New Guy With A Drone

[FloridaDroner]

I'm new to drone flying. I just completed my eighth flight with a Typhoon H. I have a few questions that I hope that somebody can help me with.
1. I want to buy an additional battery. Any suggestions?
2. What spare parts should I obtain?
3. Has anyone attached floats to a TH?
4. Is there a replacement camera that has a longer focal length? In other words less distortion at the outside of the image.
5. Similar to No. 1: A 5,400mah battery came with. I see a 8,050 mah battery on Amazon. Good idea?
6. Had a tip over on landing after my last flight. First problem. Besides bad pilot technique, any other thoughts on what might have caused it? Too slow to power down?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Panther6834]

I'm new to drone flying. I just completed my eighth flight with a Typhoon H. I have a few questions that I hope that somebody can help me with.
1. I want to buy an additional battery. Any suggestions?
2. What spare parts should I obtain?
3. Has anyone attached floats to a TH?
4. Is there a replacement camera that has a longer focal length? In other words less distortion at the outside of the image.
5. Similar to No. 1: A 5,400mah battery came with. I see a 8,050 mah battery on Amazon. Good idea?
6. Had a tip over on landing after my last flight. First problem. Besides bad pilot technique, any other thoughts on what might have caused it? Too slow to power down?

Thanks in advance!

To answer 1 & 5, my personal favs are the UltraX batteries. Yes, there are larger capacity batteries available, but remember, the higher the capacity, the greater the weight, which can cause problems when flying. The UltrasX batteries are slightly higher in capacity than the stock batteries, but they are also lighter.

For #4, there's no camera with honey final length...but, there are plenty of options for replacing the lens work not only a higher final length lens, but also a higher quality lens. The stock lens contains mostly (if not entirely) plastic elements. Aftermarket lenses are typically glass. Carolina Dronz not only sells these lenses, they will also install, focus, and test, before shipping back to you.

Finally, regarding #6, there are several possibilities. Here's just a few: too hard of a landing, quick gust of wind as you were landing, landed on uneven surface, landed too fast (ie. the TH "bounced" in landing). Any of these...especially a combination of them...can cause a tip-over.

 

[FloridaDroner]

To answer 1 & 5, my personal favs are the UltraX batteries. Yes, there are larger capacity batteries available, but remember, the higher the capacity, the greater the weight, which can cause problems when flying. The UltrasX batteries are slightly higher in capacity than the stock batteries, but they are also lighter.

For #4, there's no camera with honey final length...but, there are plenty of options for replacing the lens work not only a higher final length lens, but also a higher quality lens. The stock lens contains mostly (if not entirely) plastic elements. Aftermarket lenses are typically glass. Carolina Dronz not only sells these lenses, they will also install, focus, and test, before shipping back to you.

Finally, regarding #6, there are several possibilities. Here's just a few: too hard of a landing, quick gust of wind as you were landing, landed on uneven surface, landed too fast (ie. the TH "bounced" in landing). Any of these...especially a combination of them...can cause a tip-over.

Thanks! Great ideas!

 

[davemh]

+2 on the UltraX batteries.
OP what part of FL are you in? I'm in central part of state.

 

[Mrgs1]

First thing to consider, will be a third party charger, the battery supplied with the copter will be at least 3 years old and past it's best, the battery will need to be correctly charged and stored at correct voltage and not stored for long periods of time fully charged. Set of props important because they are designed to break on impact. The higher capacities of GiFi battery etc are a mixed bunch, with some having success and others not. Choice is yours. When landing you must hold joystick down all the time, on the ground, wait for motor tone change before pressing red button, the joystick has to be accurately placed when landing, or it might give problems, like tipping over.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I'm new to drone flying. I just completed my eighth flight with a Typhoon H. I have a few questions that I hope that somebody can help me with.
1. I want to buy an additional battery. Any suggestions?
2. What spare parts should I obtain?
3. Has anyone attached floats to a TH?
4. Is there a replacement camera that has a longer focal length? In other words less distortion at the outside of the image.
5. Similar to No. 1: A 5,400mah battery came with. I see a 8,050 mah battery on Amazon. Good idea?
6. Had a tip over on landing after my last flight. First problem. Besides bad pilot technique, any other thoughts on what might have caused it? Too slow to power down?

Thanks in advance!

Congrats on getting a Typhoon H, you've come to the right place.

Questions 1&5: Basically it is understood that the stock battery is mislabeled. Thus, most people who get a Typhoon (with new batteries) will get about 18 minutes of flight max in general which; happens to be the same as Ultrax and most other aftermarket brands again; when they're new. If your new to Lithium ION batteries, spend some time reading up carefully on them, you will not learn everything from a single answer or even a single thread. It is a deep subject that is at the heart of your success with these types of aircraft.

