Hi,

I was playing with Litchi mission hub today and started wondering what would be a safe maximum duration of a mission and total flight distance for P4P with the high capacity battery.
Would maximum distance of 3 miles and 16 mins of flight at cruising speed of 10-15 mph work, assuming the wind is not stronger than 8 mph?

Anybody?

Also, what signal range should I assume on 5.8 GHz frequency? Would I get a mile without windsurfers?

The litchi app will work out time the aircraft needs to finish the mission but you will have to take the wind into account.

I'd not do anything over 20 minutes long to be safe.  The speed you set will determine how far you will travel. The controller will have no bearing on it as it's dependent upon satellites.  I've seen some really long missions. Do a search for Dirty Bird on you tube. He's had some that are 40,000 plus feet long.

Jasonstarbird Posted at 2017-2-15 16:54
I'd not do anything over 20 minutes long to be safe.  The speed you set will determine how far you will travel. The controller will have no bearing on it as it's dependent upon satellites.  I've seen some really long missions. Do a search for Dirty Bird on you tube. He's had some that are 40,000 plus feet long.

Yeah, my only concern is the battery power, because I can't predict how much power will be needed for a certain flight length and wind speed. I am guessing that less than 20 min and less than 3 miles should be safe. Another question is about the signal strength of course.

Hi. If you're using Litchi, you'll have uploaded previous flight details to Healthydrone. One of the tabs for each flight there is Power. On that tab, it'll use battery performance statistics to guestimate what the total time the battery could have lasted for that flight. From my P4 flights, for example, I can see that my batteries could last an average 23 min. Allowing for a possible tail wind back, and the fact that it'll auto-descent on 10%, I won't want to push beyond 18 min personally. You? Depends on how much of a risk taker you are...

piowoc73 Posted at 2017-2-15 18:14
Yeah, my only concern is the battery power, because I can't predict how much power will be needed for a certain flight length and wind speed. I am guessing that less than 20 min and less than 3 miles should be safe. Another question is about the signal strength of course.

I would say that 20 minutes is too much to expect as on a long 15 minute flight conditions can change rapidly.   You do 20 minutes and are coming back into a  headwind from a mile or 2 away you  could easily have a no power situation.  Take a look at this near 22 mins flight. I was very close to the drone and had plenty of places to land nearby.

http://healthydrones.com/main?fl ... _id=GENERALOverview

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-15 19:07
I would say that 20 minutes is too much to expect as on a long 15 minute flight conditions can change rapidly.   You do 20 minutes and are coming back into a  headwind from a mile or 2 away you  could easily have a no power situation.  Take a look at this near 22 mins flight. I was very close to the drone and had plenty of places to land nearby.

http://healthydrones.com/main?flight=563d630cdc712ee06bafa7a53e282ffa&page_id=GENERALOverview

Yeah, that was P3S, so I guess we can't compare its battery with the new high capacity one used for P4P, but I agree that the wind conditions can be crucial for the right judgment. Personally I wouldn't risk anything longer than about 18 minutes, just to be on the safe side.

piowoc73 Posted at 2017-2-15 20:13
Yeah, that was P3S, so I guess we can't compare its battery with the new high capacity one used for P4P, but I agree that the wind conditions can be crucial for the right judgment. Personally I wouldn't risk anything longer than about 18 minutes, just to be on the safe side.

There is nothing safe about an 18 minute flight, still too long. Various factors add up to reduce your duration, many of them beyond your control. Wait until you have experience flying long distances manually.

By the way, how important is the altitude? My understanding is that the higher I go the more battery power I will need, so the same mission at a lower altitude is more likely to succeed from the point of view of battery power and of course not necessarily as far as the obstacle avoidance is concerned.

piowoc73 Posted at 2017-2-15 20:21
By the way, how important is the altitude? My understanding is that the higher I go the more battery power I will need, so the same mission at a lower altitude is more likely to succeed from the point of view of battery power and of course not necessarily as far as the obstacle avoidance is concerned.

Here is a flight I did at 500.3m or 1640 feet above launch.  It took me around 2 mins 20 to reach this altitude.

My total flight time is 16 mins plus and I landed with 28% battery so was a safe margin.
Although my height was max my distance was less.  I flew to max altitude of 10200ft after launching from 8560 ft.  Enjoy my flight videos

http://healthydrones.com/main?fl ... _id=GENERALOverview

Flight time on any battery is also dependent on ambient temperature. Cold temperatures will make batteries less efficient. So not a problem if you live somewhere warm. Best idea is to proportionally increase your flights making note of windspeed and direction, temperature and drone speed. Best to keep a log of conditions and you will soon build up a useful database. Altitude from where you start will also have an effect on battery life. The higher the altitude your take off point is, the thinner the air is, and faster your props will have to turn to climb and keep station.

Three miles shouldnt be a problem with the P4P, heres a log of a flight I did in temperature about 2 degrees celcius, 5400 metres which is over 3 miles on return I had 37% of battery left, at furthest distance I was 2.5 kilometres away with full 5 bars video and Rc signal.

