S800 foldable GPS mount

[saidquad]

I know it is very stupid.
I got one of these.
http://www.electriflite.co.uk/store17/index.php/mount-gps.html
Then I realized that the screw does not fit to any of the wholes of S800 top board. One moment I totally forgot that the top board is somehow a circuit board (distributing power to ESCs). I drilled a little whole on the plate (on the green spot image below).
View attachment 13245
Screwed the thing in place. Powered and boom! A spark went off the GPS mounting place. I realized what mistake I had done. Dismounted the GPS. Powered S800 again and everything is still working. Ran the motor check one by one via wkm software. Motors run. Since the motor check only runs motors in low speed I don’t dare to fly it now. I don’t know if the defect circuit will still handle to feed full power to related ESC while 7kg s800 is off the ground.

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

I know it is very stupid.
I got one of these.
http://www.electriflite.co.uk/store17/index.php/mount-gps.html
Then I realized that the screw does not fit to any of the wholes of S800 top board. One moment I totally forgot that the top board is somehow a circuit board (distributing power to ESCs). I drilled a little whole on the plate (on the green spot image below).
View attachment 16758
Screwed the thing in place. Powered and boom! A spark went off the GPS mounting place. I realized what mistake I had done. Dismounted the GPS. Powered S800 again and everything is still working. Ran the motor check one by one via wkm software. Motors run. Since the motor check only runs motors in low speed I don’t dare to fly it now. I don’t know if the defect circuit will still handle to feed full power to related ESC while 7kg s800 is off the ground.

Sorry about that. But I do agree with your assessment and should ground the S800 until you get a replacement top board. There was some discussion on another thread about that mount and how the screw sizes were diff, which meant drilling, which someone then said its a nonstarter for them. Thing we learn from our 20/20 hindsight vision, and hopefully others will learn from yours.
As a word of warning, you have some interesting soldering work ahead of you if you just buy the top plate. You will need some heavy duty solder wick (1/4" size) and will ultimately end up probably having to basically rip some parts of the top plate off the arm mounts because the solder is so much and runs so deep (I was never able to complete remove all the solder to cleanly just remove the mounts). Once the arm mounts are off, clean the contacts off very well, and soldering back in is quite straight forward but will use equally a lot of solder.
(I had to do this a few months back when my top board cracked around where the IMU slot is due to a crash.)

 

[nigelbrogan]

I've fitted mine in the middle of the top plate, will it be ok there?

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

I've fitted mine in the middle of the top plate, will it be ok there?

Are you saying you already fitted (past tense) it? Have you powered it up and tested all your motors and functionality? If you already did, then it sounds like you might have found a safe spot on the top plate.

 

[nigelbrogan]

I've fitted it this morning but not tested the motors yet.

 

[nigelbrogan]

Just a quick update, it works fine

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

I've fitted it this morning but not tested the motors yet.

Great!. There may be less circuitry in te middle area away from the arm mounts.

 

[saidquad]

Thank you propilot. Do you mean that I have to do some soldering if I want to change only the top plate? Ohh no… I know I can’t do this. I thought it is only the matter of unscrewing the old plate and screwing the new plate in place. I think my S800 is cursed! Is there any way to escape soldering?
Nigelbrogan. Look at the picture I did attached to my previous post and see if you have drilled the danger zone. Hopefully not.

 

[nisouck]

I think the best way to mount this piece is into the center hole.
But the thread is 3mm and don't fit the center separator that is threaded at 2.5mm.
To mount mine, I replace de center separator with one threaded at 3mm and all is working perfect!

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

Thank you propilot. Do you mean that I have to do some soldering if I want to change only the top plate? Ohh no… I know I can’t do this. I thought it is only the matter of unscrewing the old plate and screwing the new plate in place. I think my S800 is cursed! Is there any way to escape soldering?

Sadly, no, unless yours is drastically different than mine. Under those plastic plates are four big soldering spots about 1/2" big in an L shape. Each of the six motor anchors or mounts (whatever you want to call them) are securely attached to the top plate. You can buy a full hub (top+bottom plates + arm mounts), but that's about 3 times the price than just the plates. Or maybe your vendor can help?
Not that I have tons of spare time, but I can help you if you wish. Since I've done it, it might take me a cpl hours. PM me if you'd like, and I can give you my address. If you wanted, you could mail the new plates (I think u have to buy both top and bottom) and I could solder them back on.

