DJI FPV system canopy

[sihinch]

Earlier in the week I came up with a design to mount the DJI FPV air unit to my multiplex twinstar.

Today I made it a reality. It's not pretty or aerodynamic but it works exactly as expected. I'll paint it on the the finished plane.

Would be awesome if someone could design a version on a 3D printer... 

[davidk]

Nicely done, Simon... that looks great.

Since you mentioned 3D printing, here's one from Thingiverse... https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:906046

In that page you'll find a couple of remixes as well. 

It looks so much like what you've built.

I've been printing at the Angus Glen Library... and the last thing I printed was a tail ski for the Tundra.  Came out great.  I have no design skills, I just find stuff and print.

[Gil.E]

Simon,
First off, congrats on getting the new HD FPV system from DJI.

If you find a ready-to-go design on thingyverse you wish to have printed,  just send me a link to it and your preferred color(s).

Alternatively if you wish to design your own contraption, send me a basic drawing. It doesn't have to be a proper engineering document, I'll happily accept a scan of a hand drawn sketch on a moderately soiled lunch napkin...   

[sihinch]

That's super kind of you Gil, thank you.

And thanks David for looking for a canopy for me. Mine is a little different in 2 areas:
1) the air unit (Tx) fits snuggly in between some ribs (which I glued to the base, just outside the dimensions of the unit) to hold it in place, and
2) the antenna are held in place, at a "good" angle by the goal post contraption that I built.

I'm sure someone will come up with a more professional version of mine, incorperating the 2 features I mentioned.

[davidk]

Gil, which printer do you have?  I've been thinking about getting one sometime this year... maybe the Prusa i3 MK3 or MK4 if they come out with a new version.
There are as many printers around these days as there are brands of filament.

[Gil.E]

Hi David,
I have 3 printers. 2 of them are custom built machines and the 3rd one is a Prusa i3 MK3 which I upgraded to MK3S (well worth the $20 kit upgrade kit).

I would give the Prusa i3 Mk3S two thumbs up recommendation if it's within your budget. I think it's well worth the high price ($1000 CDN, Kit) if your primary objective is to get your machine printing in high quality right out of the box. It's a trouble free, well tuned machine, with excellent responsive customer service from Prusa. 

If on the other hand your objective is to start a new technical hobby and learn new things, you can get the Creality Ender 3 Pro for about 1/3 of the price ($350 CDN ) and spend some time upgrading and updating it to bring it up to an MK3S level machine. There is a huge user base for this machine providing plenty of advise, upgrade guides, and community support (YouTube videos, forums, etc.) to keep you busy tweaking and playing with your printer for a full canadian winter.     

[Gil.E]

PS:
As an example for the quality of parts you can expect from the MK3S right out of the box, see attached image of PT-17 Stearman fixed landing gear tires I printed last week. The tire itself is printed from flex TPU  filament ("rubber") the functional springs and ball bearings were printed from PLA+. No tuning, tweaking, or trial and error required. Just click and print using the Prusa slicer.




 

[davidk]

Thanks Gil, very happy to hear that about the Prusa.  I think it will be enough to build it from the kit, and keep it going.  I'd rather not spend a winter trying to figure out which tweaks, out of the hundreds available, will work.

Just the philosophy of the Prusa... and the company history... was enough to interest me.  That many of it's parts can be printed and many upgrade parts can be printed I feel is excellent.  And the support from Prusa and it's users looks really good.

Just going by past timelines, it seems as if a MK4 should be out this year.

I watched a video yesterday about how to add WiFi using a Raspberry PI Zero W... and that the Prusa motherboard is already set up for it.  Have you done that?

The wheels look great.  Do you use Prusament... and the Flex that Prusa offers?
Did you get your kit from Prusa or from Voxel?

There are so many parts and options for the Tundra, Timber, Apprentice... it's all very cool.

[Gil.E]

Hi David,
I think we unintentionally hijacked Simon's thread about the new DJI HD system, so I posted my reply to your questions in a more appropriate place for  3D printing discussion  here:

http://temac.ca/smf/index.php/topic,6271.msg48987.html#msg48987


Back to the subject matter, with a question for Simon: @sihinch
How modular or complex is the wiring arrangement you had to install between the DJI Camera+Radio transceiver combo and a regular (PWM servo based) model setup ?

Given the relatively high price for the DJI HD full System,  it would be a shame if you have to "marry" it  with custom hard wired connections to only a single model in your fleet.

Is it possible to create some sort of a generic ad-hoc cable harness, or little interface board with Servo/Power header connectors,  that would allow you to treat the Camera+Transceiver as a "portable" module that could be snapped on and off and moved around from model to model in a short time (i.e. 10 minutes on a field table)  ?
       

[sihinch]

Hi Gil,

I'm literally only using the Air unit as the FPV Tx.  I'm not using the capabilities it has in terms of being the Rx.  So the wiring was super, super easy, just power in.  So I added a JST connector to the Air unit, with a 12v regulator/filter, and then can use a piggyback wiring harness to the ESC, so I can swap it to any model very easily.

