Limitless Signal booster install on the FlySky Noble NB4

[LibertyMKiii]

I thought I would share my learning on the install of a signal booster for the FlySky Noble NB4.
My hope is that I can save someone from making these same mistakes

Step 1:
Remove the extra battery from the bottom. It slides off ( I with there was a release button because it fits very tight.)

Step 2:
Remove the rear rubber grip, the turn knob, and metal ring around the bottom (these are small Philips)

Step 3:
Remove the screws marked with a red line. Most are 1.5 hex, however the 3 facing the bottom are small Philips.

Step 4:
Remove the plastic shell half and remove the battery from inside the handle!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this was my mistake)

Step 5:
Disconnect the large ribbon cable (it should pull straight up from the base connector)
You may want to mark the silver part and the circuit board to help you remember the orientation or reference a picture like this one.

Step 6:
Pull the screen away from the base/handle. (The shell halfs are what holds it)
Pull the other side of the ribbon cable (again it may be good to mark the orientation or take a picture first.)
**** You can remove the screen/board without pulling the ribbon cable fully out, just be careful and tuck it flat under the metal case as you slide the screen/board out. ****

Step 7:
Remove the 4 small phillips screws marked with red lines.
Then pull the plastic end cap which holds the antenna. Just pull it out a few mm as the antenna is still attached.

Step 8:
Sliding the screen out occurs out the opening where you removed the plastic end.
The screen will slide under the metal case and might get scratched so you might want to see what can be done to protect it.
You can push /slide the plug side where the on button is to help get it moving, but remember the glass needs to go under the frame from the top side.

There are ports for retaining the original and the new signal booster, but I cannot confirm if both transmit signal at the same time.

As mentioned in step 4 you should always disconnect power when connecting and disconnecting electronics. Everyone knows this!!!!
Well I didn't and when I re-attached the main board ribbon cable I managed to fry something and the TX wont turn on anymore. Checked both sides of the circuit board for any component that is burnt/damaged, but I cannot see anything, but I recognize that burnt smell

Step 9:
Figuring out where you will have the new wire exit and doing the reverse of the above to re-assemble.

I hope the helps someone out! Don't be stupid and leave the battery in like I did LOL
If you need Noble NB4 parts this radio is on eBay for parts 7-day auction.

 

[Hammer Down]

This is bittersweet! I’m glad you took the plung, but I’m heartbroken that you killed it.
I’ve watched Birmingham’s vid a hundred times, but have been too scared to take mine apart.. Now I know what not to do...
Thanks for the step by step tho.
Soon as I get my second nb4 I’m gonna try it.

Any chance you can remove that ribbon cable from the screen and leave it attached the the handle, to make it easier to get the screen out of it’s sleeve? Also do you think leaving the protective film on the screen would help eliminate scratches?

 

[jondilly1974]

I ordered a 4W booster today and will try this out when it arrives. I want to leave my 3PV boosted so it can be a backup. I think all I will want to remove is the extra antenna when not speed running. I think removing the power from the booster and then removing the antenna should suffice. I read that you should not run the booster without the antenna attached.

Do you know if these power wires are switched or not? Looking to power the booster from the internal power. Mine is rated 5V-16V so it should be fine.

 

[LibertyMKiii]

This is bittersweet! I’m glad you took the plung, but I’m heartbroken that you killed it.
I’ve watch Birmingham’s vid a hundred times, but have been too scared to take mine apart.. Now I know what not to do...
Thanks for the step by step tho.
Soon as I get my second nb4 I’m gonna try it.

Any chance you can remove that ribbon cable from the screen and leave it attached the the handle, to make it easier to get the screen out of it’s sleeve? Also do you think leaving the protective film on the screen would help eliminate scratches?

Yeah I did it the Birmingham method first tucking the ribbon connector through the case as you push it out. It works and is an option. I noticed that my ribbon connector got a little beat up and decided for a how-to guide it would be best to remove it? They key is just to de-power the setup first. Evidently as I was trying to push it back in I must have not had it aligned properly and caused a short....

I do think the film may help protect the screen if it stays on... Maybe tape the edges or even some scotch tape that you can remove later instead of the film.

I ordered a 4W booster today and will try this out when it arrives. I want to leave my 3PV boosted so it can be a backup. I think all I will want to remove is the extra antenna when not speed running. I think removing the power from the booster and then removing the antenna should suffice. I read that you should not run the booster without the antenna attached.

View attachment 144052

Do you know if these power wires are switched or not? Looking to power the booster from the internal power. Mine is rated 5V-16V so it should be fine.

I suspect the power wires in the handle are not switched but not 100% sure. You could easily put a multi-meter on them and check.
Given the 2 large batteries this remote had I wanted to run off the internal power also, but my booster requires 6-16v.

I went with this specific booster because I like that it has a power light and a second light that confirms a signal is received. Nothing worse than going out thinking your are running a boosted signal when its not there at all!!!! (done that before)

 

[Hammer Down]

Can I splice a usb on here and just plug it into the base battery? I have the same booster.

 

[LibertyMKiii]

Can I splice a usb on here and just plug it into the base battery? I have the same booster. View attachment 144056

I believe the problem is that the USB output is only 5v so it will be too little to power the booster.

