Phantom fpv status lights

[Golf Alpha Zulu]

Hi, I am new to the forum and hopefully some of you guys can help me.

I have flown fpv for a few years now on planes and micro quads and the phantom is a step up for me as a camera ship.

I have the following setup

Phantom!
Immersionrc 600mw 5.8ghz video
Gopro
Hobbyking simple osd
Standard transmitter for now but upgrading to dx8 soon.

While flying fpv it is nice to keep an eye on things like voltages but I have been trying to figure out a way to view, hear or sense the status lights on the phantom. I have seen a guy on rcgroups using a small piece of fibreoptic cable pointed at the status LED and the other end pointed to the corner of his gopro, this is a great idea but I wouldn't want a small flashing light on my recorded video.
It's a shame the phantom doesn't have audible alarms for gps satelite strength as this could be sent down the video transmitter audio line. I have opened up the status LED its self to try and locate a voltage that is only present when the red LED is flashing and input this into the simple osd but I can't find a way.

I was wondering if anybody has an ingenious idea for how I can be notified of GPS signal low (Any red flashing lights)?

Regards
Gareth

 

[jumanoc]

Connect this louder buzzer voltage alarm into balance plug in phantom battery and you can hear it through GoPro using its integrated Mic, then sent via VTX audio. You can set the voltage trigger at any value between 2.7v and 3.8v per cell, so set it a bit higher than Phantom red status It also works great for measuring at field LiPos total voltage and also per cell.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...er&_nkwusc=battery+metter+alarm+buzzer&_rdc=1

 

[Golf Alpha Zulu]

Hi,

thanks, that's a great idea for keeping check on the flight battery I just need a way to keep track of the GPS lights while flying FPV.

Shame I can't hack a buzzer into the red light on the back of the phantom.

Gareth

 

[jumanoc]

Hi,

thanks, that's a great idea for keeping check on the flight battery I just need a way to keep track of the GPS lights while flying FPV.

Shame I can't hack a buzzer into the red light on the back of the phantom.

Gareth

OK, then connect a single wire from RED Led pole to VTX Audio PIN. everytime a RED flash you'll "hear" a "ccic-sss" on your FatShark or LCD audio.

Here is a Reference Guide given by another RC forum member (Timothy):
Well, there is not much to it. I just took a electrical wire of about 10cm. Soldered one end to the top-left LED pole. Than tucked the wire through one of the holes near the landing gear and connected it to one of the audio in ports of my fatshark Tx.
If you put on your goggles with headphones or turn on your screen you will hear the clicks every time the red led is on. My left audio is for the LED signal and right is for the camera audio (nothing interesting there, just wind noise )

You may want to remove the top-shell for easy access but it can be done without.
Than unscrew the LED unit cover and you can solder on it while it is still on the phantom. Or remove the USB cable and Naza cable and take the entire LED unit out of the craft for easy soldering.

And here a short video that shows it in action:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsmSgd0Exh0[/youtube]

 

[Golf Alpha Zulu]

Perfect!

Thank you, I will get that done right now.

The osd I have just bought but not connected is the hobbyking super simple OSD $9

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... _osd_.html

It also can be found under the name of " Tarot ZYX14 OSD "

It will display my main battery voltage and I am thinking of bringing 2 small wires from the gopro battery for monitoring on the osd.

Thanks again

Gareth