Upgrade X5C-1 camera to FPV

Backstory

A few months ago I bought the FPV kit designed for the Syma X5C. This kit is really worth its money but I found it a bit heavy for flying it with the X5C. The X5C flies a bit sluggish with this module compared to the standard camera module that comes with this quad. The reason is the added weight of the built-in battery. However I found that the MJX X600 that I have has no problems carrying the module around as demonstrated here.

The JJRC H6D is a microquad with a built in 5.8GHz FPV transmitter. I don't own this quad, but I found that Banggood sells the FPV module as an aftermarket repair item seperately. During a shopping spree at BG I bought one of those modules without having a clear goal for it and so it sat in a drawer for a few months.

Suddenly it occured to me that the H6D FPV module would fit almost perfectly inside the camera pod that came standard with the X5C. A project was born...

Bunch of photos

IMG_20160325_231842_comparison.jpg (On the left is the original camera module of the X5C. It has the micro SD card slot at the back. On the right is the H6D FPV module with the camera slot on the side.)

IMG_20160325_232804_top_cut.jpg (Because the card slot is on the side I had to cut a new slot in the bottom cover to be able to access the micro-SD card slot.)

IMG_20160325_233318_pcb_swap1.jpg (The FPV PCB fits almost perfectly in the pod, it is slightly narrower than the original module. I used some CA glue to fix the PCB in place. The elastic bands are there to hold the module until the glue was dry.)

IMG_20160326_002834_cam1.jpg (I connected the original power and control lines to the module (red-red, black-green, yellow-white) and led them outside. The small piece of wood is there to modify the angle of the camera. Originally the camera pod was pointed slightly downward which is very annoying when you want to fly FPV. I use an elastic band to hold the antenna in place.)

IMG_20160326_121114_cam_complete-1.jpg

(Here is the module mounted on the quad. The control lines are compatible with the original camera module.)

Conclusion

Testing this setup it seems the X5C flies much better with this setup compared to the heavy FPV module. But that is hardly a surprise, because this modified pod weighs practically the same as the originale pod.

The camera quality is on par with the original module, but slightly less than an 808 #16. Also the lens angle is quite narrow, around 90 degrees, but again, comparable to the original camera module.

This FPV module seems to drop framerate on its livefeed when it is recording. Pure FPV handling will therefore be a bit sluggish, but on an X5C this might not be a big problem after all as the quad is quite slow itself.

This article is my 32nd oldest. It is 480 words long, and it’s got 0 comments for now.