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Black screen/No OSD

Tom0570

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Hi! I’m new to fpv drones and i’m almost done with my first drones. I only have one last problem...

The goggles only give black screen and no OSD. I bought a speedybee F4 AIO flight controller wich and in my opinion, i soldered everything fine. And yes, i’ve put the black protector from the camera.

i got the 9v powered to the camera and the 5v powered to VTX, and also tried it reversed.

someone please help!!! I think the problem is from the FC.

73A71130-1B5D-4280-BBCD-B15883469BDD.jpeg73A71130-1B5D-4280-BBCD-B15883469BDD.jpeg
 
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If you are getting a black screen then it means the vTX is working, if it was not working you would get snow. The best way to test what might be happening is to hook the cam video out directly to the vTX video in, if that works then it is an FC issue.
 
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If you are getting a black screen then it means the vTX is working, if it was not working you would get snow. The best way to test what might be happening is to hook the cam video out directly to the vTX video in, if that works then it is an FC issue.

Yes done that too! I had the yellow wire reversed and also soldered them together. Still no good result unfortunately… so it might be the FC then.
 
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Well, i had a cheap cam, so today i bought a better one, the Runcam Eagle 2 Pro. Tested the voltage trough the wires with a voltagemeter and wiring was all good. But if the FC has build-in OSD, shouldn’t i see it already in the goggles?
 
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You should, but not if the FC/OSD circuit is bad, that is why we bypass the FC by wiring cam out to vTX in, to bypass the possibly bad FC/OSD to isolate where the problem is, when we get a picture that way we know the camera and vTX are both good and can then focus on the FC being the culprit. Many people get an OSD on a black screen, then when they wire cam out to vTX in they lose the OSD but gain the picture, then they know it is wired wrong to the FC or the FC's OSD circuit is bad somewhere on the input side, if it was the output side of the OSD circuit they would have never had the OSD on black screen. I hope that makes sense.
 
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You should, but not if the FC/OSD circuit is bad, that is why we bypass the FC by wiring cam out to vTX in, to bypass the possibly bad FC/OSD to isolate where the problem is, when we get a picture that way we know the camera and vTX are both good and can then focus on the FC being the culprit. Many people get an OSD on a black screen, then when they wire cam out to vTX in they lose the OSD but gain the picture, then they know it is wired wrong to the FC or the FC's OSD circuit is bad somewhere on the input side, if it was the output side of the OSD circuit they would have never had the OSD on black screen. I hope that makes sense.

Yes i think i know what u mean. So i should put the batterie in and show u the vTX is working and the goggles? With the wiring? I already tried to switch the yellow wires. Well actually, i tried all possible ways to get the cam working... i thought i was losing my mind this afternoon..
 
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I don't know if I said this yet, so I will say it now... it is NEVER a good idea to try wiring it different ways without KNOWING exactly what is a valid wire out, damage can be done that way, and I assume based on the picture that you have done some research or have experience with this.

I wonder now if I was misinterpreting what you were saying. Did you simply switch the 2 yellow wires on the FC? Or did you take them off the FC and tack solder them together thereby bypassing the video circuit on the FC altogether? It is always possible that you have more than one bad part, and it is also possible that static damage, or improper wiring, has killed more than 1 part. I believe you (please test this!) if you say that the goggles have snow, then you plug in the battery, and then the goggles have a black screen, if so then the vTX is at least good on the TX side, but perhaps it has been damaged on the video receive (input) side. It isn't always easy to troubleshoot these things, sometimes there is a "test" you can do by wiring it in certain ways (like bypassing the FC altogether, or powering the vTX and/or camera directly off the battery pigtail where it hits the board on the quad IF they can take VBat voltage levels, etc) that will help narrow the field on the failures. I can't tell exactly what cam or vTX you have, but I assume the 9v/cam and 5v/vTX are appropriate based on their documentation. There is actually quite a few possible failure points in all this, and it is impossible to say what it is without some very methodical testing, and usually some extra parts to do that troubleshooting. Sorry, it is a little hard to guess at this stuff without some working baseline, right now based on what you have said I don't see any signs of any of the 3 pieces working.
 
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I don't know if I said this yet, so I will say it now... it is NEVER a good idea to try wiring it different ways without KNOWING exactly what is a valid wire out, damage can be done that way, and I assume based on the picture that you have done some research or have experience with this.

I wonder now if I was misinterpreting what you were saying. Did you simply switch the 2 yellow wires on the FC? Or did you take them off the FC and tack solder them together thereby bypassing the video circuit on the FC altogether? It is always possible that you have more than one bad part, and it is also possible that static damage, or improper wiring, has killed more than 1 part. I believe you (please test this!) if you say that the goggles have snow, then you plug in the battery, and then the goggles have a black screen, if so then the vTX is at least good on the TX side, but perhaps it has been damaged on the video receive (input) side. It isn't always easy to troubleshoot these things, sometimes there is a "test" you can do by wiring it in certain ways (like bypassing the FC altogether, or powering the vTX and/or camera directly off the battery pigtail where it hits the board on the quad IF they can take VBat voltage levels, etc) that will help narrow the field on the failures. I can't tell exactly what cam or vTX you have, but I assume the 9v/cam and 5v/vTX are appropriate based on their documentation. There is actually quite a few possible failure points in all this, and it is impossible to say what it is without some very methodical testing, and usually some extra parts to do that troubleshooting. Sorry, it is a little hard to guess at this stuff without some working baseline, right now based on what you have said I don't see any signs of any of the 3 pieces working.

