Replacing FPV goggles with a small monitor

Larry: Wow - Nice story! Really gives me confidence in my new monitors. I sure hope the Cali ones do a little better.

So now for the big question. With the monitor working correctly now, is it still black screen when the video isn't there? That would really suck for FPV use where the video can fade in and out. We really don't need this thing turning itself off and having to re-boot while I'm crashing. I really hope it doesn't go black. That would be a show stopper for me if it does.

GPS: Can you change the name of this thread to something like "Replacing FPV goggles with a small monitor"? This is an interesting thread and I can see it's going to go on for a while. It no longer has anything to do with my selling the Dominators and I think a lot of people will skip over it because of the title. We should have started a new thread, but nobody expected it to turn into what it did and there is to much here to abandon now. If you can change the title, I'll edit my first entry to explain what's really happening here.

Thanks! ...Tiger

Just created a new thread for information on the FatShark 5.8GHz receiver module that's in my Dominators. Looks like a cake walk to add it to this monitor project we've been talking about here.

...Tiger

http://southernoregonrc.com/index.php?threads/manual-for-dominator-5-8ghz-receiver-module.5243/

@Tiger - The thread starter can edit the title of threads they start. Go to the top of the page of the thread and click the "Thread Tools" down arrow then click "Edit Title". Here are some screenshots:

John - Thanks so much! I didn't know you could do that. I've made the change and edited the first posting to reflect the change in topic. This is really great. I've wanted to clarify a title before, but didn't think it was possible. New trick for old dog!

...Tiger

Glad that helped. I've also had to edit a thread title a few times. Once in a while because I messed up when entering the title and sometimes later on to be more succinct.

Larry - Did you catch my question (post #21) to you earlier about whether or not the monitor shuts down when there is no video input? That's really an issue for FPV use where the signals fade in and out.

This is what has me worried. I didn't see this before I ordered. "Parking rearview priority: The monitor will start up automatically, and synchronously display the video from rearview camera when you're backing your car; the monitor will close itself after backing. Scenes will cut to rearview camera automatically while you're backing the car and change back to the original scenes after that. "

Doesn't sound good! :-(

...Tiger

Don't know at this time. The way they wire it, is power from the back-up lights when the vehicle turns the backup light on.
In that situation, there is no power anywhere if the backup light is off. We would have constant power. There would be no power feed
from the camera - just signal. Not enough to power the screen.
My original problem, was no contact of any kind with the camera, or even the contol switches. It didn't know the camera existed,
or the control switches.
My guess, even with bad or garbled signal, it will continue to work. Lots aof garbage out there, carrier should keep it going.
Should be an easy test. I have a 5.8 set. Just about any tree or obsticle will block it, because it is so narrow.
Will give it a try, when the holiday BS is over.

Looking at their wire diagram, they pull power from the backup light, then go to the camera, and feed through, or "Y"
from the camera to the monitor. In that case, neither would have power if the backup was off.
( I was wondering how they turned the camera off )
I don't expect a problem.

Also having second thoughts about hanging it on the face. I fly alone most of the time, so it would be nice to look around in a panic.
The box mounted on a stand or tripod, with a good face fit would work. Just move the head away from it.
Another idea, make the face fit with the Opti Visor, and simply push it up out of the way for a look.
I'm not very creative, and tend to complicate things -- going to be interesting - and probably ugly.

Tiger
Received the new monitor today - no doubt yours is in the mail box.
Happy camper = almost.
Looks like an updated version of the early ones. Base mount is different. Also backlit screen.
Now the rest of the story. It will have you rolling on the floor laughing!
As I mentioned, a gender changer was needed on the RCA Jacks
( Video ) to connect the camera directly to the monitor.
That was the original problem.
Hooked up the new one, and bingo - Perfect!
Now let us see if the second video channel works. Same gender change plug. Nothing -
Have several identical gender changers - must have bought bulk from China. Half of them didn’t work on either connection.
Some worked on one channel and not the other.
Will pick up gender pugs at Radio Shack, and re-test, but suspect the problem is tolerance in the RCA Jack - on the monitor.
Don’t panic if yours doesn’t work. We will be throwing the RCA jacks way anyway. Any real connectors will fix it.
Larry
PS They refunded money for the dead one (China) and were easy to deal with - no return.

Larry - I receive my two today. I just hooked up the first one and it's working fine. I did have some issues with the RCA connector and it definitely is out of spec. I really don't care about that, because I'm going to cut all the connectors off anyway. The monitor does power down when it doesn't see a sync signal. That's not good! I'm in the process now of simulating a flight signal using a camera modulating a signal generator and that going into my 900MHz ground station. I'll be able to make the signal do anything I want so I'll know shortly how it will act in flight. I should be able to post some results before I give it up for the night.

If it does shut down quickly during a fade and doesn't recover quickly, I'm going to want to open the case. If you have any tips on my doing that without making a mess of it, please let me know asap.

Assuming it's going to work, I like the monitor so far. It's very light weight, which is important if it's going in a viewing hood. Wish the aspect ration of the screen was different. When you put it in 4:3 aspect ratio mode, it blocks off half the screen so it's really like having a 3.5 or 4 inch monitor. I can live with that I suppose. The screen is bright and clear.

