DJI Handwheel with Inspire 1 - HOWTO

[eyecatcherffm]

I found a way to make the Handwheel work with the Inspire 1.
You need to make your own cable and mod your Remote.

Main and simple Reason why the Handwheel didnt work:
No Power.
DJI simply left out a connection (with diode) on the Connector Board to supply 5.5 Volts
to the Canbus.
Everything is there, GND, Can HI, Can LO. Thats why the DJI Focus works, it has its own power supply.


BE CAREFUL WITH THIS MOD! YOU COULD FRY YOUR REMOTE AND/OR YOUR HANDWHEEL!
YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF ELECTRONICS AND SOLDERING!
I DONT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU DAMAGE ANYTHING OR IF THIS DOESNT WORK FOR YOU!


What you need

CABLE:

Buy DJI Focus Handwheel - Inspire 2 RC CAN Bus Cable (0.3m) | DJI Store
This is needed for the Connection to the Handwheel (Plug on the Handwheel side)

Buy DJI Focus - Inspire 1 RC CAN-Bus Cable | DJI Store
This is needed for the Connection to the Remote (Plug on the Remote side)

I had the Focus Cable for Inspire 1 in spare, so i just needed the Inspire 2 Cable.
You could try to get the CanBus Plug for the Inspire 1 Remote at some electronics dealer, and save money.
I don’t recommend trying to solder the plug on the Handwheel side on your own, its
really tiny and hard to solder.


1. POWER SUPPLY CANBUS

Open your Remote, to access the Interface Board as seen in this Video from 0:00 to 2:30 :

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Its for Phantom 3, but process is the same for Inspire 1. Be careful with those tiny cables!



You need to solder these 2 points marked in red together to route the 5.5 Volt to the CanBus.
The missing part could be a Diode, to prevent to much power drained from the Board,
same as for the 5 Volts for the USB. I tested it several hours, but couldn’t find any disadvantages or damage done to
the remote when connecting it directly with the Handwheel.
Reassemble the controller.

2. MAKING THE CABLE

If you have both cables, cut each of them in half and reconnect them as follow :




If you have only the Inspire 2 Cable for the Handwheel (Buy DJI Focus Handwheel - Inspire 2 RC CAN Bus Cable (0.3m) | DJI Store)

Handwheel Plug cable color coding

BLACK - 5.5 Volt
WHITE - GND
GREEN - CanBus LO
UINSULATED - CanBus HI


Check the CanBus connector on remote to make the proper connections. (Interface pic)

 

[niki]

Very nice, thanks for sharing!
I'm wondering after the mod can you connect the big focus remote controller to the bus can without frying it?

 

[eyecatcherffm]

Very nice, thanks for sharing!
I'm wondering after the mod can you connect the big focus remote controller to the bus can without frying it?

Nope, should work. 5.5 Volt (Red Wire) is not connected at the DJI Focus to Inspire 1 Cable.

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[niki]

It's great to know that. Very cool mod indeed!

 

[YANNICK]

thanks for sharing the diode was already on my HDMI board !! and it work ferfectly but only on the master remote , not on the gimbal operator (slave remote ) . Any idea ?

 

[WilBadger]

To bring back an old thread. Some time ago I happened upon an X5 camera that was part of an Osmo Pro bundle. So I also got the Osmo handle as well as the Handwheel 2 and all the extras that come with the bundle. It worked fine on the handle for adjusting the lens aperture, zoom, and focus. I was not about to spend $1000 US for a Focus just for the Inspire 1 that I have. I came across this thread showing the Handwheel (1) could be made to work. One would surmise if the Handwheel (1) worked and the Focus worked , why wouldn't the Handwheel 2. I ordered up an Inspire 2 mount for it and opened up the can-bus end of the cable slowly and de-pinned the plug.

I noticed the can-bus port on the Inspire 1 looked very familiar. It took my a day or two......but I finally remembered where I had seen that style of plug. I went to my drawer full of old computer cables and found what I was looking for. The cable that went from the back of a CD/DVD drive to the sound card a CD-ROM DVD-ROM Audio Cable to be precise. I proceeded to de-pin that connector as well and cut the clip off the one side leaving the locating tabs on the other.

It just so happened that the original pins on the Inspire 2 mount can-bus cable fit the 1x4 header connector I grab from the CD-Rom audio cable. The color codes are not the same as the ones listed above. After some figuring out I found they were already in the right order. In my case the un-insulated cable was the ground. The two middle pins were high and low can-bus and the other far pin was power.

After crossing my fingers and firing it all up I can say I now have a working focus wheel for my Inspire 1. I can also confirm that a long press of the lens button will switch me between focus and zoom how ever there is a dead spot on the cycling that will not activate aperture. The short press will also activate the focus range feature.

Oh and I happen to get lucky. I have all 3 models of controller an A,B, and a C. The C happened to already have the diode on the rear panel for power to the can-bus. It also just so happens that is the one I use as the main controller for my I1V2.

 

[WilBadger]

Thought I would also mention that when turning it on it does not prompt me about having it connected like above. No popup saying Focus or anything, It just starts working. I also thought I would up load some pictures of what parts I used. The inspire 2 Handwheel 2 mount and a DJI Inspire 1 factory tripod/focus mount. The are very close how ever the Inspire 2 mounting arm is thinner then the old Focus mounting arm so the clamp in the tripod mount will not clamp down and tighten. I took the rear cover of a computer case, the pci slot cover. I trimmed it down an epoxied it to the arm in the area I wanted it to clamp the arm in the right spot.

