Xiaomi Yi: Disassembling to add external power and trigger wires

sHINE

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Hi!

First post here to show some pics on how to connect wires to the pcb of the xiaomi yi to power or trigger it externally. Mine's revision Z23L.

I'm from Germany so excuse my poor English grammar, hope u will understand it anyway :)

Got this tiny beauty to put it under my copter, using a small gimbal to take photos/videos while flying. Also, I wanted a FPV, so Video-Out should also be wired to my transmitter in the copter.

Below are some pics showing the disassembly and the main connections made on the pcb. Next step is to buld some micro-connector into the case of the cam but the one I ordered isn't delivered yet.

Then a small AVR (Tiny45/85) is necessary to simulate the button presses in time and right order to be able to power-on and start recording or taking a photo with one short impulse.

More pics will follow as progress continues.

Regards,
Jan

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should be interesting..

but the yi as a drone camera ???

Pretty coloured pictures but Its blurry at distance and has a massive field of view that will give the dreaded barrel distortion and theres probably other reasons the drone community chose other cameras ...

welcome and good luck !
 
I'll try it. I don't want it to do FPV-Racing or something. Just to take some photos/video from the sky. There better cams, but hey, I've paid 58 EUR for it...
 
Hi there,
here's a quick update.

Just received this tiny micro-connector and put it into the cam's housing. It's damn small (1mm pitch) but fits nearly perfectly.

Regards,
Jan

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Hi sHINE
Very nice project. Thank you for sharing this. I want to do the same thing with yours. Does yours work well?
 
Hi Shine !
Finally found this method from You.
Thanks for sharing.

Is there any videos for this project ?

and how does it work ?

Thanks,
 
My heart skips a beat everytime I see an exposed sensor. :)

Looking good! And considering you cut the port with a utility knife? Beautiful surgery.

Q: any interference with those tiny, unshielded wires becoming antennas, when the uC pulls the pin up/down to simulate button presses?
 
Good picture.
I wonder if you know how I can buy the sensor board behind the lens. I connected it directly to 5+ I don't know what happened and now it gets too hot in a few second and when I record the video, the quality is gone. blue tiny lines.
 
Hi, I read the article

You tell me, the power input to your camera Xiaomi Yi is 5V or 4.2V

fix.jpg
 
I have connected 5V to it and there was no issue at all.
However, I fed it from back part which is close to the battery connector.
 
Hi,
great Project and thanks for the Pictures! Finaly someone who may can help me with my problem. I accidently cut the band that connects the record button.

So I plan to install an extra record button.

Can I simply solder a push-button between ground and record Pin to replace record button? Or is more complex than that?
I have the first revision 22, but hope layout didnt change that much..


Greetings
Smurfbal
 
The most fragile part of the Original Yi-the ribbon circuit-shutter/LED/ring light/power button to ZIF connector, and Yi does not sell parts! It's toast! Disassemble too many times and it's guaranteed to break
 
currently it's not "Toast". BT and WIFI Remote works for Recording. Unfortuantly in crowd situation Wireless connection is very unstable.. thats why I want back to a wired button for recording.
 
My apologies for resurrect this old thread, but this is the ONLY spot on the internet with this info on the Yi action cam.
Thank you sHINE for documenting your work!

I have started working on these mods to my yi with a few modifications:
  1. use a 3 position switch on my TX, for video, standby, and photo (photo every 1.5 seconds if the switch is left in the photo position)
  2. connect the top and front leds as inputs to the Attiny85 so that it can sense the mode and power status of the camera
  3. I'd like to force my rc PWM through the data+ line of the usb connector, so all the connections (power, gnd, video out, and control) are through the usb connector
    • but I'm not sure if the usb will be quiet enough for the rc PWM signal to be picked up cleanly by the Attiny85
    • I'm not sure if I might damage the Yi if the rc signal voltage is too high
Any experience, thoughts, or suggestions are welcome.

I'll share results and code here as it progresses.
thanks!
 
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