 

[1coopgt]

Can I splice a usb on here and just plug it into the base battery? I have the same booster. View attachment 144056

If I decide to wire in the Boster I was thinking of doing the same thing. The 2.4 booster I picked up uses 5 to 15 volts .

 

[rotauq]

Now i feel i did such a bad job on writing down bossting my nb4
Sorry you fried your board

 

[LibertyMKiii]

Now i feel i did such a bad job on writing down bossting my nb4
Sorry you fried your board

It was fully my mistake, I have had years of training and knew not to work on electronics that have power to them.
Just got in a rush to finish it and cut corners on safety protocol.

 

[rotauq]

It was fully my mistake, I have had years of training and knew not to work on electronics that have power to them.
Just got in a rush to finish it and cut corners on safety protocol.

Did you wear your ESD wristband?

I read that you should not run the booster without the antenna attached.
Do you know if these power wires are switched or not? Looking to power the booster from the internal power. Mine is rated 5V-16V so it should be fine.

The power on the wires is not switched and it's only 4.2V, just one 18650 battery

Running any (v)TX/source of signal power without an antenna is bad as it cant get rid of it's heat (As little it might be) I am pretty sure on a dual antenna setup, nothing will go wrong if there is at least 1 antenna attached (like the nb4 out of the box has only 1 attached)
A booster if not powered and the the standard antenna attached, will not harm the booster, even if it hasn't an antenna attached itself.

 

[rotauq]

I ended up with removing the original antenna and put 2 SMA connectors instead. I can now easily remove/replace boosters/antenna's for as long as i have at least one antenna attached when using it.

 

[Justsendit]

Glad to see this post, was about to try adding a booster to my NB4. I almost lost my truck because it lost signal at around 500 feet and dove under a truck, thankfully it was my grandpa and he saw the truck dive under and was able to stop. Hopefully a booster fixes these issues since I'd like to use the transmitter for all my RC's

 

[Hammer Down]

Glad to see this post, was about to try adding a booster to my NB4. I almost lost my truck because it lost signal at around 500 feet and dove under a truck, thankfully it was my grandpa and he saw the truck dive under and was able to stop. Hopefully a booster fixes these issues since I'd like to use the transmitter for all my RC's

Which reciver are you using?

 

[Justsendit]

Which reciver are you using?

Fgr4 receiver, also have an frg4s and they seem to get the same range for some odd reason.

 

[jondilly1974]

Sick of waiting for the slow boat to arrive from China carrying my 4W booster, so I moved the 2W from my 3PV to the NB4. What’s nice is the light on the front of the booster only comes on when the NB4 is sending a signal. Going to try leaving the lipo plugged in (radio off) for a few hours and see if it drains it. If not, I will only need to unplug it for charging purposes.

 

[Hammer Down]

Sick of waiting for the slow boat to arrive from China carrying my 4W booster, so I moved the 2W from my 3PV to the NB4. What’s nice is the light on the front of the booster only comes on when the NB4 is sending a signal. Going to try leaving the lipo plugged in (radio off) for a few hours and see if it drains it. If not, I will only need to unplug it for charging purposes.

View attachment 146894
View attachment 146895

Did you do anything to prevent the antenna wire from getting yanked out?
How was it getting the screen out, did ya scratch it?

 

[Justsendit]

I got a new receiver frg4 and installed a longer antenna and left the stock in place and now i can drive my outcast far enough to where its hard to control because you cant see your corrections. Id say about 1300 ft no booster on the transmitter

 

[jondilly1974]

Did you do anything to prevent the antenna wire from getting yanked out?
How was it getting the screen out, did ya scratch it?

Nothing holding the antenna wire... might make a cable gland grommet for the hole it passes thru. But I don’t see it as a problem tbh.

As for the screen, if you pull off both end caps, you can then push the screen down from the face, which gives it clearance to slide out unscathed.

I got a new receiver frg4 and installed a longer antenna and left the stock in place and now i can drive my outcast far enough to where its hard to control because you cant see your corrections. Id say about 1300 ft no booster on the transmitter

I’ve been told antenna length is determined by the radio frequency and cannot be shortened or lengthened.

 

[rotauq]

I’ve been told antenna length is determined by the radio frequency and cannot be shortened or lengthened.

The (non insolated) length of an antenna needs to match the wavelength proportionally (full, half or quarter). Most of the standard antenna's are 1/4. So they can actually be shortened or lengthened. But it will fully depend on the antenna design and input power if a different wavelength proportion is more efficient.
Likely he added a higher gain antenna. More gain (peak signal strength in whichever direction) is achieved by efficiency and/or directionality.

I've replaced my standard antenna next to my booster by the Maple Yagi and also noticed a significant improved signal those times i forgot my booster battery. I also planned to do some experiments with different antenna's on the receiver side. The FTr8b and FTr10 also have +3Dba antenna's instead of the regular. When you have two antenna's you can exploit directionality. Certainly with speedrunning their are only 2 interesting directions, front and rear of the car

 

[jondilly1974]

I just discovered that my second IPEX port is not sending a signal, or at least not the same signal. When I connect my booster to the second port, my range is unaffected. When I connect the booster to the first port, I get a >10db gain over the stock antenna. During this test, my FGr4S equipped K6S was across the garage. This wasn’t any long range setup. Signal on the display of the NB4 went from -60 to below -50, usually around -47 to -44. So if you are boosting your NB4, I would highly suggest using the first port and not the second.