Thanks Spike Here is one of my flights today but using P3S and Argtek Antenna

http://healthydrones.com/main?fl ... amp;page_id=GENERAL

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-16 05:21
Thanks Spike Here is one of my flights today but using P3S and Argtek Antenna

http://healthydrones.com/main?fl ... amp;page_id=GENERAL

I have a P3A and also use Litchi. I ran a 14-minute mission (it was approx. 6 1/2 miles) the other day and barely made it home. Litchi, like others have said, will continue the mission as long as your battery holds out. Problem is, if you send it off and you lose signal with it, you have no way of taking control of it until it picks the signal back up.......that is what happened to me. I lost signal about half way through the mission (had my altitude pretty low 200ft.) and it ran into some headwind coming back. I picked up the signal again around 1/2 mile out and the Phantom was down to 10% and trying to land. I was able to re-gain control, put in atti mode and force it back and landed with 6% battery left. I made it, but way to close. After looking at the video which I started as soon as I took off, I had 18 minutes of video! I know for me 18-19 minutes of flight time is pushing it a bit. I mean, I always start it up and let it hover for a bit before ever taking off too. Good thing I never take off with a battery that is not fully charged.

Surely wind speed has no effect, anything you loose into the wind will be gained when flying downwind.
Unless of course you are flying in 40mph?!?

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-2-16 04:19
Three miles shouldnt be a problem with the P4P, heres a log of a flight I did in temperature about 2 degrees celcius, 5400 metres which is over 3 miles on return I had 37% of battery left, at furthest distance I was 2.5 kilometres away with full 5 bars video and Rc signal.

This is actually very helpful. Thank you!
I am trying to keep all my missions within the following conditions:
- total flight distance less than 3 miles,
- total flight time less than 18 mins
- max cruising speed less than 15 mph,
- max altitude less than 700 feet (I have just one mission requiring this altitude and I am still hesitant to take it),
- wind less than 8 mph,
- ambient temp at least 40F (4.5C)

Hope this makes sense.

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-2-15 20:54
Here is a flight I did at 500.3m or 1640 feet above launch.  It took me around 2 mins 20 to reach this altitude.

My total flight time is 16 mins plus and I landed with 28% battery so was a safe margin.

Wow, this is extreme. I wonder what wind speed and temperature should you expect at such altitude.

piowoc73 Posted at 2017-2-16 05:43
Wow, this is extreme. I wonder what wind speed and temperature should you expect at such altitude.

Well total altitude is 10200 ft and the temperature up there is below Zero c.  Today I did a quick full powered climb made it up to around 1250 feet in 1 minute plus.
I needed that height just to clear the clouds.

I have flown my p3a in strong winds and drained the full battery in 13 minutes.

timbo Posted at 2017-2-16 08:47
I have flown my p3a in strong winds and drained the full battery in 13 minutes.

Must have been pretty strong winds.

I decided to abandon flying at one location due to wind but my friend Drone Smeg really wanted to see how far he could fly on his P3S with Argetk.  He went out 2km and decided that was enough.  So a 4km round trip. Will ask him to post his flight log.

Yesterdays sunset.  

piowoc73 Posted at 2017-2-15 20:21
By the way, how important is the altitude? My understanding is that the higher I go the more battery power I will need, so the same mission at a lower altitude is more likely to succeed from the point of view of battery power and of course not necessarily as far as the obstacle avoidance is concerned.

Yes altitude is important.  It's all about air density.  Think of a weighted ball dropping in a bucket of water (altitude) vs the same weighted ball dropping in a bucket of thick mud (sea level).  As the drone goes higher in altitude it has to work harder to support it's self in the less thick or thinner air. To do that the motors need to spin faster which in turn use more battery power.

I have a question that seems to have been indirectly answered but I would still like to see if someone had a direct answer.

When planning the Litchi waypoint missions which estimated figure should be considered the most critical, distance or flight time?

Danger Danger Posted at 2017-3-16 08:04
I have a question that seems to have been indirectly answered but I would still like to see if someone had a direct answer.

When planning the Litchi waypoint missions which estimated figure should be considered the most critical, distance or flight time?

Always its the amount of power to keep you flying.  Another forum member posted this on his P3S using Litchi.  Be aware that this flight was carefully planned. The wind was also not an issue on this flight.  

Uploaded on Feb 12, 2017
The Phantom 3 Standard "Miss Ruby" takes to the air for a sunrise Litchi flight from Glen Burnie to Pasadena & back. The mission ran @ 30 mph for a total length of 40,813' (7.73 miles). Total flight time was 19:01 & the bird returned with 15% battery remaining. This is likely lower than normal due to the cold air. This video is presented in real-time so you can experience the same sphincter-puckering thrill as I did awaiting Miss Ruby's return!

Danger Danger Posted at 2017-3-16 08:04
I have a question that seems to have been indirectly answered but I would still like to see if someone had a direct answer.

When planning the Litchi waypoint missions which estimated figure should be considered the most critical, distance or flight time?

Well, the more you push the limits, the more risk you need to be prepared to accept. Personally I prefer to play it safe, so decided not to do anything over 4 miles and 18 minutes in total. Please keep in mind that the battery consumption will also depend on the temperature at a given altitude (not at ground level obviously), as well as wind speed, so weather factor is pretty important.

piowoc73 Posted at 2017-3-16 13:38
Well, the more you push the limits, the more risk you need to be prepared to accept. Personally I prefer to play it safe, so decided not to do anything over 4 miles and 18 minutes in total. Please keep in mind that the battery consumption will also depend on the temperature at a given altitude (not at ground level obviously), as well as wind speed, so weather factor is pretty important.

Thanks. That helps me out a lot. I too wanted to play it safe so I tried to keep the pre planned missions I created Under 2 miles and under 16 minutes.  With air time a more critical factor in mission planning. So I sounds like my craft should return to me without any problems.  Thanks.

On average I get about 20 minutes fly time but then I also land with more than 25% battery left on most flights. My top travel distance is just shy of 6 miles but that's just using 75% of the battery with my P4Pro. I guess the key to long flights is keeping a rather low height not wasting battery to climb.