If you don't mind me asking I'm pretty sure this is the last question until I can get my quad in the air. The bfight210 has a arvtx200 video transmitter, and when I power on the quad none of the LEDs on it light up, does that mean it is broken? There is a button on it and I tried holding it down while powering on the quad, then pressing and holding it down again and with various combinations with no luck. I think I might be missing something, also the Eachine EV800D goggles I have could not pick up a signal.
Just got a Bfight210 need help
- Thread starter FPV123
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broncosdad1317
Well-Known Member
Could be faulty. Do you have an antenna on the quad and is your antenna on your goggles the same polarity Is your lense cap off your camera. Also again it could be faulty
Definitely sounds fishy, can't fly FPV like that. If you have a multimeter check that power and ground are good to the plug on the vTX side of the harness, and check for any bent pins or other possible issues like corrosion. If all that checks out, with the connector plugged in, double check the pads where the connector is soldered onto the vTX to make sure that indeed the voltage is making it to the vTX PCB itself. If that is all good it sure seems the vTX is bad. Just in case you hadn't picked up on this before, it is never a good idea to power your quad without an antenna on the vTX, the transmitter needs a load (antenna) to keep it from being destroyed. Most vTX's can handle a bit of time without an antenna without damage, but you just never know, so the rule is never power up without one.
broncosdad1317
Well-Known Member
I feel he powered on without an antenna which is a mistake many can make when not properly informed first. Sounds like the problem especially if it’s brand new. They usually test before sending it
I powered my quad on every time with an antenna, as it was already on when I purchased it, I can check later to make sure power is reaching and if that checks out its probably faulty.
Even without antennas (vTX and goggle) or with wrong polarization (RHCP and LHCP together by accident) you should get a picture while the pieces are close to each other, say 5-10 feet away. There is plenty of power to "see" that close, it just won't work well at distance. The "no LED" indication is the fishiest sign, hence the thorough check on the vTX PCB for power to be there.
broncosdad1317
Well-Known Member
Cool glad you didn’t power on without it. Then yeah idk I’d say it might be faulty. Check the power and let us know then it might be the wiring harness or something like the pdb
broncosdad1317
Well-Known Member
Wait you can get video with no antenna even though that’s known to fry as well
broncosdad1317
Well-Known Member
Agreed Bronco, but the reality is that a vTX can indeed handle some amount of time without an antenna. This has been an issue for so long that Mfg's have beefed up this facet, and some like a tramp or unify can literally go hours without any issue. There were 2 driving factors that made vTX's more robust, one is user error causing damage, the second was us freestyle pilots who can rip the vTX antenna off and land in a tree, only to be powered on without an antenna for quite some time before retrieval is possible. I have so many cheap vTX's that have been on for a long time without an antenna and they still work great and give clear picture at large distance, so I doubt that could be the issue. Still it is best practice to have an antenna on, but not the end of the world if you don't. Even if that were the problem, it wouldn't kill it to the point where it had no LED's, it would just kill the RF transmitter portion and signal would be poor or possibly nonexistent, but the LED's would look fine. No LED's can only really be caused by lack of power to the board, or a completely broken board in my experience.
broncosdad1317
Well-Known Member
Word I agree might be the pdb or something with the wiring for it to te power output
Bronco, even just the SMA or the pigtail, even just the traces on the PCB, are a load. Not the proper load, or a tuned load for a given frequency (5.8G in this case), but a load nonetheless. That will enough to give some headroom to the RF section of the vTX. Also most vTX Mfg'ed in the last 2-3 years have heat sensing, which is the byproduct of high VSWR/SWR and reflected power, and that is what kills the RF section, heat beyond max operating temp. The heat sensing will reduce, or even turn off the RF if the temp gets too high. This safety mechanism can fail, but rarely.
On the video transmitter I believe all the cables are not soldered on, but rather connected throw a cable that plugs in as I could find nothing else connected to it and the pins were to small to touch a multi-meter to it. When I first powered the quad on, I noticed the top of the video transmitter got very, very hot to the touch. So I have come to the conclusion that it got fried somehow through faulty parts. I'm going to go over to a hobby store later today and see if they can help me, or if it is fried for good, get a new video transmitter or even send the quad back and get a new one.
Possibly, but just as an FYI, the RF section of a vTX will get hot enough to cook eggs just by proper functionality, very high temp is normal, but that is why, for longevity, you want to get flying so that prop air and flight air cools it off. The vTX should have a pad that is more accessible to larger meter tips, but a set of small point meter leads can be pretty important for small pins. Also you never want to push the meter lead into the female socket, and touching the male tip of a connector is very dangerous due to the fact that if it slips/moves or in some other way touches 2 pins together real damage can be done. For that reason I try to stick with probing the other areas, like pads on the PCB itself where the connector is mounted, or the top of the connector where the pin locking mechanism is, or even on the board itself by gently scratching off a bit of the conformal coating that isolates the traces if need be. If I need to scratch off the conformal to get access to the trace itself, I simply put a drop of super glue over the area (if I have no conformal to brush on) to insulate the area again, though it is unlikely to ever be a problem even if you left it bare.
BTW, even with 40+ years working with trons, I still occasionally fall prey to mistakes and shorting something with a meter lead. To this day I have never destroyed anything like that, even if I got some sparks and/or smoke, everything still works well. Sometimes it will cause some bluish green corrosion, but the reality is that the life of the item is far shorter than the time it would take such corrosion to eat through or short a connection. Try not to jump to conclusions about heat with a vTX, or anything else for that matter, as generating RF makes HUGE amounts of heat as a byproduct, and most things can handle a "little short" with only warning sparks. In all the time I have been flying race/acro I have never had a board fail (except ESC's, those things can blow anytime due to their nature of operation), and to this day, props, blown ESC's bent motor bells, and ripped off vTX connectors and antennas is the only damage I ever get. And most of the time, I go to bangood and get a replacement piece (like an edge mount SMA like many of the cheaper vTX's have that do not used U.fl or MMCX to connect a pigtail. Even if a trace is torn, often you can remove some conformal, tack on a wire by soldering, and run it to the needed location. Sometimes you can even just solder bridge it without any wire. I will post a picture of one of my Eachine 200mw vtx's with an edge mount SMA that when the last one got torn off it took the trace with it, I simply bridged it eith solder and she test great. Picture coming next
broncosdad1317
Well-Known Member
Yah I may have jumped to a conclusion too quickly, that is why I'll let the professionals see what the issue is and hopefully they can either fix it, or give me a replacement transmitter. I just hope it is not an issue elsewhere and if they give me a new transmitter that one won't burn up too.
I did not know that, then hopefully the LEDs not lighting up is a fixable issue.
Here is one that has had at least 2 Sma’s torn off, still had most of the trace, and I soldered ANOTHER sma on.
Here is one that is on its 5th sma, when number 4 got ripped off it took the trace with it, simply bridged with solder, ohm’ed out for a Short even thought it looked fine cause that’s the smart check to make, and she works fine. And the funny thing, I have tramps, I have unifies, I have cheap and top of the line, the reality is they work the same as far as video signal, features is another matter, but good video, the only real necessity of Fpv is the same. So I just keep using them until I can’t fix them anymore, I’m cheap like that lol. Please excuse typos and stuff as I am doing from phone using Tapatalk
