Discussions

Making ArduCopter to Fly like 3 Hours

Posted by Mark Zimmerman on February 17, 2012 at 9:27am

Hi I have an ArduCopter and I want to modify it's motor and battery to make it:

Control payload of max. 10kg

or/and

Fly at least 3 hours

Please advice how should I calculate it. Is there any formula for calculation of needed battery and propeller or motor?

I'm not an expert in electronics, I just have good skill in Unix operating system and C programming. So please share with me your expert ideas. I want to know what Kv motor I'll need (4x of it) and what battery would be required (like I got 5200 mA).

Looking to read your expert comments/ideas...

Thanks

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Replies

roger February 26, 2012 at 4:36am

Adam,

You indicated the "Nemesis" has a maximum lift of 10 kg and with the supplied batteries can last 45 minutes with the camera you using.

Questions:

1. What's the flying weight of the octo with everything (i.e., electronics, frame, batteries, etc) except camera?

2. What's the weight of the camera you were using in the sentient video?

3. Maximum amount of payload will be the difference of 10kg and the answer to the 1st question, right?

Thanks.
Kim Kristensen February 24, 2012 at 2:02am

Helicopters have never been known for being power efficient, so I think you will need to think a bit out of the box to full fill your requirements.

I think one way forward could be to have a model airplane fuel engine on board with an attached generator. By doing this you can keep the electrical system almost as it is. You "just" have to add a charging circuit.

Just a tought
Developer

Adam Rivera February 17, 2012 at 9:40am

If you are referring to the ArduCopter frame that is not safely possible (regarding the lift). Even if you could accomplish that lift you would not be able to get 3 hours of flight time with the current battery technology. I have a very light (for its size), efficient octocopter that runs two parallel 7800mAh batteries (15600mAh total) and I get around 45 minutes of flight time lifting a GoPro camera. The octo is capable of lifting 10kg, but at nowhere near a 3 hr flight time. I run 8 AXI 2826/12 motors with 14x4.7 props. My entire frame is aircraft grade aluminum and carbon fiber. I believe the ArduCopter frame is aluminum and plastic(?)... not quite sure, but certainly not safe/possible to carry that much weight.