Powering 3w Boosters from Phantoms Remote Battery!

[John Locke]

One of those uses a red wire and a black wire, which makes the polarity clear.

Since you already ruined a battery, I suggest you avoid assuming the wire color is correct. It's likely correct, but CONFIRM it with an ohm meter to make absolutely sure. The center of the connector that plugs into the amp should be POSITIVE, and the outside of that connector barrel is negative. Do the same with the battery wires, measure the voltage with a voltmeter to confirm polarity.

It appears you haven't clearly figured out how you miswired things. I suggest you WAIT to do this mod until you confirm how you miswired it the first time. Don't let history repeat itself.

 

[Damager]

Since you already ruined a battery, I suggest you avoid assuming the wire color is correct. It's likely correct, but CONFIRM it with an ohm meter to make absolutely sure. The center of the connector that plugs into the amp should be POSITIVE, and the outside of that connector barrel is negative. Do the same with the battery wires, measure the voltage with a voltmeter to confirm polarity.

It appears you haven't clearly figured out how you miswired things. I suggest you WAIT to do this mod until you confirm how you miswired it the first time. Don't let history repeat itself.

Since you already ruined a battery, I suggest you avoid assuming the wire color is correct. It's likely correct, but CONFIRM it with an ohm meter to make absolutely sure. The center of the connector that plugs into the amp should be POSITIVE, and the outside of that connector barrel is negative. Do the same with the battery wires, measure the voltage with a voltmeter to confirm polarity.

It appears you haven't clearly figured out how you miswired things. I suggest you WAIT to do this mod until you confirm how you miswired it the first time. Don't let history repeat itself.

Thanks, but there's realistically no way for me to figure that out. I didn't take step by step pics. I'm just going to have to go for it. I think I've got it figured out now. Will update everyone in a few days.

 

[Damager]

Success. I should start by saying this is really a pretty simple hack, and I'm an idiot for screwing it up the first time. At least I can help others avoid my mistakes. Tips to add to the work that Solardude already contributed:

1. DONT RUSH. Just slowly plan things out and take your time. If you rush and make the wrong connection, you will fry something and have to spend $$ and time fixing it. In my case I fried something in the power controller that is built into the battery, and it is VERY difficult to get the batteries separately.

2. Make sure you have the right tools. You need 20 gauge wire (preferably red and white or red and black), barrel crimp connectors, a crimping tool, a stripping tool, and closed end crimp connectors. Dont half *** this - you need the right stuff to make sure the connections are tight.

3. When you are first cutting and reconnecting the battery wires (the wires between the battery and the connector), do JUST the reds, strip them, prep red jump wire, install all in barrel connector and crimp tight. THEN do the black wires. This will avoid any possible jumping.

4. On the Amp power wires, use the USB ones as Solardude did. They are longer and more beefy than the other connectors included with the Amps. IMPORTANT: The power connector uses a faint dashed line on the Positive side (as opposed to text on the Negative side). Test it yourself with a meter to verify. Connect the positive (dashed) side to the red wire coming from the red battery wires, and text (Negative) side to jump wire going to the black battery wires.

Have fun! and thanks again to Solardude for the idea and input.

 

[Damager]

One last thought. As I look back at my original battery failure, I believe it's possible that it was caused by heat. When I connected the wiring, I used some cramping barrel connectors that also have heat shrink tubing on them. I carefully warmed with a heatgun, but noticed when I picked the battery up immediately afterwards that the wiring was warm, and the end of the battery where the wires entered was warm. Now I'm wondering if there was some sort of thermal switch that affected the battery.

 

[Chris P Duck]

I found this while searching as I want to do a similar mod. However I really want to tap into a switched supply that is only live when the remote is turned on.

I've had a poke around with a multi-meter but can't find a suitable source, has anyone found one or does anyone have a link to a schematic?

 

[Deleted member 27337]

I found this while searching as I want to do a similar mod. However I really want to tap into a switched supply that is only live when the remote is turned on.

I've had a poke around with a multi-meter but can't find a suitable source, has anyone found one or does anyone have a link to a schematic?

Maybe add a mini relay inside? I know the power button lights up when the remote is on, is it possible to tap into that power to energize a small relay to power on/off the amps using the internal battery as the main power source?

 

[Chris P Duck]

Maybe add a mini relay inside? I know the power button lights up when the remote is on, is it possible to tap into that power to energize a small relay to power on/off the amps using the internal battery as the main power source?

That's a good shout!
Just need to check the power light never flashes!

