Hey all, I have a Runcam thumb that wont power on when connected to the drone…I have a holybro kopis 4 inch freestyle analogue, there is a cable for a naked go pro to connect as advertised ,please see In picture.
I then plug in the cam to the drone and insert the lipo to power the drone.
There is no power going into the cam! It doesent turn on…I have test the draw on the cables in the first image and there is plenty of power coming in on those…it seems its when i connect the runcam cable…
Is it an issue with the cables that came with the cam? I have heard that they come reversed? I dont wanna solder the red on black and black on red incase there is a short and damage…or an explosion! Lol…I hope its just a case of revesed polarity i have read about…
So as long as black is GND and goes to the pin marked GND on the camera then you should be ok.
Have you checked there is 5V between red and black wires?
Please say they are attached to a 5V and a GND connection on the Flight Controller and not onto the battery wires. If you’ve put battery voltage on your Runcam Thumb you may have fried it.
I say this because Naked GoPros often have internal BECs and connect direct to the battery.
My initial reaction is you didn’t use 5V and used VBat instead… Looking from behind, gnd is right, and 5v to the left… Here are my two thumbs… One is actually run off a separate 5V BEC
Will it fry it, or there some protection? Yeah B+ is VBat… Needed a 5V (seems to be plenty on that FC to use), sorry @Drone_Pilot_Red looks like might have fried that thumb
Wow, firstly i would like to say a massive thanks for taking the time to reply and help me out guys! I really do appreciate it!
I’m definitely going to use a multimeter to check voltages from now on!
As for the frying part, it seems to power up just fine via USB which is good news? (Not fried?)
As for the flight controller, would one of you kindly point out two viable solders in which i could solder too in order to power then Runcam thumb? Would this also need the addition of a 5v BEC?
OR would it be easier to solder on a 5V BEC to the battery connection (the one thats already there in my picture soldered on ready and just add the thumb cam on from this?
I run from a 5V off a FC on one of my quads, and then there’s a 5V BEC on the other that runs the GPS and Runcam, so… I don’t think you’ll have an issue with the 5V on the FC, and you got a few to pick from there.
Sounds like it might be OK as it powers from USB, lets hope that’s the case when you try the main power port. Good luck with it, and if you need spare LENs… I have a few in stock (stick it on well, or get a mount that holds it in well, otherwise you WILL lose the lens cover in flight/crashes!)
I hate to be a party pooper, but you may still have fried something. The voltage input from USB might be onto a different circuit from the main power.
Fingers crossed though.
The pads @Earwig has indicated should be fine. You’d only need a separate BEC if you have a lot of other peripherals running off the FC. This does not look to be the case on your build.
To be fair I usually test my peripherals on my bench power supply before plugging them in to the FC. this to make sure that they work on their own and don’t draw excessive current that would fry the FC. If you don’t have a bench power supply then this is more difficult.
I think it’s worth pointing out that not all grounds are equal. DC ground and Video ground are not necessarily at the same potential. This was a common issue with the Vortex 285 when mounting a Gopro. As when the Gopro was powered from the quad and was switched on the video feed from the VTX would go haywire and the Gopro would not function. This is because the Gopro’s DC ground was connected to the Vortex’s video ground.
Thanks for all the input, advice and information guys! Learnt a tonne of new stuff! Very kind of you all to help me out!
I have managed to solder a cable from the spare port on the FC (5v port) as suggested and didnt do a terrible job…i dont think so anyway haha…my first solder after many videos watched on YT. But can always be much much better!
I can happily say the Runcam thumb is ALIVE AND KICKING! Woo!!
Thanks a bunch again guys!!
Now while im here as a bonus, to hold wires down after solder like my UFL that snapped off the other day…clean off the FC taking the pads with it…What glue do you guys reccomend to add re inforcements? Just a standard hot glue gun as I’ve heard?
This is my second atlatl HV micro…after the first day of flying it…2 days ago!
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