Zenmuse to S800 connection

[saidquad]

I have not Zenmuse yet but I wonder how I should connect it to S800 when I receive it.

1. S800 has a dedicated power cable (XT60 connector) which should be connected to the gimbal. Hence the gimbal and s800 will use the same battery pack. Am I correct? If it is correct, I wonder how much the flight time will be reduced using the same Lipo for Zenmuse and S800.
2. Zenmuse manual states “use CAN-Bus to power and communicate with the autopilot” so I have to connect both the power cable mentioned above and the power from CAN-Bus? I have a problem. The PMU has two CAN-Bus ports. I have connected data link to one of these ports and the GPS to the other. There is also a CAN-Bus port on the GPS cable which I have used to connect the LED wire to it. So there is no more CAN-Bus port left to use for Zenmuse.

Any advice?

 

[saidquad]

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[DennyR]

There are not enough can ports to use the data link. so leave that out until DJI come up with a split cable. Your Zen will not calibrate correctly unless it sees the WKM IMU. Talking to DJI on that subject is like talking to the wall.

 

[saidquad]

Thank you DennyR. It’s very disappointing to see that I have to choose between Zenmuse and the Data link. Unbelievable!
I am still wondering if it is necessary to buy a separate battery for Zenmuse z15. I have ordered Maxamps 6s 11000 mah for S800. Would zenmuse share the power or requires separate battery?

 

[Tahoe Ed]

The 900mHz Data Link has 2 can bus ports.

 

[saidquad]

Thank you Tahoe Ed. Very good point. Thanks God when I was buying the data link the dealer had only the 900mhz in stock and I did buy it even though it was a little more expensive. So the can port problem is solved for me :nevreness:

 

[DennyR]

Thank you DennyR. It’s very disappointing to see that I have to choose between Zenmuse and the Data link. Unbelievable!
I am still wondering if it is necessary to buy a separate battery for Zenmuse z15. I have ordered Maxamps 6s 11000 mah for S800. Would zenmuse share the power or requires separate battery?

I was getting a comfortable 14 mins. with this battery powering everything. Around 8 mins with a Zippy 5000 Mah. which is much lighter. For commercial use I preferred the cheaper and lighter battery and change it after each detail is completed. The use of the telemetry module on the DX-8 is a good Idea so that you can see at all times where you are with the battery at a glance. Not sure how much use this Data link would get in my current set-up. Video downlink is from a 1.3 8 channel Digital to a Swit monitor. Two man op. I somehow don't like the idea of any nonessential stuff on the CAN bus. It does have the potential to shut your FC system down. I did test that to see what effect a low resistance short on any wire would have. It reminds me of MK and the I2c problems.

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Denny, I am waiting for the 2 axis Z15. I am getting 18 min on 2x6S 5000mAh lipos. That is plenty of time for some waypoints. If you are only getting 5-7 mins then I agree what is the point especially with the enhancements with POI and IOC.

 

[DennyR]

Ed
The pan axis on the Zen is extremely accurate and if you want you can turn it off and run in FPV mode. I would not want to be without that 3rd axis for pro shooting as it really shows up in the video quality once you start to pan the camera around manually. even slowly. How much weight do you save with just the 2 axis?

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Denny, I am not a Pro only a hobby user. If I wanted a 3 Axis Z15, I could have one in 3 days. In my opinion, without retracts the 3 axis is over kill, plus I would need a camera operator. Not where I am at right now. I can be patient and I am hoping to save some money over the 3 axis.

 

[DennyR]

Ed
Although I would always use the pan axis it would not need to move more than about 6 degrees each way, it is there for attaining that perfect stabilization only. I have gotten away with two axis before and even no camera movement at all and got good results but for the pro end only I feel it is required. With a two man op. the model is always kept pointing along the camera heading. I have developed a mixing solution for that.

 

[Topper]

Hi,

Terry from DJI wrote they actual building adapters to connect both data link 2.4 and Zenmuse. So just some time and this issue will be solved.

Rgds

 

[saidquad]

I was getting a comfortable 14 mins. with this battery powering everything. Around 8 mins with a Zippy 5000 Mah. which is much lighter. For commercial use I preferred the cheaper and lighter battery and change it after each detail is completed. The use of the telemetry module on the DX-8 is a good Idea so that you can see at all times where you are with the battery at a glance. Not sure how much use this Data link would get in my current set-up. Video downlink is from a 1.3 8 channel Digital to a Swit monitor. Two man op. I somehow don't like the idea of any nonessential stuff on the CAN bus. It does have the potential to shut your FC system down. I did test that to see what effect a low resistance short on any wire would have. It reminds me of MK and the I2c problems.

I am glad to hear maxamps would power everything for 14 mins. I use Quanum telemetry since my Radio (JR DSX 11) has no telemetry. The use of data link has two benefits for me. It covers longer range. I can fly using a Joystick so the radio could be used by the camera man.

 

[AEMontoya]

Ed
Although I would always use the pan axis it would not need to move more than about 6 degrees each way, it is there for attaining that perfect stabilization only. I have gotten away with two axis before and even no camera movement at all and got good results but for the pro end only I feel it is required. With a two man op. the model is always kept pointing along the camera heading. I have developed a mixing solution for that.

Does this mean that, just like the gimbal stabilizes the roll axis by counteracting the roll of the multicopter, it also stabilizes the yaw axis, making sure that the camera is steady on this axis as well? If this is the case, do you have to activate this stabilization with a switch once it is pointed in the proper direction? It seems that if not, whenever you yawed the multicopter, the camera would attempt to yaw in the opposite direction. I'm confused ... as usual

 

[skivvie]

With a two man op. the model is always kept pointing along the camera heading. I have developed a mixing solution for that.

Would love to know what your mixing solution is if you are willing to share .. Though I'm not sure I understand your statement. Are you saying you have a mix so that the camera direction influences the model direction? Or that you just leave it in "FPV" mode?

 

[DennyR]

It goes back some time now to a previous set-up that I had before the Zen came along, basically you fly the camera and the model follows so it is similar to FPV mode with some extra pan stab. movement.