...Tiger

Tiger,
I don't think you will find anything inside that can be modified. Miniture componets on a ribbon cable, and a very small
mother board. The switches are the only thing seperate. The ribbon cable might un plug from the mother board, but the other end is
inside the screen.

Haven’t tested radio transmission yet. The shut down may not be a problem. If the signal gets garbled or drops completely you have nothing anyway. The delay you are seeing, is probably the camera start up.
If I disconnect the video cable between the camera and monitor, there is almost instant video when re connected. ( camera is still running )
The monitor has two video channels and is looking for a signal from the active one. Doubt if it is diversity ( picking the strongest signal
)
About the Opti Visor. I think the screen is adequate without magnification. My problem is older eyes that won’t focus that close.
Mine are marked #5 and are perfect at 7 ½ inches from the front of the lens to the screen. If you have access to a number 10, see if the field of view will cover the screen at 4 inches.
My glasses will work with the #5 so that eliminates problems. Would be nice to make the contraption
Shorter.

The plastic lens I bought was listed as an oven heater. May have ordered the wrong thing. It degrades the image a bit. However it can be doubled up for more power. Of course it also magnifies the defects.
Checked the cheap reading glasses today in a store. Wrote them off.

Hobby King has a cheap kit for about $30 and it includes 3 plastic lenses of different power. Might be worth throwing a few bucks away,
Just to test the lenses - I didn’t see any options for different power
When I bought mine.

Nothing wrong with the RCA gender changer plugs. The problem
Is the center hole of the plug on the monitors. Looks like it is only good for about one connect, if that many.

Larry - Your picture isn't clear enough to know for sure, but I think that board is a little different than mine. Almost the same, but not quite.

Did a lot of testing on mine before I wrecked it. Gets a really nice picture and even holds color when the signal is down in the mud. The board senses sync pulses like I thought and when the signal fades, it searches the other input for signal. If it doesn't find a signal, if shuts down at least the backlight after a few seconds. The time it takes to start back up after a shutdown is a problem for FPV use. A major part of the problem is the shutting down of the backlight so I spent the night reverse engineering the circuit. I did find the processor line that shuts it down and the backlight driver pin it controls. I tried to lift the pin so I could turn it on permanently and in the process, broke the pin off the chip. Tried to dig into the epoxy to get enough to tack a wire on, but no luck. The chip is now junk and as you would expect, it has no meaningful markings on it. Since I reverse engineered that part of the circuit, I'm going to start looking for a chip with a pinout that is right. Hard to say whether that is going to pan out. I bought two, like you did, so if I wreck the other one, I guess I can steal the chip off of it. With scavenging in mind, don't throw your board away!

So now I know how to lock on the backlight. Next time I'll just cut the trace, rather than trying to lift the pin. Then all I have to do is jump the pin to +5v and the backlight is on forever. That at least solves the backlight part of the problem. The other issue is the delay caused by it searching the two inputs. I managed to find the input termination resistors so I'm thinking I can remove that from one channel, cut off the then unused input connector, and then jump the two channels together. That way no matter which line it's looking at, it will find the signal. This should cut out more of the delay. Any remaining delay will be in firmware so I won't be able to do anything about that. The signal has to get really low for it to drop out so I think if I can make the two changes I mentioned, we'll be in pretty good shape. I could keep the picture on the screen down to about -95dbm on my ground station so that's pretty good.

I still have hope! ...Tiger

Two test pictures. One is at -75dbm and the other is at -96dbm. If I went down any more at all, it shut down the monitor. The picture is pretty much gone anyway so you don't miss much. It's just that when the signal comes back, there is that start up delay I'm trying to get rid of. Oh what fun! Just hope I can find that chip now so I can keep going. I really don't want to dig into the only remaining good one.

...Tiger

Tiger,
You are about 5,000 miles ahead of me!
If you want my old one for parts - it's yours. Probably OK except for the three wires I damaged in the ribbon cable.

Larry

Tiger,
Not a clue what your are doing. Would this work?
To keep it live -
Use another camera - even with a lens cover - just to feed it signal.- Dummy load.
Put a switch on it to flip from one camera to the other???

Larry - A second camera (or better yet just a sync source) would keep the backlight on, but it would not stop the channel switching. The backlight really isn't an issue now, because I have that figured out. I just need the chip and I'm done with that part. I think today I'm going to bypass that chip temporarily and power the backlight from a second bench supply. Then I can at least test my theory about driving both inputs with the same video signal.

Question - My lcd has two ribbon cables going into it. There is a large one with a million lines and a smaller one with just four larger lines. Is the smaller one the one you cut or did you cut traces in the larger one? (Note that I'm talking about the ribbons going into the lcd and not the ribbon going to the circuit board)

...Tiger

Problems with pictures. Either lighting, or focus.
Both are the ribbon, mother board not shown.
Ribbon is one piece not separated into 2
Cut on the far right in photo last two traces.
Marked A and K with the K at the edge of the ribbon.

Ribbon at the bottom plugs into the mother board.

Tiger,
Maybe we should be doing this, either private message or email.
We must be boring everyone to death and taking up a lot of space.
Bottom line. The monitors are wonderful if you get rid of the RCA
Plugs.
Also be nice to have a BS Session over coffee or at a field.
Larry