Cable Datasheets

ModalAI has various cables used by its systems. Below captures the cables by part number and provides pinouts and other relevant information. The Cable User Guide page has information on finding the right cable for your system and how to make your own cables with specific examples.

Note when voltages are listed as “Source” that side is an Output voltage for use by a “Load” or device on the other side. Be sure to check that two sources are not shorted together without first verifying from ModalAI if they are from the same prime source. Weights provided in grams are subject to +/-0.25 gram tolerances.

Table of contents

Cable Catalog

Related Accessories

MCK-M0018-1

Description:

• Flight Core Cable Kit

Contains:

• PWM Break Out Board (MCCA-M0022)
• MCBL-00004 - PWM breakout cable
• MCBL-00005 - RC Input Cable
• MCBL-00010 - JST to microUSB female (MCBL-00006, not provided, shown in image)
• MCBL-00007 - VOXL to Flight Core Serial Cable (provides MAVLink connection over UART between VOXL and Flight Core)

Buy:

• Available on the ModalAI shop

MCBL-00001

Description:

• VOXL Flight and VOXL to Power Module Cable
• Note there are three variants, -1, -3, and -4.
• • “-1” is nominally for sale and part of our power module kits and larger drones, 125mm.
• • “-3” and “-4” are shorter lengths (40mm and 70mm respectively) embedded in complete drone kits, but can be made available for purchase upon request

Where used:

• VOXL Flight J1013 to VOXL PM v2 or VOXL PM v3
• VOXL J10 to VOXL PM v2 or VOXL PM v3

Details:

Pinout: Note this cable is symetric and can be used in either direction where the power module is the voltage source and the Voxl/VoxlFlight/Voxl2 are the loads for pin 1.

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See -1 Drawing Here, See -3 Drawing Here, and See -4 Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of these drawings.

MCBL-00003

Description:

• Flight Core to Power Module Cable

Where Used:

• Flight Core J6

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00004

Description:

• PWM Output Cable

Where Used:

• VOXL Flight J1007 or Flight Core J7 to PWM Break Out Board (MCCA-M0022)

Details:

Pinout: Note this cable is symetric and can be used in either direction with the FlightCore side providing 5VDC voltage as the Source for reference/monitor circuits only (cannot power a servo/BLDC).

MCBL-00005

Description:

• RC Input Cable (Spektrum)

Where Used:

• VOXL Flight J1004 or Flight Core J12 to RC Receiver (e.g. Spektrum)

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00006 - END OF LIFE

Description:

• 4-pin JST to USBA Male/Plug Cable
  • Used for connecting USB Hosts such as a PC (Type-A connector side) to USB Peripherals (JST side)
  • Flight Core (PX4) to QGroundControl (MAVLink)
  • Microhard Standalone Modem to host computer

Where Used:

• VOXL Flight J1006 or Flight Core J3 to Host Computer with QGroundControl
• Microhard USB Carrier Board USB2 Host port to Host Computer

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00007

Description:

• VOXL to Flight Core Serial Cable (provides MAVLink connection over UART between VOXL and Flight Core)
• VOXL to VOXL ESC Cable (straight through)
• No Power Connection, Signals + GND connections only

Where Used:

• Flight Core J1 to VOXL J12
• VOXL J12 to VOXL ESC (J2 on VOXL ESC V2/V3, M0027/M0049/M0117/M0134)

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00008

Description:

• VOXL to Flight Controller TELEM port (Dronecode Compliant)
• No Power Connection, Signals + GND connections only

Where Used:

• VOXL J12 to Flight Controller TELEM, such as Flight Core J5 or other Dronecode Compliant TELEM ports

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00009

Description:

• 4-pin JST to USBA Female/Receptacle Cable

Where Used:

• Used for connecting ModalAI USB Hosts (JST side, examples below) to USB Peripherals (Type A side)
• LTE Modem and USB Hub Addon J16 and J17 to USB peripheral device
• USB Expander and Debug Board to USB peripheral device
• Microhard and USB Hub Add-on USB J16 and J17 to USB peripheral device

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00010

Description:

• 4-pin JST to micro USB Female/Receptacle Cable
  • Used for connecting USB Hosts such as a PC (Micro USB connector side) to ModalAI USB Peripherals (JST side).
    • Note: Micro USB side requires a standard Type-A to MicroUSB cable/adapter depending on your system setups
  • Flight Core (PX4) to micro USB cable to QGroundControl (MAVLink)
  • Microhard Standalone Modem to micro USB cable to host computer

