionboard for the naza to work properly with the phantom bec.

 

[auck]

any further updates on how successful you have been on this project?

 

[Eik]

I'm waiting for my fpv gear to finalize the build, will post some updates when I get it.

I am however debating if I should go for a "dirty" fix of attaching the old board to the new frame just for the additional BEC components, or to get a replacement BEC for the standalone naza, or just get a full new gps+naza package.

 

[Eik]

Just had my new baby out for the first test flight, looks good, but still some improvements to be made.

Worth to note, I haven't attached the GPS module yet, and im uncertain on where to place the magnetic thing.
The FPV gear is also missing, as I don't want to attack more $$ to it while testing.

I haven't tidied up the cables or anything before these pictures were taken, but will do so when I'm all done

Things worth mentioning if you plan to move the electronis.

- None of the cables from the ESC's are long enough to be connected to the naza and power distributionboard.
- Parts of the BEC is located on the powerdistributionboard in the phantom, so you need to power the naza through the orignial cable connected to that board, unless you replace the BEC and/or the Naza.
- All the components (ESC, BEC, GPS) are very exposed and not covered in any plastic like when you purchase them stand alone. Using heat shirnk plastic would be highly recommended to protect the electronics.

That's all I can think of right now, feel free to ask if you have any questions.

 

[pwright]

So you're going with a Futaba TX/RX combo? At 5 GHz?

 

[Eik]

Futaba 8FG with the R6208SB running at 2.4ghz, and a Fatshark Predator V2 FPV kit at 5.8ghz

 

[Stubbz]

hey, trying to do this mod myself.

question about the extra electronics on the power distrubution board. (seems to be part of that VU unit?):
Can't you just cut the electronics piece off and solder the ESCs to the F450 board, so you have less stuff to attach?

 

[Racklefratz]

Since my phantom frame is all bent and beaten after several crashes, and it seems impossible to find a replacement, I decided to get a F450 frame, and move everything from the phantom.

New replacement Phantom shells:

http://helidirect.com/dji-phantom-repla ... -29929.hdx
http://www.hoverthings.com/phantomshell.html
http://www.rocketcityracing.com/DJI-PHA ... _1964.html
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_inf ... -Shell-Set

 

[auck]

also try

http://www.heli-world.com/detail.aspx?ID=11054