NEWBIE FROM SW MIAMI, FLORIDA JUST JOINED.

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Greetings to all!
Just purchased a used Ver. 1.1.1 with the Ver.1.1.1 Controller and flew it yesterday for the first time, with a fake SJcam 4000 and it worked like a champ. Video looked great.
Great help from Cristian from AMPS, our Local Aeromodelism club.
Used fiberglass polish to clean and take out the blemishes and it looks new.
Will be changing the props and placing new red stripe stencils on the front to complete "like new" look.
Total take off weight with battery, camera and support 925 Grams (275 grams short of max. take off weight of 1200 Grams as shown in User Manual).
I used some old batteries. I welcome suggestions and experiences (flight duration, etc.) with different brands of 11.1 2200maH 2C.
I have old 2 x Phantoms and 3xBlue Lipo from HobbyKing.
Again, greeting s to all.
And my three wishes for the new year: Blessings, good health and harmony.
Thanks,
JuanG from SW MIami, Florida.
 
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Welcome to the madness! There’s a lot of info here and also plenty more that can help found in FC40 section. Only difference is radio. Share same FC, airframe, power plants, ESC, etc.

I mostly use HK (HobbyKing) 20C Turnigy 3S 2.2Ah packs. USA warehouse usually costs me about $25/pair shipped. I also use ‘em in planes too. Almost always fresh and low IR.

My favorite battery mod so far is external CF battery trays but only use one mounted on the rear. Still use the internal battery and just notch easily replaced battery door to run the parallel cabling in/out. 2 stock batteries I get no worries 13 minute flight times fully loaded with Cam/Gimbal/VTX. But need to use P2 9443 props with that kind of load around sea level.

Using just the rear tray not only reduces blocking/interfering with air flow/wash under the blades - but it can also help better weight balance the rig front-rear if/when you hang a Gimbal/Cam setup on the front.

I only use stock 8” props for naked and/or lightweight FPV/VTX flying only.

Enjoy!
 
Hey Juan, a big welcome to the forum. There are a lot of good threads on this forum and the others at Phantom Pilots. I spend a lot of time on here (probably more than I should) and have learned a lot about Phantoms in general. The SJCAM SJ 4000 is an excellent camera for 1080P HD recording and FPV (and of course, doing both simultaneously). One of my first mods for extending flight time was to switch over to the DJI Thrust Boosted 9450 props. That gave me about two to three extra minutes. Then I went to the Turnigy MultiStar 4000 mAh 3s battery and got even more time. With my current setup (see sig) I'm at 1176 grams, fully equipped, and get between 13 and 15 minutes, depending on maneuvers and speed, and of course wind. I've just started experimenting with Manual Mode, but wouldn't recommend that until you get quite a few flight hours under your belt.

Be sure to ask plenty of questions and share your experiences as you grow in the hobby.

Fly Safe/ Fly Happy
 
Thank you.
I've had three flight sessions with my mint Phantom V.1.1.1 with the fake SJ4000 SportsCam without a gimble and using DJI camera mount only).
Total weight now is 945 grams with one (1) Black Magic LiPO 25C-2700mAh on board. (Using only one at a time)
Flight duration 16.5 minutes before before first red led blink, with engines running cool. (Tested three (3) different Black Magic LiPO 25C-2700mAh). They just fit inside the standard battery door.
I think I have 9450 new propellers. Any difference with with "Thrust Boosted" 9450 props?
Before I start adding weight, I would like to better understand what would happen to my flight time:
1. With the current battery setup;
2. If I increase the takeoff weight to 1200 grams, the maximum takeoff load.
Options that I am considering:
A. Gimbal
B. Video streaming (I have questions about WIFI range).
C. Telemetry streaming.
Thank you again,
Juan


Hey Juan, a big welcome to the forum. There are a lot of good threads on this forum and the others at Phantom Pilots. I spend a lot of time on here (probably more than I should) and have learned a lot about Phantoms in general. The SJCAM SJ 4000 is an excellent camera for 1080P HD recording and FPV (and of course, doing both simultaneously). One of my first mods for extending flight time was to switch over to the DJI Thrust Boosted 9450 props. That gave me about two to three extra minutes. Then I went to the Turnigy MultiStar 4000 mAh 3s battery and got even more time. With my current setup (see sig) I'm at 1176 grams, fully equipped, and get between 13 and 15 minutes, depending on maneuvers and speed, and of course wind. I've just started experimenting with Manual Mode, but wouldn't recommend that until you get quite a few flight hours under your belt.

Be sure to ask plenty of questions and share your experiences as you grow in the hobby.

