Can someone take a look at this video (sorry no sound) and tell me what should I look at first to solve this, or is my Vista toast? Picture stays solid, everything looks perfectly fine, even after arming my quad (I turned of overheating warning just for few seconds to be able to make this video, and my quad sits without props on a large fan that's blowing its soul out, so no worries about overheating for these couple of seconds).

But as soon as I add some throttle slowly, green horizontal lines appear and everything freezes. It's like that until I unplug and replug my quad's battery. What could be causing this behavior?



EDIT: Or... is it even Vista in question? It looks like it's working just fine until more power is put through the stack. Could it be that something is wrong with either my ESC or FC. That is the quad I've posted about that simply drops from the sky and I have noticed sometimes it would give me slight problems with transmission of the feed, but nothing serious like this while testing it on the bench.

Components used in this quad:
---------------------------------
Frame: GepRC Mark5

Receiver - TBS Crossfire Nano - Special Edition
Video - Caddx Vista - Digital System for DJI FPV
Motors - iFlight Xing-E PRO 2306 1700/2450kv (I'm running 6s configuration)
Flight Controller - Rush BLADE F722 HD Digital
ESC - T-Motor VELOX V50A BLHeli_32 4-in-1 30x30 ESC

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much in advance!

Assuming it is getting voltage from a regulated voltage output on the FC rather than connected directly to LiPo voltage I would probably put my money on the root cause being a faulty BEC on the FC, or one that can't supply the required amount of current.

If it's connected to LiPo voltage then make sure you have an appropriate value low ESR capacitor soldered across the LiPo pigtail connections on the ESC.

(28-Jul-2023, 10:56 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: Assuming it is getting voltage from a regulated voltage output on the FC rather than connected directly to LiPo voltage I would probably put my money on the root cause being a faulty BEC on the FC, or one that can't supply the required amount of current.

If it's connected to LiPo voltage then make sure you have an appropriate value low ESR capacitor soldered across the LiPo pigtail connections on the ESC.

Hi, and thank you so much for your kind reply. I believe I might have found what was causing it and I will post photos just after this reply. I just wanted to reply back to you immediately, and then I will post my findings, and would so appreciate if you could let me know what you think if that might be causing this problem.

Yes, I do have capacitor and it's rather a large one. It came in the box with my T-MOTOR VELOX V50A ESC 4-in-1.

Don't have to watch it, it's pretty lengthy, but just wanted to post my build process I've recorded in full. It's this one, my 2nd ever 5" custom build. First one works like a charm, but I am having these troubles with this one:


Again, in next couple of minutes I will post 3 photos of what I believe might be the source of all my problems. Please let me know what you think. I have not even put my quad together after this inspection and just wanted to post those photos here to hear back from you amazing people, and what's your take on this.

I took everything apart and wanted to do 100% thorough inspection, and I found something rather interesting. There is also a huge chance you all will tell me how stupid I am, but I can take it   After all it's coming from the best community in the world!! I can take it!

Thank you so much in advance!

(28-Jul-2023, 10:56 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: Assuming it is getting voltage from a regulated voltage output on the FC rather than connected directly to LiPo voltage I would probably put my money on the root cause being a faulty BEC on the FC, or one that can't supply the required amount of current.

If it's connected to LiPo voltage then make sure you have an appropriate value low ESR capacitor soldered across the LiPo pigtail connections on the ESC.

Here are the 3 photos I've promised in my last reply...

I opened the whole thing, wanted to dismantle everything and re-solder everything from scratch, just to be sure all is good. However, as soon as I've inspected my quad from the bottom, I've found something rather alarming. One of the 4 screws that hold arms in sandwich in this frame (Mark 5 by GepRC), is the wrong one. I've used some longer screw by mistake... and I found it's touching two pads of the motor number 4. It's actually pushing the shole stack (starting with ESC) up... now, this problem with green lines and feed freezing never happened till yesterday before my flight session. And I remember before I went to the field, I've tightened all the screws just to be sure nothing was loose.

I am guessing this long screw was ever so slightly touching those two motor #4 pads, but yesterday when I tightened it, that was the last drop in this whole saga...

Now, this might not be the cause of my troubles after all, but at least I found a huge problem that could have caused me even more damage on the long run.

Please, please... tell me what you think about this. Again, I can take it... even if I have to admit I am incredibly stupid. I'll rather do that than pretend like everything is OK. Hey guys, isn't this how we all learn? Just a year ago, I did not know what FPV is, and now I am building my own stuff that flies incredibly good. And all thanks to you and all the knowledge I am soaking here. Thank you all so much!

Photos follow...

Yeah, shorting those ESC pads to the frame isn't going to do you any favours. I'm surprised that motor still spun at all. Did you remove the screw and check on the bench to see if the green lines and video freezing then disappeared? If not then I suggest trying that right now.

