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Review: Babyhawk-R Mini FPV Racer

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EMAX BABYHAWK-R


Inhalt:
Page 1: Review
Page 2: Betaflight Setup
Page 3: Adding LED Strip

 

Adding a LED strip to the Babyhawk-R

The Babyhawk-R comes without LED strip. But it’s not that hard to add one. Ideally the Aurora 90 LED Strip with four programmable RGB LEDs.

As usual there are three pins (5V, GND and signal) for mounting LEDs on the flight controller board of the Babyhawk. To get to these pins, we first take off the video transmitter that is plugged onto the flight controller. Right next to the yellow cable we see the three LED pins:

emax babyhawk-r 2 inch 3 inch 2inch 3inch review mods vs comparison diatone gt-90 gt-m3_01 sq12 mini hd cam frsky xm+ 16ch fx power 3s 4s mods modding led strip foxeer micro arrow mike vom mars blog

However, the plastic connector into which the video transmitter is plugged gets in our way when we are soldering:

emax babyhawk-r 2 inch 3 inch 2inch 3inch review mods vs comparison diatone gt-90 gt-m3_01 sq12 mini hd cam frsky xm+ 16ch fx power 3s 4s mods modding led strip foxeer micro arrow mike vom mars blog

So we also take off the flight controller board to get to its underside – where the LED pins are easier to reach. There we attach three cables (GND, 5V and signal):

emax babyhawk-r 2 inch 3 inch 2inch 3inch review mods vs comparison diatone gt-90 gt-m3_01 sq12 mini hd cam frsky xm+ 16ch fx power 3s 4s mods modding led strip foxeer micro arrow mike vom mars blog

Now we can put the flight controller and the video transmitter back on. The LED cables, which we attached, can be put between flight controller and ESC board, right to the back of the quad. So everything is neatly stowed away and the cables are safe there:

emax babyhawk-r 2 inch 3 inch 2inch 3inch review mods vs comparison diatone gt-90 gt-m3_01 sq12 mini hd cam frsky xm+ 16ch fx power 3s 4s mods modding led strip foxeer micro arrow mike vom mars blog

Now we only need to solder the three cables of the LED Strip to our three laid cables and are almost done:

emax babyhawk-r 2 inch 3 inch 2inch 3inch review mods vs comparison diatone gt-90 gt-m3_01 sq12 mini hd cam frsky xm+ 16ch fx power 3s 4s mods modding led strip foxeer micro arrow mike vom mars blog

Now we have to attach the LED Strip somehow to the two rear arms. I designed a LED holder for the Babyhawk-R, which you can print with the 3D printer. You can download it for free here on Thingiverse. The LED holder is simply attached to the two rear screws that also secure the Babyhawk-R cover. We glue the LED Strip itself to the LED holder with two blobs of hot glue, that’s it:

emax babyhawk-r 2 inch 3 inch 2inch 3inch review mods vs comparison diatone gt-90 gt-m3_01 sq12 mini hd cam frsky xm+ 16ch fx power 3s 4s mods modding led strip foxeer micro arrow mike vom mars blogemax babyhawk-r 2 inch 3 inch 2inch 3inch review mods vs comparison diatone gt-90 gt-m3_01 sq12 mini hd cam frsky xm+ 16ch fx power 3s 4s mods modding led strip foxeer micro arrow mike vom mars blog
Babyhawk Spare Parts:
Babyhawk-R 2 Inch Version
Babyhawk-R 3 Inch Version
Foxeer Arrow Micro FPV Cam
EMAX RS1106 Motor
Babyhawk-R Spare 25mw/200mW VTX
Emax AVAN Mini 3 Inch Props
FrSky XM+ 16CH Receiver
Realacc Stubby Mini FPV Antenna
SQ12 Mini 1080p Cam
XF Power 3S 850mAh Lipo
XF Power 4S 550mAh Lipo
Babyhawk-R Hood, different colors

You think this article raised lots of questions? Or you're interested into this topic and would like to know more about? Want to express your personal oppinion? Then feel free to drop a comment here.

Mike vom Mars Blog - mike-vom-mars.comAuthor: Mike vom Mars
A couple of years ago, Mike emigrated from his home planet to Earth to study and examine the human species. His findings offer a deep insight into the nature of human beings and their strange society.

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Recent Comments

  1. Hello,
    I have the babyhawk R 112m by emax and i am confused as i dont know which FPV app i need to view the live videos fron hawk as it travels or do i not need sn app.

  2. Hi, I think you should buy FPV goggles, because all "real" FPV are using analog transmission over 5.8 GHz (babyhawk does). So if you would like to use your tablet or phone (bad idea because of video latency) you should check banggood and look for "USB fpv" device. But it's way better to fly with goggles – even cheap one.

  3. Right. Most racing drones use ANALOG video transmission on the 5.8GHz band. There are dozens of 5.8GHz video goggles available (Fatshark, Eachine, Aomway etc). Camera drones, in contrast, are mostly using DIGITAL video transmission which requires a smartphone app. DIGITAL video transmission is not useful for racing drones because of the noticeable lag (150 milliseconds or more). This is why racing drones all use ANALOG video transmission (no apps – just an analog FPV goggle required).

  4. Vielen Dank für das tolle Review. Aufgrund dieses Tests habe ich mich auch für diesen kleinen Racer entschieden.
    Und ich bin begeistert!
    Leider hat aber der LED-Mod nicht so richtig funktioniert bei mir. Also eigentlich hat alles funktioniert, aber das Videobild hat ganz verrückt geflackert sobald ich die LED eingeschaltet habe. Ich habe das selbe LED-Board wie hier benutzt. Hattest du das gleiche Problem?

  5. Es könnte sein, daß das Flight Controller Board des Racers nicht mehr genug Strom für den Videosender bereitstellen kann, sobald die LEDs als Verbraucher mit angeschlossen sind – dieses Problem haben viele Minis, vor allem wenn der VTX auf die höchste Sendestufe gestellt ist. Die 5V Schiene der Boards liefert meist nur ~1A, was für Empfänger, Videosender, Kamera, Board und LEDs dann doch sehr knapp ist.

    Um dieses Problem zu umgehen, installiere ich bei allen Minis grundsätzlich einen 5V BEC (z.B. der von Matek: https://bit.ly/2Rwjyfs ). Der wird einfach an die Lipokontakte des Racers gelötet und liefert dann genug Ampere für alle benötigten Komponenten.

  6. Hi,
    toller Blog!

    Wie hast du den LED Strip im Betaflight prgrammiert?
    Die leuchten bei mir nur gelb, egal was ich einstelle und zuweise.
    Gruß
    Rallef

  7. Rallef, hast du den Data Pin des LED Strips mit dem LED Data Pin des Flight Controllers verbunden? Dann sollte es eigentlich funktionieren.

  8. hi, hab den fehler, die V4 der Betaflight macht die LEDÅ› nicht mehr ;-)
    gruß

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