7e/Ultimate7e, adding the devo version 4in1

forgive me if ive made so more questions but was a little shocked by that damage and thanks for looking at picture, this can help all braves and noobs like me that approach to remove module:

first get well unsoldered side of pads remove solder and get enough hot to move up before that part , the rest will came out even if glued because of temperature maybe helping with a cutter
anyway i see bit of solder point and the half gone is the part under the module. hope will be lucky, does not remain anything else than wait for module from walkera online

I'd advise first to pick up as much solder from the pads as possible with solder wick. Even better is to use Chip Quik alloy - Devos are soldered with ROHS compliant non-lead solder so the melting temperature is high. You need very little of this alloy - I use typically 2-3mm piece - it helps to melt a lot of pads. You need to carefully remove the residue of this alloy when unsoldered the module - even small amount lowers melting point significantly.

In my experience the module is not glued to the main board, it's just fluxed so well that flux being sticky holds the module.

Any more hints on desoldering the original module? I can't seem to wick the solder out of the cutouts in the rf module PCB and I'd like to remove enough to guarantee I dont lift pads. It's definitely not stuck down with adhesive? I'll have to find this chipquick or just refill the joint with leaded solder (which I have). My iron is up around 750-775F just to make this stuff melt and im using a solder sucker (which is doing ok but not good enough). This is making me feel like a noob and I've been repairing electronics and harvesting parts from PCBAs for years...

Well after about 3 hours it's all done, just need the 2 x 3 way switches to arrive now. It's not pretty but I've tested it with my X11, X5C, E010 and H8 mini and all seem to be working ok. Only flown them in the house so no range test yet, hopefully I can get out over the weekend and see what sort of range I get.
Thanks to HappyHarry for the photo's, it made it easy to follow.

Anyone know where else I can pickup pad 1 (from the figure on the first page?)? I lifted pad 1 and want to see if I'm touching the via or if the via is gone. Thanks

dabiz the only other suggestion to what you've already done is to use chipquick, this is the best option imo as those pads lift very easily so the less heat required the better. it's also worth pointing out that the 2 newest 7e's i have worked on also had the rf module glued in place with some type of contact adhesive, so even once the solder was dealt with the module was still difficult to lift. as for pin 1 of the rf module (leftmost pin) i'm not sure where the via comes back to the top side of the pcb but it goes to pin12 of the mcu so you can either check for continuity or trace it back from there to the via bud

Phoenixx i'm glad they were of some help i'm also glad to hear of more of these mods going well, the devo 4in1 is imo one of the best mods you can do to a 7e, that along with the mcu swap to make it a ultima7e, which in turn allows lots of extra switches and 2 pots plus the addition of the voice mods. it turns a little inexpensive tx into a powerhouse

Switches came this morning, oh yes

nice one bud

Popped in the 4-in-1 Today: Honestly, I thought it was a really hard installation. Lots of potential pitfalls. I didn't do this perfectly - but it does work. I didn't need all four modules - I left off the A7105 - Just don't have a use for it. And with all the potential sources of issues, I just didn't want to introduce more variables. Especially since I can't test that module AND it would've meant soldering to the MCU. I didn't feel like the beginning went so smoothly (almost ripped off a whole series of contacts), so I'll just save that until I have a need. I just left the wire in there with some shrink wrap on it ....

I did want to post the Hardware.ini configuration for people though. This is a http://www.banggood.com/CC2500-NRF24L01-A7105-CYRF6936-4-In-1-RF-Module-For-Walkera-D7E-D10-Transmitter-p-1096707.html4-in-1 unit purchased from Banggood .

Thanks so much for putting together the graphics to make this install a lot easier. Sheeeeesh - I dunno - I didn't even do the MCU part and I thought the diode mod (useless now) was a walk in the park compared to this



ALMOST A FAIL

I on the other hand HAD a fail yesterday evening, and it seems I lifted enery connection (didn't take a picture though).

However, I noticed that the trace/signal arrived via a Via/through-hole and that some solder adhered to that hole, so decided to "just try".
As it happens, all wires soldered nicely, and the contact seems good enough for the different modules to be recognized. Will have to test more thoroughly in "live" conditions.

For now, I've no use for the 2500, so like CesiumSalami, left the MPU alone. Will revisit if necessary.

Thanks happyharry for the pin 12...I should've looked in config. I was thinking...if I lost that via, couldn't I use a demuxing IC and redefine the enable output pins? Then after I verified I could still touch the via for pad 1, I thought...maybe I can demux anyway and have another 2 free pins for more switches/rotary switch? Any reason this wouldn't work?

I haven't done any research on the 4in1 module or code yet. Can I update the firmware on the banggood devo 4in1 module? If so, any reason I can't change it to accept combos of 2 select pins to activate the 4 different modules instead of using my demuxing IC? I'm assuming there's an MCU on that module to activate the various rf chips...

Thanks for the help! Very awesome work done on the devo and deviation.

Surely, you can demux chip select signal. I do exactly that in my version of 4in1 module. It also has SPI flash for TXs that lack it (Devo F series, Radiolink AT9). You need support in the code for it, it's almost done.

You can't reprogram MCU on the Banggood module - the author of this module is quite secretive and we don't know what is this. You definitely can try.

Good picture, I have started mine and i too have no need for the walkera stuff. I have made some ground with my 4 in 1 install. However when I look at the forum and how people have done their own i see its slightly different. So I have a question.

Unfortunately I did not have enough colors to dedicate each connection to a unique color so I had to double up. Looking at my photo I have used the white and green wires twice. The white and green that are all the way to the right on the module go to the pin header on the pdb not the pads where the original module was removed. Is this looking correct?

Is this a 4-in-1 from Banggood?
Things look good EXCEPT i can't see where your Red (VIN) attached to the 6th contact goes... Does that attach on the backside below the yellow wire?

Also ... sheesh - how did you remove the original module so cleanly ? looks great.

Yes this is the banggood module. yeah i know it is hard to see in the photo because the yellow is directly on top of it.

I removed the stock module by using solder wick on the three main points and as much as i could on the pads for the connections. Then carefully lifting the module from the top making a hinge from the traces. When it was at about a right angle i ran a blade and cut the traces in half. Risky but i think im ok....

Thanks!

I also have a purple led that needs 5v,is it a bad idea to take that from the same place that the module is being fed from?

regarding the red wire: oh I guess I totally missed it behind the yellow wire then - everything seem okay to me then. You might want to check above for my hardware.ini settings (I think you'd be using the same as me and it seems to be working great).

regarding the removal method: LOL that's exactly what I did. Looks like you just did a cleaner job #skillz

purple LED: the answer to this is out of my league, sorry. Good luck!

Your purple LED should not take more than 5-10mA, and LEDs usually don't produce noise, it should be OK.

this was my thought....

Now that my Devo 7e has a removable antenna - I'm worried someone will turn it on sometime with the antenna off and destroy the module...

Could someone confirm that the product below would be a suitable dummy load for this application?
(I do have an SMA connector on mine)

www.banggood.com/SMA-Male-RF-Coaxial-Ter...50-Ohm-p-927353.html

I just don't know enough about this to say for sure.