Thank you Owen Lee for your comment! I am very proud to have thought the same way as you did :) please go on with your products as you do, the fpv community loves your radios. 👍🏻
@@dougshellusn The other solution is you to find a solution yourself is their solution. Lmao! Man they should've just designed it for a 18650 battery rather than buying weird sized ones or go out your way to fix it. 😓😓
Juergen: Very thorough, calm, clear description of your process and why. Good video and volume too. Should be a great modification that is compact and compatible with original design. Kudos! - Jim
I'm kinda liking that battery case mod. I'll have to print one up and see how it feels in the hand, but it does look very functional. Thank you! Don't have a Zorro just yet, but should next week.
This is a great video I am going to do this I have a 5200mA 2S Lipo with a cable to plug into the bottom from RM but your way is much greater, thank you!
Good job, excited to hear about the strong springs. I bought the T pro but immediately returned because the gimbals were to way too soft for me and wouldnt tighten.
I bought both tpro and zorro . One tlite i had first only lasted like 50 three minute flights . The orange one for tyro79s . It had tinyhawk2 freestyle and other drones binded to it . One minute everything works pretty much and then everything don't work all at once . They say get 1 rx . And all models can use the same rx on plugs hanging out . You don't need to operate to reach a bind button even .
Hi Juerg, great stuff! Understand you are an end user! Often guys like us are more in touch with whats desireable/superior than bigger manufacturers! ; ) (I'm an Engineer and spent 14 years in China!) We are looking to buy OEM then OFFER Torro (ELRS), preferably with the the full blown (2W capable!) Ranger module and AG01 mini gimbals as OEM client! Understand that the (presently available) '2W' Ranger does not fit the nano bay! We will re-engineer/reshell at least the back casing to take the Ranger module AND dual 18650's. Am I right to say that we SHOULD source Toro with the cheapest CC2500 module, discard and integrate Ranger 2W, AG01 minis and dual 18650's! (Seems such a shame that Radiomaster don't offer a 'barebones Toro' for guys like us that always want BETTER! ; ) ) or at least an AG01 mini option WITHOUT the standard gimbals and/or unrequired modules! (to discard!)
cool so informatif, but can you please create full teardown about the radiomaster zorro? im curious about the placement of the board and the gimbal beneath the motherboard.
This is a nice mod! I might try to design something similar that connects to the mounting straps on the bottom and uses the balance connector on the bottom. I don't like drilling holes etc...
@@deroskar So I actually ended up using VHB tape and zip ties to mount a 2-cell 18650 pack to the Zorro's back expansion bay cover. It's not the most elegant solution but it actually works really well. The thing that I like most is that I can just keep the battery contraption in my lipo bag until my Zorro's battery starts running low then just pull it out and snap it on the back.
Besten Dank für die Infos! Bin auf der Suche nach passenden 18350. Die Vapcell F14 INR18350 sind mit flachem Pluspol und ohne Schutzelektronik? Könnten auch längere Akkus mit Schutzelektronik verwendet werden (38,7 mm statt 35 mm)? Die Radiomaster-Akkus sind wohl mit erhöhtem Pluspol.
There are also screws on the back of the radio for adjusting the gimbals but they don't seem to do what the images from RM suggest. Have you figured out what they do exactly and how that interacts with the tension screws on the inside?
Hi Alexander, if you open the case, you will se what these screws do. There are two screws for each gimbal. One of those screws is for disabling the spring of the vertical direction. This is needed for the throttle so that it doesnt center anymore. The other one is to adjust the resistance of the vertical axis. So with this one you can make the throttle move softer or harder when the centering spring is disabled by the other screw. But this should not be compared with the spring tension, because if you use this for a centering gimbal (pitch) it can happen that it doesnt center anymore. This is what happened to botgrinder in his video. He simply adjusted these screws in a wrong way. Or it was already wrong adjusted in delivery position of his radio.
Another thing that triggers me is that the radio has 2 usbc ports. Couldn't they combine both into one, for changing and for data transfer. Other than that the radio seem good
Great Video!!! Thanks. Your mods are excellent. I have a question. The batteries you use. The 1400mah Vapcell do you feel have any advantage (time) over the stock 900mah Radiomaster battery? That is if you have the stock batteries to compare them to. I opted to purchase the radio without batteries.