I got the Christmas deal on the goggles and 2 x air units, from Rotorgeeks, it was quite a big saving and apparently the only planned sale for the FPV system. We'll see.....

S

[davidk]

Hi David,
I think we unintentionally hijacked Simon's thread...

All good, Gil, thanks.

Although... I have a feel Simon likes to get hijacked 

[Gil.E]

Hi Gil,

....I'm literally only using the Air unit as the FPV Tx.  I'm not using the capabilities it has in terms of being the Rx.... 

S

Thanks Simon, That's good to know. I was under the impression the DJI air unit must be linked to the DJI radio before it could be used, that is, you need to buy into the entire DJI system (Radio, goggles, Air unit and camera) as a whole. Good to see DJI are slowly opening up their system to be inter-operable for general RC use.

I just checked the Rotorgeeks website. It looks like currently the entry level price for the HD system with minimal setup  is $910 CDN (skipping the radio as redundant  - with googles $700, Air Unit Module $130,  and Camera $80).
Very tempting!!  If only I can come up with an explanation for the wife regarding the $1028 credit card purchase... 

Here is hoping that for the next step/generation DJI will consider releasing a stand alone video receiver module for the same system. Many people already own googles that have HDMI input ports capable of displaying 720p. Display latency and frame rates may vary slightly on non-DJI googles, but overall this might push the price barrier down to half its present value.

[Crazyflyer]

Hi Gil,
from what I hear, DJI will be releasing a stand alone VTX that can be used with certain analog cameras, CADDX is already buying these and creating a system (VTX & Cam) https://caddxfpv.com/products/caddx-vista
This will help when you have no need for the DJI flight control receiver but just want to use the dji goggles.
But they are very unlikely to create a stand alone receiver as they want to sell their goggles.
It doesn't look like Fatshark can survive this, DJI has a huge R&D budget that Fatshark has never had. It will be interesting to see what happens next with knock offs. Especially that DJI pricing is very similar to high end analog.

My Fatsharks are getting really old and falling apart so it makes sense to buy the new DJI goggles (instead of HDOs), to which I will also connect a separate analog receiver (immersion Duo) when I fly analog planes.
Stephan

[Gil.E]

Hi Stephan,
(excuse the belated response)

"But they are very unlikely to create a stand alone receiver as they want to sell their goggles."

I agree that the money maker in the HD lineup are the goggles, so we probably won't see a standalone video receiver module in the near/immediate future, however there is a limit to how much DJI can milk the upper tier price segment (~ $1000 CDN/system entry level).  At some point, say in a year or two  from now, once DJI exhausts the customer base who are willing  to spend that much on the switch to HD, they will have to lower price barrier to gain new users at the medium price tier.

I will definitely join the 'HD' crowd  once I can get a system at the  at the $500 to $600 CDN price level.  DJI could do it by either introducing a Version 2 of the goggles and the lowering the price of the current version 1 Goggles or,  as I am hoping, by introducing a standalone video receiver with HDMI output. DJI can still charge a nice price for a combo like  (Air unit VTX module + Camera) at ~ $200 plus a video receiver module for ~$300.

"It will be interesting to see what happens next with knock offs"

I don't think cloning of the DJI system itself or un-authorized (un-licensed)  DJI compatible module will help to lower prices. Unlike analog FPV equipment (which is based on open standards), with the move to digital on both the Video and RF subsystems , DJI can render any cloned gear useless by with a single firmware update of the Goggles and Air unit module. The data link doesn't even have to be encrypted, the video compression algorithm itself inherently acts to protect DJI from cloners. Tweak the compression method slightly on both ends via firmware update and all compatible un-licensed modules will stop working. The small no-name hardware manufacturers who pushed analog FPV to ultra-low prices don't have the resources or stomach to enter a software arm race with DJI.

Maybe alternative digital non-dji-compatible products will push prices down.  Does Fat Shark's Byte Frost has a chance to push back against DJI and bring prices down ? 
   

[Crazyflyer]

Hi Gil
The Fat Shark's Byte Frost is pretty much the same price as DJI but fails miserably in comparaison, I don't know if they are still working on improving their technology or if they have given up.
It is hard to compete when you know DJI is willing to invest millions in R&D.
Even the upper end analog setup from fatshark is more expensive than DJI.
From what I see in the different quad groups, a lot of people are already switching to DJI, especially with the CADDX camera-VTX (parts from DJI) that can be installed even on 3" quads.
Fatshark had no problems selling $800CAD goggles, I would be surprised if DJI comes out with a lower tier. When Fatshark came out with a cheaper goggle setup, the vendors weren't selling many.
It will be interesting to see what happens this year, I am really surprised to see how many people I know and facebook quad friends are switching over.

Stephan