 

[nigelbrogan]

I've used the very centre hole on the top plate, I also got a friend to Cnc me the new spacer to go underneath. All seems good. Thanks for the help guys

 

[deluge2]

Sadly, no, unless yours is drastically different than mine. Under those plastic plates are four big soldering spots about 1/2" big in an L shape. Each of the six motor anchors or mounts (whatever you want to call them) are securely attached to the top plate. You can buy a full hub (top+bottom plates + arm mounts), but that's about 3 times the price than just the plates. Or maybe your vendor can help?
Not that I have tons of spare time, but I can help you if you wish. Since I've done it, it might take me a cpl hours. PM me if you'd like, and I can give you my address. If you wanted, you could mail the new plates (I think u have to buy both top and bottom) and I could solder them back on.

it' kind offers like this that warm our hearts and highlight the exceptional goodwill of this online community! I salute you!

Steve

 

[saidquad]

Since motors still work I can imagine that a little part of a connection to one or two ESCs is damaged by the hole. Since the connection is smaller now it is possible that in full or half throttle it becomes warm. So either it takes fire or it will be disconnected by heat and I lose one or may be two ESCs on the flight. I wonder if it would be possible to scratch around the hole by a knife until I reach the circuit. Then I can see the scope of the damage on the circuit and maybe I can solder a wire there to strength that particular connection. This is my only hypothetical hope to get away from changing the top board. But I really do not know if it is possible to scratch the top board to see the circuit and if it is possible how should I do it.

 

[ChrisViperM]

Since motors still work I can imagine that a little part of a connection to one or two ESCs is damaged by the hole. Since the connection is smaller now it is possible that in full or half throttle it becomes warm. So either it takes fire or it will be disconnected by heat and I lose one or may be two ESCs on the flight. I wonder if it would be possible to scratch around the hole by a knife until I reach the circuit. Then I can see the scope of the damage on the circuit and maybe I can solder a wire there to strength that particular connection. This is my only hypothetical hope to get away from changing the top board. But I really do not know if it is possible to scratch the top board to see the circuit and if it is possible how should I do it.

Not a bad idea....but you would have to do a little dis-assembling since the circuit lanes are are on the bottom side of the top - plate. Just take the bottom-plate off, and with tilting the bottom side of the top-plate in the light you will see where the circuit lanes are running. When scratching the "protecion coat" off the circuit lane, be very careful since this circuit lanes are thin like paper. If the hole is not too big, just connect the broken circuit with a nice blob of solder once you removed enough of the protection coat arround the hole......but if you are finished, cover the complete repair with some silicone, hot-melt glue or Plasti-Dip.....



Chris

 

[saidquad]

Thank you Chris
I just wish I had read your post earlier. I started to scratch the upper side of the pate. I scratched and scratched and all I could see was a flat monolith (if this is the correct word) copper plate. Now I am going to remove the plate and start scratching the bottom side. I’ll try to be patient and scratch as soft as possible.

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

Thank you Chris
I just wish I had read your post earlier. I started to scratch the upper side of the pate. I scratched and scratched and all I could see was a flat monolith (if this is the correct word) copper plate. Now I am going to remove the plate and start scratching the bottom side. I’ll try to be patient and scratch as soft as possible.

Chris, do you know if the board is multi-layered? I thought it was, like the ground plane being on one layer, the 25V on another, and the ESC signals on another.
Saidquad, best of luck. Keep us posted how we can help.

 

[MombasaFlash]

If anybody else is reading this who wants to fit one of those jolly little hinged GPS mast mounts, just drill out the hole in the existing central standoff and re-tap it for the M3 thread. I mean, jeez ... it is a pretty simple fix!

 

[saidquad]

Thanks to everyone giving advice on this. As mentioned I scatched the upper side of the top plate and the circuit was not there. Then I disassembled the bottom plate. The picture bellow shows the hole from the back side of the top plate.

View attachment 13252

I started to scratch around the hole with a hobby knife which was a bad idea. Even though I was very cautious I ripped off some of connections. Then I continued with a soft sand paper and scratched the coat around the hole and the circuit appeared as bellow.

View attachment 13254

Lane 4 and 5 were connected and I scratched them off by mistake.
Lane 1 and 2 are connected together where the red circle is. The voltmeter indicates that they are still connected.
I have a strong guess that both lane 1 and lane 2 have been connected to lane 3 before drilling the hole. But I am not 100% sure. That is why I have not soldered them yet. As Chris said the lanes are very thin. Any ideas on solder what to what are welcome.

 

[ChrisViperM]

Lucky you, I still have one old top-plate in my workshop....so I just sanded it down arround the area where you drilled a hole:

I hope this helps....


Chris

 

[saidquad]

God bless you Chris! Thank you very much. That old top-plate on your workshop along with your effort and goodwill made me very happy. So I am going to solder lane 1 and 2 and 3 (referring to the second picture on my previous post) together and test the system. Would it be ok to solder them using 24 AWG wire? I can lead wires around the hole so that I can still use this hole for that jolly little hinged GPS mast mount! (as MombasaFlash calls it). I can’t use the central standoff to mount it because I lay the lipo packs over the top plate.