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How to connect this Tarot camera/gimbal to a VTX? Details inside

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Hello!

So I will be using a Tarot Liti gimbal and a TS832 video transmitter for a project. I'm having trouble getting the video from the camera to be transmitted, and I'm pretty sure it's a matter of wiring because the VTX has 3 wires to plug in the camera, while the Tarot has a 2 wire video output, and the camera has to be plugged to the gimbal, so that the video goes out of the video output on the top terminal of the gimbal. Here are the details:
  • VTX has 2 wires for its own power input and 3 wires for camera, in the manual they are marked as: video in, cam gnd -, cam v out + (yellow, black, red respectively - AFAIK the black and red are just camera power, while the black and yellow are for the video signal - and +)
  • Camera is connected to the gimbal with a very short cable to a 4 pin socket near the pitch motor (it's tidy and I'd like to keep it that way - I could plug the camera directly to VTX but I'd very much rather not). The camera powers on when I turn on the gimbal.
  • The gimbal has a video output on its top terminal, marked VGND and VIDEO (black and white)
  • camera power input requires 5V. This Tarot is designed for this camera, and the camera turns on, so I assume that the Tarot is giving the camera proper voltage.
Both are powered in parallel from a 3S battery that is independent of the copter battery. I would like to put a voltage stabilizer/powerfilter between the battery and VTX (but I can live without it). How I tried to connect it:
  1. battery -> voltage filter/stabilizer -> VTX
    battery -> Tarot gimbal power in
    Tarot VIDEO (white) -> VTX Video IN (yellow)
    I assumed this would work because the camera has power from the gimbal, and VTX and gimbal have a common ground, so one wire could suffice? (I'm not very good at this). Anyway, it did not work
  2. battery -> voltage filter/stabilizer -> VTX
    battery -> Tarot gimbal power in
    Tarot VIDEO (white) -> VTX Video IN (yellow)
    Tarot VGND (black) -> VTX CAM GND -
    I thought this would work, but it didn't.
  3. This is a setup that worked, but required a direct cable form camera to VTX:
    battery -> voltage filter/stabilizer -> VTX power input
    battery -> UBEC (step down to 5V) -> gimbal power in (different gimbal, not tarot)
    VTX CAM GND and VTX CAM V OUT -> input of UBEC (step down to 5V) -> camera power input
    VTX VIDEO IN -> camera video out +
So I'm not sure where the problem lies... Could anyone shed some light on this? I would be very grateful.
 
Last edited:
I’m not sure a GoPro has a voltage step down circuit installed in the camera. Before I would connect a 5v video Tx to the circuit I would check the voltage output from the camera with a voltmeter. You may well need to provide a UBEC to reduce voltage after the camera.

I haven’t set up a video system in awhile but the last time I did the gimbal was powered and driven from an RC system completely separate from the camera. As for wiring between video Tx and camera, check the schematic that should have been provided with the Vtx. The yellow wire is usually, but not always, video signal. The most often used wiring has red=power, black=ground, video=yellow, and if provided, white=audio. You must verify power and ground prior to powering up a Vtx. If the maker used a different wiring method you’ll blow the Vtx on the first power up. They do not tolerate voltage spikes of much over a couple volts above specified requirements.
 

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