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How to get longest flight time on octocopter that has decent payload already on it?

Posted by Rafi Nahmani on August 22, 2017 at 10:43pm

I want to design an octocopter that will respond to incidences of crime and terrorist attacks. Survey and gather intel and come back to HQ

I want this Octocopter to carry radioactive/chemical testing equipment and have a flight time of 45 mins

How likely am i to achieve 45min flight times? 

There must be a way of optimizing flight time. I know i can double the amount of batteries but this may make the craft unstable I may need to scale up on motor size to make payload less of an issue..

The larger the craft the more dangerous and costly the craft. So i'm really interested in optimizing it the best i can.

I know there are hydrogen fuel cells, maybe some other sort of alternative battery.

Please help thanks

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Replies

  • Kurt Kreiger August 23, 2017 at 7:41pm

    @Brian

    What are you using for batteries and what was AUW?

    We have been experimenting with stretched r/c helicopters to get the longer flight time but your setup sounds interesting and I'm guessing a lot less money since it won't have a $9000 flight controller.

    We also have a X8 frame running DJI 4216 motors with 17" props.

    2x of 10,000mah batteries

    AUW of 18lbs is only yielding a 14 minute flight time.

  • Brian Riskas August 23, 2017 at 10:01am

    If you want to optimize for size vs payload, you will probably wind up with an X8 copter running 24"-30" props. We built a similar copter for crop spraying using KDE 7215 motors and ESCs, on a custom frame we built in house. OG's advice is spot on, and realistically you are better off buying something ready to fly in that size, as the learning curve is very steep. With the aformentioned motors and 30" props, we are seeing flight times (not hover) of 26 minutes with a 20lb payload (with a 20% reserve on the battery).

    Let me know if you have more questions.

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  • OG August 23, 2017 at 9:48am


    not so simple! you need to know the power you will be using? 6S, 12S or 14S lipo battery?   props you need 22 inch prop to 30 inch prop size depending how meany motors your running take off weight ! motor you can go from U7, U8, U10, U11, U12  tiger rc motors.

    Rafi Nahmani said:

    If I can get 45min flight times with $10,000 motors I don't mind. I will make sure take off weight is optimized.

    What motors / props do you recommend ?
  • Rafi Nahmani August 23, 2017 at 9:33am
    If I can get 45min flight times with $10,000 motors I don't mind. I will make sure take off weight is optimized.

    What motors / props do you recommend ?
  • OG August 23, 2017 at 8:07am

    long flight times & heavy payloads require expensive motors and props ! there is no cheep way around that fact! optimization can be done with by reducing your take off weight! your looking at $10,000 minimum investment on a quad ! you can get a RTF spray quad for about that much. 

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