My Esky 4-in-1 mod

[VinCopter]

Being reading some of the threads on the above subject. Guess I have a go at it. Here goes:

I’ll let the pictures do the talking, as the saying goes “a picture say a thousand words”.

Here the title to the pictures:
01 RX board
02 Gyro, ESC (2) and BEC board, lets call it combo board
03 RX back of board with the 6 pins that will be removed
04 The 6 pins removed
05 Insert 2 pins for signal and solder

[VinCopter]

cont

06 Insert 4 pins for power tabs and solder in place. These pins are longer
07 Solder two wires for the signal input to the combo board
08 RX side with signal wires connected

Just tested the mod on my stock HB, and it works as before. Great.
Next will be looking for a brushless ESC and motor.

Just to share my experience. Any comments are welcome ...

[pilot_bear]

[Kam]

what is this mod supposed to improve?

[pilot_bear]

it changes the 4-in-1 4ch into a 4-in1 "6ch" rx.
good idea.
save you $$$

one of the b/g thread

http://www.daddyhobby.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7772&page=1&highlight=4-in-1

[Daniel Wee]

Actually it separates the receiver from the built in ESC and thus allows you to use your own ESC with brushless motor without having to buy a new receiver and gyro. In effect, you can go separate much more cheaply with this mod as it allows you to re-use parts of the original electronics. Also, it allows you to re-assign the servo ports to allow the setup to work with JR controllers, for example, since the default wiring is more Futaba-esque.

Daniel

[VinCopter]

pilot_bear and Deniel, thanks for your quick reply.

Just taken the next step and ordered my brushless motor and ESC from BPP, they have 10% discount and free shipping till 5 Sep, that is today. Hopefully can receive in about 2-3 weeks times.

Read from RCgroup that need to do y-junction tabs for ch3 and ch4 if you still needs one of the ESC on the mixer board. Just did a quick test by disconnting the two channels from the RX, the ESC will not initialise.

Well, need some more mod on thr RX. Will post the pictures later.

[pilot_bear]

will be waiting for your update.

Don't think i will be doing that, but this is a very good mod and read,
do you mind linking the thread from the RCgroup.

[Daniel Wee]

VinCopter, the reason the unit will not initialize when you disconnect the two is because the power for the receiver side actually comes from the gyro/ESC side and is fed through the servo wires. So at the very least, you need one channel from the gyro/ESC side to the receiver to power it up. Alternatively, you can power the receiver separately, but still using one of the servo channels to feed in the power.

Daniel

[VinCopter]

pilot_bear,

I could find the exact post. Here the links for your reading pleasure;
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=294837 and

This is the Blade CP; looks vary similar to HB CP2.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=385049

Daniel,

Oh, I am referring to the status light on the mixer board side stay in red when I disconnect the ch3 or ch4 wire. The power for the RX board is tap through the pins internally. What I did was to replace the original 6 pins that connect the two boards with 4 longer pins for the power and use back two pins for ch3 and ch4.

You can do a test by just disconnecting one of the wires to ch1 or ch4 as shown in your first picture. Do post your findings.

Happy hacking.

[pilot_bear]

thanks.

[Kam]

Cant wait for your review on Brushless setup for the HB!
One other question, is the gyro seperated from the 4-1 board... ie can it be upgraded?

[Daniel Wee]

VinCopter,

Is the transmitter on and throttle set for zero? You probably know this but if the receiver is not getting a signal from the throttle channel into the gyro side, it will not initialize.

Kam,

The gyro and the ESCs are in one board so if you want to you can actually upgrade the gyro but you will have to use a separate ESC for the tail motor at the very least. You can still retain the use of the main motor ESC if that's what you want to do.

Daniel

[Kam]

so by splitting the 4-1 box, i'm able to upgrade individual components yet retain the rx. eg:

Upgrade gyro need to buy the gyro & tail esc
Upgrade to brushless main need main esc & motor

U can really max out the potential of the 4-1! Thanks for sharing!

[VinCopter]

Just did a simple mod by change the remaining two pins to long ones. Here's the detail (from left to right);
Picture 1 - All 6 pins are connecting the RX board to the mixer board like stock.
Picture 2 - The RX can be use like stock condition except the now with the additional taps for channel 3 and 4. These can later be use to connect to separate ESC for main and tail motor.

With this mod, I can progressly go separate. Like going brushless for main motor and to use the stock gyro and ESC for tail. May be later can go for brushless for tail. And eventually do away the mixer board and go separate completly.

Good new, bpp has sent out my order.