General 5V source on helicopter

[zenmetsu]

Just a quick question, does anyone know if you can pull power from the Bind/Data port on a spektrum receiver to, say, power an LED or something else? I have an idea that I would like to implement and it would draw about 60mA @5V.

Just curious if there is actually power on this port, and if so, what I can get away with drawing from it. I'd prefer not to toss another battery onto my helicopter if I can avoid it.

 

[Tony]

Yes, you can pull power from the Rx for an LED. The center pin is always positive and one of the outer pins is negative. It will come on when you plug in the battery. And you can put a few led on it without harm. I'm not sure on the actual draw though.

 

[zenmetsu]

Thanks. I have a really small microprocessor and a few LEDs that will draw about 60mA which is not much at all. I'll play around with it. Thanks for the input.

 

[Tony]

You should be fine with 60mA I would think. I would trust it on my Rx anyway. I'm sure a servo, let alone 4 would pull more than that.

 

[zenmetsu]

I'm talking about the bind/data port though. I don't know if that one is different. Heck, I don't even know what would be hooked up to the "data" port anyways. I guess that I should look at Spektrum's offerings. I might be able to pull some interesting data right off that port if they have their stuff documented well enough.

 

[breeze400]

Your data blind port is where you would hook up a transponder for telemitry. Also we're you bind your RX to the tx! That's what goes there.

 

[Tony]

There should still be power there I would think. Not sure though. I would see if spektrum has a schematic of the Rx and go from there. Would hate to see you burn up an $80 Rx.

 

[breeze400]

It dosent mater where you apply the power to the RX. Once there is power there, all the ports have power to them. I found that out building my QAV. So you will have power there. Not sure how much there is there. But it should be the same has the rest of the ports anyway.

 

[Tony]

He is not trying to supply power to the Rx, he is trying to use the Rx to power other items on the heli like LED's and such.

 

[breeze400]

Ps. If you figure in that if your running an RX off a battery instead of a bec. You plug your battery into that plug so there should be plenty of power there! Logical don't you think for 3:13 am after driving 500 pluss miles! Lol.

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He is not trying to supply power to the Rx, he is trying to use the Rx to power other items on the heli like LED's and such.

I know that but what he is trying to power up 60 ma it should work.

 

[zenmetsu]

Yup, powering a microcontroller and some LEDs. I have a 3 axis accelerometer that I want to use, attached to the microcontroller, to log vibration amongst other things.

 

[Lee]

You could also run it of the balance plug from your battery running through a mini 5V regulator. This would give you a more consistent Voltage and reduce the risk o a brown out of the RX

 

[zenmetsu]

Durrrrp... I am a retard for not thinking of this. Thanks Lee.