I was watching how the Ukraine are using multiple different drones for military purposes aginst the russian seperatist.

But one thing that really bothered me was at 1:10 in the video the guy has a DJI inspire 1 and claims it can fly for 40 minuttes.
If that is the case, why are we then stuck with batteries that can barely last 20 minuttes from stock.

Do we have to order new batteries from Ukrainian civilian / military operations helping them founding their war,
or will someone make batteries like that more availible for the general public  ?  


Video I'm refering from is :

Did not see that long-lasting variant but seen a company selling phantom 2 with range extended to 3 km.Oh, watched the video. There's nothing said that such battery have been produced or developed. Only a discussion that minimum of 40 minutes required for this particular device to be reasonable to be used for surveiallence.

Both sides using DJI drones for close range surveillance. i also saw a Phantom2 and flywheel with FPV.

sns Posted at 2015-7-7 20:23
Did not see that long-lasting variant but seen a company selling phantom 2 with range extended to 3  ...

I'm not really interested in range, sofar range is not an issue for my "civilian" purposes, but flight time is.
Also I live in a area that is similar to the 10km flight test with phantom 3 pro on youtube.

at the moment, my only concern is really flight time.    

You'd have to put a bigger battery in the Phantom.

I'm guessing, but the battery will be 4S1P config at the moment...

You could disassemble the 'smart' end off the battery, and add a connector to the outside of it allowing you to connect an external back to make it 4S2P.

But...  More battery = more weight = less flight time..  So doubling the capacity will not double flight time.  Maybe add 40-50%..

Also, the Phantom 3 is not designed to carry extra batteries...  You'd have to lower the gimbal, and put the battery above it.  On-top is not an option as you'd block the GPS.

Once you'd done that the centre of gravity would change, and you can't change the tuning that much on the Phantom 3, so it may not be stable...

End result: lots of risk, not much gain = Too hard. :-)

If you want long flights, built an F550 or similar and experiment with props / battery combos to get max efficiency.  Phantoms and Inspire craft are not designed to be tinkered with, they are an out-of-the-box photography platform.

Good luck...

(And If you do decide to hack into a standard pack and modify it..  I never posted this, and I think you're nuts. :-) )

FYI:

http://www.ecalc.ch/xcoptercalc.php

You can put some numbers in and get an idea for performance of different solutions...

kiwichrish Posted at 2015-7-8 07:47
You'd have to put a bigger battery in the Phantom.

I'm guessing, but the battery will be 4S1P confi ...

Or buy a new Chroma - they're advertising 30 minute flights.
That could also be simply marketing!

aburkefl@gmail. Posted at 2015-7-8 10:13
Or buy a new Chroma - they're advertising 30 minute flights.
That could also be simply marketing!
...

Using a different drone would be easier than modifying a P3 I'd say! :-)

Long-duration flight is not what it's designed for....

kiwichrish Posted at 2015-7-9 07:24
Using a different drone would be easier than modifying a P3 I'd say! :-)

Long-duration flight is  ...

I remember seeing a youtube video a couple of months back. The designer had a hex-copter that would carry a 10 - 12 pound load for something like 54 minutes. He never did say what he thought he could market - price-wise - but I figured it was way out of my affordability!

I really don't have a problem with a 15 to 20-minute flight time. That should give me plenty of time to get in and get the shot I want. The ability to identify how much battery life is in a given battery is more important to me. That way you know positively (with a  plus or minus five-minute window) if that battery will get you in and back out (or up and back down!).

The P3 does a pretty good job of showing me potential flight times based on remaining battery life. I don't know about the competition. Have no idea what the Solo shows - know for sure the Blade 350 falls short. On the Blade the only reasonable measure is to attach a voltage gizmo to the balance lead.

hi

from what i understand the ncr18650x batteries are the only thing currently allowing you to achieve these long flight times obviously with the right combination of props and motors. although it would be interesting to see if those rones that achieve long flight time can actually do it consistently and not a few times with a NEW battery.

i have with my DJi F550 stock setup and 8x4.5 props got and still get a comfortable 30 minutes awith a 16000ma 4s Lipo. in my persuit for longer flight time to carry a thermal camera payload of 200g i am going to test the NCR batteries.

regards

kiwichrish Posted at 2015-7-7 15:47
You'd have to put a bigger battery in the Phantom.

I'm guessing, but the battery will be 4S1P confi ...

Yes, one could not in good conscience actually say on this forum something like removing the guts from a smart battery, and replacing it with something like two tandem 4s lipos of the HV variety, via a little bit of circuitry.  Simply wouldn't be responsible.....

Price is probably the only thing holding it back, with the right amount of money it's probably possible to get higher efficacy motors/props/esc's. Drop the Gimbals for a simple small/light forward facing camera, pay through the tooth for the latest tech batteries......with enough money you can do jsut about anything....... for $1000 of a DJI phantom.....well they can do quite well IMO
Edit: After watching the video, they never actally say they get DJI drones to do 40mins, all they said is these drones do 18mins stock.... and the ones they use get 40mins. They don't actally say that they use DJI drones to get that 40mins

There is a guy I know in Australia who hangs additional batteries off the side of his P3 and gets significant additional flying time and range out of the aircraft. His particular interest is in long distance flights.

I'm thinking of doing battery hacking myself. If I take apart a smart battery, I think it will have 4 3.7 volt cells. Is that right?

I know the DJI Phantom 3 pro will lift 33 ounces or more. I have done flights with a 33 ounce water bottle full of water myself.

I just measured two Ultrafire SD 18650 3800 mah 3.7 volt batteries at just under 3 ounces for two, or 1.5 ounces each.

So if I can wire two 18650 batteries in parallel with each of the cells in the smart battery, I can add 8 batteries for 12 ounces and 7600 mah additional storage. It should be easy to hand four batteries on  each side of the copter from the body down next to the legs.

Right now the DJI 3 pro has a flight time of about 17 minutes before it comes back automatically. You can change this number if you are going for endurance instead of distance. I would expect with the extra batteries as I have suggested here, you would get at least 30 minutes usable endurance from the quad.

The only thing that you would have to allow for is the DJI Go message "Dude, that's a serious battery!"  you may receive when you hook it up.

As long as you connect each 18650 in parallel with a single cell of the smart battery, it ought to work fine.

However you would have to be ABSOLUTELY INSANE to open up and deconstruct a DJI battery, and of course I am not RECOMMENDING THAT!!!!  

And of course trying it with twice as many batteries would be wrong wrong wornger.