Fly Safe/ Fly Happy
Greetings to all!
Just purchased a used Ver. 1.1.1 with the Ver.1.1.1 Controller and flew it yesterday for the first time, with a fake SJcam 4000 and it worked like a champ. Video looked great.
Great help from Cristian from AMPS, our Local Aeromodelism club.
Used fiberglass polish to clean and take out the blemishes and it looks new.
Will be changing the props and placing new red stripe stencils on the front to complete "like new" look.
Total take off weight with battery, camera and support 925 Grams (275 grams short of max. take off weight of 1200 Grams as shown in User Manual).
I used some old batteries. I welcome suggestions and experiences (flight duration, etc.) with different brands of 11.1 2200maH 2C.
I have old 2 x Phantoms and 3xBlue Lipo from HobbyKing.
Again, greeting s to all.
And my three wishes for the new year: Blessings, good health and harmony.
Thanks,
JuanG from SW MIami, Florida.
 
Hey Juan, that's an excellent time for a 2700 mAh battery and SJ4000.

Total weight now is 945 grams

I'm at 1176 grams with all the FPV gear and the Multistar 4000 battery. I dropped a few dozen grams by hardwiring the SJ4000 camera to the USB cable, so I could power it with the flight battery and lose the camera battery. Also hardwired the Trackimo tracker, but it still has the battery in it.

Any difference with with "Thrust Boosted" 9450 props?

Yes, definitely! I got over two minutes more flight time when I switched to the 9450s.
Before I start adding weight, I would like to better understand what would happen to my flight time

First of all, if you add a gimbal with your current battery setup, it will TANK! The weight of the gimbal will negatively affect your flight time. I've been using the DJI camera mount with mine to fly FPV and with the carbon fiber anti-vibration mount, there's no jello and the videos turn out great. I don't need to pan and tilt, so I don't need the gimbal at all.

If I increase the takeoff weight to 1200 grams, the maximum takeoff load.

Before I hardwired the SJ4000, I was at 1204 grams and getting about 13:30 or 13:50 or so. So if you reach 1200 without a gimbal, and upgrade to a Multistar 4000 battery, we will be just about the same weight. So you could expect just over thirteen minutes.
Telemetry streaming.

By telemetry streaming, I'm assuming you mean OSD info transmitted to the FPV monitor. You would also need a video transmitter and receiver to complete this. The video transmitter is a very small circuit board and the OSD module is even smaller, so not a lot of weight there. The transmit antenna doesn't weigh a lot either, so no sweat there. Be sure to read up on FPV and OSD before making your purchases, so you get good range and the proper frequencies.

Video streaming (I have questions about WIFI range).

Again, I have to assume that by video streaming, you mean FPV. Since your remote control transmitter uses a 2.4 GHz frequency, wireless is out! It would interfere with your control functions and you may be in big trouble fast. You can still broadcast video live from the bird to your receiver/monitor if you get a 5.8 GHz setup, which would not interfere with the remote at all.

OK, I hope I helped with some if not all your questions. Keep 'em coming, that's how we learn. I've learned a ton from the guys on this forum, and they are all willing to share their knowledge and help the new guys along. Have fun and keep in touch...
 
Hey Juan, that's an excellent time for a 2700 mAh battery and SJ4000.



I'm at 1176 grams with all the FPV gear and the Multistar 4000 battery. I dropped a few dozen grams by hardwiring the SJ4000 camera to the USB cable, so I could power it with the flight battery and lose the camera battery. Also hardwired the Trackimo tracker, but it still has the battery in it.



Yes, definitely! I got over two minutes more flight time when I switched to the 9450s.


First of all, if you add a gimbal with your current battery setup, it will TANK! The weight of the gimbal will negatively affect your flight time. I've been using the DJI camera mount with mine to fly FPV and with the carbon fiber anti-vibration mount, there's no jello and the videos turn out great. I don't need to pan and tilt, so I don't need the gimbal at all.



Before I hardwired the SJ4000, I was at 1204 grams and getting about 13:30 or 13:50 or so. So if you reach 1200 without a gimbal, and upgrade to a Multistar 4000 battery, we will be just about the same weight. So you could expect just over thirteen minutes.


By telemetry streaming, I'm assuming you mean OSD info transmitted to the FPV monitor. You would also need a video transmitter and receiver to complete this. The video transmitter is a very small circuit board and the OSD module is even smaller, so not a lot of weight there. The transmit antenna doesn't weigh a lot either, so no sweat there. Be sure to read up on FPV and OSD before making your purchases, so you get good range and the proper frequencies.



Again, I have to assume that by video streaming, you mean FPV. Since your remote control transmitter uses a 2.4 GHz frequency, wireless is out! It would interfere with your control functions and you may be in big trouble fast. You can still broadcast video live from the bird to your receiver/monitor if you get a 5.8 GHz setup, which would not interfere with the remote at all.

