Today in my distance experiment with the FPVLR I flew at close to 30 MPH to my destination and then was flying against a pretty strong headwind of 20 MPH or so and I got a low batter warning when still about 2,000' away from home. I came down lowered and then continued flying at 6-7 MPH until I was about 100' away and then landed. The battery voltage did not drop any further during that 1,900' or so leg. It got me to thinking that there is probably some optimum speed to fly at to maximize distance traveled on one battery charge. Top speeds are going to have more wind resistance, battery may heat up more, etc. Anybody have experience testing out something like this?
Typhoon H top "fuel" economy - at what speed?
- Thread starter HarveyC
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Hi Harvey,
I just finished the first flight of H on yesterday, and it takes around 2.5 hours to finish the charging. Any idea on how to shorten the charging time? Thanks!
Side question from your distance exercise, if you're flying FPV, I would assume it's more comfortable flying back at a lower height when you can adjust the camera downward to watch for possible upcoming obstacles?
Last nights flight.. (just a local shot to goof around) seemed to last forever.. some camera action 2 video's and bunch of stills.. and i got 25 min fly time before alarm.. now granted i never flew out of sight , altitude about 200 feet , but Im getting good flight times out of this unit. Safe to say a good 5-7 min longer than my dji P3P doing the same thing or a little less...
Good new, I am about on the same page as you ! What is your voltage at when landing? I was at 14.4V
about the same DC.. I kept hovering and going up and down just to get the red light to trip on the rear. What was funny naturally going up takes more juice, as soon as it hovered again back to purple..lol
I don't have goggles, if that's what you mean, but I do rotate the camera around and watch the ground and scene ahead closely. I'm familiar with my fields and neighbor's fields and there aren't many obstacles to be concerned with. If I go much further there are some high voltage power lines I'll have to take into account. I'm not brave enough to fly across the big river next to my house...yet.
I'm looking at what speed to fly at to maximize range (distance) I can achieve on a battery, not just flying time. I want to do more antenna range tests but prefer not to have my battery alarm go off again before I get back home.
aqua, there is no third party charger out there so we're all in the same boat using the stock battery charger so we're not going to have different battery charging times. I have 3 batteries and haven't found it to be an issue, I get enough flying time in with 3 batteries.
aqua, there is no third party charger out there so we're all in the same boat using the stock battery charger so we're not going to have different battery charging times. I have 3 batteries and haven't found it to be an issue, I get enough flying time in with 3 batteries.
Sure the flight time of P3P is not shorter than H in the same condition.
Here is an interesting link:
Not at all interested in flying indoors. I want to know efficiency of travel speeds outdoors, not hovering indoors. Also not interested in comparing to other drones, though they may have different speeds that they can travel at most efficiently.
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Speaking about charging a battery on the field, let say you go on a day trip or so. I've got on of those units (heavy duty jumpstart system) which I take with me on a hunting trips, 22 amp//hour capacity battery, 10A with 12v car cigarette socket. I may use it for charging H batteries ...
There is a faster way to charge, if you're handy with a 3D printer. I use a 200W charger from HiTec. It's an intelligent charger that will equalize as well as charge most any dumb battery much faster. Each port provides 50 watts of charge capacity, about double what the Yuneec charger provides (I think). You'll need to fabricate the adapter shown in this photo below that provide the EC60 (yellow connector) high amp connector as well as the equalization ports (white connector). Once you have that you can charge the battery with the HiTech charger. The capacity checker shown isn't needed, but nice to have to check the charge of your batteries. I have a HiTec X4 port charger that I used on my Q500+, it worked well, but the battery provided the appropriate connectors which made the cables easy to fabricate.
Maybe someday someone will make these adapters to buy off the shelf.
Q500 battery connectors below make it easier to use third party fast chargers.
Maybe someday someone will make these adapters to buy off the shelf.
Q500 battery connectors below make it easier to use third party fast chargers.
Harvey,
**** good question.
With out a wind tunnel and an amperage meter would be hard to figure out.
In airplanes, they list a best glide speed or best distance for altitude loss speed.
There should be a way to at least ball park if it is better to fly back fast or slow.
I know those last few 10ths of a volt go quick.
**** good question.
With out a wind tunnel and an amperage meter would be hard to figure out.
In airplanes, they list a best glide speed or best distance for altitude loss speed.
There should be a way to at least ball park if it is better to fly back fast or slow.
I know those last few 10ths of a volt go quick.
This is a great something to find out, I know that with GPS off flying downwind in 20+mph wind that after about 10-15 seconds at full forward my 15.5 wish volts went down to the 14.6 v alarm. High speeds seem not to be its friend interesting your last 1'900. I might try that out soon - using the turtle/hare slider might be an easy way to manage a constant forward speed.
The Solo guys have pretty much determined 14-15 mph is the most efficient cruise speed. At this speed your getting some wing lift action from the prop discs. Much faster and your fighting drag, slower and your dependant more on the prop lift.
PatR
Premium Pilot
Induced drag increases at a square to the increase in airspeed. The faster you go the more drag induced. To increase speed requires an increase in RPM, an increase in RPM generates a disproportionate increase in current consumption. Add drag to that. Going faster is an area of rapidly diminishing returns. Without running an in flight ammeter my guess would put best efficiency somewhere around 12-17 MPH.
Would be interesting to test a flight HOVER only time verses a flight with constant movement.
Maybe put it in turtle mode and fly a big slow circle.
****, where is NASA when you need em.
Maybe put it in turtle mode and fly a big slow circle.
****, where is NASA when you need em.
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