kazetsukai

Irecently bought a Traxxas Stampede 4x4 VXLwith the brushless / waterproof motor /sc combo preinstalled. I'm loving the thing, and natually went to the internet to find more information.

I found the world of FPV, namely though one guy on YouTube (search "summit fpv" if you get a chance). After looking at some of his recommendations, I went and ordered a video transmitter and started putting together a project box. Below is the (initial) result.


The box is a little big, and heavy. The components will need to be relocated to a smaller box, and the battery placed in the Stampede Chassis.




The pack separate. The cheap dome cam on the front blows, I'll need to replace it. Lookin good.




The transmitter is a 1.2GHz digital transmitter with 800mW output power. On wall power, the transmitter screamed, and got so hot Icouldn't touch it.





Rather than tap off the car's battery, I opted for a separate battery pack. I makeshifted one with ten 1.2volt AA NiMH batteries.
I tested the setup with the batteries straight out-of-box tonight, so Ididn't get great signal quality or range. NiMH batteries are seldomly charged out-of-box full, as was evidenced by the transmitter not even getting mildly warm during mobile operation.




While the bulkyness and weight backfired on me, here's where the project-box approach shines: Electric posts. I can use the box as a 12v supply for anything. It was probably the most visually appealing part of the setup. Kick-ass.




I'm going to rethink my design by putting the battery in the chassis and moving everything to a smaller box. The box approach wins me modularity and doesn't limit the car to lugging around custom equipment. Iwill however probably ditch the Stampede for a Summit when it comes to FPV. The brushless motors don't really crawl all that well (they jitter like crazy!), and the Summit's remote diff lock + transmission is a win for mobility.

Thoughts, criticism, or questions welcome. I'm all in on this. I'll find something that works well and respond here when I finish

378

My Feedback: (4)

IMO a smaller camera and transmitter might be better.

I've always wanted to try something like this. I've recorded FPV footage before, but I'm not sure how to trick my keychain camera to transmit real-time footage without a computer.

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

If you are on a wifi network, you can use your android based phone as a webcam with an app called Driodcam... Then record/watch with your computer.

kazetsukai

Actually the transmitters don't get much smaller than that without compromising range, the transmitter shown is about the size of four quarters stacked. The camera is eclipsed by a quarter. Its the project box that is large. I've repackaged everything into a smaller box, see below.

I considered this, and also the use of something like a beagleboard or pandaboard. In both cases, WiFi (2.4GHz) doesn't penetrate well and will not get great range at all, even with beyond legal transmission power. Cell towers provide too much latency, so specialized hardware is needed.

UPDATE:I've repackaged it all into a tiny box, much less bulk and weight!

The new transmitter box is much smaller:




Size comparison versus old box:



I modded the camera out of this box setup, packaging only the receiver and a universal power output for the camera. The camera video in is BNCunder the TXantenna:



The posts are now up top and in-the-face. This is where power is provided to both the camera and the transmitter.




The transmitter flickers when moving but now gets excellent range. Testing with a multimeter, the battery pack of AA NiMHs produced 13V of output, so it looks like the dropoff point is a ways down the road. Ishould get hours of transmission time.

Tomorrow is the initial test run. I'm glad I removed the camera from the project box, since I'm going to replace it with something that has better color ASAP.