scotty302

I'm kind of frustrated after a long wait to receive a 900 mhz 500 mw tx and rx combo from Hobbywireless due to a backorder delay. In the process of trying to have the problem resolved and see if they can work out the problem. What happened is after receiving the box with both units with antennas and a sheet to show the basic hookup( where's a copy of the invoice?) and just checked to make sure all was included to make a proper video transmission. Placed the system up in a safe location to check it out at a later time, had other higher priorities. A couple of weeks pass and collected all the cords and power adapters to power up the receiver and transmitter. I used my JVC mini dv cam to use with the tx for the initial use, a small monitor was used with the receiver. The first problem that was encountered was that the receiver was in the PAL format and displayed a horizontally skewed split screen, can't use it unless i can purchase an adapter for around $30 to $200. The second problem came up when i hooked up the transmitter to the 12v 500mah power source specified right on the unit itself. Using the JVC cam, it hooked up and was able to see the display on the small monitor on the other side of the room, although a distorted image, could make out the transmitter was working fine except it was starting to heat up unusually fast and only kept it on for a couple of minutes to finish up the test. When i went to try the setup again a day later, the transmitter wouldn't even come on.

Hope to hear back from Hobbywireless soon.

Scott.

thrushloader

I just ordered the same setup from Range Video and received it in 3 days from fla. to arkansas. I just ordered camera and other stuff om 3-2-10 and it will be here on 3-6-10. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Does anyone know if the wires from the camera or Tx have to be shielded. The connectors weigh more than the Tx and camera together. Can I just make my own wires? Thanks, I'm really new to this stuff.
                   Mike  "thrushloader"

scotty302

Hope your set works better than mine, have been in contact with hobbywireless on a daily basis but I don't think it is possible to have the output of the receiver change from PAL format to NTSC format unless using an external converter. I am just hopeful that they are able to make a determination with the picture of the display. Doesn't matter if the receiver is getting a signal from the transmitter or not, still shows the split across the middle to make two skewed displays.

thrushloader

I received mine from Range on Saturday. I got to test it on the bench, but not on the plane yet.
used two 11.1 V lipos for power and a car DVD player( power, screen, all in one place. It tested OK)
It was a little dark in the shop (old hanger) and it came right up and showed a fairly good, clear picture.
Now I just need to put it on my Sr. Telemaster and try it out for distance. That may take a little while as I have to learn where
to mount it and what I have to do with the connectors. I'm using a KX191 520 line res camera and a 900mhz - 500mw Tx.
I'll probably need a better (patch) antenna for my Rx. I'll let you know how it works soon. Hope you get your problems worked out soon.
 Mike

scotty302

Well this is rather interesting. After numerous email and receiving the same receiver back as well as a new transmitter, the receiver that I thought was giving a PAL format output, is in fact something totally different and haven't received another email back from their technicians at HobbyWireless since sending them the picture of the display. Will try to keep contacting them but as for now, i'm down for any video flying unless the this issue can be resolved.

airbeater420

just a note. I use 3 video systems from Range video for AP using Trex700N's. Under normal use the Tx's get rather hot. Also the 500mAh pack seems rather small.

airbeater420

just a note. I use three 900MHz systems for AP from Rang video. The Transmitters get rather hot in normal use so that may not be anything to worry about. A 500mAh battery seems a bit small to me. I would think the current drain from that pack would cause the voltage to be a little on t he low side. But like you said it is what they recommended, of course companies always try to make the accessories seem cheaper than they really need to be. Just a thought.

scotty302

Thanks,

don't even know yet if they'll take the receiver back. Sent it out to them once to have them check the unit out, don't know if they did or not, then sent it back to me with "ntsc or pal" sharpied on the bottom. I wrote to them that this is something that i can't compensate for or make any adjustments to fix the displayed output. Guess i'll just have to keep the fingers crossed.

As for the tx, i do have some larger size capacity cells, but what is the highest that it should not be exceeded before causing irreparable damage to the tx?

jamess26

Hello, This is my first post here. I found this thread while searching for Sees aluminum wheels for the Blackfoot.

I recently got my hands on some front Sees aluminum wheels part #2002 for the Blackfoot and I'm searching for the matching "Rear" set. If anyone has a "Mom and Pop" Local hobby shop they can search, I'd greatly appreciate it. scwcd certification The wheels are two tone with gold anodized in the center. It's also got 10 holes going around it. I think i'll need a miracle to find the matching set :-) Thanks and very nice Blackfoots on this site. my email addy is: [email protected]
Cheers,

brandon429

hobbywireless did not meet my follow up expectations during a recent order, not a good welcome to the newcomer in FPV in my opinion.

thrushloader

scotty302

At this point I would just like to get back in to the flying pattern work instead of waiting around for the funding to spike for another receiver. Turns out I'll be saving for bigger cost of replacing a worn out transmission, a bigger priority at the moment. As for now, i've got a receiver with a faulty output and no one who handles this equipment to assist in performing the proper adjustments to get it back in to working order. Stuck for now...

