Larger plane with endurance

Hi,

Can anyone give me some pointers on how to build an electric FPV platform with an endurance in the 30-40min range?

The payload should be in the 250-400g range, when the FPV is installed.

I've been looking at the following frames:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__27132__Skywalker_X_8_FPV_UAV_Flying_Wing_2120mm.html

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__27111__Skywalker_1680_V6_FPV_Platform_EPO_Kit.html

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__20276__Darkwing_FPV_Drone_1727mm_Composite_ARF_.html

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__14465__EPP_FPV_1_8M_X_Large_EPP_Carbon_Fiber_R_C_Plane.html

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__32087__HobbyKing_FPV_UAV_Fiber_Glass_Kit_V2_With_Flaps_1660mm_ARF_.html

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__41322__Hobbyking_Sky_Eye_EPO_FPV_Glider_w_Flaps_2000mm_PNF_.html

Do any of you tried the platforms? Any pros/cons are welcome :)

Thank you in advance.

/Michael

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  • my first uav platform was the techpod, but unfortunately,i do not find the design upto my expectation. The wing spar is too soft, if u dive the plane too much, u will never recover from wing flutter. Space is another issue,not much can be done about that. The wing need to be very stiff.

    Now I am using ASW-28 electric glider. Beauty. Plenty of big space and balsa wing,with stainless steel wingspar, of course to make it lighter I hv since change it to carbon rod.

     

    doc

  • Hi,

    The best thing for endurance is a large and slow prop.

    I did pretty much what  Nathaniel Caner described here, to a smaller Easy Star. 5 to 8 inch prop. Endurance went up from 15 to 45 minutes.

    It is easy to get >1hr with the X8 too. 2hrs are also possible but maybe not with payload.

    Regards

    Soren

  • same thing was wondering what modification can I give my flying wing  its 36inch wing span and flies on a CF2812  with 7x3.8 prop. currently my battery is 2pcs 3s 900mah was getting only 6-8 min at most

  • I just found this interesting post: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/crossing-the-canal-france-engla...

    Doing a 102km flight with an X8 wing.

  • Moderator

    Michael,

    I don't have any experience with any of the platforms you've listed, however I am currently flying the Banana Hobbies 2.4m Super Sky Surfer. With a motor mount adapter from Small Parts CNC that allows me to install a larger Great Planes Rimfire .32 motor that I had lying around and swing a 13x8 inch 3-blade prop instead of the stock 8x6 inch.

    The plane stock weighs around 2kg ready to fly, with the added weight of the APM with GPS, Telemetry, MinimOSD, Airspeed, Attopilot 90A voltage and current sensor, and FPV eqipment the new weight is around 2.8kg. My longest flight so far has been around 30 minutes. If I were to go much longer I think I would need more battery capacity as I am using just over 80% capacity to achieve this flight time on 4400mah of capacity.

    If I were to reduce the weight a bit and experiment with prop pitch/battery voltage (I'm using 3S but I think 4S would be better) I am sure 45-60 minutes would be achievable. I could knock off 400g pretty easily if I was going for greater endurance. there are some good threads over on RC Groups about modifications to this airframe, one of the common ones is replacing the stock Fiberglass main spar with a pultruded carbon fiber tube that saves around 280g all by itself!

    I'm currently tuning it on firmware 2.74b and am very happy with the results so far. Anyway something to consider.

    Regards,

    Nathaniel ~KD2DEY

  • 100KM
    The techpod is capable of 3 hour flights. It is available @ hobbyuav.com if you have any questions fire away.
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