I've been performing some flight tests using two batteries and I'm just not getting what i was expecting. I am hoping other Y6 users can chime in with their battery/flight times, and see if i'm really off.. or if this is what is expected. Lastly, most importantly.. what can I do to increase flight time? It would be a goal of mine to achieve 20minutes.
Battery 1: Turnigy nano-tech 5000mah 3S 25~50C Lipo Pack
Approx 8minutes.
Batttery 2: ZIPPY Flightmax 5800mAh 3S1P 30C
Approx 10 minutes.
Using 850kv 3DR blue motors. Long Range Telemetry module. Dragonlink for Radio. Carrying Tarot 2D gimbal (+200g) no camera for these tests.
Attached images of flight times and VCC/volt data.
Replies
just a quick update on my battery trials. re-post from a thread in the Y6 users group, in case some over look that area:
So i ended up getting a zippy 3S 8000mah to testhttp://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__16225__zippy_flightmax_8...
With the gimbal + camera, it maxes out the recommended weight for the 3DR Y6 of 2500g. I plan to remove my bullet connectors and shave off some weight. Someone mentioned about 100G savings with this.
-I got about 13 minutes of hover only, and 9.5 minutes of mixed flight under low wind conditions. Mixed flight meaning, flying about 1 mile away and back (10000 feet traveled)
-40amp draw for hover @ 65% throttle.
-Once the voltage reaches below 10v, you begin to feel the weight. Fast descents are very hard to recover from.
-Only been able to charge 7000mah into this battery. This is from stopping at 9.6v under load, and 15% battery shown left on my OSD.
I really can't say I recommend this battery unless you fly with no gimbal or go pro. If you are just flying around and don't have the FPV weight (or just are using a small camera to FPV), it would fare quite well. Otherwise, flying around at 2500g does feel sluggish.
now waiting for a nanotech 3S 6400mah. let's see how that does!
I was looking into this battery 3S 8400mah 40C Constant / 80C Burst - anyone tried it or use anything close?
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=21945
You ever think of going hydrogen power system for the copter? Check this out: http://www.horizonfuelcell.com/#!advanced-technical-kits/c720
I think maybe boosting your C level may be easier on your batteries. You mention 25-50c. I think these are more for planes and TRI'ss.. Pulling so many amps (6 motors), you may want to go for higher C ratings.. I use the same 5000 mah but I have 45-90 c batteries. The do not get hot, just a little warm and give me about 10 min in my Y6. I've burned out two 6000 3s 25-50c turnigy's.. Use Higher C ratings should always be mentioned in anything above quads. In my opinion.
I posted this in the Y6 Users Group but here it is again, for those who are not part of the group.
Just did some rough calcs. These are open to correction.
The Y6 consumes 400mA per minute on 3S, and 500mA per minute on 4S.
So your calcs will go something like this:
Battery 5300mA 3S.
You want to leave a minimum of 20% in the battery, so 5300 *80% = 4240mA
4240 / 400 = 10.6 minutes of expected flight time. Hope this helps.
My totally stock 3DR Y6 (with 880kv motors and telemetry) has been flying 7 minutes with a 4500mah 3S and a NEX6 camera strapped to the bottom, no gimbal. Not bad for the weight. That's getting the battery down to around 10.2v.
For reference, my Y6 weighs 1480g. The camera is 467g with battery, lens, SD card, and mount. The 4500 mah Turnigy nano-tech battery is 347g. AUW is 2294g.
Payload is a little more than 814g (telemetry and AR8000 receiver are included in Y6 weight above, but are considered payload by 3DR.) This leaves about 350g before reaching the payload max, which is an entire second 4500mah.
I am sensing a apples to oranges batch of comparisons here.
For the most part a quad or a hex is always going to be 10 to 20 percent more efficient than an "equivalent" Y6 because of the intrinsic inefficiencies of the Coax configuration.
But, individual tuning of each of the components, motors, props and weight is significantly more important than any of that.
Generally the bigger the prop diameter the better the efficiency (assuming your motor can operate most efficiently at the resulting hover motor rpm speed).
And, bigger prop diameters decrease stability and responsiveness, so it is a trade off.
If you want the longest flight times the new Big (and really expensive) 100KV T-Motors with 29" props will give you great flight times, but you probably won't be happy in gusty winds.
Guessing this really isn't an option, but the reality is that motor, battery cells, total vehicle weight and prop need to be carefully matched for optimal flight times, usually figured with hover throttle at about or less than 50% for best efficiency.
Raph,
These are fairly standard flight times with 200g as your payload. Keep in mind, we found a 1200 gram max payload for the Y6 is as much as you can lift safely. Payload would include anything that is not the airframe, motors, props, escs, PDB, RC Rx, or APM components. You could carry a 1000 gram battery max with your 200g gimbal and be right near the maximum recommended payload weight. Once you know your camera gear weight, you can use the remaining weight to fit as big of a lipo as possible if you wanted. The prop configuration (10/11) was chosen because it showed the greatest efficiency between all of the other prop combos that we tested. It was to my surprise that a pitch differential made little difference, but a 10% increase in prop diameter on the lower prop required the least power to fly in any given configuration-
I get about 10 minutes taking 6000mAh out of my 8000mAh 3s bats, mine is about 2500grams with graupner 11x5 props.
last attachment.
5800-vcc-volt.JPG