Endurance tests with "APM:Plane": over 3 hours archived with "Mini Talon"

This is my endurance record at the time, but I think I can do better.
The test was performed on a day with strong winds, shall be equal and over to the navigation speed (11 m/s), it's indeed very curious to see how it behaves my "Mini Talon," sometimes flies backward (at 14.00% in the log), with the groundspeed around "0 m/s".
In a previous flight I did over 114 km, but flying "only" 02:52:00.
The battery pack is Li-Ion 4S3P 10.500 mAh "Sanyo 18650GA", with max of 30A discharge.
Unfortunately the "3DR Power Modules" current sensor is very inaccurate, so the trend of current in the log is not reliable, but the voltage is quite true.

This image shows the flight data after the land, "tempo di volo" in italian is the "flight time":

And here the residue of the battery pack, this shows that I was thoroughly conservative:

In a previous flight i reached 114 Km, but flying "only" 2 hours ad 52 mins.

Configuration:
X-UAV MiniTalon
ParkZone 15-Size Brushless Motor (720 Kv)
Aeronaut folding propeller 10x6
E-Flite Pro 30A ESC
Pixhawk with "APM:Plane" V3.6.0
Neo M8N GPS
Analog Airspeed Sensor
Home made Li-Ion battery pack 4S3P 10.500 mAh "Sanyo 18650GA"
1619gr AUW

Flight data:
Total travel: 93,4 Km
Total flight time: 3hours 11mins
Battery used: 8300 mAh (residual: over 20%)
Flight alt: 100mt
Max wind speed: 13 m/s (average: 8 m/s)
Battery failsafe voltage: 12.8V

Here the telemetry log about this endurance test:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3HEcrNCOga9bkRkMi00d0cwM0k&usp=sharing

Thanks to all the "ArduPilot Dev Team"!

Marco

Thx Rob for the tip on the Multistars.

We haven't had any issues apart from noticing the voltage sag on our first prototypes with insufficient wiring. I think we might be avoiding the issues as we run around 3-4C in hover/climb, typically less than 30 seconds or so for takeoff/landing which we're reducing even more, and 0.5C or less in forward flight on 4S. But given your advice I'll be looking at running some bench tests to confirm they'll hold up. BTW what are you using instead?

@ Marco

I have some experience with the li-ions and we ran them at the last OBC on a X8 wing. I don't think we'll be using them this time because of the low C rating, although we nearly hover at 30A on 6x4.5 props! Did you design your own Talon nosecone? I have to make one yet, with integrated Pitot, Safety switch and power disarm. Aren't 3D printers awesome? ;-)

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Comments

John Campen September 3, 2016 at 12:03am

well done Marco! impressive!
Maarten Heuvelman June 20, 2016 at 1:48pm

Marco, verrry interesting project !!, with a relative simple plane such long endurance.
I have a question about the configuratio of your "home made" battery pack: Did you put the cell's first in parralel and then those parralel blocks in series ? What were your considerations in relation to endurance flight to use 4s ?

Thanks Maarten
Developer

Marco Robustini June 19, 2016 at 11:34pm

@Waladi, now i've tx video, osd and Mobius, i'm ready for the next endurance flight, I'm not interested to use my Mini Talon for photomapping, for what i use my FX-79 with Sony A7 ...
Waladi June 17, 2016 at 3:20am

Great marco!!
Just wondering what is the flight time if you add 300gr mapping camera on the Mini Talon?
JB June 16, 2016 at 8:05am

Thx Rob for the tip on the Multistars.

We haven't had any issues apart from noticing the voltage sag on our first prototypes with insufficient wiring. I think we might be avoiding the issues as we run around 3-4C in hover/climb, typically less than 30 seconds or so for takeoff/landing which we're reducing even more, and 0.5C or less in forward flight on 4S. But given your advice I'll be looking at running some bench tests to confirm they'll hold up. BTW what are you using instead?

@ Marco

I have some experience with the li-ions and we ran them at the last OBC on a X8 wing. I don't think we'll be using them this time because of the low C rating, although we nearly hover at 30A on 6x4.5 props! Did you design your own Talon nosecone? I have to make one yet, with integrated Pitot, Safety switch and power disarm. Aren't 3D printers awesome? ;-)
100KM

Trung Nguyen June 16, 2016 at 7:43am

Marco, are you referring to your plane's big brother? It has proven to be one of the (hobby) air frames well suited for long range flight. I am not sure if it is the best for long duration.
Developer

Marco Robustini June 16, 2016 at 6:28am

Now I'm curious about the performance that can be achieved with the "Talon" (2 meters wingspan).
Anyone have feedback about this?
Developer

Marco Robustini June 16, 2016 at 6:24am

@Trung: in my setup "11 m/s" is a good speed without stalls in any wind condition, with this battery pack (619 g).
With LiPo 4S 5A i use 9 or 10 m/s.

@JB: the nose (canopy) is in "3d printing" now... ;-)
Attention with quadplane, the multirotor motors require a lot of current, Li-Ion it would not be the best choice.
This battery pack "4S3P" it can supply a maximum of 30A:

http://eu.nkon.nl/sanyo-18650ga.html
Rob_Lefebvre June 16, 2016 at 5:35am

Good work Marco.

Careful with the Multistar batteries JB. I am abandoning them. Well, first because I can't get them anymore. But they don't perform very reliably. The 10C rating is extremely optimistic. They will puff even with short 5C bursts. They're really not good for more than 2C. And they suffer really bad voltage sag under load, so the Wh/kg calculation is a little bit off as they spend significant time under 3.8V/cell.
MR60

Hugues June 16, 2016 at 5:32am

Excellento ! (or however you say it in Italian)

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