Category Archives: FPV

How to repair broken USB connector on the GoPro Hero3

Posted by on September 4, 2015 No comments

During my vacation in Greece last month I took my FPV Racer and my GoPro Hero3 camera with me. I mount the GoPro on the front and use it for filming as well for Live-Video-Out for my FatShark goggles (FPV or first person view). Everything was great until I gave the goggles to my young friend Eli, lost control of the quadcopter and got it stuck on one tree. In the process of getting it down I broke the USB connector of the GoPro because of the attached Live-Out cable.

Back at home, I decided to open the camera and repair the USB connector. Opening was pretty easy and done in a few minutes (there are a lot of videos on YouTube how do it). The USB connector was completely detached from the main board and it fell down. Here is how it looked like without it:

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As you can see on the second picture the signal traces are almost completely broken. So just soldering a new USB connector wont help. I didn’t have the time and the needed skill with the solder iron to repair it, so my father helped me. Thanks dad!

Here are some of his notes and pictures. First get one new USB Mini-B 10pin connector. It is not a normal one, as it has 10pins. You can find these also in some old mobile phones, as my dad have done it.

This is how it should look like and the drawing of the USB Mini connector. The Pins on the front side on above and below. On the back side of the connector these are only below.

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What are the pins for? Here is the pinout schematics of what he thought:

1 GND (Ground)
2 Audio-Out
3 ID
4 Video-Out
5 DATA +
6 Video-GND
7 DATA –
8 MicIn
9 VCC +
10 MicIn

He achieved to recover some of the traces and replaces the the tiny component on Pin5 and Pin7, which I think is called choke. Please pay attention while soldering the USB connector, that its inner part have plastic, so do not overheat.

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After all my GoPro is working again (except for the Live-Video as this trace was not repaired). I have already ordered one cheaper camera (Xiaomi Yi) for mounting it on my Quadcopter, so I don’t need the Live-Video-Out anymore. So big big thanks to my dad again! Thank you!

FPV, Acro, Flips… and crash

Posted by on June 10, 2015 No comments

Yesterday I received two new battery packs, so it was time for flying again. Charged the batteries, packed all the stuff and on the go 🙂

I got over 10min with the first 1300mAh Zippy 40C battery flying FPV. The last two batteries were for Acro training, as I am not so good, yet 🙂 Making flips and so on, I crashed with the last battery pack. The crash was with full speed and the one rear arm got broken. Sure the hole for the cables is a weak point, but this is also the first arm broken for an year. But I will think about using 4mm carbon instead of the 3mm. Anyway, wanted to share this experience and two pictures too: before and after the crash.

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Short FPV flight and a broken FPV antenna

Posted by on June 6, 2015 No comments

The weather was perfect today, so I decided to go for an FPV flight in the morning. Packed my FPV Quad, FatShark goggles, Transmitter and two battery packs and went to the field.

Sadly, after the first one minute flying I didn’t manage well the speed of descending and got a small crash. The propeller hit the FPV antenna of the ImmersionRC Transmitter and broke it. That was all with the FPV flying today. Then I flew just for fun making flips and so on 🙂

Quick info about the flight: 10:30min with one Zippy 1300mAh 25C battery (AUW including GoPro Hero3 is 485g). At home I charged again 1211mA. Here is the short video of the flight:

…and a picture of the broken 5.8Ghz FPV antenna 🙂

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FPV Racer Quadcopter Build Log

Posted by on June 3, 2015 No comments

The summer is coming and it is time for FPV flying. It is just great feeling to fly around. In the past months I have used mostly my SG Acro quadcopter and that one is not suitable for FPV flying, even it is great fun making flips with it 🙂

I will be using my own SG Adventure Mini v4 frame. I spent many hours learning CAD from zero and trying to create an unique FPV frame, that is as good as possible. I just love this asymmetric carbon fiber frame 🙂

Let´s get started with the parts that I have used for that FPV Racer:

  • SG Adventure Mini v4 frame
  • T-Motor MN2206 2000kv
  • HK BlueSeries 12A ESC flashed with SimonK firmware
  • CC3D flight controller
  • 6” carbon propeller
  • Power distribution board
  • ImmersionRC TX
  • Nylon Spacers and M3 screws

First I mounted the M3 6mm nylon spacers on the top center plate. Next I mounted the MN2206 motors on the arms and cut the 2mm gold connectors as I was going to solder the motor cables directly to the ESCs.

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Then unsoldered the original motor cables from every ESC. I also removed the 5V and GND cables from 3 ESCs and left only the signal cable (I was going to use the supplied BEC on the fourth one).

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Took the bottom center plate and mounted the power distribution board with on it. Next step was cutting the power cables from the ESC, so these can fit on the bottom plate. Then soldered these cables to the power distribution board. I also soldered the power cable to the battery, the LEDs and a power cable for the ImmersionRC video transmitter.

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After that I put heat shrink on the ESCs and soldered the cables from the motors to every ESC. You should care when soldering to reverse two of the motor cables because of the different rotation.

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Next step is assembling the arms with the center plates. I don’t like to see the locknuts on the top, but it is much easier to mount the arms by that way. Once you are done with two of these, you can put the other screws from the top and then remove or reverse the firstly mounted screws and locknuts.IMG_9863IMG_9865

Finally I have mounted the CC3D flight controller, a carbon cover for it and the 6” propellers. I also put two 6mm nylon spacers in the middle between the two center plates for more strength. On the top of the flight controller cover I mounted the ImmersionRC TX with a zip tie until I receive my third FPV cover plate.IMG_9866IMG_9871IMG_9872