Specop_007

Like it says, how do you provide 12VDC power to run A/V equipment on an airplane? Are you guys just wiring battery packs in series to get the 12 volts? What type of runtimes do you get form this?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks

kd7ost

I run a three cell Lipo pack for it. My Camera, Video overlay and microphone use 12 vdc. I put a switching regulator in to get 5vdc to my 600 mw BWAV transmitter. It works very well.

Dan

Specop_007

Is that setup very heavy? What kind of runtimes? Where did you get a switching regulator?

In case your wondering, yes I'm new to this

kd7ost

Heavy is an operative term. If you're flying SS type of aircraft or electric in general, everything is heavy.

My plane is a 22 pound Fuji BT32 powered gasoline plane with 102 inch wing span. Its not a heavy set up for my plane. Run times on a 2000 mah pack are somewhere around 4 hours. I only get 1 hour flight times on a full tank of gas though so I get done what I need to long before the batteries are exhausted.

I get the switching regulator from here. http://www.dimensionengineering.com/DE-SW0XX.htm

Dan

kd7ost

I should clarify this comment. I simply mean it's not heavy for my plane. Smaller planes with electric power need to be set up with very careful choices to maximize their power to weight ratios.

Dan

lvspark

I use 3 cell li-po's as well.. I have the 12v AV TX from tiny wireless, and purchased a 5v camera seperately. I plug the AV TX into the li-po's then tap the regulator inside the AV TX to feed the 5v to the camera. I wanted to save weight so I tried a 2-cell li-po on this system but the voltage got down to 3v through the V-reg section of the AV TX. I checked it with a meter, and saw the voltage loss across 2 diodes in series between the 2 internal regulators, and removed them. Now I can run a 2 cell 2200mah li-po and have full output for about 3 hours.


There are dc-dc converters that will boost up to 12v from a lower input voltage, and I have some, but in my case, they generated quite a bit of RF.

kd7ost

There you have it for the smaller stuff. Ivspark has a proven and very successful record of flying video on small electric planes. I would follow his advice if you need to keep the weight down. Guys like him http://www.rsnw.com/ and Mr RCCam. http://www.rc-cam.com/forum/

Dan

Specop_007

Actually, LV is the guy who sold me on this. Thats incredible footage, I was blown away. I like the fact its nice and slow, very clear. While the faster planes create some intense footage for sure, its just not my cup of tea.
They say plagerism is the highest form of flattery, so you should feel flattered LV....

The 2 cell li pos I found are all 7V, so your using 7V at the input for 12V systems? I take it the 12V systems only "need" 12V at the inputs as the voltage is dropped down internally then?

I originally came here looking for info on Nitro cars for a X-Mas present for my son, and got a bit sidetracked with this. Thats just what I need is another hobby..... [sm=greedy.gif][sm=frown.gif]

lvspark

Heh heh... now I feel like a[link=http://durstewitz.org/mp3/steppenwolf%20-%20the%20pusher.mp3] pusher [/link]


The lawmate av transmitter modules are 5vdc. If you have a "cased " version like mine, they are 12vdc... Inside the case, is the 5v transmitter module, and a couple of voltage regulators to take the 12v down to 5. If you put 7.4vdc on the 12v wire, the tx will work, but only 3-4volts get's past the internal v-regs and the RF power output is very low. To use the 2 cell li-po on cased versions and get full power output, you have to remove a couple series diodes between the internal v-regs..

have a look at blackwidowav or tinywireless.com to see pictures of the lawmate systems.

Specop_007

Thanks for all the help so far!

So for a simple "turn key" system I could go with a Black Widow system, 5V switching regulator and run a 3 cell 11V battery direct to the engine and switching regulator, then run the 5V output of the regulator to the A/V system correct?

I'm always a little leary of DIY with electronics. My last adventure set me back about 400 bucks and let out the magic smoke. While the kids were amused to no end watching the smoke roll up to the ceiling, Dad was less then enthusiastic about the outcome of the whole deal. [:@]

lvspark

If your looking for wireles video, I would contact each of the distributors I listed above and ask them what they have to offer for a simple turn-key system. I hear you can run the 5v cam and 5v tx from a 4 cell rx pack. That is pretty simple..
You could also go with a 12v cam and 12v tx and use a 3 cell lipo...

If you want to get video and digi stills, go with a digi cam. nikon 3700 with a servo is great for still and 30fps video. Another option would be a pentax optio camera with a MX IR trigger. That way you have a good cam for all around use, and you can slap it on the plane with the MX remote trigger control and have a great set-up with no mods at all!
http://www.hexpertsystems.com