Is it 15 minutes roughly? How can I increase it to an hour or 45 minutes or such? I have absolutely no rc experience but am looking for a quad that is easy to fly and can fly for at least 30 minutes using ardupilot to take advantage of autonomous flight and carry a payload of 1 pound roughly.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Greg
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If I go with the EasyStar with onboard video do I need to buy a ground station to see the live video? How does that work? Where can I find them.. Thanks guys
I think you should go with the lowest Kv motor you can find and the biggest low pitch propellers for the motor. This will give you the most efficiency, but probably at the expense of throttle response time and maneuverability. There's always a trade-off when trying to maximize one variable.
As noted, quads are quite power hungry. If you're looking for endurance in a hoverable airframe, try to hold out for the heli code and install on a nitro helicopter. Actually, with mild tuning an electric heli will keep you up in the air longer than our quads.
Personally, I'd like to get my hands on any pre-alpha heli code to start hacking APM onto my trex 600... Anyone want to give me a start? :)
If endurance is what you're after then simply increase the size of your propellers (and motors) or increase their numbers. My hexacopter frame is currently hovering at 17 Amps with a 10 Ah pack, I'm still adding gear so it's not final but that works out to 34 min hover time right now.
You're not gonna get a good flight time from a quad because flight time means heavy batteries and that means a lot of thrust. Motors like to run slow, so you will need more than 4.
15 rather easy, 20 should be doable, 25 ummm hardly, 30 impossible.. at least for now. Battery and motor technology improves day by day. If I remember correctly guys in Germany has succeeded on 26 mins flights but that was without payload.
Charing time really depends on size of your batteries, their charging capabilities and your charger. If you have a lipo of 5000mAh and that can handle 2C charge rates, with 10 Amp charge current it's only 30 mins to charge it. I have seen new LiPos that can be charged even 3-4C but I never used them so cannot say how safe those are.
I usually charge all my lipos with 0.8 - 0.9C that way their life span is also rather long. Tho just noted that I have lipos that can be charged with 2C.
One way is to have multiple batteries and also chargers. If having 4 batterys + 3 chargers you can fly almost without any breaks. Having 5 bats/4 chargers you will fly without any breaks.. Just land change fly... and Wifey can take care of charging and drinks (naturally Dr.Pepper what else) :P
Dang. Might have to hold off on quads then they look a lot of fun because I can use it in my backyard. Seems so very expensive for 15 minutes of joy each charge though :( Any idea how long a charge takes roughly to fly again for 15 minutes? Also is the easystar hard to fly with no rc experience or is it something a newb could fly with arduinopilot and such.
Quads are all electric (need high-speed throttle response) and relatively power-consumptive. I don't know any that can go more than about 15 minutes. There are some proposals to use nitro motors with servo-controlled variable-pitch props to get longer flight time, but I don't know if anything has flown yet.
Replies
Personally, I'd like to get my hands on any pre-alpha heli code to start hacking APM onto my trex 600... Anyone want to give me a start? :)
You're not gonna get a good flight time from a quad because flight time means heavy batteries and that means a lot of thrust. Motors like to run slow, so you will need more than 4.
Charing time really depends on size of your batteries, their charging capabilities and your charger. If you have a lipo of 5000mAh and that can handle 2C charge rates, with 10 Amp charge current it's only 30 mins to charge it. I have seen new LiPos that can be charged even 3-4C but I never used them so cannot say how safe those are.
I usually charge all my lipos with 0.8 - 0.9C that way their life span is also rather long. Tho just noted that I have lipos that can be charged with 2C.
One way is to have multiple batteries and also chargers. If having 4 batterys + 3 chargers you can fly almost without any breaks. Having 5 bats/4 chargers you will fly without any breaks.. Just land change fly... and Wifey can take care of charging and drinks (naturally Dr.Pepper what else) :P
Thanks for your response