 

[svarteld]

Hello,

Thanks for the useful info!

I'm looking to attach my Focus wheel 1 to the Inspire 1 remote.

I have a question: how does the CAN bus on the Inspire 1 controller differ from the Inspire 2? I guess there's different contacts, right?

 

[WilBadger]

From what I can tell they are in the same order. There very little differences between the two controllers plugs. The rear board is only different in a few ways. They enlarged the HDMI to a full size and added a cooling block. All the components are directly on the main board where as the I1 controller has it in the cover.

Here is a tear down of the I2 along with the controller.
DJI Inspire 2 Teardown - What's inside? - RC Geeks Blog

I also learned from looking at that article you can put an I2 device mount on the I1 controller which in turns give you a spot to mount the Focus/Handwheel stand.

 

[svarteld]

Ah, thanks for all the info! Appreciate it.

I've got a Secraft tray that will be perfect for mounting the focus wheel on. I use a 5mm to 1/4" thread adapter. It can be located left or right; the Sectraft trays have 5 mm threads there.

Since the CAN bus plugs seems very similar on the Inspire 1 and 2 control, do you possibly have both at hand, and will the I2 CAN remote plug be modifiable to fit inte the I1 remote? Or do you suggest the cable mod above?

Thanks /Peter

 

[WilBadger]

Has to be modded...! It's not to hard to cut back the plug on the I2 cable to be able to release the pins in the plug. Then take a 1x4 header cable like I mention above, release the pins from that and slide the I2 wires in and get them to lock in....done.

 

[WilBadger]

Also I modded my second controller to be able to use the Handwheel only to find out it will not work on the slave only the master. Did some searching and it would seem it's a known issue. Why would you have the focus controlled by the person flying and just the camera movement controlled by another...ugh. Only thing to say is......DJI.

 

[svarteld]

Ah, thanks for the info. Pretty dumb of DJI to not make the wheel work on the slave. Still, I'll attach it to my main controller, so thanks for the mod!

 

[Keith Cody]

Where do you purchase the I2 device mount. I can't seem to find it online. I think I'm searching for the wrong thing.

.....

I also learned from looking at that article you can put an I2 device mount on the I1 controller which in turns give you a spot to mount the Focus/Handwheel stand.

 

[Keith Cody]

Where do you purchase the I2 device mount. I can't seem to find it online. I think I'm searching for the wrong thing.

Found it:

DJI Inspire 2 Focus Handwheel Stand for Remote Controller

Buy DJI Inspire 2 Focus Handwheel Stand for Remote Controller featuring Designed for DJI Inspire 2 Remotes, Mount a Focus Handwheel to the Remote, Pilot the Inspire 2 & Control the Camera, Adjust the Camera's Aperture and Focus, Compatible with RC CAN Bus Cables. Review DJI null

www.bhphotovideo.com

 

[WilBadger]

Found it:

DJI Inspire 2 Focus Handwheel Stand for Remote Controller

Buy DJI Inspire 2 Focus Handwheel Stand for Remote Controller featuring Designed for DJI Inspire 2 Remotes, Mount a Focus Handwheel to the Remote, Pilot the Inspire 2 & Control the Camera, Adjust the Camera's Aperture and Focus, Compatible with RC CAN Bus Cables. Review DJI null

www.bhphotovideo.com

That's the mounting arm not the device mount. You can not find the part I'm talking about for sale anywhere other then Ebay from somebody parting out an I2 controller. The device mount is the part you are clipping your tablet into.

I edited the post above that shows how the I2 handwheel mount connected to the I2 device mount.

 

[Keith Cody]

That's the mounting arm not the device mount. You can not find the part I'm talking about for sale anywhere other then Ebay from somebody parting out an I2 controller.

This?

DJI Accessories Mount for Focus Remote Controller

Buy DJI Accessories Mount for Focus Remote Controller Review DJI null

www.bhphotovideo.com

 

[Keith Cody]

Thought I would also mention that when turning it on it does not prompt me about having it connected like above. No popup saying Focus or anything, It just starts working. I also thought I would up load some pictures of what parts I used. The inspire 2 Handwheel 2 mount and a DJI Inspire 1 factory tripod/focus mount.

Where did you get the little tripod below your controller?

 

[WilBadger]

That is the mount I used how ever there is still a problem with it. As I mentioned above in my original posts, the newer mounting arms are thinner then the older Focus mounting arm. I epoxied a piece of metal onto mine to make it work.

This is the older Focus arm with the tripod mount.

DJI Remote Controller Focus Mount

Buy DJI Remote Controller Focus Mount featuring Connects Drone Remote to Focus Remote, Simultaneous Piloting and Camera Control, Works with Inspire 1 Pro/RAW and Inspire 2 Remotes, Includes Harness for Hands-Free Use. Review DJI null

www.bhphotovideo.com

This would be everything minus the cable. You would have to make a cable to use the Focus mount.

 

[Kiwipete88]

This mod is something I thought possible, so nice to stumble onto this thread & thanks all for the tips & tricks.
My I1 V2 will get this mod eventually.
I have recently purchased the focus wheel 2 mainly for using with the osmo X5 setup, but cannot get it to even power up, everything updated & using I2 com cable which I see many threads on dodgy cables.
I opened one end of the cable up to find only 3 wires, red, black & green, photo attached, seems a bit odd.