Cam Control Bypass

Posted on October 30th, 2019 by

foxeer camera

foxeer camera

This is a quick hack I came up with when setting up my FlightOne build after I discovered that FlightOne does not support camera control. Despite having a camera control pin, the FlightOne software doesn't have a mechanism to change the camera settings. One solution is to flash Betaflight on the board and then use it to control the camera settings and menus.

Since I didn't install the OSD bypass (B&W wires and connector) into the FPV camera harness, and I didn't want to change firmware to simply edit my cam settings. I want to be able to quickly change camera setup if for some reason I do some night flying or something of the sort.

My solution was to just build a bypass harness that you can connect between the camera and your flight controller. QED. It takes all of 5 minutes to unplug your FPV camera, install the bypass, and plug in your camera control pad, or joystick as it may be.

Now you might be thinking, this is silly, why not just install the connector for the control pad on the cam where it is supposed to be, right. Yeah, but I don't like that plug dangling around. And I rarely change cam settings. Hopefully FlightOne and FalcoX will get some camera control working soon, but until then...

Instructions (Too Easy):

  1. I'm sure you have junk FPV cams laying around, grab one
  2. Prepare a JST pigtail, you only need V, Gnd, Vid and OSD
  3. Wire in the control pad bypass wire/plug
  4. Using a Dremel with a small grinding wheel, grind off the pins and soldering from the front side of the camera board
  5. Gently pry back and forth on the JST connector till is comes free
  6. Tin the back of the pins and the V, Gnd and Vid wires
  7. Solder carefuly onto the JST connector
  8. Dab some hot glue on the back of the connector to keep the unused pins and wires in place, and BAM

Sidenote:

Do you ever notice those pilots with "Foxeer", or "RunCam" on their OSD's. Here is my theory:

Camera control from the FC cant seem to simulate a medium length press in order to access the OSD settings on the FPV cam. You can change the other settings, but you need the control pad to get rid of the OSD items such as the name. Anyway, just build yourself a camera control bypass and fix all your quads in one go, wallah.