Help! DJI FPV on airplanes

[llamberll]

I’d like to fly RC airplanes with the DJI FPV system.

I am not familiar with quadcopter electronic components, and honestly I am very inexperienced with RC planes.

I would like to understand how to use the DJI FPV in a plane, and which components I would need. I would like to use the DJI radio if possible, but I don’t know if it would work with a 4 channel RC plane.

I am confused if the DJI air unit would be able to control the ESC and motors, and the servos, or if I would have to use more electronic components.

I’ve tried the DJI support but they weren’t able to help.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I appreciate any help or resources you can give.

 

[ElectriSean]

You can do this, but I believe it will require a flight controller (FC) to get you the PWM outputs you need to control the servos. FC's are pretty cheap, especially compared to the initial outlay for the DJI system

 

[Hondo76251]

It can be done, but if you want to get into fixed wing FPV, I wouldn't suggest starting with DJI. There are a ton of great inexpensive analog cameras that are pretty incredible.

If you have your heart set on the digital HD, I'd get the package that has 2 air units and the goggles (that's what I've done) and use them as stand alone camera/tx units. Then you can run a normal TX/RX/servo setup and keep things simple, at least for starting out...

 

[FDS]

Be aware that DJI‘s unit needs 10v regulated input, so you would need an adjustable “buck jumper” type BEC as regular ones output 5v. It’s also heavy. As noted above the Air unit does not have PWM outputs, so you would use a regular plane receiver and servos. You can’t use those with the DJI radio. That’s why proprietary systems are usually avoided by hobby builders, they are not flexible enough.
A $15 All In One (AOI) camera and VTX along with some simple box goggles like the Eachine Ev800 will get you flying FPV on any plane for under $60 all in. If you had to buy a Flysky radio as well they cost about $45.
If you haven’t bought into DJI then I would look at cheaper options or as advised above get the goggles and air units only or just the goggles. Caddx have a DJI compatible unit available which is smaller and lighter and just handles the HD video.

 

[IanSR]

It can be done, but if you want to get into fixed wing FPV, I wouldn't suggest starting with DJI. There are a ton of great inexpensive analog cameras that are pretty incredible.

If you have your heart set on the digital HD, I'd get the package that has 2 air units and the goggles (that's what I've done) and use them as stand alone camera/tx units. Then you can run a normal TX/RX/servo setup and keep things simple, at least for starting out...

Yeah go for this setup, you don't need the DJI controller.
This is what I've done too, I've got three air units now, one in a quad with an FRSky R9 receiver setup, and two in planes, the pylon racer plane just have a regular crappy FlySky i6 receiver in and the air unit is connected directly to the 3s battery (I literally soldered it to the battery input on the ESC lol the air units can take a lot of noise), the wing has a bit more room in so has a cheap (£6) Matek PDB in with an F405 FC and the air unit is connected to the PDB.

I have only ever lost video once and that was when a friend powered on their analogue quad on the same frequency I was using (Raceband 4) at 800mw and drowned me out, so do have a contengency plan for if that ever happens (my wing and quad have RTH but the pylon will just glide in) or make sure your friends know not to power on while you are flying, many people assume because it's digital it won't interfere, it does lol.

I would also caution against diving straight in with DJI if you don't have any FPV experience, get a small cheap analogue vtx first and see if you can borrow a set of googles to make sure if really is for you, the DJI system is a big investment and commitment.