UDI U818A Modifications Antenna and Buzzer Mods Quadcopter DJI Phantom Drone camera

[@BubbleBeet]

UDI U818A Quadcopter: amzn.to/2oV6pmw NEW Improved Model. Thanks. (paid link) As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

[@MIgardener]

haha loved it! Things got trippy at 200 feet.

[@christiandunn2794]

My U818a is coming in the mail today. I plan to make these modes very soon after opening it.

[@tunedis95]

Sweet. Figure I would learn how to fly this toy before flying my FPV quad. I'll be doing this same mod, including weight reduction. Add a go-pro, add a bigger battery, and balance impellers. Hope these little motors hold up. Should be a nice little setup

[@ohhowhappygardener]

That's some pretty slick mods.

[@danpenton76]

Did the antenna mod after watching your video; WORKS GREAT! Much better range on the UAV and no interruptions in the videos now because it lost the signal. I was able to watch the full 12 minutes of flight time (3 minutes longer than average) without gaps. Thanks for the great tip. question, why ebay versus amazon or for lack of a better example, why not Radio Shack for the buzzers? 3 weeks seems like a long time for buzzers, just curious. thx again

[@BubbleBeet]

i searched around before i bought the buzzers and the 5pack from china was the cheapest and i didnt really need them fast. also the china ones were alot smaller and lighter looking than the radio shack buzzers. thanks, im happy to hear the antenna mod worked for u too. sorry it took so long to respond i didnt see your comment until now.

[@MrSwanley]

Can I suggest a different way to get that buzzer feature? Search for "wireless 5 in 1 key finder". It's probably sold everywhere under a whole load of brandnames. It consists of a 5 key handset and 5 key fobs. Disassemble a fob and inside you'll find a teeny circuit board which includes a CR2032 battery and buzzer. Glue that inside the U8181A shell (it can easily carry this weight). The point is that now your buzzer has independant power, like a black box! In my case one common occurrence in a crash is that the main battery falls out, but with this method that won't stop the buzzer from working - _and_ you don't have to lose the LED on the nose.

[@scottgarvy]

MrSwanley How much does it weigh?

[@drexellake4051]

You can cut the rings off the cover and use the center piece only to protect the hub and wiring.

[@johnny5039]

Hi, I'm a UDI 818a owner with a couple months experience. I have recently cut off the plastic, and what a difference it makes. I was wondering if any experienced RC guy can point to me a good book to learn and perform DIY and maintence. Thanks for the upload.

[@Holypow3r]

Thank you for the help the antenna I have is bad can't get it more than 100ft but i will try your way... also I have notice the battery dose not last too long like 5 mins or less maybe can I improve it ?

[@WarbirdPylonRacer]

Doesn't turning the lights off and on enable and disable headless mode?

[@claypigeon001]

Great video thanks for sharing tips with us 👍

[@UrAvgRasian]

Don't use the stock micro sd card it's too slow that why the video comes out choppy. I recommend Kingston or sandisk they can process faster giving you a smooth video.

[@viktorbozicevic6219]

Hi, can the extension wire for the range performance be soldered inside of the transmitter rather than quadcopter? And does this wire has to be the same gauge (thickness) or could be thinner? I'm not a professional in rc, but also have this quadcopter and would like to make a simple mod for more distant flying. Can someone please reply??

[@thedemonfoxnine]

Hi I've got the udi u818a quad and I'm having problems getting it to link with the control? How or what can I do to get it to link together?

[@56nomadman]

BubbleBeet Nice job! Thanks for taking your time and giving us Newbies some great ideas. Have you done anything on upgrading the battery? I saw one guy on KZbin remount the bottom leds and stick a 1200mAh 3.7v side to side. Looks like a perfect fit and he said he gets 2 x flight time. Thanks again

[@timothythomas1345]

I seen that video and the test video after the instructional video . The guy got just over ten min of fight time doubling the flight time of the stock battery . I am thinking of getting this drone and am glad I have found these mods . I bought a harbor freight wire feed welder and preformed a mod to it tthat increased performance . And I did it with the instruction of a you tube video .

[@chunkslayer]

hi, i have question, i plug 3v buzzer but it sound very quet like ultrasound, i try buzzer with different battery`s and it sound loud, what is problem?

[@Chicagoman36]

I want to upgrade my Camera on this to better pixel one hope they keep upgrading camera for this drone so we can upgrade camera only if we want

[@DonaldJPump24]

you do realize the shoulder button does more than control the lights right?

[@isaiahhiggins]

With the original U818A (that I have), there is no headless mode, and that shoulder button really does only control the lights. BubbleBeet might be modding the original version.

[@teeman9266]

Im kinda scared to remove the prop guards though, im not that great at flying yet

[@clydeevans7992]

I have extend my antenna on my Udi what's good long range in my control extender antenna works good..🎮😆

[@tonygrown]

Perhaps measuring and cutting to proper wavelength? 2.4GHz figure mid bandwidth is 2.44Ghz so 1/2 wave 2.30 in. 1/4 wave 1.15 in. Use a bit of antenna theory here. Oorah!

[@DFWRob]

Hey- can you expand? Wanna do the antenna mod

[@tonygrown]

These are the lengths the wire needs to be cut depending on wavelength

[@sandropierremoraisbatista7914]

The led on transmitter still flashing an not pairing with the quadcopter. Someone help me?

[@thunderstormparkour2102]

upgrades for the drone's camera??

