Modding My Fatshark Goggles (Maybe)

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
This past November Hobbyking had countless days of sales, and I was able to pick up a pair of Fatshark Dominator V3s for $100 off! I also got a Quanum HB5808 receiver (LaForge clone) to go along with it. I have been rocking the same pair of Quanum DIY V1 goggles since I started FPV, so this is a big deal for me.

If you have seen my builds in the past (its been awhile) you might know I like a very clean setup. One of the things people do with their LaForge modules is route the wiring internally in the goggles. While I don't doubt my abilities, these are brand new goggles (I haven't even flown with them yet), so I am a bit hesitant to start hacking and slashing just yet.

Has anyone else done this mod with their goggles? How did it turn out? Got any tips?

I am also going to want to design some custom covers to cover these receiver modules up. I've seen some on Thingiverse, but I want the lowest profile, most professional look possible. Let me know if you have any nice door designs. For now I am bringing out the calipers and working on my CAD skills.
 

ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
I did the mod and failed pretty miserably. I ended up breaking one of the ribbon cable connectors on the Rx board and had to send them in to get repaired. New Rx board + shipping both ways ended up around $100. I'm never ever opening them up again. On the bright side, Fatshark support was awesome and fast, and they work well now. The LaForge came with pretty decent doors so I didn't have to mess with that at all.

Good luck :)
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I did the mod and failed pretty miserably. I ended up breaking one of the ribbon cable connectors on the Rx board and had to send them in to get repaired. New Rx board + shipping both ways ended up around $100. I'm never ever opening them up again. On the bright side, Fatshark support was awesome and fast, and they work well now. The LaForge came with pretty decent doors so I didn't have to mess with that at all.

Good luck :)

That is exactly why I'm afraid to mess with the LaForge modules for diversity on my Attitude V4's (I know, everyone tells me I should have gotten the Dominators, but I got the Attitude V4 goggles for a STEAL on a Black Friday deal; I couldn't pass it up, and the red & black looked pretty slick). I don't want to cut anything up for the modules to run. I like the features of the LaForge, but I'll probably end up going to True-D if I want diversity, just because it's all one module and doesn't require modding the goggles.
 

ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
Banggood had a 1 day VIP sale on the Dominators, they were about $200 off, I just couldn't pass it up. Of course they took the absolute stupidest route from China to Canada, making an odd detour/rest stop in Switzerland... Anyway, definitely get diversity, it is seriously fantastic. If I had to do it all over, I would have gone with the True-D just for the ease of install.
 

French

Construire Voler S'écraser Répéter
That is exactly why I'm afraid to mess with the LaForge modules for diversity on my Attitude V4's (I know, everyone tells me I should have gotten the Dominators, but I got the Attitude V4 goggles for a STEAL on a Black Friday deal; I couldn't pass it up, and the red & black looked pretty slick). I don't want to cut anything up for the modules to run. I like the features of the LaForge, but I'll probably end up going to True-D if I want diversity, just because it's all one module and doesn't require modding the goggles.
These fit perfectly into my Attitude V4s. I love them paired with an X-air patch.
https://www.racedayquads.com/collec...atshark-attitude-version?variant=867468214283
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Before doing anything with the goggles, I've been experimenting with door designs to cover the receivers. This has been a challenge with all the curves involved.

Pictured below is my first attempt. This is a door for the side of the goggles with the LCD. This fist attempt was pretty good, but the curvature needed some slight adjustment, which I did by heating up the piece and molding it to the shape I wanted.
LCDDoor.jpg

These doors are promising, but I want to get the design right before I commit to any more mods on the goggles.
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Nice Andre! Looks like you did considerably more modding than I'm planning on doing. How do you like the TBS patch? I picked up a menaceRC patch to test.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
With all the DIY things as well as quad builds you have done Snarls I am more then sure you could mod your goggles. There are several how to videos out for doing the diversity mod. I think the hardest thing is getting the two halves apart without moving things from their proper spots. From what I saw of the few vids I watched its pretty straight forward to do that diversity mod.

That said Welcome Back! and Happy Holidays old friend we miss you being around. School is more important so rock on with that and come back when you are edumacated and teach us all the secrets of life!!

Oh and for patches on goggles I found that using two 90 degree adapters you can point it at any angle you want and not have to sit or stand sideways to the flight area to keep it pointing in the right direction.
 
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Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
With progress on the module doors going well (pics to come), I decided to open up the goggles last night. It was a bit tough getting the two halves separated, but some consistent fiddling eventually got things apart. I did not want to risk damaging the cables by disconnecting them so I decided to leave both goggle halves tethered together. There was still plenty of room to perform the mod.

IMG_4493.JPG

I used a small flathead screwdriver heated by a candle flame to slowly melt a slot through the wall on the right module bay. This worked surprisingly well.
IMG_4494.JPG


Here the wiring between the receiver modules is installed. The cable that comes with the Quanum HB5808 is just the right length. Some hot glue secured the wire safely to the bottom of the goggles.
IMG_4495.JPG

Goggle halves put back together. A quick power provided me relief by showing everything was still functional. Now that I think of it, you can probably pull off this mod without even taking apart the goggles. You just need to melt a hole through the right module bay wall and then snake a wire through to the other side.
IMG_4496.JPG

Everything is now installed and functional. I just need to finish the painting on the doors before it is all done, but as of now I can fly with this setup.
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Thanks guys. Its been too cold to fly anything outside, but at least I have a micro quad to fly inside with!
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Paint is finally dried enough on my module doors so I installed them today. The left module is pretty much just the stock door with an extra hole for the sma connector, but I made one from scratch anyway because I did not want to modify the stock parts.
IMG_4504.JPG

The right bulges out a little more than the stock door to make room for the edge of the LCD and the buttons.
IMG_4505.JPG

Here is the installation as viewed from above. The new doors do not protrude much at all from the goggles, and I am very pleased about how clean they are. They have the same clip style as the stock doors so they attach to the goggles without any adhesives.
IMG_4506.JPG

View with antennae attached. Left is a menaceRC patch antenna, and the right is an Aomway circular polarized antenna with an RP-SMA to SMA converter.
IMG_4507.JPG

Goggles powered on displaying the selected channel.
IMG_4508.JPG

So far I am really happy with how this mod turned out. I aimed to get the goggles looking as professionally produced as possible and I think I have achieved that.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Nice job old friend. Glad you decided to give it a go. This came out a lot better then some of the other attempts I have seen. Now go fly something and get us some video. Even if its DVR from them fancy goggles. Been long over due for a new vid on your YT page.
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Thanks Sean and Psyborg. I still have some footage from this past summer I want to edit, but I haven't done much filming other than that. I'm hoping to get back into it though.