02-Dec-2023, 08:12 AM
I wanted to put the lighter Walksnail 1S VTX into the Pavo 20. When I tried this on the smaller Pavo Pico, it flew ok but the cage was too soft and I could not get rid of the jello. Maybe the Pavo20 cage will be a little more rigid? Also a nice thing is this will be a nearly solderless build as the AIO comes presoldered, motors are plugged in, and it has a HD VTX plug.
Well before I could try the cage, the carbon plate frame just called out to be run open-propped. The plate is 2mm thick and with the arm braces seems stiff enough for a 2" build and looks quite cute with a whoop canopy. But without the prop guards, there is not a lot of protection for the components, so lets add some TPU.
To protect from frontal impact, I though about turning the frame 90 degrees so the arm braces would be up front. But they are very thin and would be easy to snap. So instead I opted for a front bumper to protect the stack. It slots into the front two holes originally used to mount the cage.
The motors were also quite exposed and could get banged up or dirty easily scraping on the ground, so it gets some boots.
A thin spacer/brace was added between the AIO and VTX. It replaces the VTX gummies/spacers and also serves to secure the VTX UFL plug.
The VTX plug comes setup to deliver 9v, so if you have the newer V3 1S board which accepts up to 13v, then no need to make any changes. I prefer to run the 1S VTX on 5v, believing it runs cooler when voltage regulation is off loaded to the AIO. This involved some soldering. There is a jumper right next to the VTX connector, and comes with a resistor on the 9v pad. I found adding more solder to it first, made it easier to remove the resistor. And afterwards bridging the 5v pad with just solder. But it is in an awkward location, so I accidently rebridging the 9v pad and took a few tries to get it. I guess I should have cleaned the 9v pad more carefully.
For this AIO, there is a tab that sticks out back with the USB connector and the battery leads. Also Betafpv directly soldered a capacitor here and it sticks straight out with exposed leads (ie. risk shorting and frying your AIO if you knock that in a crash). It;s probably better to resolder the cap with some soft wires and secure it down, but I decided to just cover the exposed area with liquid tape and some TPU. The connector for the USB remains accessible on the bottom (the white rectangle).
For the battery holder, rubber brands probably most practical on this size, but ended up adding a TPU battery holder. Four M2x6 screws run from the bottom into the bumpers above, securing both components to the plate. I planned to use some low profile M2 screws (black in photo) but the hole was just a tad too tight and ended up swapping in some M2 self tapping screws (silver). Also needed some larger stack screws, would have preferred hex head, but only have some philips head in that lenght so have to be careful not to strip them.
The spacing between the VTX and AIO is a little tight, probably should have run the VTX wire on top of the VTX, but we'll see how it flies and adjust if needed. The crappy enamel wire antenna for the ELRS RX is stick up the side and slightly tucked into the canopy.
The canopy is the Betafpv Lite canopy. I wanted to use the slightly larger HD canopy where the VTX board can be mounted inside the canopy, but that requires wider mounting holes on the plate that the Pavos don't have.
Weighs in around 52g with all the added TPU, quite similar to my Draknight 2" 2S WS build. This naked 20 has larger motors and can run 3S so it has the advantage. For reference Pavo 20's "empty" weight is 55g (without cam/vtx).
I am thinking maybe tri-blades on 2S or bi-blades on 3S.
Well before I could try the cage, the carbon plate frame just called out to be run open-propped. The plate is 2mm thick and with the arm braces seems stiff enough for a 2" build and looks quite cute with a whoop canopy. But without the prop guards, there is not a lot of protection for the components, so lets add some TPU.
To protect from frontal impact, I though about turning the frame 90 degrees so the arm braces would be up front. But they are very thin and would be easy to snap. So instead I opted for a front bumper to protect the stack. It slots into the front two holes originally used to mount the cage.
The motors were also quite exposed and could get banged up or dirty easily scraping on the ground, so it gets some boots.
A thin spacer/brace was added between the AIO and VTX. It replaces the VTX gummies/spacers and also serves to secure the VTX UFL plug.
The VTX plug comes setup to deliver 9v, so if you have the newer V3 1S board which accepts up to 13v, then no need to make any changes. I prefer to run the 1S VTX on 5v, believing it runs cooler when voltage regulation is off loaded to the AIO. This involved some soldering. There is a jumper right next to the VTX connector, and comes with a resistor on the 9v pad. I found adding more solder to it first, made it easier to remove the resistor. And afterwards bridging the 5v pad with just solder. But it is in an awkward location, so I accidently rebridging the 9v pad and took a few tries to get it. I guess I should have cleaned the 9v pad more carefully.
For this AIO, there is a tab that sticks out back with the USB connector and the battery leads. Also Betafpv directly soldered a capacitor here and it sticks straight out with exposed leads (ie. risk shorting and frying your AIO if you knock that in a crash). It;s probably better to resolder the cap with some soft wires and secure it down, but I decided to just cover the exposed area with liquid tape and some TPU. The connector for the USB remains accessible on the bottom (the white rectangle).
For the battery holder, rubber brands probably most practical on this size, but ended up adding a TPU battery holder. Four M2x6 screws run from the bottom into the bumpers above, securing both components to the plate. I planned to use some low profile M2 screws (black in photo) but the hole was just a tad too tight and ended up swapping in some M2 self tapping screws (silver). Also needed some larger stack screws, would have preferred hex head, but only have some philips head in that lenght so have to be careful not to strip them.
The spacing between the VTX and AIO is a little tight, probably should have run the VTX wire on top of the VTX, but we'll see how it flies and adjust if needed. The crappy enamel wire antenna for the ELRS RX is stick up the side and slightly tucked into the canopy.
The canopy is the Betafpv Lite canopy. I wanted to use the slightly larger HD canopy where the VTX board can be mounted inside the canopy, but that requires wider mounting holes on the plate that the Pavos don't have.
Weighs in around 52g with all the added TPU, quite similar to my Draknight 2" 2S WS build. This naked 20 has larger motors and can run 3S so it has the advantage. For reference Pavo 20's "empty" weight is 55g (without cam/vtx).
I am thinking maybe tri-blades on 2S or bi-blades on 3S.