Flying the H at higher altitudes

[jwjohnson]

I live at 4700 feet and many of the places I will be flying are significantly higher. I haven't received my H yet, but I was reading the manual and noted they recommend only flying in "turtle" mode over 5000 feet. Does anyone have experience flying the H at high altitudes? Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks.
Jeff

 

[Ahab]

I live at 4200' and received my H yesterday. I've flown it 6 times so far with temps up to the upper 80s and it's doing great so far. It's handled gusty winds up to 20 mph or so with no problem plus I've flown it full speed all over the neighborhood. I plan on hiking up nearby mountains with it soon. The only thing I've noticed that could be altitude related is the flight time. I've been trying to take it easy on my battery until it's broken in well. Flight times have been between 13 and 17 min. I've gotten the low battery warning twice at 17 min and landed immediately. Strange thing is that it still shows 50% on the battery meter. Anyway, I know this doesn't really answer your question but at least you can see it performs well at close to your altitude. This thing is awesome, by the way!

 

[jwjohnson]

Thanks. I guess I'll just try both speeds when it arrives and see what happens.

 

[Steve Carr]

As you get over 5000' elev there is progressively less lift in the thinner air, so the motor speed must increase to carry the weight. That decreases battery time. Wind will play havoc the higher you go and you may have some difficulty with stability. The suggested use of turtle mode is to keep the H more in a level position. If it angles to steeply it may lose altitude. That said, you can fly safely as long as you understand the limitations.

 

[netjam]

I live at 4200' and received my H yesterday. I've flown it 6 times so far with temps up to the upper 80s and it's doing great so far. It's handled gusty winds up to 20 mph or so with no problem plus I've flown it full speed all over the neighborhood. I plan on hiking up nearby mountains with it soon. The only thing I've noticed that could be altitude related is the flight time. I've been trying to take it easy on my battery until it's broken in well. Flight times have been between 13 and 17 min. I've gotten the low battery warning twice at 17 min and landed immediately. Strange thing is that it still shows 50% on the battery meter. Anyway, I know this doesn't really answer your question but at least you can see it performs well at close to your altitude. This thing is awesome, by the way!

Excellent. I am planning my trip to mountains and it will be between 7500' and 9000' at least the base camp.

 

[Chilcotin]

Excellent. I am planning my trip to mountains and it will be between 7500' and 9000' at least the base camp.

At those altitudes, pay very close attention to the rate your main flight battery voltage is dropping. The warning may not be enough.
I would make sure you are back near the ground not less than 14.8v.
9000' will be interesting

 

[Dragonflyerthom]

OK thin air Less cooling for your motors your motors could start burning out if you go to fast, have fun .

 

[Pharkas]

Excellent. I am planning my trip to mountains and it will be between 7500' and 9000' at least the base camp.

I remember from reading the Q500 threads that to fly the q500 at higher altitude required a call to Yuneec tech support. If I remember correctly, it needed a special high elevation firmware. They only release it to those who live/fly above a certain altitude and not to the general population.

 

[Sticks]

Interesting. They locked out the Q500's at 8k unless you got the "Special" firmware.

If they are already warning people about going over 5k'....

This may have just killed my thoughts on purchase. I live at 6k, and the only thing worth videoing around here is significantly higher in elevation.

 

[Paladin]

The only thing I've noticed that could be altitude related is the flight time. I've been trying to take it easy on my battery until it's broken in well. Flight times have been between 13 and 17 min. I've gotten the low battery warning twice at 17 min and landed immediately. Strange thing is that it still shows 50% on the battery meter. Anyway, I know this doesn't really answer your question but at least you can see it performs well at close to your altitude. This thing is awesome, by the way!

I am new to the hobby aside from my original parrot drone. I have been reading up on how to break in the batteries. Did you break yours in using the 10/10 rule? Fly for only 10 minutes (half the normal flight time) for the first 10 flights. That is supposed to condition the battery.

I am going to do that to be safe. Unless better advice comes along.

 

[Pharkas]

I remember from reading the Q500 threads that to fly the q500 at higher altitude required a call to Yuneec tech support. If I remember correctly, it needed a special high elevation firmware. They only release it to those who live/fly above a certain altitude and not to the general population.

