Quad 10 min flight time?

[D.O.G.]

I finished my 5" quad last night. This quad, I'm hoping to achieve 10 mins flight time. I went today for a test flight. The problem was my batteries weren't fully charged. They were @ 80%. I went ahead and flew 5 mins. I checked the % and it was 60. I went ahead and flew another 3mins on the same battery. I checked again and it was @ 40%. I stopped flying @ 40%. People showed up where I was flying at so no flying. They have the right of way I'm hoping tomorrow I can get out with a couple of fully charged batteries and find out if I can do 10 mins or more. I'm using 3 bladed props and was wondering if 2 bladed prop will be any better for longer flight time Here's today video. I wanted to fly under the sprinklers but they were slowly shutting down. Maybe tomorrow .

 

[D.O.G.]

I finished my 5" quad last night. This quad, I'm hoping to achieve 10 mins flight time. I went today for a test flight. The problem was my batteries weren't fully charged. They were @ 80%. I went ahead and flew 5 mins. I checked the % and it was 60. I went ahead and flew another 3mins on the same battery. I checked again and it was @ 40%. I stopped flying @ 40%. People showed up where I was flying at so no flying. They have the right of way I'm hoping tomorrow I can get out with a couple of fully charged batteries and find out if I can do 10 mins or more. I'm using 3 bladed props and was wondering if 2 bladed prop will be any better for longer flight time Here's today video. I wanted to fly under the sprinklers but they were slowly shutting down. Maybe tomorrow .

I went Thursday morning again to the park. Didn't get the chance to fly because my truck wouldn't start Spent the rest of the day calling AAA and getting the truck to the shop. Today I flew the quad, with a fully charged battery around the course at my house. Nothing fancy, just a steady speed and I got 9 minute flight time. I went ahead and try it again. Sure enough 9 minute flight time. I didn't make a video because everyone would of got dizzy watching the video of me flying in circle. Once I get to the park again, I'll make a boring 9 minute video.

 

[Tony]

smooth, casual flying. My style of flying lol.

As for 2 blade being more efficient than 3 blade, the answer is yes. But, not sure it is going to allow another minute of flight time. Only one way to find out

 

[D.O.G.]

Thanks Tony on the prop information. How about switching from 1550/4s to a 1300/4s on the battery. Will that help any?

 

[D.O.G.]

smooth, casual flying. My style of flying lol.

As for 2 blade being more efficient than 3 blade, the answer is yes. But, not sure it is going to allow another minute of flight time. Only one way to find out

I went ahead an ordered 2 bladed prop to try out and some 1300mAh/4s batteries to lighten the load some. Right now I'm using 1550mAh/4s batteries. Bi-golli, I'm going to get 10 minutes flight time yet lol.

 

[Admiral]

Try lowering the "C" rating of your batteries, you will loose some punch but extend flight time, they release their charge at a lower rate and are generally lighter to start with.

 

[D.O.G.]

Try lowering the "C" rating of your batteries, you will loose some punch but extend flight time, they release their charge at a lower rate and are generally lighter to start with.

Thanks Admiral. I went ahead and ordered 1300/4s 25c batteries. Just 2 to try out. I flew the quad this morning, without the RunCam action camera off and got 12 minutes with 30% left . I'm hoping with the lighter battery, that will justify the weight of the camera. I'm shooting for 13 minutes now. More to come.

 

[D.O.G.]

Finally I can say that I have a 10 min. flight time, recording quad with Randy and Admiral help. Today I flew 11 mins so 10 min is safe time to fly around. I just went to the park and Cruz around. I wanted to make sure all went well before I do the Florida canal flight in search of gators and maybe the Florida skunk ape . The Florida version of big foot but on vacation under a different name LMAO. I did do a video of my flight but it's just too boring to post. I'm waiting on the canal flight to post. I don't no how these company have a quad that weights under 250g. Mine weights 463g w/battery, "1300mAh/4s" & runcam action camera. Here's what I'm flying for 10 mins... if anyone cares:

5" racing frame
1300/25c 4s battery
Lumemier double AXII long range antenna
Runcam phoenix 2 FPV camera
DYS race edition 1806/2300Kv motors
RDQ Mach 3 VTX
Diatone mamba F405 mini 4 in 1 esc
Runcam action camera
Gemfan 5" moonlight props "All the guts excluded"

I didn't like the way the gemfan moonlight props worked. To turn on, you must tight down the prop nut. To turn off, you must loosen the prop nuts. Pain in the butt so no guts plus the gemfan props are 1g lighter then the Dal prop I was going to use. Till next time, which I hope it's a water flight . Here's the quad and with action camera and battery

 

[D.O.G.]

