People want to know if they can just convert a Phantom to an F450 or an F550 frame. The answer is yes but if you got your first computer in the 1990s and it was a Dell or an HP and you wanted to add a bunch of drives you had to change the case and a lot of other things. You were better off just buying what you needed and selling the original computer. Here is my reply from a forum post:
The price difference is not about DJI making money. The Phantom is fully integrated with the shell serving as the electronics protection, that is why it is cheap when compared to the stand alone Naza. The Phantom has a Naza 2 as the brains but everything else is much bare electronics and can only be laid out in one way. The stand alone Naza that you see for $439 is everything that is inside the Phantom flight controller wise but has been broken out into protected component parts for customizable integration into open air frames like the F450 and F550.
The Phantom's ESCs are bare electronics with no protection. An F450/F550 has a wrapping that protects them from moisture and shock. When you look at the Phantom, the compass on the leg is linked via wire to the GPS in the top of the shell. The stand alone Naza has a GPS puck with an integrated compass with a can bus cable. It would be a challenge to engineer an F450/F550 to integrate the Phantom's GPS and compass. The LED in the Phantom is just a light with an LED port that is connected via a servo cable to the Naza. The stand alone Naza LED actually has a shell around it and connects to the Naza; again the connection is via a plastic coated can bus cable.
It is possible to do a conversion of a Phantom to an F450/F550 frame but you are much better off buying an ARF and selling the complete Phantom.
This is a great article. I did just that. I took the guts out of my Phantom FC40 and put them on a F450 frame. Long story short I fried two ESCs so in the end I replaced the fried ESCs (somehow they shorted out) and put everything back in my Phantom frame. Then I bought new motors, ESCs and a Naza lite and built the F450 from there. Another thing that I did to save money, I bought a new DJI RX and put it in my F450 and used my stock Phantom TX with it. This worked very well.
ReplyDeleteI have succesfully converted a starter Phantom with Naza 2, to a Flamewheel F450 frame. I only bought the frame kit and used all the original electronics and motors of the Phantom. The electronics are bare but are coated with some sealing coating. Naturally the ESC's will need to be wrapped up with shrink tubes, the rest is placed in the centre of the frame between the 2 platforms. Also the GPS will need to be covered aswell. The power wires to the esc's and the signal wires back to Naza will need to be replaced with longer wires. The result is extremely satisfying, the difference in horizontal speed was completly unexpected and mind blowing! With only having bought the Phantom, a second battery and f450 frame kit, It has cost me almost 500 Euro. I could not be more satisfide!
ReplyDeleteP.S. the Phantoms main board where the esc's are connected to, has a circuit that connects to the Naza to monitor the power level of the batteries. The main board of the Phantom is kind of large and would be hard to place on the f450 frame. I used a dremel to cut out this circuit leaving only the relevant paths and solderpoints of that circuit. This is really the only real modification I have had to make in converting my Phantom to the f450.
ReplyDeleteI have gone through the site and read all blogs and this is a nice one:
ReplyDeleteThe Phantom Quadcopter will need a very good company who can supply the perfect items in fully working condition. The nimble use of fingers will be crucial for the Phantom 2 Vision + to work really well. The DJI Parts are important and they should be brought over from the best places. The drone ground station must be an important part of the whole thing.