Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Quanum Nova Power Distribution Board (B-POWER1.5)

Verifying Nova quad wiring in general before connecting battery for the first time. High-AMP ESC solder connections look ok. All plugs and connections are secure.

On the aft-side, this circuit appears to be the BEC. It creates 5-volts (actually about 5.2v) for the RX and APM FlightController. It only requires 2 wires ... Red/+5/Positive and Black/Ground/Negative. At the build-factory, they sometimes use standard 3 wire servo-cables, so the white-wire should not be connected. You might find the 3rd white wire first soldered, but then cut at factory later (this is normal). You can go ahead and remove the short piece of remaining white wire.


Being a core component, trying to determine the Power Board's specs and abilities. The IC chip is a MP1593DN, which I believe handles up to 3amps.

Most of the plating (giant traces if you will) on the top of the PowerBoard are Ground. Most of the large plating on the bottom (or under-side) of PowerBoard is +12v (again, direct to LiPo battery). But don't take my word for it ... examine for yourself and use a volt-meter to measure if in doubt.

More about Power Distribution Board (PDB).

Quanum Nova with stock PowerBoard (v1.5) - VCC 5v output from BEC while flying (under load). APM_252, FrSky-X8R, 3DR-915 Telemetry, stock GPS and Compass. 



6 comments:

  1. Hey! can you tell me if the quad can run 4s battery? Or if the bec on the PDB can handle 16.5v without frying my APM and RX?
    Thank you

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    Replies
    1. Sorry, I don't know. Sounds like you might be ready for a custom build ... then you will have 2 fly-able quads :)

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    2. Ghost Rider you are instructed to land ... Land immediately.

      Sorry, I couldn't resist :)

      Delete
  2. Am I right that there is actually no need for separate power module as the stock board has its own BEC? If I'm right, where on the power board should I solder wires for current and voltage measurement going to ADC port on FC?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Going that route, I think you still need a large resistor and other config. Most of us just install Power-Module, with an included APM industry standard BEC is also there if you decide to use it. Some pilots have had trouble with PDB after crash.

      http://quadcopter-robotics.blogspot.com/2015/09/apm-power-module-install.html

      and some here:

      http://quadcopter-robotics.blogspot.com/2015/09/new-nova-modding-for-flight.html

      Delete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

The stupid spammers have now forced me to approve each Comment before it appears (but I am usually pretty quick about it).