Yes soldering is the most reliable, and I would even get further, don't solder wires "in the air" and then tape them, rather use a small prototype board as here

(Don't worry, in this example there are several additional wires for oscilloscope measurement.)

I found this practical when I had to solder/desolder some wires without touching the other ones, for example to connect the osd to the anyvolt or to the battery directly, to add or remove capacitors etc. Now the pcb has been cut to its smaller possible size, and finds its place ahead inside the cockpit.

Originally Posted by rcmonster99

I use a servo Y lead. I must say that all my cameras are sporting servo connectors.

How'd you get the servo connector on your camera? I bought a KX171 and it has a bulky RCA on one end and a Molex micro connector (I think?) on the other end. I'm trying to decide if it's better to just use the RCA jack and the barrel plugs that are on both my camera and VTx or if I should cut off the bulky connectors and solder a harness out of servo wires.

If you have too many solder joints does it affect the video quality? I found one site that sells a Molex connector with 10 cm of lead. But that's not long enough to span between my camera and the VTx, so I would have to bridge the gap with some other wire. So would having two solder gaps affect the video or not really?

mrfliboy & flipflap - maybe your pictures will help give me a better idea of what a system looks like but my work blocks the images, so I'll have to look later. Thx for everyone's help!

Originally Posted by S9coldfire

How'd you get the servo connector on your camera? I bought a KX171 and it has a bulky RCA on one end and a Molex micro connector (I think?) on the other end. I'm trying to decide if it's better to just use the RCA jack and the barrel plugs that are on both my camera and VTx or if I should cut off the bulky connectors and solder a harness out of servo wires.

If you have too many solder joints does it affect the video quality? I found one site that sells a Molex connector with 10 cm of lead. But that's not long enough to span between my camera and the VTx, so I would have to bridge the gap with some other wire. So would having two solder gaps affect the video or not really?

mrfliboy & flipflap - maybe your pictures will help give me a better idea of what a system looks like but my work blocks the images, so I'll have to look later. Thx for everyone's help!

You can have longer connections for the camera wires.

I wouldn't give a definitive limit, but some comparisons.

In the PC world, you can find 5 meter cables to connect the screen to the PC. It's using a shielded cable and you can see a slight image degradation, but really slight. The video signals used in this case have a far greater bandwidth (~180 MHz) than our tv signals (~6MHz).

So don't have too much worries about using for example 30-50 cm of cable for the camera cable. What's more, camera signal is around 1Vpp, it's not a minute signal which would be more sensitive to noise around.

So try it first, I would use a twisted servo wire.

Another comparison : the network cable cat 5 that everyone is using is not shielded (utp = unshielded twisted pairs), but it carries high frequency signals (for the 100mbps) up to 150 m away, most of the time they are grouped with lots of similar cables and electrical installations, without any interference. these cables are similar to the twisted servo cables.

But it's important that they are twisted.

Originally Posted by S9coldfire

If you have too many solder joints does it affect the video quality? I found one site that sells a Molex connector with 10 cm of lead. But that's not long enough to span between my camera and the VTx, so I would have to bridge the gap with some other wire. So would having two solder gaps affect the video or not really?

You can have 50 solder joints and it won't affect the video quality. I don't even twist my wires. I simply cut a servo extension and solder it to the molex leader.

-Alex

Originally Posted by beginner4life

If im understanding your question right than its the same uplink. Of course you must have some sort of GPS/stabilization unit such as an FY-20 combined with a Dragon OSD

Oh of course. I was planning on using ArdupilotMega for all of my autopilot and telemetry stuff. I was just wondering if the autopilot would need its own dedicated transmitter on the ground, or if perhaps I could use the same transmitter that I would use to manually control it as I would to send autopilot commands.


Edit: Ah HA!! Okay, now I think I understand how this works a bit more.... I was thinking all of the autopilot stuff (corrections etc..) was actually generated by the autopilot on board the aircraft. But in actuality, the corrections and such are really generated on the ground, and sent out through the manual flight transmitter. Or am I wrong? I've looked all over for some kind of a description as to how this system actually .... works.

Originally Posted by Demeanor

Excellent !! Thanks !!


Edit: Sorry, one more question - based on your experience, between 900MHz and 2.4GHz, which one do you think would be best for the camera?

