my wiring question

[JackBauer]

Hi,

I am new to electronics and struggling to wire the video camera and transmitter from Black Widow together and to the battery supply. I wonder if anyone could direct me -- I think it must be a pretty standard setup. I think Bill is going to help me with it but he has been unavailable.

The video camera runs on 5 volts and has 3 wires -- red, black and yellow.

The transmitter also runs on 5 volts and has 4 wires -- red, black, yellow and white. It says it can accept audio, but the camera only outputs video, so I think that's why the transmitter has an extra wire (?)

I have a battery supply of 4 double-A batteries in a case to use with this, and a black and a red wire come out of that.

I would think I just connect all the wires of the same color together and ignore the white wire. Is that all there is to it? Or does, for example, the video use more than just the yellow wire?

Thanks,

[PeteSchug]

Hi,

I am new to electronics and struggling to wire the video camera and transmitter from Black Widow together and to the battery supply. I wonder if anyone could direct me -- I think it must be a pretty standard setup. I think Bill is going to help me with it but he has been unavailable.

The video camera runs on 5 volts and has 3 wires -- red, black and yellow.

The transmitter also runs on 5 volts and has 4 wires -- red, black, yellow and white. It says it can accept audio, but the camera only outputs video, so I think that's why the transmitter has an extra wire (?)

I have a battery supply of 4 double-A batteries in a case to use with this, and a black and a red wire come out of that.

I would think I just connect all the wires of the same color together and ignore the white wire. Is that all there is to it? Or does, for example, the video use more than just the yellow wire?

Thanks,

That's exactly what I do. I have the white wire folded and have a piece of shrink tubing on it, just in case, to prevent any possibility of a short.

Pete

[JackBauer]

Thanks a lot, Pete, for your answer to my wiring question.

Jack

[JackBauer]

OK, I did the wiring that way and it worked.

But after running for a few minutes, the video signal turned to a black screen with a faint cross-hairs in the center. I assume this is because as the batteries got used up, the voltage dropped below what the system needed.

Is that likely the case? If so, is using a 7-volt Lipo pack and voltage regulator the solution, as has been suggested by someone else?

If the issue is running out of current, I would think adding more 5-volt sources in parallel would be the solution.

Fred

[PeteSchug]

OK, I did the wiring that way and it worked.

But after running for a few minutes, the video signal turned to a black screen with a faint cross-hairs in the center. I assume this is because as the batteries got used up, the voltage dropped below what the system needed.

Is that likely the case? If so, is using a 7-volt Lipo pack and voltage regulator the solution, as has been suggested by someone else?

If the issue is running out of current, I would think adding more 5-volt sources in parallel would be the solution.

Fred

The batteries should not have gotten used up that quickly.

Was anything warm?

Have you tried it again?

Four brand new AA cells would probably be well over six volts and that's a bit much without a regulator.

Pete

[JackBauer]

I don't even know -- are there 5 volt batteries?

[PeteSchug]

I don't even know -- are there 5 volt batteries?

No. AA's are nominally rated at 1.5 so four of them are six volts and brand new they are probably a bit higher than that. It never occurred to me that you would run six volts into five volt equipment without some sort of regulation.

I'd say give it a very brief try, but I'd rather see it tried with a lower voltage just to be safe.

Pete

[robmoll]

No. AA's are nominally rated at 1.5 so four of them are six volts and brand new they are probably a bit higher than that. It never occurred to me that you would run six volts into five volt equipment without some sort of regulation.

I'd say give it a very brief try, but I'd rather see it tried with a lower voltage just to be safe.

Pete
Most rechargeable AAs are 1.2 volts each so 4 would give 4.8 volts.

[JackBauer]

The problem was the camera going blank after a few minutes, using 4 AA nonrechargeable batteries. It would work fine when a few hours later I would try it again with different batteries. Whether it was current running low, voltage running low or voltage too high and a component overheating, I still don't know.

But today I tried it again with all lithium batteries (still non-rechargeable) and it worked fine without stopping for as long as I was out there (about 30 minutes). By the way, today was my first time flying with video!

So I think it was probably the strength of the batteries that was the issue.

On the other hand, I don't want to ruin the system by using too much voltage, so I am going to order a voltage regulator and will be using a NiCad 4-cell rechargeable pack for now to keep the voltage lower until the regulator arrives.

Anyone know the best site to order a voltage regulator from?

[DiveBombDave]

www.dimensionengineering.com

I use a ton of the fixed 5v regulators, and also the "swadj" adjustable regulator.

Dave