AH-64_d

Scotty302,

Looks like you need a wave form analyzer or its digital equivalent if the transmitted signal is digital. It may not be digital. Are the camera and transmitter hard-wired together or are they joined with an RCA jack or S-video jack? If your local community college or adult education center offers a course in TV studio technology, sign up for it. They will have the test equipment you are looking for, and usually do not mind someone bringing a "project" to class.

scotty302

AH-64, there doesn't appear to be any problem with the transmitted signal. The display coming from the receiver is split horizontally regardless of a received signal or just displaying static. I am tempted to open it up and find if there is any sync adjustments that can be made.

Wing It

Wing It

Mike,
Video must be shielded. Use some small com or datacable or something with shield. Sure, you can just solder it direct and get rid of the gigantic connectors. Some folks add mini connects, but I just hard wire mine. That's a nice cam you have. I modified a cheap 420 line bullet cam just because it's streamlined. It has a 1/3" sony super had ccd with a decent image. It doesn't flare when pointed into the sun ( which seems to happen to me a lot ) . The sun just becomes a black dot.
You probable know, but I'm gonna say it: Use seperate power for plane and video stuff. Put the video TX somewhere away from RC RX. Your Sr. Telemaster has enough elbow room that it shouldn't be a problem.
I have my current cam on a flying wing. I put the cam on one wing, and the video TX at the end of the other wing. My RX antennae runs away opposite of the video TX. Everybody is happy.
Your video link will most likely reach farther than I can see a Telemaster. You may have better eyes. Hint: Have a spotter watching it.................. with binoculars! Enjoy!

scotty302

Wing it, thanks for sharing the info about the set up and experiences. Turns out that the receiver problem seems to come about when the required Mah rating is just below the threshold and by using a 12 volt gel cell appeared to eliminate the double split screen. As for the Transmitter, it seems to be giving me more grief than it's worth and Hobbywireless didn't like sending gear back and forth if it doesn't solve the problem. Recently I tried to provide a more regulated voltage to the new transmitter to control the amount of heat generated but wasn't getting any video on the monitor. Had a fan blowing over the unit the entire time. The transmitter appeared to be getting a signal out as the voltage and current were adjusted but still no video from the camera, eventually the transmitter went dead and the voltage input was no higher than 12.5v. The recommended current rating stated 500 MaH and didn't want to go anywhere over it but still managed to kill the transmitter anyway. Am I just having a bad run of equipment from Hobbywireless? When i purchased the Z-hobby setup, the 9v camera/transmitter didn't give one ounce of grief and would give a fairly reliable view to about 400 ft up or untill the plane came too close to someones wireless network operating on a freq too close to mine.

If i ever decide to give the 900Mhz set another try, will have to go with Rangevideo and purchase a voltage regulator to see if the results are any better. The camcorder would have the zoom function adjustable from the radio. Oh well, the funds are going in to fix my truck for now.

Wing It

scotty302

I don't appear to have any problem with the video signal from the camera since i use it with the tv all the time. Was using it to capture video when hooked up to the receiver on the z hobby setup and what i was using to fly under the camera using the viewer screen with about 2.5 hours flying logged before the receiver took a dump and quit working.

The transmitter seemed to be a bit trickier, there was about a 1/10 of a second where i could see a flash of video when i plugged in the power before it went back to static, and this was using the 500 MaH rated output. Did try a 700MaH lipo that had 11.5v and this is where it heated up really fast and quit working after just a few minutes on the first transmitter, but i had video during that time. The second transmitter still did have the heating issues and quit working after about the 5th time plugging in the power, really kept a close eye on the current output using a digital current meter.

I sent emails to rangevideo for some advice and their suggestion is to purchase one of their transmitters as they won't work with equipment from another video supplier such as Hobbywireless, understandable but had to ask since Hobbywireless got tired of answering my emails.

scotty302

I checked out readymade rc package, nice that it's a complete system and the 460Mah lipos for power for both Tx/Rx. Gets rid of the rca jacks completely, wonder if it hurts the quality of the video signal.

The Tx and Rx set seem to be fairly standard equipment for a majority of the video tx companies, why am i having a devil of a time killing the Tx with the properly rated power?

Wing It

Scott, I can't say which transmitters are really best. Ultimately, they all come from Hong Kong, and industry wide quality control is poor. Two units look alike, one dies of infant mortality, the other is bullet proof for years. Some distributors know which sourcesare really quality stuff. Range Video seems to have a reliable source. I rarely hear anything bad about their stuff. Yes, you are right; most distributors have what appear to be the same physical transmitter box. But quality varies. Also, good recievers have PLL (phase lock loop), which lock to thetransmitter signal, and follow shifts in frequency.I also have one of those receiverswith a manual tuning knob. Might as well keep my hand on the knob cause it requires constant tweaking. I only use it for land vehicles driving around the neighborhood.

jetjockey69

My Feedback: (31)

Guys,

This thread caught my eye while doing some research on some FPV equipment. I keep seeing reference made to the mah rating of the battery. Now what I'm about to say is just my opinion, and I'm not an electrical engineer, but I do have some experience with electrical and eletronic toys of all kinds, some of it very very expensive, so here goes...