@@juergenpachur Hi, I am asking as these exact batteries are available to me. They work no problem, correct. May I ask how many hour of usage (approximately) do you get without your 18360 upgrade?
@@juergenpachur Thank-You. Much appreciated. I plan to use ELRS with this controller. I understand usage will depend on radio output, but an approximation is helpful. Again. A sincere Thank-You.
Hey! Also ich habe Sie mir vor ca. 1,5 Wochen bestellt. Kann ich mir nicht zwei ZUSÄTZLICHE 18350-Akkus (wegen der geringen Größe) in ein gedrucktes Case setzen, ein 2poliges USB Kabel dran löten, dann daraus die internen Akkus speisen, bis die externen leer sind, sodass dann die internen Akkus weiter genutzt werden können? 🤔 Oder ist dann die 7,4V(8,4V)-Spannung zu hoch für den USB-Port?
Das müsstest du vorher ausmessen. Da der usb port aber nicht direkt mit den internen Batterien verbunden ist, sonsern mit dem charger, ist das unpraktisch. Ich wollte die internen batterien so erweitern, dass ich hinterher alles auf einmal via usb laden kann. Ich sehe den Vorteil Deines Ansatzes nicht.
@@XILEFK na dann würde ich aber doch über den balancer port gehen, der ist ja als expansion port gedacht. Wie der sich allerdings verhält, wann was entladen wird, habe ich nie getestet. Viel Erfolg Dir dabei!
Do you think it is correct to connect parallel batteries with different capacity? What happens when small batterry are fully charged when big batteries is not because of difference of capacity? I think, small batteries wil be overcharged, and it is not good.
A man needs big hands… …thats what she said.. 😅 No to be honest, it is just because of the upside down perspective of the camera. Perhaps I have bigger hands than the average human, but the radio fits just perfect in my hands. Good job Radiomaster 🙌🏻
I didnt measure it. To be honest I dont think that they really have 1400mah. It was round about half a training day. With 2 sets you come over a training day for sure. But I dont want to open it, exchange them, need to charge extra batteries,… I just want to plug the radio at home to usb and thats it.
I found them at ebay: www.ebay.de/itm/Vapcell-F14-INR18350-3-6-3-7V-1400mAh-Li-Ion-Akku-3A-/265421645455?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=707-127634-2357-0
I am sure your name is not Quax FPWee, Jürgen ;) I would not do a parallel setup. There are so called equalizing currents (Ausgleichströme) that can potentially cause some trouble. Especially if batteries have different capacities and voltages on first connection
@@nuhbiwan yes I know.. I forgot it while recording, so I wrote it in the description then. But when someone looks for the link @thingiverse, he probably reads the warning.
If you already have lite formfactor modules, if you want to have a gamepad style feel radio, if you want to save space in your bag, I see more than enough reasons for a Zorro with battery extension.
The standard issue batteries have 4hrs of continual usage life.. when fully charged. How long does anybody need ffs. They can be fully charged in 45 minutes. So even if your out all day continually flying... Stop for lunch and recharge the batteries.
I wonder why nobody asked this : why your zorro's power button is blue ?! Mine and other zorros I have seen is always green unless you plug a charger it turns red or only when it is starting up at the powering time it is blue then again it turns to green always
Why are you going through all that trouble when all you need to do is buy 2 extra batteries and have them charged that's 8 hours of continuous run time Sometimes people overcomplicate things
I do have an extra set of batteries but I dont want to open these handle cases all the time and load these batteries separately. With 2 sets of batteries you get about 4 hours of runtime in sum. With my solution I get longer runtime and I charge all the batteries over the usb of the radio. I see my solution as much more comfortable.
putting 2 batteries in parallel without balancing them is waiting for disaster .. if the small ones are empty and you add fully charged 650's over top of them ... you are gonna have a nice current draw and most likely will kill the 350 ... or set it on fire. Why do you not connect it to the external battery connector they supplied ? As an ee I am scared people are gonna try this...