(28-Jul-2023, 11:32 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: Yeah, shorting those ESC pads to the frame isn't going to do you any favours. I'm surprised that motor still spun at all. Did you remove the screw and check on the bench to see if the green lines and video freezing then disappeared? If not then I suggest trying that right now.

I will as soon as I put everything together. As I mentioned in my last reply, I was so excited I've even found this and I wanted to post it here first.

I am in the process of cleaning everything and double-checking one more time before I close the whole thing again. I will definitely post my findings here later.

In the mean time, if you have couple of minutes of your precious time, this is the other thread I've opened the other day. Super helpful and polite people gathering and trying to help. I believe this screw was touching those pads ever so slightly at least... could my "suddenly-fall-from-the-sky" problem be cause by this as well?

Here is the thread link:
https://intofpv.com/t-first-crash-with-m...om-built-5

Yes. If the short occurred while you were flying and caused one motor to lose power, the result would be, it would fall out of the sky.

OK, so I've connected everything again. Now, I don't get those green lines anymore, but as soon as I slowly start ramping up throttle, it freezes.
The other thing I've noticed now, I do hear startup sounds twice, that last one.

Uploaded it here:

I've verified ESCs, all good, no errors, nothing to complain about in BLHeli_32.
I also updated my FC in Betaflight, even though it was already on the latest version. Reconfigured everything, copy/pasted some custom things like OSD, Modes, Rates, etc.
That seems like it's helped when it comes to that double startup sound, everything sounds like it used to before.

Anyway, I've noticed when I arm the quad, picture coming from camera/Vista unit, looks perfect. If I arm, all good... until I touch the throttle. I also noticed, when I press my buzzes button on my controller, I get that green line noise for as long as I press my buzzer button, it also freezes the feed for a moment, but it comes back after half a second/second. That does not happen when I push my throttle up... it freezes it and never comes back until I reboot.

I have to mention, it's an active buzzer (VIFLY Finder 2), and I use it on all my quads without any problems. Something seems to be sucking the power from Vista making it get all that noise and freeze at the end.

How do I know if my capacitor is not doing what it's supposed to do, is it possible to check it somehow? I do have pretty decent multimeter, but not sure I understand how to check if it's dead, or just started to give u.

Thank you all.

Use an external BEC to power it. Sounds like the FC BEC might be fragged. As soon as you start to use power for other things you are losing video. Make sure the BEC you get can provide whatever power you need. Snow might know better how many amps that is. I don't use Vista so can't advise you on that.

(29-Jul-2023, 02:34 AM)Pathfinder075 Wrote: Use an external BEC to power it.  Sounds like the FC BEC might be fragged.  As soon as you start to use power for other things you are losing video.  Make sure the BEC you get can provide whatever power you need.  Snow might know better how many amps that is.  I don't use Vista so can't advise you on that.

Sorry, you've lost me there for a second... Even though I've learned a lot from you guys, and learning so much every single minute... I am still a beginner. When you say "external BEC", what exactly do you mean? I'm only guessing the idea is to bypass the FC's BEC, correct? But how do I do that?

I'd almost rather to hear that either my FC or ESC are toast, than Vista... 'cause I do have couple of SpeedyBee v3 stacks here, still unpacked. I just wan to be sure I understand your last reply. I am sorry, feel quite stupid right now 

External BEC is an external voltage regulator. BEC input power leads must be connected to battery pads, the BEC then outputs a lower regulated voltage. 9 volts is suitable for Air Units/Vistas. For example this one gives you a choice of 5V or 9V. For 9V you need to short a pad with solder.

https://www.getfpv.com/diatone-mamba-mic...ystem.html

(29-Jul-2023, 08:38 AM)Mike C Wrote: External BEC is an external voltage regulator. BEC input power leads must be connected to battery pads, the BEC then outputs a lower regulated voltage. 9 volts is suitable for Air Units/Vistas. For example this one gives you a choice of 5V or 9V. For 9V you need to short a pad with solder.

https://www.getfpv.com/diatone-mamba-mic...ystem.html

Thank you so much for this explanation. I might have not expressed myself correctly... even though I live in Canada for the last 21 years, there still might be some language barrier, so it's understandable 

I already built my own Franken-cable for powering my RunCam Thumb Pro Wide v2 directly from balance lead of my 6s Lipo Battery. Here is the my thread I started, and some of my photos of the cable. Of course, I had to use BEC, and in that thread my question was regarding the BlueSky UBEC unit... it was giving me constant 5.2V output, and RunCam Thumb Pro Wide v2 is rated to 5V. After I contacted RunCam directly, they've responded with the answer that 5.2V (if it's steady, so not jumping too much), it's perfectly fine to power it with that cable/BEC.

Anyway, in the mean time while I was waiting, I've built another Franken-cable, but this time with MatekSys BEC, which gave me clean 5.0V or from time to time 4.9, but never below.

