Mounting a iPhone 6 Plus and a Flysight Black Pearl on a Inspire

Jeroen van Craaikamp · Jun 6, 2015

So I don't have an IPAD Air 2 and have a lot of spare parts of my Phantom 2. I DIY'ed a monitor/iPhone mount.

DustyVisor · Jun 6, 2015

I like that setup (minus the stickers). Got any pictures of the mount that might clue us in on the hardware you used?

Frank508 · Jun 6, 2015

I always wondered what those little aluminum sticks did.

Jeroen van Craaikamp · Jun 7, 2015

I used a standard carbon FPV mount (that you can buy at almost any RC webshop), a metal corner-piece and a Quad Lock Iphone-6 case with adhesive mount (http://www.quadlockcase.com) Installation of the FPV mount is simple: just follow the instructions on

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I use the same screw that is used to connect the monitor to the mount, to connect the monitor to the corner-piece. I glued to adhesive mount on the cornerpiece.

I use the quadlock iphone case for other purposes as well so, I did not have to buy the case for this setup, the adhesive mount came with the case. The 7" Flysight Black Pearl Monitor was a left over from my Phantom-2. I.e. for a investment of 14,95 Euro I have something that can take me through this summer. This winter, i will probably mount an Ipad Mini-4 (with A8 processor) with sunshade on the pilot controller and put the FPV mount and Black Pearl Monitor on the camera controller. I think the HD720P picture quality that goes from the HDMI-mini port into the Black Pearl is really good (much better than what i saw on my phone w/o shunshades before)

Now, I can take my phone with case out of my pocket and click it on the controller, in a couple of seconds. The sunshade of the monitor also provides some shade for the phone. The phone is now behind the controller so I can actually see all of my stickers and the aluminium sticks

The problems that this setup solved for me:

I had to take my phone out of the quadlock case, in order for it to fit in the DJI tablet/phone mount (iPhone with casing fell out of the kit-mount).
Iphone 6 Plus is too small for the DJI kit mount so i initially used the the top position of the kit mount, blocking the view on the flysight monitor
I'm a hobby pilot with limited budget, immediately buying one or two new ipads is not an option for me.

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Jeroen van Craaikamp · Jun 7, 2015

DustyVisor said:
I like that setup (minus the stickers). Got any pictures of the mount that might clue us in on the hardware you used?

About the stickers: I'm not the only one flying the bird. There is always somebody watching over your shoulder who wants to give it a try as well. Having lost a Phantom-2, since I did not read/understand the LED signals and going into panic-mode, i got a bit paranoia. The stickers do actually help when in panic. You are right though: it makes the thing look a bit ridiculous. However, to some it already looks silly to see a big guy like me standing in the middle of a field with a DJI harnas on, playing with a toy-plane. The stickers will not make it much worse.

DustyVisor · Jun 7, 2015

Jeroen van Craaikamp said:
About the stickers: I'm not the only one flying the bird. There is always somebody watching over your shoulder who wants to give it a try as well. Having lost a Phantom-2, since I did not read/understand the LED signals, i got a bit paranoia. You are right though: it makes the thing look a bit ridiculous. However, to some it already looks silly to see a big guy like me standing in the middle of a field with a DJI harnas on, playing with a toy-plane. This stickers will no make it much worse.

Touché sir. That makes sense. Thanks for posting how you made the bracket. Pretty awesome!

RemcoNL · Jun 7, 2015

Jeroen van Craaikamp said:
About the stickers: I'm not the only one flying the bird. There is always somebody watching over your shoulder who wants to give it a try as well. Having lost a Phantom-2, since I did not read/understand the LED signals, i got a bit paranoia. You are right though: it makes the thing look a bit ridiculous. However, to some it already looks silly to see a big guy like me standing in the middle of a field with a DJI harnas on, playing with a toy-plane. This stickers will no make it much worse.

I DO like the stickers Jeroen, they really make sense to me especially the ones at the bottum, with the led explanation, well done!

lake_flyer · Jun 7, 2015

I think marking all the functions on the controller makes a lot of sense and is a requirement for RPAS I thought.
I like your idea. Super! Going to fit that diversity screen of mine and Samsung Galaxy as well. And give the iPad to the cameraman.

lake_flyer · Jun 7, 2015

Just had a look around the garage and found a piece of hard board and some other stuff.
And now I have my Samsung Galaxy Alpha right below my diversity screen! Bingo.
It isn't as sophisticated as the OP's but one day, I'll turn this into a nice piece of work. Right now, it works like a charm. The sun shade is the ugliest one on the planet (see if I care) but works wonderfully well. I made it large enough to combine it with my Stetson hat so I get almost total darkness around the screens. And its extremely light. Made from thick paper that I covered on both sides with waterproof cloth Oracover.

The Galaxy Alpha turns out to have an incredibly good daylight display, much better than the iPad Mini I bought for it.

Hmmmm.....iPad for cameraman than is! (Yoda would have said, I'm sure).

I'm happy with this great idea Jeroen! Thanks!

jon b · Jun 7, 2015

Looks nice, saved you buying another device and I like the dual display but wonder about signal strength with the antenna being tilted forward and covered by the monitor. Have you noticed any effect on range?

Soflms · Jun 7, 2015

I've been working on almost this same exact setup this week. The second cam added literally changes the capabilities of the inspire. I have the dom hd's I wear around my neck, and flip them on when I need them. But since I have to send them in for warranty I've been creating a similar setup for when they're away. Anyways, I'd like to ask you iPhone users, does the pilot app charge your phone? All my android devices (especially my tablet) die so fast. Literally my tablet goes from 100% to dead in under 30 mins. My phone is a little better but way to dim so I've been thinking of going back to the iPhone 6, but getting the plus to use in this dual setup. I just want to make sure that it's battery won't die since I can't swap out the battery on it.

InspireAggie · Jun 7, 2015

Can you tell me about the black pearl monitor? Is the daytime performance bright enough? How much better over an iPad Air 2?

Jerry Nycom · Jun 7, 2015

InspireAggie said:
Can you tell me about the black pearl monitor? Is the daytime performance bright enough? How much better over an iPad Air 2?

I was thinking the same thing!

Hammer · Jun 8, 2015

Yes, the Blackpearl is brighter than all iPads with retina displays.

I sometimes use the Blackpearl as monitor when flying LOS and have someone else operating the gimbal with the iPad like the video below.

InspireAggie said:
Can you tell me about the black pearl monitor? Is the daytime performance bright enough? How much better over an iPad Air 2?

lake_flyer · Jun 8, 2015

Soflms said:
I've been working on almost this same exact setup this week. The second cam added literally changes the capabilities of the inspire. I have the dom hd's I wear around my neck, and flip them on when I need them. But since I have to send them in for warranty I've been creating a similar setup for when they're away. Anyways, I'd like to ask you iPhone users, does the pilot app charge your phone? All my android devices (especially my tablet) die so fast. Literally my tablet goes from 100% to dead in under 30 mins. My phone is a little better but way to dim so I've been thinking of going back to the iPhone 6, but getting the plus to use in this dual setup. I just want to make sure that it's battery won't die since I can't swap out the battery on it.

my ipad gets charged, my samsung not.

lake_flyer · Jun 8, 2015

Hammer said:
Yes, the Blackpearl is brighter than all iPads with retina displays.

I sometimes use the Blackpearl as monitor when flying LOS and have someone else operating the gimbal with the iPad like the video below.

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love it. Beautiful.