I have two GPS equipped micro quads (analog and walksnail) and in both cases i have a BEC - but not where you are planning to use it. The BEC powers the VTX/camera directly from the battery. This does mean it is separated, but it also means that I can power my quad from USB (either a powerbank or my phone via OTG adapter), and the VTX will not start up. I can then monitor satellites via the speedybee app, and once its got a good number, I plug in the battery which powers up the cam/vtx. So the FC power supply isnt bad in itself, but it becomes noisy when the vtx is powered up
I do it exactly the same. With great results. Onboard power is perfectly fine for the onboard stuff or low loads; GPS and receiver kinda thing. Start loading it up and I always start seeing worse gyro noise, GPS, video, and various other issues.
@@nikotttin I have had more onboard BEC failures than separate BEC boards. They just can't afford the space and money to make the inbuilt ones better. Always check the specs and the wiring diagrams. And generally a good idea to test stuff before anything is on the line.
nice video series but here's a tip: hold the items still, the subjects are moving all over the screen, way too fast for the zoomed video. Keep on going!
Nice! A little BEC from Matek would definitely work, but maybe an LC filter would also. For some reason I thought you were trying to avoid using a BEC, but i'm pretty sure I just imagined that.
You are on the right path! But LC filters are a pain to get working perfectly. I fiddled with them for months a few years ago. You literally have to "tune" ALL your wire lengths to get them to work properly. Oscilloscope required. A good BEC on the other hand works amazingly well. Just keep wires 0.7X multiples of 13mm's or whatever noise your trying to avoid and they work crazy good. Your flight performance also noticeably improves (especially on AIOs and 20mm boards). Gyro is noticeably cleaner and tune can be dialed in much better. I also make little shielding to keep the BEC and other stuff isolated in super tight builds. Strip 10mm of your grounding wire, fan it out on your copper tape and sandwich with kapton tape. Works better than just soldering the wire to the copper tape. 2 gram penalty makes the craft fly better than having 10% weight reduction.
@@housinit it works pretty good in some applications, for sure! Especially if you want really good analog video. I think it's 75 ohm coax I used to use for the analog and 50 ohm for the GPS. But it's too difficult to work with and not at all good for bashing around, or when you have to be able to change things quickly in the field. Too rigid, and too fiddly for field work. I also rarely use Teflon wire nowadays. I just use it for arm LEDs or longer runs as it's very rigid and durable and stays in place. Silicone wires are incredibly user friendly, and as long as you are mindful of your lengths and don't have them acting as antennas, they work as well as shielding.
The gps module I have has a small capacitor in the board for this (try adding one?). I think cleaning noisy rails or adding an extra BEC might be optimizing the wrong setup. You might as well get a bigger and (or) better GPS and save some weight and space.
I will try this very soon! Thank you!
I have two GPS equipped micro quads (analog and walksnail) and in both cases i have a BEC - but not where you are planning to use it. The BEC powers the VTX/camera directly from the battery. This does mean it is separated, but it also means that I can power my quad from USB (either a powerbank or my phone via OTG adapter), and the VTX will not start up. I can then monitor satellites via the speedybee app, and once its got a good number, I plug in the battery which powers up the cam/vtx. So the FC power supply isnt bad in itself, but it becomes noisy when the vtx is powered up
I do it exactly the same. With great results.
Onboard power is perfectly fine for the onboard stuff or low loads; GPS and receiver kinda thing.
Start loading it up and I always start seeing worse gyro noise, GPS, video, and various other issues.
I've had a BEC burning out on me. Out of nowhere it just went out upon plugging the battery. I'm now scared it would fry the VTX.
@@nikotttin I have had more onboard BEC failures than separate BEC boards. They just can't afford the space and money to make the inbuilt ones better.
Always check the specs and the wiring diagrams. And generally a good idea to test stuff before anything is on the line.
nice video series but here's a tip: hold the items still, the subjects are moving all over the screen, way too fast for the zoomed video. Keep on going!
The uart is serial communications and the binary 1 and 0 are relative to ground which is why it needs ground
Nice! A little BEC from Matek would definitely work, but maybe an LC filter would also. For some reason I thought you were trying to avoid using a BEC, but i'm pretty sure I just imagined that.
You are on the right path!
But LC filters are a pain to get working perfectly. I fiddled with them for months a few years ago. You literally have to "tune" ALL your wire lengths to get them to work properly. Oscilloscope required.
A good BEC on the other hand works amazingly well. Just keep wires 0.7X multiples of 13mm's or whatever noise your trying to avoid and they work crazy good.
Your flight performance also noticeably improves (especially on AIOs and 20mm boards). Gyro is noticeably cleaner and tune can be dialed in much better.
I also make little shielding to keep the BEC and other stuff isolated in super tight builds. Strip 10mm of your grounding wire, fan it out on your copper tape and sandwich with kapton tape. Works better than just soldering the wire to the copper tape.
2 gram penalty makes the craft fly better than having 10% weight reduction.
@@lemonsquareFPV I've been known to use 1.13mm coax to wire up my flight controller. The more shielding the better IMHO, well, to a certain degree.
@@housinit it works pretty good in some applications, for sure! Especially if you want really good analog video.
I think it's 75 ohm coax I used to use for the analog and 50 ohm for the GPS. But it's too difficult to work with and not at all good for bashing around, or when you have to be able to change things quickly in the field. Too rigid, and too fiddly for field work.
I also rarely use Teflon wire nowadays. I just use it for arm LEDs or longer runs as it's very rigid and durable and stays in place.
Silicone wires are incredibly user friendly, and as long as you are mindful of your lengths and don't have them acting as antennas, they work as well as shielding.
The gps module I have has a small capacitor in the board for this (try adding one?). I think cleaning noisy rails or adding an extra BEC might be optimizing the wrong setup. You might as well get a bigger and (or) better GPS and save some weight and space.