WHAT A PHANTOM SHOULD LOOK LIKE INSIDE...

WHAT A PHANTOM SHOULD LOOK LIKE INSIDE...

We recently got a phantom in to play with and see how it was put together, it's a great little drone for basic flying and features. Being an ArduCopter guy and having used APMs on our SD systems since the biggining I though it would be a fun project to stick an ArduCopter board in the Phantom. It was pretty easy to do! Will post how to in the comments, needless to say it's a different drone all together, much more agile and solid + it now has full GPS system with unlimited waypoints, auto, RTL, GPS hold, and a host of other cool features, all free :)

HOW TO: Simply opened her up, unplugged the naza and wires, installed APM, soldered tiny 3A uBEC onto the phantom's pcb for power for the APM, used the phantom's PPM receiver directly into the APM (with a small mod in the phantom's radio to get a switch on channel 5, not 6 as it is) ripped out the phantom's gps, installed our uBlox, connected motors as is and did the AC setup, took maybe 45min in total. She flies much better now

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Comments

M R March 18, 2016 at 12:59pm

Have there Anyone experiences with connetcting the Naza-GPS on Pixhawk or Ardupilot?
jeremie lail April 14, 2015 at 5:42am

Please help with arduphantom build. I have everything together and cant get rc calibrated, motors wont test , esc dont make insync beeps. What am I doin wrong.
UAS_Pilot April 10, 2015 at 6:35pm

I cant get the DJI DT7 to change channel 5 out from camera tilt to the 3 way switch.any help would be great.
Grandpa Jake December 9, 2014 at 5:14pm

What was the mod you did to the controller, and can you explain that part. Are you still happy with the apm in the phantom. Thanks
Roger Clark May 26, 2014 at 2:37am

Interesting...

The module in my P2 doesn't have the connector for the external compass. The PCB is the same revision but the plug has not been soldered to the board
gervais May 26, 2014 at 1:43am

The Phantom GPS comes with 57000 Baud It is possible tocheck it with u-center with an FTDI cable, connect the GND to GND and TX on the GPS (G-T) to RX on the FTDI. (See the pic yellow) It needs 5V .

But what a waste.For the sale price, you can get a GPS with LEA 6H and a 4mm antenna patch instead of 2mm of the Phantom. Furthermore, I still strongly recommend an external compass mounted at the legs, like I described couple of pages before.

Pic of the Phantom GPS: (Btw. Read arrows shows the SAW . and grey 5 PIN goes to the Phantom compass)
Roger Clark May 25, 2014 at 5:19pm

OK.

The DJI one seems to use an uBlox NEO 6Q. The DJI daughter board seems to be glued onto the GPS PCB and there are 6 connections at one end and one at the other.

I've not buzzed them to see where they connect to on the GPS module,but because there are so many of them, I presume its not using RS232 its probably SPI (or something else)

When I get chance I'll buzz these connections to the pins on the uBlox module to see if I can figure out what they are doing
Max Patissier May 25, 2014 at 5:02pm

I am using a new one - well, not so new but I used it with the APM. I agree, I would like to use the DJI one but I try to find info and couldn't find anything. There is so many ads about DJI.... If you have a solution, thank you to share it. I will for sure.
Roger Clark May 25, 2014 at 4:25pm

Max,

Are you using the existing GPS (modified) or have you fitted a new GPS.

I'm just curious as it seems a waste to not re-use the existing GPS, as it looks like it can be re-purposed, but it was just easier for me just to get a new GPS, which I knew would work with no hassles.

My new GPS works fine. Do you have problem with yours?
Max Patissier May 25, 2014 at 2:36pm

It is what I did.... was just wondering ! thank you Roger

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