Where Used:

• VOXL Flight J1006 or Flight Core J3 to micro USB cable to Host Computer with QGroundControl
• Microhard USB Carrier Board USB2 Host port to micro USB cable to Host Computer

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00011-1

Description:

• VOXL-PM-Y for Flight Deck R0/R1 Cable
• Powers both Voxl and FlightCore from one Power Module, with the I2C bus for power monitoring going to FlightCore

Where Used:

• VOXL-m500-R1
• VOXL J1 + Flight Core J6to VOXL PM v2 or VOXL PM v3

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00013

Description:

• VOXL Flight to VOXL ESC V2/V3 Cable (cross over)
• This is a UART RX/TX cross-over version of MCBL-00007 for Hirose DF13-6P
• No Power Connection, Signals + GND connections only

Where Used:

• VOXL Flight J1002 to VOXL ESC (J2 on VOXL ESC V2/V3, M0027/M0049/M0117/M0134)

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00014

Description:

• Flight Core to VOXL ESC Cable (cross over)
• This is just like MCBL-00013 but one of the 6-pin DF13’s is replaced by an 8-pin for FlightCore J4
• No Power Connection, Signals + GND connections only

Where Used:

• Flight Core J4 to VOXL ESC (J2 on VOXL ESC V2/V3, M0027/M0049/M0117/M0134)
• Connecting ESC’s’ to VOXL CAM Flight Core (on Seeker Drone, for example)

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00015

Description:

• 4pin-JST-to-4pin-JST cable (straight through 1:1)

Where Used:

• VOXL USB Add-On boards to Stand Alone Modem Boards
• Conforms to all ModalAI 4-pin JST USB2.0 formats, either Host (VBUS is a source) or Peripheral (VBUS is a load)
• Great item to have for making your own cables!!

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00016

Description:

• 6pin-JST-to-pigtail break out cable

Where Used:

• M0048 ICM42688 IMU Breakout Board
• Any ModalAI 6-pin JST where soldering or custom harnesses are needed
• Note: pigtail side is tinned for ~10mm making it easy to install JST SSHL-002T-P0.2 pins if needed
• Great item to have for making your own cables!!

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00017

Description:

• Power Supply (not supplied) to Stand Alone Modem Dongle
• Connector mates to the Red JST J8 on Microhard boards, or J3 on Sierra LTE V2 modem boards
• Tinned leads on the other side allow soldering or converting to pins as needed by the customer.
• NOTE: Cut the wire length to 150mm or less if anticipating needing the full 4A capable of these designs (high power radio modes + all USB connectors used). Refer to the Where Used links below for power consumption estimates.

Where Used:

• MDK-M0030-1-02 J3
• MDK-M0030-1-01 J3
• MA-SA-2 J3

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00018

Description:

• RC Input (S.Bus, FrSky)
• Picks up Power on Red+Black, and Receive Signal on Orange from FlightCore or VoxlFlight to a R/C receiver 3-pin 0.1” hobby format
• Note: This is only intended for remote receivers and cannot power high current servos or BLDCs

Where Used:

• 4-pin JST (connector B): VOXL Flight J1004 or Flight Core J12 and 3-pin JST (connector A): VOXL Flight J1003 or Flight Core J9 to 3-pin Harwin M20 Receptacle (connector C) to RC Receiver (e.g. S.Bus/FrSky)
• Note: This is not for Spektrum, which requires +3.3V. For Spektrum, please see MCBL-00005

Pinout:

MCBL-00020

Description:

• USB Cable, Arducam-4 pin Molex Picoblade to 4 -pin JST-GH

Where Used:

• VOXL Add-ons with USB hub to ArduCam USB Camera

Details:

Pinout:

See Schematic Here

MCBL-00021

Description:

• RC Input (FrSky R-XSR)
• Picks up Power on Red+Black, and Receive Signal on Yellow from FlightCore or VoxlFlight to FrSky R-XSR format R/C receiver 5-pin Picoblade format
• Note: This is just like MCBL-00018 but instead of the 3-pin hobby format receptacle, it is pinned for the FrSky R-XSR 5-position Picoblade

Where Used:

• 4-pin JST (connector B): VOXL Flight J1004 or Flight Core J12 and 3-pin JST (connector A): VOXL Flight J1003 or Flight Core J9 to 5-pin Molex Picoblade (connector C) to FrSky R-XSR Receiver

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00022

Description:

• USB3 10-pin JST cable to USB3-Type A Receptacle
• Note: This is not qualified for 10Gbps speeds. This is a proto-type design suitable for most application development. Customers are advised to source their own shielded and speed-qualified cable for high-volume needs.

