New P3P and my mods

[yawnalot29]

Hi all,

I am a new owner of a P3P that I got over the Thanksgiving Black Friday from B&H Photo.

Previously I own a P2V+ for about 18 months and I did numerous modifications to it. Mainly ITELite antenna and dipole FPVLR antenna (bird side and controller side). Added GPS shielding. Added FlyTrex Core. Added zip tie to camera damper mount.


Here are my mods to P3P before even taking my first flight. Your thoughts and opinion? Over kill? Take it off?

1. Removed the two anti-drop pin. Put on zip tie to all 4 holes. Left enough slack on the zip tie so the damping rubber would stretch out fully. Found out the aluminum plate attached to the bird is extremely soft. Hmmmmmm


2. Add Gimbal saver. This is to prevent the camera from popping out and rip the cable during hard landing. Just so we are on same page, this is the exact item I got:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015H0PCDW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00


3. Add UAV Bits Strong Arm (due to various shell crack threads I've been reading). This is what I got. I think it adds about 9 gram of weight. And there appear to be no down side with potential upside. So why not.
Strong Arm reinforcement plates with Motor Caps


4. Added a camera hood. This is the one I got:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015SLY66E?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00


Last measured this adds net 25 grams to the bird. Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

 

[doomclam]

I have been thinking about a camera hood. I just bought the reinforcement plates rather than wait until my own cracks developed. Frankly I can't figure out the gimbal saver you posted, I must be a dunce. I'd be most interested to know how well the hood works.

 

[yawnalot29]

I have been thinking about a camera hood. I just bought the reinforcement plates rather than wait until my own cracks developed. Frankly I can't figure out the gimbal saver you posted, I must be a dunce. I'd be most interested to know how well the hood works.

My understanding is that the camera is held to the vertical axis by a very strong magnet. During a hard landing or small crash, the camera unit would get separated from the vertical axis. This wouldn't have been a problem if you could simply pop the camera back in and the magnet would hold the camera unit in place again. The problem is the ribbon also gets rip apart when the camera unit came off the vertical arm.

The gimbal saver basically puts a stopper in preventing the camera unit from popping out all the way. This is same as the Killer RC Gimbal Saver. You can see the YouTube video here:

The camera hood mounts OK, but I am catching the edge in photo, but not video. Need to see if I am mounting it correctly in the right orientation.

 

[TrynFlyn]

The Skyreat gimbal saver is the same design as the Killer RC but weighs 4X's as much, 12g vs 3g for the Killer

 

[yawnalot29]

The Skyreat gimbal saver is the same design as the Killer RC but weighs 4X's as much, 12g vs 3g for the Killer

I see. Skyreat is at about half the cost. So howmuch flight time am I losing from the extra 8 gram? And what impact to gimbal motor?

 

[Flyer91]

I 'think' the differences are not that much.
The Killer 'adds' 3 grams (after you remove the original parts in favor of the Killer 'replacement') ... and the Skytreat has a net weight of 12 grams.
I suspect they are actually a lot closer in net weight .. if not identical.

P.S. I think either is a good idea .....

 

[TrynFlyn]

I 'think' the differences are not that much.
The Killer 'adds' 3 grams (after you remove the original parts in favor of the Killer 'replacement') ... and the Skytreat has a net weight of 12 grams.
I suspect they are actually a lot closer in net weight .. if not identical.

P.S. I think either is a good idea .....

Great point that I didn't consider. I believe you are correct.