Small screen FPV hood

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
I found a video about using a Fresnel lens to make a home made set of goggles. The video was actually using a kit but I decided to just use what I had on hand and close by to make my own, at least until I can afford the Fatsharks!

I have been using a small 5"(approx 13cm) screen for my FPV attempts. As you can imagine, it's been an uphill struggle with such a small screen! So I ordered a full page magnifier from Ebay and used some of the scrap foam from the Versawing build I am in the middle of. Had to make a run to the dollar store today and found the final piece of the puzzle. I tried it in the last light of the day but really can't tell if it's going to work well enough or not until I can get it out in the daylight.
It's hard to tell in the pics but it's not very big. It's about 10"/25cm at the longest, 8"/20cm widest and about 4"/10cm tallest.

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My screen mounts in the stock antenna hole in the radio case.
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Just a few scraps of black foamboard, a Fresnel magnifier, some curlers and some gaffer tape; instant FPV hood!
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Hard to see the magnification here, but it does magnify, and the foam surround blocks out all ambient light, so no more glare on the screen!
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By the way, the foam surround, I mentioned it's made from dollar store foam hair rollers. They were the perfect size and all I had to do was slit them on one side and hot glue them together...
 

buggyboat

Member
Looks good! I have never done FPV so curious why is it attached to your transmitter? I have to were reading glasses ($1 at Dollar Tree). I bet you could wear some of those and eliminate the full page lense if it gives you any problems.
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
I had posted a note about this some months ago. I forget the thread. I like the hair curler foam. I used foam pipe insulation in the past. I used a welding helmet double lens (for welders who use glasses).

Thurmond
 

RoyBro

Senior Member
Mentor
I have never done FPV so curious why is it attached to your transmitter?

A unit this size could just as easily have a head strap instead of being attached to the transmitter like these. Or they could be attached to a tripod. I kind of like the idea of having them attached to the transmitter because you can easily look up away from the monitor for LOS flying, or look down into the hood for FPV without ever taking your hands off the sticks.
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
I have it mounted to the transmitter for exactly the reason Roy stated. I can come out of the hood very quickly if there are any issues with the video feed.

I thought about using the welding helmet idea myself but this is actually lighter, although not as durable, if I do decide to make it a goggle instead of a hood.

The full page lens was only $4 and allows the hood to be self-contained if I want to give someone a "ride". The hood also blocks out all the ambient light so there is no glare from the Texas sunshine!
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
I just had it out in the daylight, and I have to say...
IT WORKS! of course the screen I'm using isn't the best but for maybe $30 all together (minus the battery and VRx) it's remarkably workable. I am not comfortable enough flying full FPV just yet, so this is a great compromise due to it being so easy to come out of the hood when it feels sketchy and go back in when the hex is doing what I want it to do. It was a little windy today and the megapirate still needs some more tweaking to get completely stable, but the hood did great. I seriously doubt it's anywhere as good as Fatsharks, but for me, right now, it's much better than before.
I'll have the raw video from the test up soon, but be warned, it's not very exciting. I was afraid to shoot the gauntlet through the trees or anything like that, since I'm only testing and haven't done any real range tests with this setup.

When it finishes it will be here
 
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buggyboat

Member
Very cool. I am going to have to build one now. I'm supprised that FT has not done a show about homebuilt FPV goggles/hood.