Latest when you want to build this for you own, you read the description of the video to find the link for thingiverse. And there it is clearly described that you should not do exchange the small batteries as you said. This is a point which i recognized after recording that I did not mention it. This is why I wrote it into the description. I dont want to use the extension plug because I want to be able to charge all the batteries over usb. This would not work with your solution.
when we designed the Zorro ,we also had the same idea about making a power bank like this ,but we decided to make other solution
Thank you Owen Lee for your comment! I am very proud to have thought the same way as you did :) please go on with your products as you do, the fpv community loves your radios. 👍🏻
Thx for your radios, very affordable compaired to competion.
what is the other solution?
@@dougshellusn The other solution is you to find a solution yourself is their solution. Lmao! Man they should've just designed it for a 18650 battery rather than buying weird sized ones or go out your way to fix it. 😓😓
@@dougshellusn They sell an extension cable and clip for a pocket pack
Juergen:
Very thorough, calm, clear description of your process and why. Good video and volume too. Should be a great modification that is compact and compatible with original design. Kudos! - Jim
I'm kinda liking that battery case mod. I'll have to print one up and see how it feels in the hand, but it does look very functional. Thank you! Don't have a Zorro just yet, but should next week.
This is a great video
I am going to do this
I have a 5200mA 2S Lipo with a cable to plug into the bottom from RM but your way is much greater, thank you!
Klasse Video danke schön🙏 endlich sind die sticks smoother. 💯👍
Good job, excited to hear about the strong springs. I bought the T pro but immediately returned because the gimbals were to way too soft for me and wouldnt tighten.
I bought both tpro and zorro .
One tlite i had first only lasted like 50 three minute flights . The orange one for tyro79s . It had tinyhawk2 freestyle and other drones binded to it . One minute everything works pretty much and then everything don't work all at once .
They say get 1 rx . And all models can use the same rx on plugs hanging out . You don't need to operate to reach a bind button even .
I just put a 2s battery pack in the case, much easier. Used tpu98 and it worked great! Thanks!
Very well done indeed. I will print the stl file in black for my case, but this is brilliant ! Thanks for this posting. ;-)
Thumbs up for the cat
Hi Juerg, great stuff! Understand you are an end user! Often guys like us are more in touch with whats desireable/superior than bigger manufacturers! ; ) (I'm an Engineer and spent 14 years in China!) We are looking to buy OEM then OFFER Torro (ELRS), preferably with the the full blown (2W capable!) Ranger module and AG01 mini gimbals as OEM client! Understand that the (presently available) '2W' Ranger does not fit the nano bay! We will re-engineer/reshell at least the back casing to take the Ranger module AND dual 18650's. Am I right to say that we SHOULD source Toro with the cheapest CC2500 module, discard and integrate Ranger 2W, AG01 minis and dual 18650's! (Seems such a shame that Radiomaster don't offer a 'barebones Toro' for guys like us that always want BETTER! ; ) ) or at least an AG01 mini option WITHOUT the standard gimbals and/or unrequired modules! (to discard!)
I love this, working on something similar, but I want hot swappable batteries, and no holes drilled. Using the back screw mounts, and antenna hole.
cool so informatif, but can you please create full teardown about the radiomaster zorro? im curious about the placement of the board and the gimbal beneath the motherboard.
This is a nice mod! I might try to design something similar that connects to the mounting straps on the bottom and uses the balance connector on the bottom. I don't like drilling holes etc...
can you share your solution?
sorry, read it wrong, thougth you already designed it...
@@deroskar So I actually ended up using VHB tape and zip ties to mount a 2-cell 18650 pack to the Zorro's back expansion bay cover. It's not the most elegant solution but it actually works really well. The thing that I like most is that I can just keep the battery contraption in my lipo bag until my Zorro's battery starts running low then just pull it out and snap it on the back.
