900MHZ 1500mW Camera Troubles

kloner

Aerial DP
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he said
The white wire should actually be yellow, for video
On the flip side of board the pin is marked Vo {Video Output?}

so what your trying is right. The heat,,,,,,,, doesn't work,,,,,,, have you tried there chat? what about there forum?
 

aWanderer

Member
That's fantastic... thank you! It's not the same board as mine, but close. I looked closely on mine and the back-side has no "Vo" marking. That tiny chip heats up SO fast and you can NOT touch it or it will literally burn you. I hooked up my GoPro Hero2 TV out to this Tx and I got sound, but no video, although, I may have the wrong 2.5mm jack and not wiring it up properly. I give up.. gonna order another setup from NG Hobbies this time. I'll also get in touch with HobbyKing, but i doubt they will take it back now, as I have chopped everything up - lol.
 

Macsgrafs

Active Member
That's fantastic... thank you! It's not the same board as mine, but close. I looked closely on mine and the back-side has no "Vo" marking. That tiny chip heats up SO fast and you can NOT touch it or it will literally burn you. I hooked up my GoPro Hero2 TV out to this Tx and I got sound, but no video, although, I may have the wrong 2.5mm jack and not wiring it up properly. I give up.. gonna order another setup from NG Hobbies this time. I'll also get in touch with HobbyKing, but i doubt they will take it back now, as I have chopped everything up - lol.

What power are you putting into the cam? Some cameras are 5V operation, but most seem to be 12V. As for the 2.5mm plug, its a 4 pole plug & the back connector is the earth/-v...the one just in front is the video.

Ross
 

aWanderer

Member
I am putting 12v to the camera. Yes, I am going to order a cable for the GoPro, as I don't have any plugs laying around like that.
 

Macsgrafs

Active Member
I am putting 12v to the camera. Yes, I am going to order a cable for the GoPro, as I don't have any plugs laying around like that.

Have you tried 5V into the camera? As for the 2.5mm 4 pole plug...try ebay, there are loads for sale on there.

Ross
 

aWanderer

Member
Hmm.. haven't tried 5v. I suppose it is very possible to send the wrong camera (ie; grabbed a 5v off the shelf instead of a 12v). I'll need to get some sort of step-down from 12v to 5v. I think I will try this.

I can't stomach eBay/PayPal. They are only around $12 at NG Hobbies, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.
 

Macsgrafs

Active Member
How to check if its 5V...use the output from a BEC/ESC, just plug a 3s lipo into an ESC & use the receiver wires as your power supply...just connect the red & black from the ESC to the cam & ignore the white wire.

Ross
 

aWanderer

Member
I'm not very good at this electrical stuff, as you could probably tell. I'm not confident enough to do what you are suggesting. I just happen to have a new 30 AMP ESC that came with the same order as this camera. Got it for the plane. How would I know if it puts out 5V or do they all put out 5V from the Rx wires? (hmm.. I think that might have been a dumb question, the more I read it over and over - lol)

Ahh... I think I know what you mean. Hmm...
 

Macsgrafs

Active Member
Not all ESC's have a BEC! The ones without are called OPTO. Im sure your ESC will have, just connect up the 2 wires with the futaba plug on it...you have red/white & black all together...just leave off the white wire ;)

Ross
 

aWanderer

Member
ok, the ESC trick did not work. I powered it up by plugging the pack into it, then the Rx power/grnd to the camera. On a good note though, I found an A/V cable for my Canon camera. Cut the end of it off, hooked the yellow to yellow and white to black and IT WORKS!!! OMG... this was painful.

I have wires/ends everywhere. So, this proves one thing for certain, I'm messy and that the Tx and Rx are working. What it does not prove is if the camera is 12v or 5v. It's a $16 camera, I don't care. Going to order a new 12v camera and all should be joyful then.

Thank you for all the help!
 


aWanderer

Member
I noticed that this aft while browsing their site to. I went looking for a solo 5v camera there and couldn't find one. I agree, it's done. I will order a much more expensive 12v replacement shortly here. I'll order from a Canadian source so should get it much quicker.
 

Macsgrafs

Active Member
I think Kloner means to say "Allt he cameras are advertised as being 12v". that's not to say they have been sent the wrong cameras & sent them onto customers, being HK, these things happen quite often...twice to me in 16 orders!

Ross
 

aWanderer

Member
Well, I still have a suspicion that it IS a 5v camera. Reason is because it heats up so much, so fast. I don't know if that is a good indicator (don't know much about electronics), but I believe it is a 5v camera. I will test it eventually. Maybe sooner than later actually.
 

zakkhoyt

New Member
I had the same symptoms as you. Tx/Rx powered up okay, there was video static without the transmitter on, then I turned it on and just got black screen. The camera was warm. It turns out that hobbyking had the wiring incorrect where it attaches to the camera. If you look at the circuit board, it says "+", "-", "vout". They had it wired like this:

Camera Harness
+ vout
- -
vout +

I tried to just swap the pins in the connector, but I ruined them. I ended up just soldering the wires onto the open vias. If you look at the circuit board, there are two sets of these nodes.

After I swapped them, it worked great.
BTW, my cam does not have a speaker like the one pictured earlier in this thread.

Hope this helps someone.
 

aWanderer

Member
Thanks zakkhoyt. I don't have any markings that I can see on the board. I have since purchased a new camera, but still would be nice to know if this one is still good. Maybe I have powered it up so much with the wiring being wrong that it is garbage now anyway.
 

zakkhoyt

New Member
Here you go. I've taken a close up of both sides of my camera and labeled them. You can tap into the board at any of these 4 locations.

Hope this helps,
-Zakk
 

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aWanderer

Member
Well, thank you very much for the effort, but mine does not have those connections on the board. There IS four small holes on the opposite of the plug side, but they are not marked. I'll take a picture tomorrow and post it.
 

zakkhoyt

New Member
Too bad there are no labels. Here is a way to poke around if you have a ohm-meter.

With the power disconnected, find the big capacitors. On my board there are two big yellow/orange blocks (see the picture) These type of capacitors are usually connected one side to power (+12 in this case) and the other side to ground. So measure from each of your wires to both sides of the capacitors. You should find that one wire goes to one side of the cap, and one more wire to the other side of the cap. Now, through elimination, you know which is your video output. You can now figure out which side of the caps is ground by measuring to a ground plane on your circuit board. Typically, the screw holes in the circuit board are grounded (if there is exposed metal).

Again, this is just a technique that you can try. No guarantees.

Good luck,
-Zakk
 

Jake Bullit

Fly,crash,glue,repeat!
I have one of these for sale if anyone is intersted.Not including camera,one stock antenna is damaged but useable on RX.
Rx power supply has deans connector, or can be used with original PSU.
 

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