"Plug and Play"

[hulihee]

I've been doing some looking around at gimbal options lately. And I was interested in breaking down what it means to have a gimbal that is "Plug and Play". Typically I think, mount and plug in a cord to a port, thats it. It seems that with some gimbals you can do this, and others you may need to sodder, and some gimbals you don't even neeed to plug in, just mount it!

I spoke with the guys at XProHeli about their XPG series gimbals because I was interested in how they have handheld mounts for gopro as well. I was surprised to hear that their gimbals require no plugging or soddering, just mount it to your phantom and go. Which means, it carries its own 450 battery for power (optional, you may wire it to aux power from heli), and its own sensor/controller, which requires no communication with naza or any of the heli's navigation systems.

Is this a common feature on gimbals? Seems pretty convenient if you're going to go handheld from time to time, and particularly convenient when you consider software/compatability issues between heli and gimbal...

Are there other gimbals like this? Anyone have any thoughts? Pros and cons to this kind of setup?

http://xproheli.com/collections/gimbals

 

[OI Photography]

Several other gopro-style gimbals have their own onboard controller, and you could strap a small batt like that to any of them to make them "mount and play" on a Phantom or other quad...they all use (or can use) the same power connector as this one.

It looks like that one may have the (front-rear) CG a little less off-center than some other models, but when you add an extra batt just for the gimbal, you're already at a disadvantage over those that wire straight to the aircraft's power supply (which this one could do as well).

From what it looks like on their website, most any current gimbal that could mount on the phantom could also be easily modified or adapted to attach to either of the handle mounts XProHeli is selling, as long as you attach a battery like they did.

 

[DeweyAXD]

Not really a common feature for gimbals to have its own battery source, especially if it is going onto or under a flying device (simply because the addition weight is not ideal).

I have been doing a LOT of testing with the new Feiyu Tech FY G3 gimbal personally and even created my own hand held mount for it.

The gimbal itself is in its infancy. It is very rugged, a good weight and it can be flipped around for use on top of, say a plane, car or boat.

*Shown above in its 'underslung' mode on my F450 (Phantom mounting plate just released).

*shown above in its upright mode on my 3D print hand held mount

Is it plug and play?... well its as close as most gimbals come to it (especially on a F450/550 with rail mounts). You plug a 2s to 4s power source directly into the board and it turns on. Unlike many it's control board fully is hidden in the motor mount so the only 'board' is for power. It also has 2 buttons that allow you to manually pitch it up and down (without needing an RC remote to do so).

So far IMO it is good... but not yet great. I and a few others are working hard with Feiyu Tech to report problems and suggest improvements. Biggest issue so far is roll drift when yawing which spoils the visuals, soft dampeners (easy fix) and too aggressive tilting. These are things they are working on in the next firmware release we believe. So far Feiyu Tech are responding very well and very fast to fixes and requests (bit of a language barrier as always!).

If they can fix the roll drift then dare I say it, it will be better than a Tarot (equal in image quality but more useable in other applications). I can't see it beating the Zenmuse and with the price drop that is still hands down the best for a Phantom/F450. Hopefully the lower price will give Feiyu Tech a kick in the *** on the changes as it simply won't compete at only £120 less than a lower price Zenmuse.

LOTS more info on my blog about it here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=499128 (second one down).

Video of it in use. This is without using the dampeners at all but you can see how when I yaw, the horizon rolls by about 305 degrees... not what you want from a gimbal!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvydJ4MokUA[/youtube]

EDIT - Links:
http://www.feiyu-tech.com/product-en.ph ... =39&step=1
http://www.firstpersonview.co.uk/gimbal ... ess-gimbal

Phantom Mount is now out but I think its on a slow boat to retailers (not in the UK yet): http://www.firstpersonview.co.uk/access ... ntom-mount