Nice Jürgen 🤟😅
Thx 😊
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 nice 👍🏻 subbed bro
Besten Dank für die Infos! Bin auf der Suche nach passenden 18350. Die Vapcell F14 INR18350 sind mit flachem Pluspol und ohne Schutzelektronik? Könnten auch längere Akkus mit Schutzelektronik verwendet werden (38,7 mm statt 35 mm)? Die Radiomaster-Akkus sind wohl mit erhöhtem Pluspol.
So your able to have the 18350 batteries while having the outside powersource
Good video, thank you for the small tips. I just wanted to know if the radio would work only with external batteries. Without the internal batteries
Yes this works too.
Zorro 2 with 18650's would be awesome.
I agree!
Nice video! Do you have any rattling noise when moving the radio? like someting is loose inside
Thank you! No rattling in there. All solid.
nice idea 👍 quick video to solve the battery "problem"
you are from germany right? how do you get your radio so fast? 😁
Yes I am. I preordered it directly at Radiomaster.
There are also screws on the back of the radio for adjusting the gimbals but they don't seem to do what the images from RM suggest. Have you figured out what they do exactly and how that interacts with the tension screws on the inside?
Hi Alexander, if you open the case, you will se what these screws do. There are two screws for each gimbal. One of those screws is for disabling the spring of the vertical direction. This is needed for the throttle so that it doesnt center anymore. The other one is to adjust the resistance of the vertical axis. So with this one you can make the throttle move softer or harder when the centering spring is disabled by the other screw. But this should not be compared with the spring tension, because if you use this for a centering gimbal (pitch) it can happen that it doesnt center anymore. This is what happened to botgrinder in his video. He simply adjusted these screws in a wrong way. Or it was already wrong adjusted in delivery position of his radio.
Another thing that triggers me is that the radio has 2 usbc ports. Couldn't they combine both into one, for changing and for data transfer. Other than that the radio seem good
Hello could you please make one that doesn't require you to disassemble the radio and instead just slides into the holder plates on the top? Thanks!
Great Video!!! Thanks. Your mods are excellent. I have a question. The batteries you use. The 1400mah Vapcell do you feel have any advantage (time) over the stock 900mah Radiomaster battery? That is if you have the stock batteries to compare them to. I opted to purchase the radio without batteries.
Hello Paul,
I just bought these batteries because Radiomaster could not ship their batteries to Germany. Unfortunately I have no comparison.
@@juergenpachur Hi, I am asking as these exact batteries are available to me. They work no problem, correct. May I ask how many hour of usage (approximately) do you get without your 18360 upgrade?
@@pandrews01 it was sth like 4 or 5 hours.
@@juergenpachur Thank-You. Much appreciated. I plan to use ELRS with this controller. I understand usage will depend on radio output, but an approximation is helpful. Again. A sincere Thank-You.
@@pandrews01 I have the elrs version of the radio and this is how I use it.
Hello could you post the original design files? I want to make some modifications to it. Thank you!
Hey!
Also ich habe Sie mir vor ca. 1,5 Wochen bestellt.
Kann ich mir nicht zwei ZUSÄTZLICHE 18350-Akkus (wegen der geringen Größe) in ein gedrucktes Case setzen, ein 2poliges USB Kabel dran löten, dann daraus die internen Akkus speisen, bis die externen leer sind, sodass dann die internen Akkus weiter genutzt werden können? 🤔
Oder ist dann die 7,4V(8,4V)-Spannung zu hoch für den USB-Port?
Das müsstest du vorher ausmessen. Da der usb port aber nicht direkt mit den internen Batterien verbunden ist, sonsern mit dem charger, ist das unpraktisch. Ich wollte die internen batterien so erweitern, dass ich hinterher alles auf einmal via usb laden kann. Ich sehe den Vorteil Deines Ansatzes nicht.
@@juergenpachur Na, der Vorteil wäre, dass ich den Controller nicht aufschrauben muss und den zusätzlichen Akkupack ganz einfach abmachen kann. :)
@@XILEFK na dann würde ich aber doch über den balancer port gehen, der ist ja als expansion port gedacht. Wie der sich allerdings verhält, wann was entladen wird, habe ich nie getestet. Viel Erfolg Dir dabei!