 

[Gori]

Hello,
I received my 3w booster from Max UAv, but I think I have a problem with the led...
On Sunshans, I have 2 leds: the white and the blue. the white is on ( power with 3s lipo ) and the blue is not blinking. But according to the manual, the blue led must blink.
Can you confirm your blue led is blinking ??
Thanks for your help
best regards

 

[GadgetGuy]

Hello,
I received my 3w booster from Max UAv, but I think I have a problem with the led...
On Sunshans, I have 2 leds: the white and the blue. the white is on ( power with 3s lipo ) and the blue is not blinking. But according to the manual, the blue led must blink.
Can you confirm your blue led is blinking ??
Thanks for your help
best regards

On the ground or in the air? For the control side or the video side? One side blinks, the other is constant.

 

[Gori]

On the ground or in the air? For the control side or the video side? One side blinks, the other is constant.

Hello,
on the ground or in the air, the blue led is always on and never blinking.
I have a best transmission with antenna without booster ( see picture from excell file )

 

[GadgetGuy]

Which side are you trying to amplify, video or control? Try hooking the amp up to the other side. You may have them reversed.

 

[Gori]

Booster are on a phantom 4 controller.
Below a link to show the fast blinking of the blue led. With eyes, we can't see the blinking.

If the booster are working good, why my transmission is lower with booster ? I will do more test to understand where is the problem.
And I will contact Sunshans in order to ask if this very fast blinking blue led is normal.
No answer about my questions from Max UAV Europe.... too bad !!...

 

[GadgetGuy]

Try hooking the amp up to the other antenna lead on the back of the panel, as you may have reversed the lead outputs during the transmitter mod. If your results are still unsatisfactory, recheck all your connections and your wiring inside the transmitter.

 

[Chris P Duck]

Try hooking the amp up to the other antenna lead on the back of the panel, as you may have reversed the lead outputs during the transmitter mod. If your results are still unsatisfactory, recheck all your connections and your wiring inside the transmitter.

Looks like he has boosted both sides, you can see the 2nd amp towards the end of the vid.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Looks like he has boosted both sides, you can see the 2nd amp towards the end of the vid.

Hmmm. Probably a bad transmitter mod, then. I let someone else do mine, so I always know who to blame!

 

[Chris P Duck]

Hmmm. Probably a bad transmitter mod, then. I let someone else do mine, so I always know who to blame!

Wouldn't make sense I'm afraid.
If it was a bad transmitter mod he would have poor results both with and without the booster. He's only getting poor results with. (Transmitter mod really is VERY simple by the way)

One thing I've noticed is the booster gives a worse signal in noisey environments, probably as the video side acts like a hearing aid and will also be boosting all the background noise.
So try flying in a remote area with and without the amps and see if you get better range with the boosters there

 

[GadgetGuy]

Wouldn't make sense I'm afraid.
If it was a bad transmitter mod he would have poor results both with and without the booster. He's only getting poor results with. (Transmitter mod really is VERY simple by the way)

One thing I've noticed is the booster gives a worse signal in noisey environments, probably as the video side acts like a hearing aid and will also be boosting all the background noise.
So try flying in a remote area with and without the amps and see if you get better range with the boosters there

Good suggestion. Something is clearly not right. If he is boosting both signals, the boosters themselves will interfere with eachother, depending upon the brand and model. Try only boosting the video side, as control without video is pretty useless. Simple mods are not always easy, and if you've no prior experience doing one, you can do a lot of damage, especially if you turn the power on with no antenna hooked up!

 

[Mikevipe]

Just completed this mod. I took a few photos listed below. I added in a small toggle switch from Radio Shack to eliminate having to constantly unplug the boosters from the battery. I drilled a hole in the front of the controller to install it and used 3-wire telephone splice connectors to split power at the switch to both amps as well as at the battery to splice in. I used only the outter red and outter black wires from the battery leaving the center red/black untouched. I was able to use the remote to fly 7 charges worth of batteries until it went from 2 to 1 white LED.

For the connectors to match the ones included with the boosters I went to my local RC hobby shop and purchase some male JST battery connectors. This way when I need to break it down I don't have hanging wires to risk ripping out of the remote.

Few notes to consider, due to the short leads on the controller's battery I had to flip the battery over so the wires came out below the charge port vs above. I cut the plastic battery housing with a razor to allow the wires to come through. This way I could route the wires and crimps in the unused space below the battery. Otherwise I found they can shift and actually block your controls from going up/down/left or right depending on where the wires landed.

I unscrewed the left and right finger controls and ran the red wire down the left side and black down the right using one corner off each of the finger controls to hold the wires down. (This allowed the wire to be pinched in between the screw stub and the black frame around the controls).

I also added JST male and female adapters at the battery so if I need to open the remote in the future I can seperate the back of the controller from the front.

 

[NoBiffBetter]

What kinda range you getting? Prolly could go father than the batt can take you I assume!


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[Mikevipe]

Prior to the mod I was getting only about 1800 feet due to being in a high interference are with huge power distribution towers and hills everywhere.

With the new mod my best flight was 10,384 feet.