Power to Gopro drains battery.

aihome · Apr 16, 2014

I've had my new P2 with H3-2D for a couple of weeks now and very happy with overall performance, video is smooth as can be.
However the fact that it feeds power to the Gopro and not being able to disable this in any practical form is definatelly a design
flaw as this surely helps drain the battery faster.

I am surprise to not see anyone here discuss this. Although I've seen people on Youtube pull out the connector on the gimbal leaving camera stand alone...this of course kills the direct video feed which I like because it makes for a very clean install FPV install.

Now I discovered a pinout that tells pins 25-26, I assume cutting off these contacts will do the trick but afraid to mess with
such a perfect gimbal. It a shame thst DJI did not have any foresight on this in design.

http://goprouser.freeforums.org/the-gop ... 97-50.html
WBAT+ input - ext. power for camera
WBAT+ input - ext. power for camera

Anyone have any opinions?, willing to experiment? let us know please!

Best

Max B

rilot · Apr 17, 2014

As long as the GoPro battery is fully charged before you fly, it'll make hardly any difference to your flight time. Certainly not worth the hassle of messing around.

Bluegrass · Jun 15, 2014

I personally like the GoPro being powered by the Phantom. I don't need to worry about pulling the camera off the gimbal to remove the battery to charge it. I never need to worry if my GoPro battery is charged or not. I thought it was a nice feature.

fpvjon · Jun 24, 2014

I have a Phantom 2 with the H3-3D for Phantom 2. My GoPro does not charge on the gimbal mini USB cable. It seems to me that it drains the battery more quickly. I have two GoPro cameras and the one on the Phantom needs charging every day. I have switches batteries and it is the same. I think my Phantom or gimball is draining my battery.

Garysam · Jun 24, 2014

fpvjon said:
I have a Phantom 2 with the H3-3D for Phantom 2. My GoPro does not charge on the gimbal mini USB cable. It seems to me that it drains the battery more quickly. I have two GoPro cameras and the one on the Phantom needs charging every day. I have switches batteries and it is the same. I think my Phantom or gimball is draining my battery.

I have same set up and sometimes I feel like that too wondering what your flight times are?

OI Photography · Jun 24, 2014

fpvjon said:
I have a Phantom 2 with the H3-3D for Phantom 2. My GoPro does not charge on the gimbal mini USB cable. It seems to me that it drains the battery more quickly. I have two GoPro cameras and the one on the Phantom needs charging every day. I have switches batteries and it is the same. I think my Phantom or gimball is draining my battery.

My gopro sometimes does that whether it's on the Phantom/gimbal or not, I've gotten in the habit of popping the battery out and back in when I turn it off, they're known for continuing to drain the battery even after they've been manually switched off. If you're concerned about the Phantom draining it you can just disconnect the USB plug when not flying, but I doubt that's the issue.

When flying, the drain on the battery from the gimbal (even when charging the gopro) is very minimal compared to the draw from the motors (like less than 5%) and wouldn't even take a full minute off your flight time, probably much less.