Reliable upgrades to my Phantom 1.1.1

[Robbie Gee]

Robbie, there's really no sweat about trimming the door. It's soft and flexible, and if you use a utility knife or X-acto knife with a new blade, it will be real easy. Just be sure to make the notch deep enough that it doesn't press on the wires and long enough that all eight wires can lay side by side in the opening. Good luck...

Thanks rebelyellNC,
I used a utility knife and it was very easy. Now the battery and wires all fit and the door closes nicely. I appreciate the tip. I just ordered a carbon fiber dual battery carrier kit that comes with a battery wire splitter. I'm going to get another Multistar 4000 maH battery so I can have 8000 maH of flight time. I'm really looking forward to that kit.

 

[rebelyellNC]

Hey Robbie, glad the battery door mod went well. I was considering the dual Multistar 4000s since I have three of them, but was concerned about the weight. I'm already at 1204 grams with full FPV gear and Trackimo. Others that have tried dual 4000s say it flies like a lead balloon. Please let us know how your dual mount works out and the flight time you experience with both batteries hooked up. I already have the XT60 Y connector/splitter, so I'm very interested in how it works out. I'll keep watching this thread, hoping to see your update.

Fly safe/ fly happy...

 

[Green_Phantom]

Thanks rebelyellNC,
I used a utility knife and it was very easy. Now the battery and wires all fit and the door closes nicely. I appreciate the tip. I just ordered a carbon fiber dual battery carrier kit that comes with a battery wire splitter. I'm going to get another Multistar 4000 maH battery so I can have 8000 maH of flight time. I'm really looking forward to that kit.

Cancel that order and forget about running those dual monster batteries. If you ordered the kit that is like two shelves and the batteries kind of stick out the side, you're going to be in for a rude awakening. I had that setup, and with the kit, 2 stock batteries, Tarot gimbal, GoPro using P2 props the thing felt like I was trying to fly a frozen turkey.

I only gained about 2 minutes of flight time over stock because I had to have the throttle turned up so high just to hover, to compensate for the added weight, as well as those battery tray things getting in the way of the air being pushed down by the props. Honestly, those 2 minutes weren't worth it. The thing was heavy, and just didn't fly like a Phantom anymore.

Like Is aid, if you can still cancel, do it. You won't be sorry you did.

 

[rebelyellNC]

Hey Greenie, very helpful advice! Thanks a lot for posting your experience. I had read other posts where they were a little unsure if they liked twin batteries or not. But yours leaves nothing to the imagination. And I like your analogy of the frozen turkey, I got a real laugh out of it . Robbie, sounds like you need to heed this guy's advice and forget about the setup. If you still get the battery tray, maybe you could sell on Ebay and recoup at least some of your investment.

 

[Green_Phantom]

Instead of just tossing them I actually kept the trays and ended up cutting them up to make some other random pieces here and there. Carbon fiber is some tough stuff.

 

[Mallion]

If you're going to add really big batteries and larger doors, then you really want to think about flipping your Phantom around inside the case and effectively 'flying it backwards', except it won't be, it'll be forwards, because you reversed all the internals. The reason for this is: too much weight at the front with the battery hanging out, with a gimbal as well, pushes the CoG too far forward and puts a real strain on the front motors and it also flies like cr4p. That's why the Phantom 2 has the battery at the rear: to balance out the weight of the the gimbal at the front.

If you have a cheap OSD (N1-OSD video plug ) then you can manage without being able to see the LED, which will now be at the front - add an audible alarm on the balance plug through a hole in the side of the door for good measure, as the LEDs hard to see more than 50ft away anyway. You might have to drill a hole or two in the bottom to mount your gimbal, as it won't line up with the original holes, but that's not really a problem. Either araldite a small nut inside the Phantom for a (short) bolt to engage with, or have a bolt inside hanging down with a nut on the gimbal end. Just keep any upwards pointing bolts short enough not to push into your Lipos.

 

[IflyinWY]

If you're going to add really big batteries and larger doors, then you really want to think about flipping your Phantom around inside the case and effectively 'flying it backwards', except it won't be, it'll be forwards, because you reversed all the internals. The reason for this is: too much weight at the front with the battery hanging out, with a gimbal as well, pushes the CoG too far forward and puts a real strain on the front motors and it also flies like cr4p. That's why the Phantom 2 has the battery at the rear: to balance out the weight of the the gimbal at the front.