Ok, this is alot of information that i don’t understand too well! Sorry for that. But what u are saying about the 3 pieces that aint working is not true. When i plug the battery in, the vTX wil go on and so does the FC/PDB (actually a 2 in 1) and the esc will beep like normal. I flew a few times with the drone but the only missing part is just the camera. I had a SPRACING F3 board, but i broke it in one kind of way. The camera worked fine on it! Since i have the new FC it doesn’t power up anymore..

And i’ve put the vTX (Its a Eachine Vtx03) on the 5v because else its getting so **** hot..

By the way, i have bought a new vTX (the Runcam TX200U) because i thought the Eachine was broken (thought that on the SPRACING F3). The TX200u won’t even power up on the 9v pad of my new FC and the description of the FC says, the vTX to 9v and Camera to 5v... so i’m completely lost.. my opinion is that the FC is broken again…
 
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vTX's get hot enough to cook food, it is normal for an RF amplifier to make a TON of heat, that is why you should either fly, or blow a fan on it if you will have it powered on the bench for very long. The only reason to hook to 5v to the vTX is because the Input Voltage range calls it out, not because it gets hot. Fortunately both of the vTX's you have called out expect 5v in

1582592105855.png

1582592150736.png


When I said 3 pieces, I meant the camera isn't giving a picture even when the video out is connected directly to the vTX video in, either your wiring is bad, or one of those 2 isn't working. Also if you don't get an OSD on a black screen when the FC video out is connected to the vTX video in, either the FC's OSD output is not working, or the vTX input is not working. So without knowing the history that you have begun to explain, it seems the camera has no picture, the FC has no OSD output, and/or the vTX video input isn't getting through to the transmit side. So it sure seems to me that on this particular build, I haven't heard one thing that says the camera, FC's OSD circuit, or the vTX is working completely.

The old SPRacing F3 has no OSD and therefore it does not have video input or output pads. The FC has ZERO bearing on the functionality of the camera or vTX except for if the voltage regs (9v/5v) are good and putting out enough current to feed them, and in the case of your new FC, has an OSD circuit.

I'm sorry if I am a bit tough to follow, I have been in the electronics field for 40+ years and forget not everyone will understand what I am talking about.
 
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Okay, yes it’s a little bit hard to understand all the information, but i appreciate it alot that u are trying to help me! So the wiring is bad... thats maybe because i swapped the camera and vTX pads, except for Video In and Video Out. Maybe i need to try to solder the camera and vTX to one 5v pad? Like in the image. Cam is on the left, vTX on the right. What if i put them together? Now i have vTX left and Cam right.

Maybe a better picture of my drone if that might help?

72FE3CA4-35B3-4B89-8E51-54C648E14998.jpeg
 
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Ok, I gotta clarify a few points...

The video ins and outs, bot on the cam and vTX, as well as the FC, are all a very low level of voltage, and a composite video signal. Having hooked the video up incorrectly in any fashion should NOT have blown anything. However, the voltage connections COULD HAVE. What I mean here is that the vTX's CANNOT handle 9 volts (they are 5 volt only, so if you hooked the vTX power pads to the 9v pad at any time may have damaged something. I know this about the vTX's because you told me exactly which ones they were, and I looked them up to see what the "Input Voltage" range was. The camera I am not certain about, they usually today are rated for direct battery in, but sometime need more than the minimum. If you have the vTX hooked to 5v and the camera hooked to 9v, that should be fine, but is backwards from the diagram above. It is all about the Input Voltage rating on each piece, and providing it the correct voltage. Also sometimes it has to do with the voltage regulators, if they can't supply enough current they can blow or just not power the loads put on them. If you have the Eagle, I would hook it directly to battery + and -, and hook the vTX to the 5v pad and ground on the FC. to try and run both the camera and the vTX off the same 5v reg may cause it t not work because A) the VReg may not have enough oomph to run them both, and B) the camera will not do well with the lowest voltage allowed.
 
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By the way, from your first picture, it looks like you have it wired correctly, so it is really up to the voltage regulators on the FC to power the vTX and cam, and for the vTX and cam to work. You could try hooking both up to the exact same 5 volt and ground pads, it could work just fine that way, and it sure won’t hurt to try since all voltages fall in the the Input Voltage specs.
 
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Ok, I gotta clarify a few points...

