How do I get 12V from a 4S system

F

fr3style

Member
So here is my Setup

Y6 Rusty Frame
Got the 6 esc soldered onto a power brick that I stupidly covered with that instant plastic glue and I put the esc so neat into the body that taking this apart will suck ( yes yuri when you read this you may post told you so )
Naza V2

I want to get a 12V ouput to connect the following, Led Lights, FPV Gear, FPV Camera, Brushless Gimbal.

I see on hobbyking they have some voltage regulators but those puppies are only 5v to 7v daddy needs 12V.

What I do now is sue a external 3s Battery that is 1000Mah so its light but I wanna get my Y6 to fly more time and be lighter to carry around. Its heavy and flies 6 minutes. Will work on getting it closer to 10Min ( Right now avroto motors + 30A esc (simonK) + 11x4,7 props + 2x 4S 5000Mah nano techs )
 


CdA D

CdA D

Member
fr3style said:
So here is my Setup

Y6 Rusty Frame
Got the 6 esc soldered onto a power brick that I stupidly covered with that instant plastic glue and I put the esc so neat into the body that taking this apart will suck ( yes yuri when you read this you may post told you so )
Naza V2

I want to get a 12V ouput to connect the following, Led Lights, FPV Gear, FPV Camera, Brushless Gimbal.

I see on hobbyking they have some voltage regulators but those puppies are only 5v to 7v daddy needs 12V.

What I do now is sue a external 3s Battery that is 1000Mah so its light but I wanna get my Y6 to fly more time and be lighter to carry around. Its heavy and flies 6 minutes. Will work on getting it closer to 10Min ( Right now avroto motors + 30A esc (simonK) + 11x4,7 props + 2x 4S 5000Mah nano techs )
Click to expand...

I needed the same thing and found the same issue with the BEC's. What I did, thanks to an idea from my local shop, was to use a j-connector (male end) and made up the connector without the sleeve, so that the pins are showing. I put a pin at both ends with the middle one empty. One pin + the other -. This was just the separation needed to plug it into the balance connecter of my battery, which gave me 11v. My LED's are 12v, but work great this way. On the balance connector the black wire is NEG each wire out from that is a certain increase in voltage. So the third wire (orange for mine) is my 11v output. I use two Thunder Power 5s 5000 Mah 45c batteries. Check your's with a volt meter to be sure.
 

E

eyeball

Member
That's the best way Cda D simple, safe and best of all...cheap....about 35p from hobbyking. Get yourself a few of them as they do come in handy
 

hershey

hershey

Someday Finally Got Here
Simply make a plug that fits onto the balance plugs on your battery and choose three cells off of the setup instead of 4. Works for me.
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
that is hard on packs, obviously a bigger deal on a bigger craft, can make balance charging take alot longer and it'll drop ir on those cells used unless your alternating it over and over. a $2 bec is a way better way to go and it has filters to make it a better option. it also stays a consistent voltage which you want, not 12.6 down to 11..... or whatever, holds 12volts throughout the flight or whatever it's set to
 

hershey

hershey

Someday Finally Got Here
Perhaps your right but I use that setup for my quad to power my FPV transmitter only and have noticed no difference in flying time other than cutting a lot of weight off the setup from the no longer needed 3 cell battery. My FPV camera is a GoPro which has its own battery.
 


kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
no we don't and yea, they work good for gimbals.... i have them in a few alexmos gimbals with 4114 and 5208 on 4s. It's nice cause it lets you adjust what the motor power settings sit at, if there all really low, turn down the voltage and get the motor power settings up towards there center settings, makes it happier. i haven't tried it on phobotic. These make fpv stuff a lot happier than on something like a castle bec.


the filter makes them really nice especialy when you have a motor running on the same electrical system, cleans all that up. You might not see a difference in an fpv system 1000 feet away, but when you start pushing a system into failure, having the filters will let it get that much further, more down behind something, etc.
 

Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
I was thinking about them for the alexmos controller exactly. So if you push those motors ok - I should be fine.

Appreciate the help.
 

Gary Seven

Gary Seven

Rocketman

SamaraMedia

SamaraMedia

Active Member
Ok, I bought a few of these as suggested by @kloner, now how do you adjust the output? I don't have some of the fancy electronic equipment shown on the page they were purchased from. I guessing you turn the little screw until you get the voltage and amperage where you want them. Do you place a piece of tape over it or a dab hot glue to keep it in place or is it tight enough that it won't get dislodged accidentally?

Thanks,
 

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Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
You definitely don't need an oscilloscope to read the output. :). Just a simple multimeter set to DC. This is where a set of alligator clips on the end of the multimeter leads helps. Not a deal breaker though.

Plug in the battery. Measure the voltage. Twist the screw and measure the voltage again. That all there is to it.

The amperage is determined by the draw of the equipment you are running. Hopefully the capacity of the converter can handle the proposed draw.
 



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