Where Used:

• Any ModalAI CCA USB downstream port (host only) with the 10-pin JST ModalAI USB3 format (examples are M0062, M0067, M0090, M0104, M0130).

Details:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00024

Description:

• Power Module to Stand Alone Modem Cable

Where Used:

• Used to power a standalone modem board (Sierra M0030-2/M0130-2, or Microhard M0048-2/M0059-2, or 5G M0090-2) directly from the ModalAI Power Module V3

Details:

Note: We are in process of manufacturing a 22AWG version of this cable for maximum current use cases. Contact us for more info and stay tuned for updates.

Pinout:

See Drawing Here

MCBL-00025

Description:

• LTE v2 to Flight Core (DroneCode Compliant) Telemetry
• No Power Connection, Signals + GND connections only

Where Used:

• The M0030 Sierra 4G/LTE Modem has a spare UART port on J9 (matches the pinout of J2 as shown here)
• This connector provides a 3.3V UART link directly to the Modem, which can be connected to FlightCore J5 (UART7) to create a 4G Telemetry or general purpose data link.
• Note: Software support of this feature may still be in BETA form, please contact ModalAI for support
• Flightcore side pinouts also match other DroneCode compliant connectors J6 (expansion UART4) and J10 (GNSS UART1) ports
• The 4-pin side on the 4G LTE Modem also matches many other Serial Debug Ports on ModalAI HW and can be used as a general purpose UART converter from the 4-wire eSH format to 6-wire eGH format (DroneCode Compliant)

Details:

Pinout:

See Drawing Here

MCBL-00028

Description:

• Seeker GPS Cable

Where Used:

• Connects HolyBro GPS/Magnetometer unit to VOXL-CAM on Seeker drone using FlightCore J10 (6-pin)
• Thiss cable provides power + UART + I2C

Details:

Pinout:

See Drawing Here

• updated drawing coming soon!

MCBL-00029

Description:

• RB5 Flight (M0052) or Voxl2 (M0054) to VOXL ESC V2/V3 Cable
• This is just like MCBL-00007 but one side is now the new 4-pin JST GH format for ESC instead of DF13 on Voxl
• No Power Connection, Signals + GND connections only
• Note there are two variants, -1, and -2.
• • “-1” is nominally for sale and part of our larger drones at 200mm.
• • “-2” is shorter at 70mm and will be embedded into the new Starling drone kit, but can be made available for purchase upon request

Where Used:

• Qualcomm Flight RB5 Mainboard ESC Port (J18) to Voxl ESC V2/V3 J2 (M0027/M0049/M0117/M0134)
• Voxl2 ESC Port (J18) to Voxl ESC V2/V3 J2 (M0027/M0049/M0117/M0134)
• 200mm length for long wire M500 frame installations
• 70mm for smaller drone installations

Details:

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See -1 Drawing Here, See -2 Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of these drawings.

MCBL-00030

Description:

• End-Of-Life: Being Replaced by MCBL-00040-2 with 3.5mm bullet terminal system
• 2mm Bullet Connector to tinned lead for ESC soldering and easy motor mating
• RB5 Flight ESC to motor cables (legacy usage)
• Note: We have various lengths for this cable
• • MCBL-00030-2 = 250mm (as per drawing link below, but Obsolete, use other lengths),
• • MCBL-00030-3 = 265mm
• • MCBL-00030-4 = 210mm

Details:

See Drawing Here

MCBL-00031

Description:

• 6 pin-JST-GH-to 6-pin-JST-GH passthrough (1:1/Straight-through wiring)

Where Used:

• Connects Qualcomm Flight RB5 Flight Deck Modem and Chirp Sensors
• Chirp Breakout to Debug or Modem Carrier Board
• Any place where a 6-pin JST GH is used for debugging, external sensors, etc.
• Great item to have for making your own cables!!

Details:

Pinout:

See Drawing Here Note: Drawing shows pinouts for a Chirp sensor application. Will be updated soon to show 1:1 without regards to signals/usage

MCBL-00041

Description:

• 4-pin JST to USBA Female/Receptacle Cable
• 150mm (6”) version of MCBL-00009

Where Used:

• Used for connecting ModalAI USB Hosts (JST side, examples below) to USB Peripherals (Type A side)
• LTE Modem and USB Hub Addon J16 and J17 to USB peripheral device
• USB Expander and Debug Board to USB peripheral device
• Microhard and USB Hub Add-on USB J16 and J17 to USB peripheral device
• This cable is often included in many kits, but can be made available to purchase seperately if you need it. Please use our contact page to reach out with inquiries.