It's a pot shot. Some people (like myself) prefer 900MHz, while others prefer 2.4 GHz.

If you are flying out in the middle of nowhere, 2.4GHz is likely better. If you are flying near a park or housing, 900 is the way to go.

Posted this earlier in another thread but seems it might be better suited here...

Just looking at getting into FPV on my Gaui 330x. Mostly for just close park flyer type use for playing around with 500-600 meter range or so, no long range requiremnt for now anyway.

Looking at the Fatshark RCV922 5.8 system:
http://www.nghobbies.com/cart/index....aa322f3990e34f

Realistically is this a good starting point and is the included Tx/Rx good enough for this sort of distance or would one relaly need to use a seperate Rx than those built in or a different Tx?

Any general suggestions on a good "all in one" kit or suggested setup for such use?

Will be using DX6i 2.4 Spektrum Tx/Rx so needs to be something compatible.

Hi Alex,

Whats your opinion on using 1.3ghz video system? Are there any real problems other than the UHF interference and GPS issues?

thanks

Originally Posted by matyou

Hi Alex,

Whats your opinion on using 1.3ghz video system? Are there any real problems other than the UHF interference and GPS issues?

thanks

I'm still waiting on UHF. I do fly 1.3GHz and like it a lot. No GPS issues at all and less servo jitter.

Originally Posted by IBCrazy

The link is broken. I believe you are looking at the 200mW system? I would recommend 500mW simply for clarity of video. The Fatshark system is pretty good for an all in one.

-Alex

Thanks. I've fixed the link, basically its the Fat Shark RCV922 V2 5.8GHz Aviator Edition with 100mW Tx

Looking for something to use with Spektrum setup so this seemed to match up well.

Originally Posted by beginner4life

If im understanding your question right than its the same uplink. Of course you must have some sort of GPS/stabilization unit such as an FY-20 combined with a Dragon OSD

Hi there! to clarify, DOSD will work without GPS (no autopilot or compass etc) and without stability (no AHI without IMU)

The autopilot functions can work without stabilisation as it uses GPS for course correction (you mat need a reasonably stable airframe)

cheers

Mike

Originally Posted by kstmark

It's one of the best solutions. Less wiring and tested as well. For a better price try here

Thanks but the one you referenced is the same price as the one I was looking at andthe HK one is also on backorder. The one I linked to is in stock and located in Canada where I am, so not sure why you say price is better.

What I'm really looking to confirm is how well this actually will work with the 100mW Tx and built in Rx and what sort of range I can expect.

Also would this unit upgrade well down the road if I wanted to add OSD, head tracking, and better range? Like to get something simple for now that will grow as I move forward with FPV if possible.

Originally Posted by schooner2000

Thanks but the one you referenced is the same price as the one I was looking at andthe HK one is also on backorder. The one I linked to is in stock and located in Canada where I am, so not sure why you say price is better.

What I'm really looking to confirm is how well this actually will work with the 100mW Tx and built in Rx and what sort of range I can expect.

Also would this unit upgrade well down the road if I wanted to add OSD, head tracking, and better range? Like to get something simple for now that will grow as I move forward with FPV if possible.

OSD is been connected between camera and vtx(video tx) so it is possible. Head tracking has to do with your tx, you'll need 2 more channels, forget it with dx6 or can use a seperate (cheap) tx for headtracking. For a better range in the future you can upgrade your vtx.

Thanks again. Does the built in Rx in the goggles work fairly decent, and what sort of range with this stock setup?

Originally Posted by schooner2000

Thanks but the one you referenced is the same price as the one I was looking at andthe HK one is also on backorder. The one I linked to is in stock and located in Canada where I am, so not sure why you say price is better.

Maybe he's got a customer bonus price. If you shop from HK a lot the price on several items is reduced. For instance those goggles are $319.97 when I'm logged in. However, if you're already in Canada and are set on Fatsharks I would definitely buy from Zoltan instead, lower shipping, no import taxes etc will make the total price lower. Also Zoltan is great to do business with.

However, if I were to go down the 5.8GHz road I would try these goggles which have dual VRx (2.4 & 5.8GHz), built in HT and the same resolution as the Fatsharks (640x480). For me they're $429.99: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=12175