HK FPV Camera Fix

by InComing RC | October 13, 2012 | (12) Posted in Tips

Recently, I purchased a 1/3-inch SONY CCD Video Camera from Hobby King for an FPV backpack so that I can fly FPV on all my planes. When it finally came in the mail, I took the camera out and its corresponding cable.

I cut it apart and soldered my own connectors on it, since the ones it came with didn't match up with my gear. I didn't shrink the heat shrink just so I could fix something if it wasn't right. I plugged everything in, made sure no wires were touching and turned it on.

Nothing. I checked all my connections while it was on and they all looked fine.

I turned everything off and checked all my connections and voltages with my Fluke 28 II. Everything was connected just fine. But, while I was checking the voltages on the camera board, I felt it getting extremely hot. I quickly unplugged everything an carefully looked at the board.

I noticed that the top of the board had all the circuitry for converting the 12v input into something usable for the camera.

And it's pretty obvious that the bottom of the camera is used to proses what the camera sees and send it out on a single wire. After seeing this, I traced the traces from the connector, and I found the power was going to the bottom of the board and the signal wire was going to the top. Since, the camera didn't work, and to return it, it would cost the same amount I spent for it, I decided to switch the signal and voltage wires on the connector.

I used my x-acto knife to get under the small tabs on the connector.

Then I carefully removed the contacts. After I did that, I carefully pushed them back in, in their opposite slots.

Here is the new connector, the red wire is on the left, black in the middle, and signal out on the right. I plugged everything in and turned it on, and sure enough...

IT WORKS!!!

Finally, I cleaned up the cable.

Now I have a working FPV system! I find it incredible on how terrible HobbyKing quality control is with making their cable harness for this camera. Also, the specs for the Camera and FPV transmitter requirer a 3s lipo pack. With this the camera still gets very hot, the whole system however does run off of a 2s, I don't think the camera shouldn't be getting this high of a voltage from a 3s. But, once you get past all that, the camera is very nice and I think it will work very well for FPV. More to come!

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COMMENTS

sveininge on October 14, 2012
I had the same problem on a camera from security cam, i just took away the white plastic socket :) worked fine after
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Flash1940 on October 13, 2012
If it still gets hot...or extra warm...that means it may be using a rather large amount of current. Maybe you might want to check this.
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InComing RC on October 13, 2012
Yes, this is why I am doing testing with other batteries.
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Flash1940 on October 13, 2012
You have there the best DVM money can buy. Hook it in one of the power supply lines and measure the current. Knowing the current will help to manage your flight time a little better....I think !!!
PS: I would use the higher current capability of your meter. I would guess it to be over 500mA. Let me know what you find.

Flash
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InComing RC on October 14, 2012
Yes, I know I do, I bought it for that. Actually, my multimeter automatically checks the current and adjusts the range. I will let you know.
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lobstermash on October 14, 2012
I must have been lucky to have mine working out of the box! Didn't have to change a thing. But I have heard of a couple of other people having these issues. Nice job on the article. It'd be nice to have someone show the hack for using 5V input instead.
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Cyberdactyl on October 13, 2012
That's part of the adventure getting ultra-cheap products from China. The quality is all over the map, but it's worth the gamble for the price-point of most of the stuff. :)
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rcjoseb on October 15, 2012
The reversed connector is mentioned on the HK web site discussion thread for the product but you have to read the entire thread to find it. Mine came the same way. I mention it in my 5.8GH 200Mw video.
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mmerry2 on October 17, 2012
I agree with rcjoseb. I had the same issue and just pryed up the white connector off the board, rotated it 180 degrees, then put it back it in. It's a shame HK hasn't fixed this issue. Thanks for sharing.
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Alex Peruzatto on July 29, 2013
Great work!
Could you tell me what is the capacitor value behind the camera? Mine it was pulled off after a crash. Thank you.
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HK FPV Camera Fix