NAZA controller from Phantom 2 - can I use on something else?

motoman4497

New Member
Ok guys, I looked everywhere for the answer to this and can't find it anywhere so I am asking. A friend of mine crashed his DJI Phantom 2 to the point of it would be cheaper to just buy another one. So me being the tinkerer I am with RC I wanted to see if I could use a couple of components from it. So the question is, can I use the NAZA controller just by itself without the other devices attached to it?

When you buy the NAZA -M you get the PMU and the LED and the GPS/Compass. Obviously the LED module has the usb port for the computer and the PMU powers the controller through the EXP port. I was able to salvage the usb hook up port from the phantom and I wanted to try and hook it up to the computer to see if I could adjust settings in the controller. I used another esc i have laying around with a bec to try and power the controller and hooked it up to the X3 port. Will that work? Can this be done without the other components they sell with? And also, if using with a standard receiver setup would I power it through the ESC's bec plugged into the motor (m) ports or would I have to have an external bec to plug into the X3 port? When I plug in the power to the X3 port and the usb to the computer the computer does recognize it and the DJI driver installed just fine and the computer sees it but the software doesn't recognize it. It will never get past the splash screen with the "skip" button.

So yeah, there's my problem. I really would like to use this controller on a custom build quad by itself with a traditional rx set up because I don't need all the fancy stuff on this one I just want to fly it around, but so far I can't figure out if it will actually work or not. Any ideas or experiences out there? Thanks in advance.
 

FlyGirl

Member
This is just a guess on my part but looking at it, it appears to be a standard NAZA FC although I don't know which one. The color appears to be the same color as a NAZA M V2 in a picture I found. I believe it would work fine. Just plug the leads from the ESC's into their respective motor slots (this provides the power) on the FC making sure the motor slots face straight forward towards the front of the quad. The X3 port is, I believe, how the NAZA senses power to the battery not providing power. Anyways follow this and it should be fine.... http://download.dji-innovations.com/downloads/phantom/en/NAZA-M_Quick_Start_Guide_en.pdf
 

rilot

Member
You would need to use the battery too. The P2's Naza is slightly different in that it's hard-coded to use the smart batteries and won't power up with anything else.
You will also need to use the mainboard from the P2 as that has the PMU functionality and deals with the smart batteries.
 

motoman4497

New Member
FlyGirl - That's what I thought is if I just plugged the esc with the bec into the motor port it should power it but it doesn't.

rilot - so you're telling me that the p2 naza is different from the regular naza-m that you can purchase off the shelf? I have seen a naza "only" option online which doesn't include the pmu or gps so I assumed it would be the same. The reason I want to use the controller only is that the phantom battery and main board were also damaged but the controller was in perfect shape.

So is there really no way to use this phantom 2 controller without the rest of it's components? Is there a firmware flash or something that would make it perform like a regular naza with standard hard-coding?
 

FlyGirl

Member
FlyGirl - That's what I thought is if I just plugged the esc with the bec into the motor port it should power it but it doesn't.

rilot - so you're telling me that the p2 naza is different from the regular naza-m that you can purchase off the shelf? I have seen a naza "only" option online which doesn't include the pmu or gps so I assumed it would be the same. The reason I want to use the controller only is that the phantom battery and main board were also damaged but the controller was in perfect shape.

So is there really no way to use this phantom 2 controller without the rest of it's components? Is there a firmware flash or something that would make it perform like a regular naza with standard hard-coding?

Found a little more on it here.... http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5536 Looks like the answer is no....
 
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motoman4497

New Member
FlyGirl - thank you for the link it explained a little more on the subject.

But I want to quote two things from that forum:

"I believe the Phantom 2 contains similar logic to a Naza-M V2. You can put the Phantom 2 in either "Phantom 2 mode" or "Naza mode". In "Naza mode", the Phantom behaves like other multicopters with a Naza-M V2 installed."

"I was told by DJI them selfs that the phantom has a watered down version of the naza m v2."

So, doesn't that mean that it IS a firmware issue? It should be all the same hardware within the box just with different software, right? There has got to be a way, has anybody been able to crack this? Hypothetically, if the DJI assistant software could in fact recognize and connect with the controller I could possibly flash it with different firmware, right? Please, anybody..... haha
 

rilot

Member
The normal Naza software won't communicate with the Naza in the P2. Only the P2 software.
Yes, you can put it in Naza mode but that just gives you the normal functions of the Naza which are switched off in P2 mode. The Naza unit itself still needs the P2's mainboard and battery.
Yes, you can buy the unit on its own but again, it's a P2 unit that will only communicate with the P2 mainboard.
 

bensid54

Member
Often with computer control boards you can erase a program by crossing two terminals thus erase all programming or possibly memory, then you could try to down load a different version to the control board. When it comes to anything computer related I've worked on all inputs are five volts and controller supply voltage is twelve volts you need to do some research at a website for computer nerds there you should find your answer.
 

Michael121212

New Member
Hello. Sorry to resurect an old thread. Just made an account to let anyone else know my outcome of reusing the phantom 2 fc.

I recently crashed a phantom 2 due to faulty battery. Was able to reuse the phantom 2 flight controller with a Naza M V2 pmu. I used the original gps, motors, esc, ect... I was also able to install the Naza M V2 firmware and get access to 8 ports for use with an Octacopter. The lights on the esc don’t flash like with the normal setup of the phantom 2. You also don’t need to use the original battery. Though I did a battery hack a long time ago to ditch the expensive original batteries.
 

scottnik

New Member
Michael, thanks for resurrecting this thread! :) This is exactly what I want to do. Before I drop 65 bucks on the pmu tho, I just want to verify what is required.
Did you re-use the existing pdb and just bypass the battery input? Plug the pmu into x3 on the fc and keep all other connections the same? or did you rewire everything. Just trying to make sure I understand what needs to be done. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. - - sk
 

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