Runcam thumb & tiny hawk 2 soldering issue

Racing Quads, Self-builds & FPV
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Hi, looking for some assistance for my son, we bought a tiny hawk 2 freestyle, beta fpv flight controller and beta fpv goggles, we spent a lot of time googling and learning how to connect it all with beta flight, and all was well, he has been improving his flying skills in the garden and the house!!

However, we have now hit a problem, today the lively Amazon man delivered a new runcam thumb, and a soldering kit, and we set about soldering the runcam to the motherboard as many people have done! But we have not been successful in getting it to work, it could be our soldering skills, and I’m concerned I may have frazzled the motherboard!!

Is there anyway I can tell, is there any expert I can take it to for diagnosis (near reading?) is there a friendly member who could review our work and let us know if we should throw it out and start again or if it is salvageable?

Kirsty

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Hi @Kfa999, welcome to GADC. :wave:t2:

Why not nip over the introductions page and say hello properly and tell us a bit about yourself.

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What doesn’t work, the camera or the rest of the quad?

First thing I’d do if the whole thing did nothing was undo whatever I’d done. i.e. unsolder the Runcam Thumb cable.

Also check for shorts everywhere with a continuity tester.

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BTW, I think this question belongs in the FPV Quad section… @Committee could it be moved, please?

This is a question for @group-fpv

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Done :+1:t2:

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Can you post some pictures of what you have done

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What have you connected to the the motherboard? wires to, from etc…
Can you start/stop recording with the camera button?
Is the camera totally non-responsive?
Does the drone still operate as it did before, or is it dead also?

Lots of questions I’m afraid but that’s the nature of fault-finding :smile:

As @SparkyFPV Wayne says, post up some photo’s :+1:

EDIT: realise you have the THUMB not THUMB PRO :man_facepalming:

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Thanks for all your replies,

Close up of the motherboard! Above (I hope) We were connecting the red wire to the 5v pad/pin and the black to the G pad/pin.

To confirm it was just the runcam thumb (not the pro)

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And the drone is still operational and flying (now that we have undone our soldering).

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OK. That looks like the corner of the VTX and you’ve got the right pads. At least, they used to be the right pads. :laughing:

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Soldering has a definite knack to it and these little quads are fiddly at the best of times. Best first stop is the “Bardwell Bible” below and then just lots of practice.

I’ve found a flux pen really helped, and a multi-meter is also extremely useful for testing everything is working as it should. I have a practice board knocking around somewhere, which I can drop in the post for you, if you PM me your address. It would be worth spending some time with that before having another stab at your quad. :wink:

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Have you tried cleaning it up with some isopropyl alcohol ? That looks like a lot like flux residue, which is not good to leave like that on the board.

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Thanks so much, we watched that, but after the first attempt!!! Do you think the board is completely unsalvageable? Or, could it still work if we were better at soldering? I’m concerned I can no longer see the pads/pins?

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No, I will get some and try, any tips on where to buy? General hardware store?

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Covid handwash is generally 70% Iso. But you should be able to get the good stuff from a chemist or hardware shop.

Also not all flux is bad. If you buy no clean flux, it doesn’t eat through your board in 5 years. The Kester stuff I use is no clean and doesn’t leave any residue.

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No, It’s still working as a quad controller

There may be other places to pick up 5v and GND supply
You should be able to find these signals on the regulator,
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but until you have improved solder skills it may be worthwhile to enlist the help of somebody to do it for you.

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I think id get a 5v bec snd use that rather than solder onto the FC.

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Soldering is a skill that requires learning

As others have said the board is still ok as the drone is still flying

But I wouldn’t attempt anymore as you will probably destroy it

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https://amzn.eu/d/fIE7DOb

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You guys have been sooo helpful - thank you! I’ve cleaned up the motherboard with the alcohol…

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Will practise some more before trying again…
alternatively is there a an FPV drone (he wants goggles) with a 4k camera that you would recommend, which comes ready built so we don’t need to solder?

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Well that looks far more healthy. :slight_smile:

As usual, there isn’t really a straight answer to this.

The obvious things that come to mind are the DJI FPV and Avata. These are the absolute, “no solder” option. They’re user-friendly, with high quality video, but that comes at a price (actually, decent 4k video always comes at a price). They are also somewhat a breed apart, and may not be what your boy has in mind when he thinks of an FPV drone.

If he’s after something more like this…

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…then the options are getting one with the DJI (or other) digital video system, or strapping a separate, GoPro-style camera to it to capture the high quality video.

Unfortunately, with this style of drone, there is almost always a certain amount of soldering required. If not at first, then for repairs when you inevitably crash it.

And again, digital FPV systems and GoPros have a considerable price tag attached.

Personally, I tend to do everything on the cheap and I don’t really have any direct experience of any of this high end stuff, but there are others on here who may well chip in with more suggestions.

Finally, how’s the actual flying coming along? I’m guessing the TinyHawk is your first FPV quad. The first few months tends to involve a lot of crashing. :grin: It’s all very well having high quality video gear, but if you’re still on the upward learning curve it can make a fairly pricey hobby even more so.

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