[@drexellake4051]

I don't understand what the antenna length would have to do with the video.

[@GnanaPrakash86AP]

He kind of skipped a few steps there. Let me explain. The drone needs a stable signal from the transmitter to keep the cam recording (It's a weird design I know) I think the longer Antenna helped with the range and hence the longer footage.

[@smcfadden1992]

Have you ever flown it without the protective shell? If so is it any faster?

[@BubbleBeet]

i always fly without the shell now. yes its much faster and easier to fly. the lighter weight makes a big difference. just got to be careful though because its easy to damage in a crash.

[@jdtpharris]

I have a UDI 1818A-1 & I could not get the buzzer mod (which is a great idea) to work, I have 3v buzzers but do not get any sound out of them when plugging it into either of the LED plugs. Any thoughts on the possible differences, almost acts like there is not enough current supplied on the board to power the buzzer. Thanks JP

[@BubbleBeet]

yes sounds right maybe the buzzers u r using need more current. the only buzzers ive tried are the ones shown in this video. One thing ive noticed is they work fine except for when it gets cold. When the temp outside is below 50 F they sometimes dont buzz.

[@jdtpharris]

Do you have any more info on the buzzers, any part number on them or anything else, The buzzers I have are 3 volt and work if you apply them directly to a battery, even down to 3.2 volts on a 1200 mah battery.

[@BubbleBeet]

heres the Buzzer info: EBAY seller - Tescomalls ... Item title - 5pcs Buzzer(active long beep) 9x5mm 3v ... Price $0.99 + $0.80 shipping, total $1.79. they came from china so it took 3 weeks to arrive.

[@jdtpharris]

Thanks, Tescomalls does not have any buzzers for sale on ebay now, I did find one from Mouser electronics that only uses 9 mA, which is about 1/3 of what the other buzzers I tried, If this works I will post the part number & let you know. One other thing, my battery alarm on the transmitter goes off in less than a minute when I start flying, I get about 8-10 minutes of flight on 1200 mah batteries, and I have a Turnigy charger that gets them to a 4.2 full charge, just that stupid alarm is annoying. I took the transmitter apart and put tape over the buzzer to quite it down, next I may take it out altogether, it's just annoying. Do you have similar experiences with yours? Or know any way to adjust this? Also your latest videos are great, you have a big area to fly in, we have a ton of trees & I am not that skilled yet, but learning. Thanks JP

[@BubbleBeet]

I just searched ebay for '3v Buzzer' and the first few results are the same tiny round buzzers i used. One listing is 10 for $1.71 free ship(from china so it'd take 2-3 weeks to arrive). They have the white sticker on front u peel off. Ive bought 3 of these UDI quads and none of em make the low battery buzz u mentioned. if the buzz is loud enough itd be interesting to see if u can remove it and use it for the quad locator buzzer, if its 3v.

[@cannyli940]

Good idea, let me got a lot to help production.There is a way to find lost machine, when you lost, turn off the remote control switch, then open again, when the machine with the remote control when they close to the code, will know that the attachment.

[@deoserra3317]

Can You Mod The Battery ?

[@mrmartinwatson1]

i was wondering if you have a solution to my problem, the black wings wont spin to their full potential causing the front to flip back on itself and thus not fly. do you know whats the probkem?

[@BubbleBeet]

ive had this problem after using the copter for a long time. one of the motors burnt out. i was able to buy a replacement motor online and it fixed it. it was fairly difficult to install the new motor, soldering the tiny wires and reassembling was tough. i got the motors from banggood dot com but its probably better to buy a new quadcopter and use it for parts, it'll be cheaper and u can just replace the entire motor arm.

[@mrmartinwatson1]

I see that you had it for a while but mines only 5 months old

[@horaciomonterroso8159]

As far as I can understand, adding the buzzer means losing one of the position lights. This is not a good idea

[@BarefootBeekeeper]

You seem to use "soddering irons" over there. The rest of the world use soldering irons.

[@BubbleBeet]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaicfWOjoLySe9E Heres some new flight footage video with the mods installed, SUPER HIGH ALTITUDE and getting stuck in a tree multiple times.

[@Bowtecee12]

***** Does this work with the unit that is for sale and covers upto 30 meters?

[@spaceman458]

***** Just about to do the antenna mod and curious what was your after distance. I'm have the UDI 818A-1 and get about 200ft+ horizontal range and at least 150ft+ vertical before the mod. What do you think I can expect from this mod? Also. What gauge of speaker wire did you use? I have 16G on hand but it seems slightly larger in diameter than the stock wire gauge. Thanks!

[@BubbleBeet]

sounds like u r getting good distance already. i can get 250+ feet but then the problem is the drone looks like a tiny black dot and its hard to control since its barely visible. not sure the gauge of wire but it was the same size as the drones wire. the wire u have will work fine tho probably

[@spaceman458]

+BubbleBeet i did the antenna last night and it worked great! i used 16g wire as opposed to what i think is 18 from the drone. i can tell you it gavee at least another 100+ ft to the point like you mentioned i can barely see it! thanks for the tip! now i need to find a short red LED strip that i can add to the back to help with orientation awareness at distance as i removed the outer shell

[@user-ro4qr9kn2h]

Bro that buzzer is headless mode

[@sxsx2331]

buzzer ye ok but antenna makes no difference yank

[@gerryr1893]

tim .413 Makes a massive difference you've obviously got something wrong