The video ins and outs, bot on the cam and vTX, as well as the FC, are all a very low level of voltage, and a composite video signal. Having hooked the video up incorrectly in any fashion should NOT have blown anything. However, the voltage connections COULD HAVE. What I mean here is that the vTX's CANNOT handle 9 volts (they are 5 volt only, so if you hooked the vTX power pads to the 9v pad at any time may have damaged something. I know this about the vTX's because you told me exactly which ones they were, and I looked them up to see what the "Input Voltage" range was. The camera I am not certain about, they usually today are rated for direct battery in, but sometime need more than the minimum. If you have the vTX hooked to 5v and the camera hooked to 9v, that should be fine, but is backwards from the diagram above. It is all about the Input Voltage rating on each piece, and providing it the correct voltage. Also sometimes it has to do with the voltage regulators, if they can't supply enough current they can blow or just not power the loads put on them. If you have the Eagle, I would hook it directly to battery + and -, and hook the vTX to the 5v pad and ground on the FC. to try and run both the camera and the vTX off the same 5v reg may cause it t not work because A) the VReg may not have enough oomph to run them both, and B) the camera will not do well with the lowest voltage allowed.


Ok, i’m gonna try if that makes difference, if i put the cam to the batterie + / - . I hope it works, else i’m letting you know is that okay?
 
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A little update. I tried what you said and tried what the youtube guy told.

I’ve put the red and black wire to the battery +/- . Cam is getting hot, but no signal again. Also tried hook up the vtx and camera wires together, also no positive result.

Im thinking it’s just the FC, according to what i’ve read on other forums, that with an build-in OSD, it’s happening alot more to other people…
 
If you are checking the Input Voltage range on your components before wiring it and testing it then I am not sure what to say, it should work even if it isn't a great picture, so I just don't know if you have good parts or what is going on. If after checking what the cam and vTX are rated for, wiring up appropriately, and bypassing the FC and just connecting the cam video to the vTX video doesn't give a picture and just a black screen, then it sounds like something is broken. I will try to help, but I am not sure what to say based on what you have going on. The camera should never get hot, a little warm maybe, the vTX will always get hot by its very nature, but I just don't know at this point if everything is damaged by wrong voltages or what. If you are using either of the vTX you called out above, and the eagle pro2 cam, you should be able to hook the vTX to the 5v pads and the cam to the 9v pads and hook the 2 videos together bypassing the FC, and get a picture if you set you goggles to the correct frequency. Without some kind of baseline good operation I just don't know what could be broken, or if it is all broken somehow. One rule of thumb, if it doesn't work within seconds of applying power, it is never going to so unplug so there is less chance of damage.
 
If you are checking the Input Voltage range on your components before wiring it and testing it then I am not sure what to say, it should work even if it isn't a great picture, so I just don't know if you have good parts or what is going on. If after checking what the cam and vTX are rated for, wiring up appropriately, and bypassing the FC and just connecting the cam video to the vTX video doesn't give a picture and just a black screen, then it sounds like something is broken. I will try to help, but I am not sure what to say based on what you have going on. The camera should never get hot, a little warm maybe, the vTX will always get hot by its very nature, but I just don't know at this point if everything is damaged by wrong voltages or what. If you are using either of the vTX you called out above, and the eagle pro2 cam, you should be able to hook the vTX to the 5v pads and the cam to the 9v pads and hook the 2 videos together bypassing the FC, and get a picture if you set you goggles to the correct frequency. Without some kind of baseline good operation I just don't know what could be broken, or if it is all broken somehow. One rule of thumb, if it doesn't work within seconds of applying power, it is never going to so unplug so there is less chance of damage.

Well, the camera doesn’t get to hot, it just gets a little warm, so thats not damaging, is it?

And yes, my head is also full of questions... Again i bought a new FC, so if it isn’t fixed by tomorrow then i’m out of options..
 
Warm isn't usually a big deal, so that may not be an issue.
There is no magic I can tell you that will fix your quad by tomorrow, you are the only one who can do the actual work. Do you have a volt meter? If so, did you measure the 5v and 9v supplies on the FC to see if they are working? And do they still have the same voltage when the camera and vTX (and FC) are being powered by the battery? Without extra cams or vTX's or FC's, I just don't know what you can do.
 
Warm isn't usually a big deal, so that may not be an issue.
There is no magic I can tell you that will fix your quad by tomorrow, you are the only one who can do the actual work. Do you have a volt meter? If so, did you measure the 5v and 9v supplies on the FC to see if they are working? And do they still have the same voltage when the camera and vTX (and FC) are being powered by the battery? Without extra cams or vTX's or FC's, I just don't know what you can do.

I do have a volt meter and i did measure the volts going through when the battery is plugged in and the results are positive. It also isn’t the wiring because at the endpoints of the vTX and camera i’ve measured it too. So my opinion (what i hope) is that some kind of chip isn’t working thats causes the whole issue… but i’ll let you know by tomorrow what the result is. I ordered the same FC because it’s just a practical thing and it has bluetooth :)
 

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