Question 2: Most crashes knock out the camera or parts of it and landing gear and motor arms and certainly props. But you never know so to ensure you'll have everything it might be a safe bet to buy a second drone. I keed.

Question 3: Some have but operations on water will in most cases at some point be unsuccessful to catastrophic (see your question6)

Question 4: Think lens replacement - tons of choices.

Question 6: Search 'red button landing technique'

Good luck

 

[FloridaDroner]

+2 on the UltraX batteries.
OP what part of FL are you in? I'm in central part of state.

I'm near Cape Coral. Thanks for the help. I'm looking for a source of the battery, but have been unsuccessful so far. "Out of stock"

 

[FloridaDroner]

First thing to consider, will be a third party charger, the battery supplied with the copter will be at least 3 years old and past it's best, the battery will need to be correctly charged and stored at correct voltage and not stored for long periods of time fully charged. Set of props important because they are designed to break on impact. The higher capacities of GiFi battery etc are a mixed bunch, with some having success and others not. Choice is yours. When landing you must hold joystick down all the time, on the ground, wait for motor tone change before pressing red button, the joystick has to be accurately placed when landing, or it might give problems, like tipping over.

Thanks! I think that you nailed it! I got distracted on landing and may not have pulled the throttle all the way back.

 

[FloridaDroner]

Congrats on getting a Typhoon H, you've come to the right place.

Questions 1&5: Basically it is understood that the stock battery is mislabeled. Thus, most people who get a Typhoon (with new batteries) will get about 18 minutes of flight max in general which; happens to be the same as Ultrax and most other aftermarket brands again; when they're new. If your new to Lithium ION batteries, spend some time reading up carefully on them, you will not learn everything from a single answer or even a single thread. It is a deep subject that is at the heart of your success with these types of aircraft.

Question 2: Most crashes knock out the camera or parts of it and landing gear and motor arms and certainly props. But you never know so to ensure you'll have everything it might be a safe bet to buy a second drone. I keed.

Question 3: Some have but operations on water will in most cases at some point be unsuccessful to catastrophic (see your question6)

Question 4: Think lens replacement - tons of choices.

Question 6: Search 'red button landing technique'

Good luck

Thank you!

 

[FlushVision]

On point #5. The 8050 batteries you've seen are probably Gifi batteries and can be had through Amazon. I've seen some mixed reports on them but because I had problems sourcing a new battery earlier this year I took a risk and ordered one through Amazon. The seller was in China but the battery arrived in a timely fashion and well before the date expected.

The weather in England at the moment is such that I've only flew this battery just 3 times since I took delivery of it. The first test flight, though not quite a hover test flight, produced an air time of 20 minutes and 6 seconds landing at 14.4v. Second flight in normal flight conditions produced a flight of 17 minutes landing just as it went to 14.5v, and the third flight, again in normal flight conditions, produced a flight of around 17 and a half minutes, landing at 14.5v. So, not enough flights on this battery yet to give an informed review but compared to my older batteries it seems to perform really well.

I also took delivery of a 'new' Power 4 battery almost 3 weeks ago (reason I put ' marks around 'new' was because it seems the manufacture date was in 2016) but the weather here has prevented me from flying it so far. This battery was on back order from a U.K. re-seller called Jessops and was ordered on the 11th June so took something like 3 and a half months to land on my doormat.

In conclusion, then, Power 4 batteries for the TH earlier this year have been difficult to come by...certainly in the U.K. but things recently improved. However, these batteries are gonna get difficult to source again in the coming months as this new supply gets bought up. So if you are gonna go for a power 4 battery do it now while you can.

 

[Mrgs1]

Avoid unless your confident you can change the lens yourself. Get a dealer to perform, I've read some have stability issues when changing the focal length of the lens/camera, which appears in their videos.

 

[porky]

Hi to answer your battery question i bought a ultrapower 120ac duo charger to discharge store and ballance charge my batterys these are superb and fast. Yuneec batterys are hard to come by, so the gifi battery are the most available. 8050 from different sources. I bought 4 at first all 4 lasted only 5 mins after charging up from storage. Disapointed to say the least i discharged all then ballanced them back up. The next 4 times used i got 20min out of each battery flying not recording tho.
They all seam to settle down working fine so far.

 

[Mrgs1]

Hi to answer your battery question i bought a ultrapower 120ac duo charger to discharge store and ballance charge my batterys these are superb and fast. Yuneec batterys are hard to come by, so the gifi battery are the most available. 8050 from different sources. I bought 4 at first all 4 lasted only 5 mins after charging up from storage. Disapointed to say the least i discharged all then ballanced them back up. The next 4 times used i got 20min out of each battery flying not recording tho.
They all seam to settle down working fine so far.

