Hey everybody. I have a CS8 and a 2-axis gimbal. I have not put the gimbal on the CS8 while I'm getting the hang of it, but I wanted to know if there are any tutorial videos out there, or if anyone here has produced one, on how to hook up the controls? I did do a mock up, so I know how to get it mounted, but I can't seem to find anywhere on actually how to connect up the power and everything. Do I need to get and mount another battery or hardwire it to the distro board? If the latter, where does it get connected? I appreciate any information anyone can part with. Thanks! Christopher
It's somewhat of a personal choice, Christopher. There is an argument for putting a separate 1200 mAH LiPo on the U-frame of the gimbal, partly to balance the weight of the tilt servo assembly and partly so that you don't have too much "stuff" sucking power from the flight battery (with the concomitant risk that some part of that stuff will short out and drag the flight battery voltage down). You will need to put a Recom/Traco converter on the 1200mAH for 12vDC for the FPV camera if you choose to use one, and a 5V BEC (Battery Eliminator Circuit) at 4A - 5A for the Radians (presuming you're using them) and the servos. Andy.
Andy, good morning. I have a battery and a BEC for the Radians all wired up. I am using the Spektrum DX8 and the satellite is all connected up per the diagram here on the Freefly site. My question to you now is this, I can't determine which port to plug the servo cable from the BEC into to get the gimbal powered and all working correctly. I have the satellite connected to the roll, then the roll Radian to the tilt Radian and the respective servos plugged into the Radians. So, I need to get power to this thing! Which port do I plug the power into? Any help would be very helpful. Thanks in advance. Christopher
You can power the radian through any unused port. Port 1 will work best on the roll radian since you are using a spektrum sat. Just be sure you have correct polarity. The ground pins are are the furthest from the sticker.
Matt, thanks for the info! I was unsure and didn't want anything to get ruined! Thanks again. I'll get everything all hooked up tonight and report back.
Matt is correct. All the ground and power pins are ganged together, but it's best to provide power and ground on a connection used for a signal as I'm told it reduces the amount of electrical noise -- this seems eminently reasonable, but I've not verified it with a scope. Andy.
OK guys, another really stupid question. Do I need to run power to both Radians or does the power pass through from one to the other? I just plugged in the BEC to one of the Radians and it sprang to life. The other one however did nothing. I assumed that the power would pass through. Am I doing something incorrectly? Thanks guys!!!
Guys, sorry about that. I had an output to input cable flipped. Everything works!!! Thanks a lot for all of your information!!!
Not to worry Christopher. I suspect that there are many forum members (definitely including me), with our "Been there, done that" T-shirts for connecting up things bass ackwards. Andy.