It has nothing to do with the operation of your system except that it (the mah rating of your battery) might not be enough. Voltage is the issue, not the mah capacity of the battery. Think of mah like fuel in the tank of your car, and voltage like the horsepower or torque the engine of your car produces. It's more complicated than that, but I don't have the time to discuss it here in detail. The higher the mah capacity of your battery, the longer the equipment you are powering will operate, and with less voltage fluctuation. Many electronic devices, such as video transmitters, receivers and monitors, are sensitive to voltage, and some of these items also can have a substantial current draw. If your battery doesn't have enough amps (mah capacity), then a high current demand can pull down the voltage output of the battery enough to affect the operation of the equipment in question. For sensitive electronics, I always run voltage regulators, normally with batteries that produce a slightly higher voltage than is required or desired, and with plenty of capacity (mah). As far as I'm concerned, I can never have enough capacity. I actually always try to set things up so that the batteries in my airplane, no matter what they are powering, will outlast the batteries powering any of my ground based equipment (and that goes for my RC transmitter, etc.).

If all of the equipment running on a particular battery draws a sum total (in mah) of more than half the battery's rated capacity (in mah), then I would definitely go with a battery that has more capacity! For what it's worth, I don't own, nor would I ever use, a battery with so little capacity (500 mah) on any equipment I operate.

Again, all of this is just my opinion, based on experience and my own study over the years. Best of luck in trying to figure out what's going on with your equipment. I think it may just be a quality issue, as I think someone else may have commented on elsewhere.

scotty302

Thanks for the interest in the discussion with the problems with the video equipment. One of the main concerns i had when i first received the tx/rx from Hobbywireless was how well the equipment was to set up and use right away, unfortunately when i operated the receiver for the first time it was just under the current required and caused the screen to split horizontally through the middle. As for the Tx, i first used a 700mah lipo which had 12 v measured which did give the display on the monitor for the ten minutes that i had operated for, then on the second attempt it would not even turn on like it had overheated and burned out. The second Tx sent as a replacement was operated at a much lower mah rating and would turn on but no video until it was turned up in small increment, and was only visible for the first second after applying power. Just when i thought the current and voltage were just where they needed to be, the Tx stopped operating just like the first one. When i stopped getting responses from Hobbywireless, i tried to contact the other companies to no avail. Have given up trying to get a working system for now and may purchase another cheap set up through z hobby again with the 9 v tx system with the 400 ft range. Atleast it was good for doing touch n goes through the monitor. I will need to get ahold of one of the voltage regulators for the tx next time.

katarinaconnors

Guys it seems that there is some confusion on current, volts ect... If the stuff says 12 volt then a three cell Lipo will be great. If it is 5 volt then use a RC battery eliminator set to five volts.. I would recommend just get everything 12 volt... All the transmitters are 12 volt and most cameras.. The eagle tree OSD pics voltage off the current sensor(data logger) and regulates it to 5 and also gets voltage from the servo daisy chain to the RX.. Even if you don't have a Eagle Tree OSD go to their website and download the manual for the OSD and data logger... Very easy harness is using a standard Y harness like you would use to split out servo and hook the plugs, male servo types into it and add power to the bottom of the Y... All the OSDs use the servo type plug... Video in one side, transmitter on the other side 12 volts on the bottom.. Red+ , black - ... Might as well cut off all those huge RCA plugs and go to servo type tight now as that is what you will need later anyway... Note every thing goes red positive, black negative and the signal wire, opposite side... Power, ground and signal... No shielding necessary but you may need to watch placement and move stuff around to clear up your video....

I really like the range video TXs, the ones that say Range Video on the case...half watt or better as they come with a proper type harness and use a JST for power.. I just put a JST male plug on the deans on the ESC ... Couldn't be better... Also Readymade and Range make harnesses that are correct that you can get for your particular transmitter...

If you don't own a soldering iron and have a bunch of deans and JST plugs you better go get them in any case.. I spend more time soldering that flying since I got into FPV

N0KL (amateur extra)

katarinaconnors

For odd voltages... Use a Castle bec and program it for the voltage you need... But best to just stay with 12 volt tx and rx and come off the plug that goes to the battery, standard Deans.. Every ESP i wire i just put a jst on the deans in paralell of course so i dont have to resolder the deans when i want 12 volts.. Used to put on a 47pf cap and a iron donut making a (L/C) on it but found it unneccesary.. I even try to stay with three cell power system to keep it all 12 volt... Otherwise use a 7812 regulator.. But if you know how to do that my comments are unnecessary. It seems confusing but once you start standardizing to what the OSDs use it will become more clear... Most of our equipment (tx and Rx) are security wireless stuff that were designed to use 12 volt little wall power modules...