Vielen Dank und Danke für deinen Support. 👍
Do you think it is correct to connect parallel batteries with different capacity? What happens when small batterry are fully charged when big batteries is not because of difference of capacity? I think, small batteries wil be overcharged, and it is not good.
Please read the video description. And please dont do this mod on your own, you do not have the neccassary knowledge of electricity.
Yes, you are right. I mixed up the effects of parallel and series connection of batterie cells. My memory is failing me.
your hands looks so big, for this radio :P
A man needs big hands… …thats what she said.. 😅
No to be honest, it is just because of the upside down perspective of the camera. Perhaps I have bigger hands than the average human, but the radio fits just perfect in my hands. Good job Radiomaster 🙌🏻
How much on time do you get with the 1400mah batteries only?
I didnt measure it. To be honest I dont think that they really have 1400mah. It was round about half a training day. With 2 sets you come over a training day for sure. But I dont want to open it, exchange them, need to charge extra batteries,… I just want to plug the radio at home to usb and thats it.
How much range do you get with the internal ELRS?
Sorry I never tested it for range.
vapecell F14. is that a real capacity ?
I can only find vapecell 1100mah around me .
I found them at ebay: www.ebay.de/itm/Vapcell-F14-INR18350-3-6-3-7V-1400mAh-Li-Ion-Akku-3A-/265421645455?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=707-127634-2357-0
I am sure your name is not Quax FPWee, Jürgen ;)
I would not do a parallel setup. There are so called equalizing currents (Ausgleichströme) that can potentially cause some trouble. Especially if batteries have different capacities and voltages on first connection
Oh weeee 😅
English videos are challenging..
About the equalizing currents, please read the warning in the video description. Props gehn raus 😅
@@juergenpachur Ok, I see😅 I think it would have been better if you would have mentioned it in the video itself
@@nuhbiwan yes I know.. I forgot it while recording, so I wrote it in the description then. But when someone looks for the link @thingiverse, he probably reads the warning.
I can't see a reason to do this unless you bought the Zoro and decided what you really wanted was a TX12.
If you already have lite formfactor modules, if you want to have a gamepad style feel radio, if you want to save space in your bag, I see more than enough reasons for a Zorro with battery extension.
How lomg is battery life
I cannot tell you. I used it last weekend on a race over 3 days without charging. And it was still not empty afterwards.
@@juergenpachur ah can ya make a wire chart i cant see where ya soldered to.
The standard issue batteries have 4hrs of continual usage life.. when fully charged.
How long does anybody need ffs.
They can be fully charged in 45 minutes.
So even if your out all day continually flying... Stop for lunch and recharge the batteries.
You may get over 4 hours with the multiprotocol version of the Zorro but only about 75 minutes if you buy the ELRS version and run it at 250mW
I wonder why nobody asked this : why your zorro's power button is blue ?! Mine and other zorros I have seen is always green unless you plug a charger it turns red or only when it is starting up at the powering time it is blue then again it turns to green always
I think when it is fully charged and connected to a cable, then it shows green. Perhaps the battery extension mixes up the charging state led.
Why are you going through all that trouble when all you need to do is buy 2 extra batteries and have them charged that's 8 hours of continuous run time Sometimes people overcomplicate things
I do have an extra set of batteries but I dont want to open these handle cases all the time and load these batteries separately. With 2 sets of batteries you get about 4 hours of runtime in sum. With my solution I get longer runtime and I charge all the batteries over the usb of the radio. I see my solution as much more comfortable.
These battery cases are very delicate. Once you open them a few times, they slide off easily and become a mess unfortunately.
putting 2 batteries in parallel without balancing them is waiting for disaster .. if the small ones are empty and you add fully charged 650's over top of them ... you are gonna have a nice current draw and most likely will kill the 350 ... or set it on fire. Why do you not connect it to the external battery connector they supplied ? As an ee I am scared people are gonna try this...
Latest when you want to build this for you own, you read the description of the video to find the link for thingiverse. And there it is clearly described that you should not do exchange the small batteries as you said. This is a point which i recognized after recording that I did not mention it. This is why I wrote it into the description. I dont want to use the extension plug because I want to be able to charge all the batteries over usb. This would not work with your solution.