How do you connect 2 devices to one Battery Balance plug?

[TimB]

Probably a dumb question but I just ordered a FrSky FLVSS Voltage Sensor. Problem is, I have my Fatshark 5.8 Tx plugged into the balance port where this needs to plug in. How would I go about plugging in both? Is there a Y cable I need? Just don't want this thing showing up and not being able to use it.

Thanks,


My equipment:
FrSky Taranis Plus TX, X8R Rx
DJI F450, E300 ESC & Motors, GPS, Naza M Lite
Fatshark Attitude V2 Goggles, Fatshark 5.8g 250mw TX

 

[Bartman]

Tim,

That balance port is a weird bird when the battery is also being used via the normal power wires. I've never had a problem using a battery monitor plugged in to the balance port but I have had issues when I've tried to use the batteries for power while also trying to pull partial power out the balance port (6S for the heli, 3S for the flight controller from the same battery). It's worked with this set-up but it freaked out the battery monitor rendering it useless.

How many cells does the pack have? Is it also a flight pack? Is the vTx using the full voltage of the pack or a partial voltage?

 

[TimB]

Bartman,
I'm running everything off of the same battery (3s-3300 mAh or 3s 5200 mAh). The fatshark camera/Tx plug directly into the fp balance lead. Should I be running the fpv equipment on a seperate battery?

 

[Bartman]

does that little module do anything other than give you a place to plug the battery in? is it monitoring cell voltages or acting as a regulator?

 

[TimB]

does that little module do anything other than give you a place to plug the battery in? is it monitoring cell voltages or acting as a regulator?

It just provides power to the fpv as far as I know.

 

[TimB]

Found this in the fatshark manual:

Power (via discharge filter supply)
The discharge filter supply allows you to power your downlink equipment from your
onboard RC pack.

So it does have some type of filter in it.

 

[TimB]

Anyone? My voltage sensor came in and now I have to choose, voltage read outs or FPV. It's just not fair. lol

 

[Bartman]

Tim,

I'm sorry I thought I replied to your last post. When I tried to run batteries using the main power leads and my flight controller via the balance tap I experienced abnormal behavior when I also tied in the voltage monitor. I'm not saying that you will definitely have the same behavior but just be mindful as you go that it might get a little freaky.

You've got a little bit of a conundrum there, on one hand the battery monitors are a worthwhile addition to the helicopter but on the other hand you don't want to bypass the filter for the FPV gear. if you want to try it out to see if it's even worth getting it all together you can buy a Y with your balance ports like what we use for parallel charging.

http://www.buddyrc.com/jst-xh-4s-parallel-blance-cable-x2.html

if it works you can trim down the wires to a shorter length and resolder them. they have those same cables for 3S also if that's what you need.