[rotormonkey13]

Okay, so I got my gear all wired up, and tested outside the airframe. Looks like it's working more or less. Two questions:

1: How do you guys mount the vtx generally? I'm going to put it on the outside on top of the fuse.. I'd like it to be removeable, so I was thinking maybe some packing tape along the bottom of it and some epoxy glue to glue the tape to the frame. Only thing is, that vtx gets pretty hot, not sure if it'll melt the glue on the tape, and let go.. What do you think? How do most guys mount them?

2: I have a 5v camera I figured I'd power off the ESC's BEC. Well.. I get some pretty wicked interference when the motor runs, and the picture is generally a little fuzzy. I'm guessing it's because I have it running off the ESC's BEC? Is there a way I can filter out the noise? Or should I get a separate BEC just for the camera, or another battery? Seems like a waste just for the cam... Should I just suck it up and get a 12v camera?

Thanks for any input guys.

[Max]

Originally Posted by rotormonkey13

Okay, so I got my gear all wired up, and tested outside the airframe. Looks like it's working more or less. Two questions:

1: How do you guys mount the vtx generally? I'm going to put it on the outside on top of the fuse.. I'd like it to be removeable, so I was thinking maybe some packing tape along the bottom of it and some epoxy glue to glue the tape to the frame. Only thing is, that vtx gets pretty hot, not sure if it'll melt the glue on the tape, and let go.. What do you think? How do most guys mount them?

on a glider with removable wings, I mount my VTX on top of the fuse where the wings join. It just sits there with double sided tape. The airflow over the VTX keeps it cool.
Next, I run an inverted Vee antenna from the VTX to the rudder using RG174 coax, where it is imbedded into the rudder so that it is almost invisible.
This makes it very streamlined and efficient. It also keeps the VTX antenna as far away from the RX as possible.

Originally Posted by rotormonkey13

2: I have a 5v camera I figured I'd power off the ESC's BEC. Well.. I get some pretty wicked interference when the motor runs, and the picture is generally a little fuzzy. I'm guessing it's because I have it running off the ESC's BEC? Is there a way I can filter out the noise? Or should I get a separate BEC just for the camera, or another battery? Seems like a waste just for the cam... Should I just suck it up and get a 12v camera?

Thanks for any input guys.

Your camera (and VTX AND OSD) should be powered off a SEPARATE battery or else you will suffer this fate. My VTX/Camera/OSD battery is usually a 3S 1000mah battery. If you are using a 5V camera, then you need to add a BEC to power the camera. That is one good reason for having a 12V camera, you just run the VTX/DOSD/Camera from a single 12V power supply. In your case you will need the BEC, but now that it is separate from the battery powering your plane/ESC, your noise issue will be gone.

[rotormonkey13]

10-4. Thanks Max. I was afraid that might be the case. Too bad, it'd be more convenient just to use one battery for all of it. C'est la vie. Got another battery last night. Time to hit the soldering station again.

[Yuvski]

If you have the budget for it a 12v camera is a great idea.
Securitycamera2000 got some great cams for a very reasonable price.

[buffythesaint]

I've been doing FPV for a few years now and all my rigs have a single battery for everything. The turnigy 3a 5/6v bec has a clean( low noise) output that can run a 5v camera and vtx. The 5v gear runs cooler compared to 12v gear(wasted power in the form of heat). The bec will also provide a steady voltage as you battery voltage drops. Running a bec allows greater then 3s operation, more efficient at higher voltages. You can run both, a 5v and 12v combination too. A 5 v bec for the 5v gear, including your radio rx and servos, and a 12v bec for the 12v gear, but you would need to run a 4s setup to use a 12v bec. If you want added security, get an OSD with rth. That way, if you lose video, home it will come.

[rotormonkey13]

Buffy,

Well, I did pick up another battery and testing has shown that it did solve the problem. I don't think BEC noise was the issue as it was fine while I moved servos around. Only when adding power to the motor did the video start going ape. So I suspect noise from the ESC in the circuit was what was causing the issue. Which makes sense since ESCs are electrically noisy devices.

If you're running stuff off a single battery setup, what have you done if anything to avoid video problems while running the motor? Or are you saying just running everything from a BEC fixes that? I would think it'd still be a problem just because the ESC is still part of the circuit... No?

[buffythesaint]

Originally Posted by rotormonkey13

Buffy,

Well, I did pick up another battery and testing has shown that it did solve the problem. I don't think BEC noise was the issue as it was fine while I moved servos around. Only when adding power to the motor did the video start going ape. So I suspect noise from the ESC in the circuit was what was causing the issue. Which makes sense since ESCs are electrically noisy devices.

If you're running stuff off a single battery setup, what have you done if anything to avoid video problems while running the motor? Or are you saying just running everything from a BEC fixes that? I would think it'd still be a problem just because the ESC is still part of the circuit... No?

The bec in the esc is not designed for fpv equipment power. It may be ok to power the servos and rx. The only esc that I use the bec is the CC ICE series and it's not on a FPV rig. I never use it on my FPV rigs. When you power up the motor, the three motor wires make the noise as they cycle on and off and having the bec part of the esc is not good for video. I tap off the power lines, down stream of my current sensor, before the esc. My seperate bec is positioned away from the esc and motor wires. Use a torrid on the output of the bec to help reduce noise also.

The extra battery also works but I just like the simplicity of a single battery setup. With an osd you can monitor the battery voltage and come home at a predetermined voltage. If you want to get into FPV, you should be able to solder. Make your harness as short as possible, keep video wires away from power wires.

I mentioned the turnigy 3a bec because it worked well for me and it has pretty good clean power for a low price. If you have the funds, I would buy this PSU.

http://team-blacksheep.com/products/product:14

It can be adapted to any 5/12v combination with very good clean power for video. I have an earlier V1 that I'll be testing out this week.

[rotormonkey13]

So you're saying that just using an external bec would have fixed it. That's good to know. Since I've already re-wired everything for two separate batteries, I'll stick with that for the moment. Depending on how things go, I might re-think that later. Thanks for the info buffy.