Thread link:
https://intofpv.com/t-is-5-2v-too-much-f...put?page=2

So, that part is understandable to me, I have no trouble when it comes to that... the part I am still confused about is... how do I power my Vista through external BEC? I am kind of lost when it comes to figuring out how would that wiring look like. Insert ::embarrased:: emoji here 

So, I have two of BlueSky UBEC units here:
https://www.amazon.ca/Converter-Regulato...B0BNKRXS6T

And two of the MatekSys BEC units, brand new still in the packaging. Package came with 3 BEC units, and I used one for that RunCam Thumb Pro Wide v2 power cable.

EDIT: I am guessing these MatekSys BEC units, I have to bridge like this video shows (qat 3:42 sec mark into the video) in order to get 9V output:
https://youtu.be/4GmENyNgfnQ?t=222

So, that's clear... but I just need to know how to get that BEC connected, how exactly wiring should look like. Do I have to de-solder Vista wires that are going to my FC, or what exactly do I need to do? Thank you so much!

Attaching a photo of those...

(29-Jul-2023, 07:03 PM)Thankful Wrote: the part I am still confused about is... how do I power my Vista through external BEC? I am kind of lost when it comes to figuring out how would that wiring look like.

To be frank, I can't understand how would have troubles understanding this. You clearly have experience with using BECs to power external units (such as Runcam Thumb). RunCam thumb has + and -, so does the vista. The vista has 4 cables (assuming your are not using DJI remote), two for signal data, two for power (+ and -). Output + of BEC to Vista +, output  - of BEC to Vista -.

I don't understand what it is you don't understand.

Here is an image from another thread. Don't mind it's 2S, powering via BEC is the same:

(29-Jul-2023, 07:42 PM)Mike C Wrote: To be frank, I can't understand how would have troubles understanding this. You clearly have experience with using BECs to power external units (such as Runcam Thumb). RunCam thumb has + and -, so does the vista. The vista has 4 cables (assuming your are not using DJI remote), two for signal data, two for power (+ and -). Output + of BEC to Vista +, output  - of BEC to Vista -.

I don't understand what it is you don't understand.

Here is an image from another thread. Don't mind it's 2S, powering via BEC is the same:

I am so sorry, I know this always sound annoying, but it's mostly to super knowledgeable people like yourself my friend. I know it's annoying when you hear some question that perfectly makes sense to you who understand it thoroughly, and I understand that 110%. I still like to ask, just to be sure, I can't help it, I am like that. I like to double, triple check everything just to make sure I did not burn something and then came back to this thread to show everybody how stupid I really was.

Thank you for staying on this subject with me. I'll try to explain my confusion here... it was confusing because I believe I am the only one who's never heard of Vista being powered from anywhere else but from FC. Yes, that's why I included that "Insert ::embarrased:: emoji here" in my last post. I am always kind of afraid of diving head first into these projects, just always worrying I'll fry something... and Vista, let's be honest is on an expensive side. I really like to ask here in these forums, because every single letter (not even a word or sentence) you guys write, I soak it as a sponge, and I don't do that temporarily, I am always trying to keep that knowledge for the future questions and projects and grow from there... apply that knowledge to some other area where I will not have to bother all of you and keep asking the same questions all over again. That process is kind of difficult, but I never give up. Let's be honest, FPV is super complex matter, not just soldering, flying, understanding how electronics work, mastering every aspect of it (and there is literally millions of things that must be learned), but it also grows every single day... there is something new coming and we have to keep updating ourselves and our knowledge along the way. Again, I am so sorry if I offended anyone by simply being stupid and asking questions. But I truly want to learn from the best 

Thank you for this diagram, makes it so much easier for me to understand. My belief was that all 4 wires from Vista to my Flight Controller (my FC is Rush Blade F722 HD), the wires are 10V, GND, TX4 and RX4. I don't use last two connectioins, RX2 and GND since I don't have Air Unit, but I do have Vista with Nebula Pro... so my belief was that all 4 wires must be together, connected all to the same destination, in this case Flight Controller. I did not know I can split them, and keep my Rx and TX still connected to the FC, while GND and 10V are connected somewhere else, in this case, to a BEC (that MatekSys BEC if I bridge it for 9V). Now, with your post and the diagram, it makes so much sense and puts me at ease 

So, if I do that, I should see everything fine with Vista? Not saying I will, but, I should. If that works, what does that mean? That my built-in BEC in my FC is toast? Will that affect anything else, is it still safe for use? I just don't want to burn anything else in my quad if I don't have to.

Also, another question... how do I know if my Capacitor is still in good condition. Is there any way to tell that? It's the one that came with my T-Motor Velox V50A ESC 4-in-1, little oversized one... and I will attach a photo of it.

Again, I AM TRULY SORRY if I sound annoying, I will work on it  Thank you so much for assisting idiots like myself, I know it's not always easy