If you have a cheap OSD (N1-OSD video plug ) then you can manage without being able to see the LED, which will now be at the front - add an audible alarm on the balance plug through a hole in the side of the door for good measure, as the LEDs hard to see more than 50ft away anyway. You might have to drill a hole or two in the bottom to mount your gimbal, as it won't line up with the original holes, but that's not really a problem. Either araldite a small nut inside the Phantom for a (short) bolt to engage with, or have a bolt inside hanging down with a nut on the gimbal end. Just keep any upwards pointing bolts short enough not to push into your Lipos.

Hey Mallion, nice post, and Welcome to the party.

I don't think I've heard of anyone doing the internal flip. Do you know of any videos which may help with performing the task?

Here is something for you to hang on to. It works well, please try it.
This will help you find things here. It's Google Custom Search for just our forum.
Enter your text in the middle of the page, not at the top.
https://cse.google.com/cse/publicurl?cx=014775389315664725445:ejku2ysgyhi

 

[syotr]

Another option for modding the battery compartment and balancing the load.
http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/p1-fc40-battery-compartment-mod.35457/

 

[IflyinWY]

Another option for modding the battery compartment and balancing the load.
http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/p1-fc40-battery-compartment-mod.35457/

Thanks for bringing that to our attention syotr.
It must make the bird fly much more efficiently when the CG is where it should be. When my P1 gets here I may just have to do just what you did.

 

[Robbie Gee]

Cancel that order and forget about running those dual monster batteries. If you ordered the kit that is like two shelves and the batteries kind of stick out the side, you're going to be in for a rude awakening. I had that setup, and with the kit, 2 stock batteries, Tarot gimbal, GoPro using P2 props the thing felt like I was trying to fly a frozen turkey.

I only gained about 2 minutes of flight time over stock because I had to have the throttle turned up so high just to hover, to compensate for the added weight, as well as those battery tray things getting in the way of the air being pushed down by the props. Honestly, those 2 minutes weren't worth it. The thing was heavy, and just didn't fly like a Phantom anymore.

Like Is aid, if you can still cancel, do it. You won't be sorry you did.

Too late to cancel. I installed the battery platforms, strapped on two batteries and proceeded to crash my Phantom into a tall tree. I've never lost control before with using just one battery. I had to climb about 20 up the tree to retrieve my Phantom and I somehow lost one of my snap-on prop guards. It's stuck somewhere in the tree and I just can't see it. So my dual battery experiment failed miserably. Two Multistar batteries is too much load along with my camera on a basic bracket. BTW, I got a Chinese GoPro knockoff called the Xiaomi Yi. Got it from GearBest.com. Although it does a beautiful job of movies it ain't no GoPro. Still, for $80 it is well worth it until I can afford a gimble and a GoPro.

 

[Green_Phantom]

Hate to say, but I told you so.

So how accurate was my comparing it to flying a frozen turkey?

 

[IflyinWY]

Too late to cancel. I installed the battery platforms, strapped on two batteries and proceeded to crash my Phantom into a tall tree. I've never lost control before with using just one battery. I had to climb about 20 up the tree to retrieve my Phantom and I somehow lost one of my snap-on prop guards. It's stuck somewhere in the tree and I just can't see it. So my dual battery experiment failed miserably. Two Multistar batteries is too much load along with my camera on a basic bracket. BTW, I got a Chinese GoPro knockoff called the Xiaomi Yi. Got it from GearBest.com. Although it does a beautiful job of movies it ain't no GoPro. Still, for $80 it is well worth it until I can afford a gimble and a GoPro.

While you are waiting for your new gimbal, you may want to consider spending another $10 to $15 on a scale. If you put the bird over the 1200 gram mark, it will fly like a frozen turkey with a chicken attached.

Which 2 MultiStar batteries were you flying with? If it was 2 4000 mAh batteries, I'm not surprised you lost control.

Sorry to hear you smashed it. Luckily it was heavy enough to leave a guard behind and fall to where you could reach it.

 

[Mallion]

Hey Mallion, nice post, and Welcome to the party.

I don't think I've heard of anyone doing the internal flip. Do you know of any videos which may help with performing the task?

