How to customize a small quadcopter drone with an FPV camera

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Drones are incredibly fun things to build and use, but sometimes they lack the functionality you might be looking for, like an FPV camera.

Let’s find out how to customize a small off-the-shelf quadcopter with this simple guide. 

As you can imagine, you’ll need some tools and materials before you get started.

Materials and gear needed

• Drone kit
• Batteries
• Transmitter
• Camera mount
• FPV camera and compatible goggles
• Soldering kit
• Electrical wires, resistors, and soldering gear

With all your gear in hand, it is time to get on with this great little build.

Step 1: Begin the assembly

The first step is to unpack the mini quadcopter drone kit and organize all the parts ready to assemble. Ensure you keep all the small parts, like nuts, bolts screws, somewhere safe as they are very easy to lose by mistake. 

With that done, take the main chassis of the drone and the 4 number of motors that come with the kit. Install the motors in each of the motor housings on the chassis as required. 

Secure the motors into place as needed. The method needed to do this will depend entirely on the drone kit you have to hand. Where needed, secure the wiring into the chassis as required too in order to keep them protected. 

With that done, take the main control circuit board. Solder any wires required to the circuit board as required. 

With that done, connect the motor wire terminals to the mainboard as required. Secure the circuit board into place on the main chassis of the drone as well. 

Step 2: Add on the camera

The next step is to take your FPV digital camera. Snip off the wires to the camera and solder them to the main circuit board of the drone as shown in the video. 

With that done, mount the camera to the drone chassis as required. In this case, a 3D printed mounting bracket has been created, but you can jerry-rig your own solution.

With that camera now securely fixed to the main drone body, we can continue to build the drone. Take the propellers and mount them to the four main motors of the drone as needed. 

Step 3: Complete the drone

Next, take the drone’s battery and connect it to the battery cable from the circuit board. With that done, mount the battery to the main drone chassis as required too. 

Next, take the drone’s transmitter/controller and assemble it as required, if required. With that done, add the batteries and power up the transmitter as needed. 

With that done, give the drone a test by revving up its motors and checking that everything is working as it should. If not, do some fault finding and fix any issues that you can find. 

The drone kit should come with a troubleshooting section too to check. 

Once everything is working as it should, take our FPV goggles that are compatible with the camera. Unbox as needed, and assemble the goggles if also needed. 

With that done, test the goggles and camera and fix any issues, if any. And with that, your little FPV-armed quadcopter drone is now complete.

If you enjoyed this little build, you might enjoy another drone-based project? How about, for example, making your own quadcopter from scratch rather than an off-the-shelf kit?