Mini Arrow fpv electronics on a budget?

[kdobson83]

Title says it all. Will be building a mini arrow soon and want to have a fpv setup ready when I build. But, I'm on a budget. Nothing too cheap, I still want quality, just best bang for my buck. Was looking at those all in one micro 25mw setup's but I'm not sure they are good enough. Arnt these more aimed at micro quads? Short distance flying? I'm not going long distance but a few trees might get in the way, a few hundred feet distance too. What kind of setup's do u guys use? I'm paring this up with my Eachine VR D2 goggles.

 

[Fyathyrio]

Eachine has an all in one camera & 200mw VTx that should work well. I get about 1/2 mile range with mine without any special effort in a noisy environment. I looped a couple of zip ties over the top to protect the antenna in a crash.

 

[kdobson83]

That connector looks weird, what do u plug it into? Or do u cut it off and put a jst style plug on it? Or a servo lead and plug into the receiver?

 

[French]

That extension wire has a losi connector. I have some old turnigy 950 mah 1S flat and long batteries with a JST and losi - https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-nano-tech-950mah-1s-25-50c-lipo-pack-walkera-v120-x100.html
It slides right under my flight battery.

You could also add on a regular jst to the camera.

200mW may draw a bit too much power from a receiver (could cause a brownout).

I also use the same Camera/VTX. Works well.

 

[Fyathyrio]

Connector is called micro JST and is same micro connector as Blade Inductrix batteries and motors. The camera could run from a 1S battery if desired, but at ~0.5 amp current draw it could pull one down kind of fast and leave you with a dead FPV setup. In order to get clean power without messing with receiver power, I run my setup from a tiny Pololu 5v supply and an LC filter straight from the flight battery. Camera comes with an extension cable to attach to whatever you want, and yo can find more extensions on ebay, HK, whatevs.

 

[kdobson83]

If I cut that plug off and put on a regular jst plug, and make a y harness from my main flight battery, would this work? I plan to run 3s 800mah batteries.

 

[makattack]

No, running that aio off 3s / 11-12v is a sure-"fire" way to burn it out. I believe those aios require 5v regulated which is why some people talk about using a 1s or polulu buck converter or separate ubec. You could pull the power off one cell via the balance plug but that is also going to lead to an unbalanced pack which could cause problems in the future also relating to fires. Also not sure if the 200mw models will work on 3v

 

[kdobson83]

So, smaller fpv setup's like that need roughly 5volts but may brown out a receiver. Getting an external ubec and running that off of the main flight battery is probably the best option I assume. I have some cheap board cameras and may just get a 200mw transmitter and use the cameras I already have. Theres just too many options out there... Lol

 

[Fyathyrio]

With a small wing, weight and balance are important, that's what makes these little AIOs so nice. What ESC are you using, in particular what size UBEC does it have? With only 2 servos to run, if it's a 3A UBEC you will likely be fine.

 

[Bricks]

Cannot do any better for the price if you want to do the soldering. I have built 3 of these they work great.

http://www.drone-maniac.com/diy-che...mw-5-8g-fpv-kit-with-widelens-and-cl-antenna/