OK, I hope I helped with some if not all your questions. Keep 'em coming, that's how we learn. I've learned a ton from the guys on this forum, and they are all willing to share their knowledge and help the new guys along. Have fun and keep in touch...

Thank you very much for all your fine information.
On "I've been using the DJI camera mount with mine to fly FPV and with the carbon fiber anti-vibration mount, there's no jello and the videos turn out great." Which carbon fiber anti-vibration mount did you purchase, where and what is its weight?
Again, Thanks.
Juan G
 
Thank you very much for all your fine information.
On "I've been using the DJI camera mount with mine to fly FPV and with the carbon fiber anti-vibration mount, there's no jello and the videos turn out great." Which carbon fiber anti-vibration mount did you purchase, where and what is its weight?
Again, Thanks.
Juan G

OK, here's the info. The seller I purchased from on Ebay, doesn't sell the exact same item currently, but if you do a search for "DJI Phantom GoPro Anti-Jello Vibration Isolator Carbon Fiber Mount", you'll end up with dozens of results. The price from this particular seller at the time was $12.50, but now some are half that. You can also find them on Amazon, and if it's Prime, get it in two days with free shipping. One note to watch out for: the mounting plate for the bird and camera are very similar, but are not the same on some models. If you use the wrong one on the bird, the head of the screw will not allow a flush mount, so be sure to try each one, and see which is appropriate before torqueing down the hardware. I did it wrong and learned the hard way. These are very light weight and most weigh about 40 grams including hardware.

Another caution: use some kind of failsafe device (like dental floss) to secure the plate that holds the camera to the body of the bird. In case of a crash (WHAT?) the little rubber mounts can come disconnected from the main CF plate and you could lose the camera. I used a black sharpie to color the dental floss so it was black like the anti-jello mount and didn't stand out so much. I just checked for some other mounts on Ebay and here is a search link:

DJI Phantom VGE GoPro Anti-Jello Vibration Isolator Carbon Fiber Mount | eBay

Good hunting...
 
OK, here's the info. The seller I purchased from on Ebay, doesn't sell the exact same item currently, but if you do a search for "DJI Phantom GoPro Anti-Jello Vibration Isolator Carbon Fiber Mount", you'll end up with dozens of results. The price from this particular seller at the time was $12.50, but now some are half that. You can also find them on Amazon, and if it's Prime, get it in two days with free shipping. One note to watch out for: the mounting plate for the bird and camera are very similar, but are not the same on some models. If you use the wrong one on the bird, the head of the screw will not allow a flush mount, so be sure to try each one, and see which is appropriate before torqueing down the hardware. I did it wrong and learned the hard way. These are very light weight and most weigh about 40 grams including hardware.

Another caution: use some kind of failsafe device (like dental floss) to secure the plate that holds the camera to the body of the bird. In case of a crash (WHAT?) the little rubber mounts can come disconnected from the main CF plate and you could lose the camera. I used a black sharpie to color the dental floss so it was black like the anti-jello mount and didn't stand out so much. I just checked for some other mounts on Ebay and here is a search link:

DJI Phantom VGE GoPro Anti-Jello Vibration Isolator Carbon Fiber Mount | eBay

Good hunting...

Thanks again!
I did order the Carbon Fiber Mount.
But, I am going to keep the V.1.1.1 as it is without further mods, since it would not make financial sense and I've got a fine working system for my investment.
Yesterday, I purchased a Phantom 3 Standard. which is ready to fly this Saturday at our AMPS Club field in SW Miami. It's all Setup and ready to fly. I'll take both quadcopters. the Standard is a great "Bang for the Buck" ($499.00).
Sincerely and thanks again,
Juan
 
Greetings to all!
Just purchased a used Ver. 1.1.1 with the Ver.1.1.1 Controller and flew it yesterday for the first time, with a fake SJcam 4000 and it worked like a champ. Video looked great.
Great help from Cristian from AMPS, our Local Aeromodelism club.
Used fiberglass polish to clean and take out the blemishes and it looks new.
Will be changing the props and placing new red stripe stencils on the front to complete "like new" look.
Total take off weight with battery, camera and support 925 Grams (275 grams short of max. take off weight of 1200 Grams as shown in User Manual).
I used some old batteries. I welcome suggestions and experiences (flight duration, etc.) with different brands of 11.1 2200maH 2C.
I have old 2 x Phantoms and 3xBlue Lipo from HobbyKing.
Again, greeting s to all.
And my three wishes for the new year: Blessings, good health and harmony.
Thanks,
JuanG from SW MIami, Florida.
I think that you indicated that you were in the MIAMI FLA. area? is this true, if you are, then please email me, [email protected] i am also just starting this drone thing/hobby.
howard [and anyone else in the kendale lakes area-33183 or DADE COUNTY!]
 

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