Sorry, only remember reading about someone doing it about 2 years ago. Since the Phantom 2 arrived I guess it's not been such a priority for people to put the larger batteries in. Don't think it should be too hard though, as I think all you'd need to do would be to reverse the FC and wire up the motors differently. I've not done it: just slightly enlarged the hole to get 2800Mah batteries in there and pass the plug in beside them - as they're too fat for the plug to go over the top. Doesn't affect the CoG adversely, although I only use my old P1 for a bit of FPVing around, as my P2 gets more attention.

 

[Robbie Gee]

Hate to say, but I told you so.

So how accurate was my comparing it to flying a frozen turkey?

Very accurate. I bought the kit before your post otherwise I wouldn't have bought the kit. Fortunately it wasn't very expensive.

 

[Mallion]

Very accurate. I bought the kit before your post otherwise I wouldn't have bought the kit. Fortunately it wasn't very expensive.

Have you changed your gains? When you're effectively trying to recreate a Phantom 2 then it might perform better using Phantom 2 gains to carry that extra weight about.

 

[Robbie Gee]

While you are waiting for your new gimbal, you may want to consider spending another $10 to $15 on a scale. If you put the bird over the 1200 gram mark, it will fly like a frozen turkey with a chicken attached.

Which 2 MultiStar batteries were you flying with? If it was 2 4000 mAh batteries, I'm not surprised you lost control.

Sorry to hear you smashed it. Luckily it was heavy enough to leave a guard behind and fall to where you could reach it.

Yeah it was two Multistar 4000maH. I don't have much of a load otherwise. My camera is not on a gimbal. Just a simple bracket. I do need to get a scale to make sure the load is within reasonable limits.

 

[IflyinWY]

Yeah it was two Multistar 4000maH. I don't have much of a load otherwise. My camera is not on a gimbal. Just a simple bracket. I do need to get a scale to make sure the load is within reasonable limits.

MultiStar 4000 weighs 247.6 grams, according to my scale... Yikes!

Your elevation will have an effect on performance as well.
I'm flying at 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level most of the time.
Sometimes I am flying at 8,000 feet. Those flights are pretty short due to how fast the battery is drained.

 

[Mallion]

For a light 3-axis Gimbal that won't break the bank and will hopefully work OK (better than that last disappointment, the DYS Smart gimbal), the FY 3D Mini is a possibility.

I've got one on order, but looks like they're not quite in stock yet and only 'beta testers' are getting them. But, increasingly annoyed with my Zenmuse, so at only 149g, I'm hoping this will be a direct replacement and give similar flight times.

www.banggood.com/FYMiNi3D3-AxisBrushlessGimbalForGopro4Gopro3Gopro3SportCamera-p-978464.html?p=SP26110641652012060!

From the dimensions you'll need either Vision or Phantom 2 slightly taller landing gear to keep it off the ground (about 1cm) or the larger, wider ones, although they have problems fitting in cases and backpacks etc.

Manual etc. is here: http://www.feiyu-tech.com/product-en.php?mlist=3&id=51&step=3

 

[Robbie Gee]

Have you changed your gains? When you're effectively trying to recreate a Phantom 2 then it might perform better using Phantom 2 gains to carry that extra weight about.

I put everything back to stock for now but I did change my vertical gain by about 25% before I tried the dual batteries. I have no reference point so I didn't know how much is safe or if changing them is detrimental in any way. I'm still very much a beginner and have a lot to learn. Thanks for the graphic. I may just try the settings anyway. Are there any downsides to doing this much increase in gains?

 

[Mallion]

I put everything back to stock for now but I did change my vertical gain by about 25% before I tried the dual batteries. I have no reference point so I didn't know how much is safe or if changing them is detrimental in any way. I'm still very much a beginner and have a lot to learn. Thanks for the graphic. I may just try the settings anyway. Are there any downsides to doing this much increase in gains?

If your Phantom is very light, the P2 gains might make it feel a bit too reactive, but as it apparently isn't, it needs these values (or something like them) to deal with carrying that extra weight about. All the gains are is 'Speed of response to change". You put in lower values and it responds more slowly, both to your inputs and being pushed by the wind. Very high values on a light aircraft can cause it to overreact and then react back again and it wobbles about a bit, but not much chance of that with your setup. You could try just going up in stages if you'd prefer until you reach a point you're happy with.