Can't see any information about having the facility to measure internal resistance? Step in right direction, but should have that really or you pay out again on a device to measure it.

 

[Ian McGill]

I'm new to drone flying. I just completed my eighth flight with a Typhoon H. I have a few questions that I hope that somebody can help me with.
1. I want to buy an additional battery. Any suggestions?
2. What spare parts should I obtain?
3. Has anyone attached floats to a TH?
4. Is there a replacement camera that has a longer focal length? In other words less distortion at the outside of the image.
5. Similar to No. 1: A 5,400mah battery came with. I see a 8,050 mah battery on Amazon. Good idea?
6. Had a tip over on landing after my last flight. First problem. Besides bad pilot technique, any other thoughts on what might have caused it? Too slow to power down?

Thanks in advance!

Haven't heard about anyone attaching floats. Might make the aerodynamics wonky and get in the way if you raise the landing gear. If you go in the water you're tipping over anyway, so all you want to do is retrieve the bird and get your data card. There is a pod you can attach to the landing gear that pops out a float and a 100' kevlar line so you can pull it up. Attach it with a velcro strap or zip tie when you need it. I have one but haven't seen it work yet (still dry). www.getterback.com

 

[Rubik]

Avoid unless your confident you can change the lens yourself. Get a dealer to perform, I've read some have stability issues when changing the focal length of the lens/camera, which appears in their videos.

Yes. My experiment with the PixAero 6mm lens was unsatisfactory. The smaller field of view (more close-up look) came at the price of stability. The gimbal is designed for use with the stock lens. Just like when you zoom in with your hand-held video camera, it becomes more difficult to hold the camera steady enough. Also, I had issues with darker corners of the image and uneven focus from right to left.
Some stock lenses (European?) have too much distortion as seen by curved horizon when the horizon is near the top of the scene. My stock CGO3+ camera lenses did not have that issue.

 

[Veildhelm]

batteries will drive you crazy. I stick to the original and no crashes yet.

I'm new to drone flying. I just completed my eighth flight with a Typhoon H. I have a few questions that I hope that somebody can help me with.
1. I want to buy an additional battery. Any suggestions?
2. What spare parts should I obtain?
3. Has anyone attached floats to a TH?
4. Is there a replacement camera that has a longer focal length? In other words less distortion at the outside of the image.
5. Similar to No. 1: A 5,400mah battery came with. I see a 8,050 mah battery on Amazon. Good idea?
6. Had a tip over on landing after my last flight. First problem. Besides bad pilot technique, any other thoughts on what might have caused it? Too slow to power down?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Pöllö]

I'm new to drone flying. I just completed my eighth flight with a Typhoon H. I have a few questions that I hope that somebody can help me with.
1. I want to buy an additional battery. Any suggestions?
2. What spare parts should I obtain?
3. Has anyone attached floats to a TH?
4. Is there a replacement camera that has a longer focal length? In other words less distortion at the outside of the image.
5. Similar to No. 1: A 5,400mah battery came with. I see a 8,050 mah battery on Amazon. Good idea?
6. Had a tip over on landing after my last flight. First problem. Besides bad pilot technique, any other thoughts on what might have caused it? Too slow to power down?

Thanks in advance!

1) A stock Yuneec one from your local vendor would be the safest bet. There are few aftermarket ones available, with varying ratings.

2) A complete spare drone. Crashed ones with salvageable parts can be affordable. The bare airframe retails around $450 new. Individual parts are rather expensive and that adds up very easily. But on the other hand, my first Typhoon is now 3+ years old, without any crashes. The Typhoons are very easy to fly, reliable high performance drones with very good tolerance to harsh weather conditions.

2½) Or at least, buy those metal clips that lock the arms in place (you can fly the drone without them too). And a camera mounting rail. Maybe few spare propellers.

3) As you already managed to tip over the drone on solid ground... forget the floats. Tipping that top-heavy drone over on landing is not that uncommon. ;-)

4) No replacement cameras are available officially. You can change the lens if you want but the CGO3+ is actually pretty good camera for what it is. The CGO3+ was shipped with two different lenses. I have them both and I like the narrower FOV more. Try to get that lens. The CGO3+ with narrower FOV was bought new in Finland when the TH was launched and they seem to be a bit rare. The wider lens is fitted to probably all later models of the camera, regardless of the market area. The M12 lenses are pain to focus. ;-)

4½) (But something could be done for this... I am considering to attempt a Sony RX0 / MFT lens retrofit some day as I get few other TH mods finished first... ;-)