Details:

Pinout:

MCBL-00061

Description:

• Cable providing the primary connection used to connect VOXL2 to VOXL2 IO, which provides power and UART based communications

Where Used:

• Connects VOXL 2 J19 to VOXL 2 I/O J4

Details:

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00062

Description:

• Cable connecting the VOXL Power Module v3 to the Flight Core v2, providing power and I2C connections
• This is basically an MCBL-00001 (or MCBL-0003) but the LOAD side is now a 4-pin JST GH with a 1:1 pinout

Where Used:

• Connects ModalAI Power Module V3 output connector to FlightCoreV2 J13
• Note, J13 is intended to be RED to help indicate Power. Due to supply chain challenges, some boards might have the standard white color connector for J13.

Details:

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00063

Description:

• Cable providing the primary connection used to connect Flight Core v2 to the ModalAI UART ESC.
• The cable is effectively a 6-pin JST version of the 4-pin JST used on MCBL-00029 (instead of a Voxl2, use a FCv2 with Dronecode format).
• Note there are two variants, -1 and -2 with the only difference in length. -1 = 200mm, -2 = 90mm

Where Used:

• ModalAI ESC (M0049/M0117/M0134) J2 to FlightCoreV2 J5 (starting 1.13.2-0.1.2)

Details:

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See -1 Drawing Here & See -2 Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00064

Description:

• RC Input (S.Bus, FrSky)
• Picks up Power on Red+Black, and Receive Signal on Orange from VOXL2 I/O Board (M0065) to a R/C receiver 3-pin 0.1” hobby format
• Note: This is only intended for S.BUS (or +5V) remote receivers and cannot power high current servos or BLDCs
• Note: For Spektrum Receivers with +3.3V power supply needs, please see MCBL-00005
• This is just like MCBL-00018 but instead of needing two JST GH connectors, it has been consolidated into one 4-pin

Where Used:

• 4-pin JST (connector B): VOXL2 I/O (M0065) J3 (should be black in color, supply chain permitting) to 3-pin Harwin M20 Receptacle (connector A) to RC Receiver (e.g. S.BUS/FrSky)

Pinout:

See Drawing Here

MCBL-00065

Description:

• RC Input (S.Bus, FrSky)
• Picks up Power on Red+Black, and Receive Signal on Orange from VOXL2 I/O Board (M0065) to an FrSky R-XSR receiver 5-pin Molex Picoblade format
• Note: This is only intended for S.BUS (or +5V) remote receivers and cannot power high current servos or BLDCs
• This is just like MCBL-00021-1 but for Voxl2 IO instead of FlightCore and therefore consolidated into one 4-pin JST

Where Used:

• 4-pin JST (connector B): VOXL2 I/O (M0065) J3 (should be black in color, supply chain permitting) to 5-pin molex Picoblade on FrSky R-SSR RC Receiver

Pinout:

MCBL-00021-1 shown but the same Picoblade pinout is used on MCBL-00065 as shown

See Drawing Here

MCBL-00066

Description:

• Cable providing the primary connection used to connect Flight Core (V1 or v2) to the ModalAI 5G Modem (M0090)
• Compatible with other plug-in boards with the 6-pin JST format as listed here.
• The cable is effectively a 6-pin JST version of the 4-pin JST used on MCBL-00067.

Where Used:

• ModalAI Voxl2 5G Plug In Board (M0090) J9 to FlightCore V1/V2 J5 (or other DroneCode compliant UART ports on the designs, Software dependant)
• This can also be used on other ModalAI DroneCode compliant UART ports (6-pin JST GH), but Software mapping would require changes by the user.

Details:

Pinout:

See Drawing Here

MCBL-00067

Description:

• Cable providing the primary connection used to connect Flight Core (V1 or v2) to the ModalAI USB and UART Breakout Board (M0125)
• Compatable with other plug-in boards with the 6-pin JST format as listed here.
• The cable is effectively a 4-pin JST version of the 6-pin JST used on MCBL-00066.