I went ahead and tried out the 1300/4s-25c the other day. I didn't make 10 min flight time with that battery and my set up. I'm going back to my 1550/4s-45c battery. I know I can fly 10 mins without worrying. Maybe this week I can make a video of the Florida canals by me. Hopefully I can come face to quad with a python, gator or even a manatee .

 

[Admiral]

I went ahead and tried out the 1300/4s-25c the other day. I didn't make 10 min flight time with that battery and my set up. I'm going back to my 1550/4s-45c battery.

That result surprises me, on my 550 HEX dropping the "C" rating extended my flight time by about a minute, I can't remember the battery specs though it was 3S 6500 mAh but not sure of the C rating, prior to adding the Camera Gimbal and retracts I was getting 12 to 13 minutes without the low voltage warning system coming on, with the gear fitted I was still getting about 10 minutes.

 

[D.O.G.]

Yeah that's strange. I'm confused too but I'm glad to get 10 mins flight time. It's just for fun, no freestyle or racing around like a chicken with it's head cut off lol. Just recording silly things. I'm going to test both battery again to see if I get the same result or different

 

[RandyDSok]

The only way that dropping a C rating would increase flight time, is if you were too hard on the throttle to begin with. In short, a lower C rating wouldn't allow the current to flow as much, so a given MAH would last longer. So just staying out the throttle would do the same.

 

[D.O.G.]

I did notice with the 1300/4s 25c that If I needed to throttle up, it would take longer and more throttle to move out of danger. Maybe that caused the battery to burn up more juice which in return cut down on flight time...I'm just guessing. 10 mins flight is more than enough for me. Gets boring unless you can get someone to pay you to fly somewhere interesting and exciting like this

 

[RandyDSok]

Think of it like this... You can relate electricity to water to get a handle on it in your head.

Voltage - is pressure for electricity... like pressure is to water.

Amperage - is the current... or amount of flow. The more water that passes a point, is the same as the amount of electricity ( MAH in batteries ) that flow.

Wattage - is the amount of work that can get done by either water or electricity.

Resistance - ie friction ... with electricity, it's the lost energy to heat.


The MAH or AH ( depending on how you want to measure it ) is the amount of stored energy, waters analogy would be the water tank. The faster the electricity flows, the quicker you drain the tank. You can increase the flow by opening the throttle wider, or decrease it by closing it. You can also increase the flow by using a bigger pipe ( large C value ) or decrease it by using a smaller pipe ( smaller C value ). So lowering the throttle has the same end result as lowering the C value, it slows down the flow or current depending on which word you want to pick.

As we increase our throttle on the radio... the resistance values also increase so it becomes less efficient at some point along your throttle curve. So the trick to extending the flight time... is to find where the sweet spot on the throttle is at for your given battery and motor. It seemed on most of my airplanes, the sweet spot seemed to be in the 60%-80% range on my throttle... but it varied depending on which airplane I was flying at the time as well as the flight conditions.

To find your sweet spot requires a few test flights with each one using a different spot on the throttle and flying for the same amount of time each time. Then just see how many MAH you put back into the battery for each flight.

 

[D.O.G.]

I thank you much Randy for taking the time to explain it so I can even understand it

 

[RandyDSok]

There is a saying about how we really can't really fully "understand" it.... but we can get the idea of how things act in certain conditions and that is good enough.

 

[Admiral]

The anomaly in my reasults may have been the age of the battery the lower C rates was new and the higher rating much older, the HEX was never flown much over half throttle as I was building a camera platform and was after sustained stable flight.

Funny enough I had the same discussion with my son and agreed to disagree, looks like he was right DAM.

 

[RandyDSok]

Age can certainly be a consideration... as batteries age, their internal resistance also increases. For that matter, no 2 batteries are identical even when both are brand new and the same make/model. Temps also come into play... so there are several variables that need considered.

So when looking for an airframes sweet spot on the throttle to get the best time and performance you like, test using the same battery until you figure it out. Then you can use that throttle setting with your other batteries and be pretty close on each of them.

I usually just turn my throttle up until it seems I'm not getting the same amount of increase as I'm moving the throttle up... and then back it off just a little. I land when either my timer goes off or if it feels like my performance has dropped off. The timer is usually set to my estimated longest flight time but if I get heavy on the throttle, it does shorten the available time, so I land based on that also.