Here is the thread for the Q500. Altitude max problem I just reread it. Not sure how this applies to the H, but I believe it will be similar. I would call Yuneec before your trip so you will not be stuck unable to get your video footage. Also, people on the thread were discussing "vortex ring state". If your not familiar with that you may also want to research it before heading to high altitude so you can be prepared.

 

[Dragonflyerthom]

Now this is what I do to break my battery in. Fly the heck out of it no no no no. I start off at 10 minutes and then add two with each flight afterwards. Works for me.

 

[Dragonflyerthom]

I just love the vortex ring state. If you bring the hex above your head and you are at 200 feet, put the left cyclic down start your dissent and you will see the vortex ring state. By the way don't bring it all the way to the ground. At about 50 feet stop your dissent and move your hex to the side.

 

[Ahab]

I am new to the hobby aside from my original parrot drone. I have been reading up on how to break in the batteries. Did you break yours in using the 10/10 rule? Fly for only 10 minutes (half the normal flight time) for the first 10 flights. That is supposed to condition the battery.

I am going to do that to be safe. Unless better advice comes along.

Sort of. I was going for about 50%-60% for the first 5-10 flights (only up to 7 so far). I think I read this somewhere when researching break-in. The biggest point seemed to be to just not deeply discharge them right away. It is supposed to have 25 min flight time so 50%-60% would be 12:30-15 min. My longest flight has been 17 because I was having a bit too much fun and the battery takes too long to recharge. BTW, the battery icon was still showing 3/4 full at 17 min despite the fact that the low battery warning came on. I've used lots of lipos and never broken them in before until recently with a Typhoon G. Even after break-in, The G would barely fly over 50% of its advertised flight time. It wouldn't get over 20 min even in a hover with no camera gimbal on it. I tried two different batteries with similar results so I returned it. I think the shorter flight time is partly due to altitude but after doing a bit of research on that it didn't look like it would make more than 2-3 min of difference. Anyway, I'm going to take it easy on the batteries for at least the first 10 flights. Maybe I'll try 10/10 on my extra batteries when they finally get here. Probably another 2 weeks

 

[vidwiz]

That turtle mode spooked me a bit when I saw it too. I've been flying at 5-6000 feet several times now and just flew over 7000' today. I would agree the battery run times are on the low side but it flys quite well in my estimation even in the thinner air.

 

[Paladin]

That turtle mode spooked me a bit when I saw it too. I've been flying at 5-6000 feet several times now and just flew over 7000' today. I would agree the battery run times are on the low side but it flys quite well in my estimation even in the thinner air.

You took it up over 5000' high, not just away from you? If so, wow....

 

[jwjohnson]

That turtle mode spooked me a bit when I saw it too. I've been flying at 5-6000 feet several times now and just flew over 7000' today. I would agree the battery run times are on the low side but it flys quite well in my estimation even in the thinner air.

That's good to know. I'll be flying frequently at those altitudes.

 

[netjam]

At those altitudes, pay very close attention to the rate your main flight battery voltage is dropping. The warning may not be enough.
I would make sure you are back near the ground not less than 14.8v.
9000' will be interesting

I am thinking 15v is min. Clearly this would be only for video/photography no joy fly. I would not able to recharge my batteries anyway so I need to be very careful, so planning is a must. I have plenty of time to think it through. However, everything could be trashed by a bad weather in a blink of a second.
When you are in a wild there are no mercy. I'll check with YUNEEC about firmware , thank for the tip. I don't have the unit yet

 

[Chilcotin]

I am thinking 15v is min. Clearly this would be only for video/photography no joy fly. I would not able to recharge my batteries anyway so I need to be very careful, so planning is a must. I have plenty of time to think it through. However, everything could be trashed by a bad weather in a blink of a second.
When you are in a wild there are no mercy. I'll check with YUNEEC about firmware , thank for the tip. I don't have the unit yet

15v, even better

 

[Simspeed]

I've flown my H at 8500+ elevation for the last 4-5 days straight. Battery life is definitely shorter at these heights. I've flown every mode from full slow to full fast without any problems as far as I can tell. Increase in ambient temperature does help flight time. I had one decently warm day with the best results. The rest have been in the mid 40°F range and the battery drains quickly. Today was my first day out with the ITE DBS antenna and the video began to break up at 2500 ft of clear path flight. Very disappointing.