Where Used:

• ModalAI Voxl2 USB and UART Breakout Board (M0125) J3 to FlightCore V1/V2 J5 (or other DroneCode compliant UART ports on the designs, Software dependant)
• This can also be used on other ModalAI DroneCode compliant UART ports (6-pin JST GH), but Software mapping would require changes by the user.
• Note: M0125 4-Pin JST UART port has RX on pin 2 and TX on pin 3, this is not common across our other HW designs (it was done intentionally, so be careful)

Details:

Pinout:

See Drawing Here

MCBL-00068

Description:

• Cable providing a 4-pin JST USB connection from a Voxl2 Plug-in Board (M0090, M0130, etc) to a Doodle Labs Helix Smart Radio Primary connector
• Compatable with any ModalAI 4-pin JST USB connectors on various designs
• Note: Standalone versions of our USB boards require a stable high-power source that can deliver 5W to the Helix
• Note: Doodle Labs Pinout notations in their documents has an incorrect pin1-pin15 callout. They are aware of it and will eventually fix it. We show an image below to help users understand this as our drawings use the proper JST based notations for pin 1

Where Used:

• Voxl2 + M0090 (5G modem)
• Voxl2 + M0130 (4G Modem, coming soon!!)
• Voxl2 + M0078 USB Debug Board

Details:

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00069

Description:

• Cable providing the Voxl2 ESC UART 4-pin JST to a TMotor F55A ESC
• Note: The TMotor F55A ESC has custom ModalAI firmware and hardware mods on it, thus allowing operation as noted here for the UART lines and the 4 MCUs. If you did not buy the TMotor ESC through ModalAI, this will not work

Where Used:

• Voxl2 + TMotor F55A ESC

Details:

Pinout:

This image shows the standard pinout for reference, but we use the signals as follows due to custom mods:

• TELEM Data output set as ESC UART Input
• ESC[1:4] set as ESC UART Outputs

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00070

Description:

• Cable providing a full JST GH 12-pin breakout

Where Used:

• Voxl2 J19, M0130 4G Modem J8
• Any ModalAI 12-pin JST where soldering or custom harnesses are needed
• Note: pigtail side is tinned for ~10mm making it easy to install JST SSHL-002T-P0.2 pins if needed
• Great item to have for making your own cables!!

Details:

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00071

Description:

• Cable providing a full JST GH 4-pin breakout, but with Pins 2&3 as twisted pair, suited for all of ModalAI’s USB2 ports

Where Used:

• Voxl or Voxl2 Plug-In boards
• Microhard Plug-ins (M0048), Sierra 4G Plug-ins (M0030, M0130), 5G Plug-ins (M0090)
• Any ModalAI 4-pin JST where soldering or custom harnesses are needed
• Note: pigtail side is tinned for ~10mm making it easy to install JST SSHL-002T-P0.2 pins if needed
• Great item to have for making your own cables!!

Details:

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00072

Description:

• Voxl2 10-pin JST USB to Boson RHP-BOS-VPC3-IF 6-JST
• Cable providing a direct conection from ModalAI’s USB3 ports (M0090, M0130) to a FLIR Boson that uses the RHP-BOS-VPC3-IF “backpack”
• Note: Only picks up the USB2 bus and not the SuperSpeed signals, so bandwidth would be limited to the 480Mbps USB2 standard

Where Used:

• Voxl2 Modem or USB3 expansion boards
• Sierra 4G Plug-ins (M0130), 5G Plug-ins (M0090)

Details:

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.

MCBL-00221

Description:

• RC Input (FrSky R-XSR)
• Picks up Power on Red+Black (from CANBUS port), and Receive Signal on Yellow (R/C Port) from FlightCoreV2 to FrSky R-XSR format R/C receiver 5-pin Picoblade format
• Note: This is just like MCBL-00021 but for FlightCoreV2 instead of FCv1

Where Used:

• 4-pin JST (connector B, yellow cable): Flight Core V2 J12 and 4-pin JST (connector A, Red+Black cables): Flight Core V2 J8 to 5-pin Molex Picoblade (connector C) to FrSky R-XSR Receiver
• Note if CONA and CONB are installed in the wrong/swapped ports on FCv2, damage should not occur due to the FrSKy receiving 3.3V instead of 5V, but the UART TX of the FrSky might be over-driven by the CANBUS transciever damaging your receiver. Please install connectors carefully.

Pinout:

Pinout, Part Number, & Additional Specs: See Drawing Here Contact ModalAI on the Forum for .DXF or .DWG formats of this drawing.