4 ms·

Getting started with drones

97 points by PStamatiou 12y ago

alanpca 12y ago
I would like to hear some experience in building drones with higher (~30 min) flight times.
- thelonelygod 12y ago
  For higher than 30 minutes you really want to look into planes instead of quadcopters. Running 4/6/8 heavy duty motors forces battery life to be an issue. A plane has significantly less than that which lets them go for longer.
  - kenrikm 12y ago
    Good point Skywalker X8 or 1900 are good for longer range FPV planes, I've seen some setups with 80-100km range (UHF Setups) which is pretty impressive.
  - commandar 12y ago
    A fixed wing can also generally run its single motor at lower power most of the time, which contributes as well.
    - larrydag 12y ago
      Perhaps incorporate solar panels to the wings?
      - commandar 12y ago
        People have looked at it, but I think the general consensus is that there's not enough surface area on the airframe to generate enough electricity to make a significant impact. Depending on the exact motor+prop setup, peak draw of between 200-400W is pretty common for fixed wings in the 1.5-2M wingspan range, and cruise is often around half of that.
- mbrameld 12y ago
  I get 30 minutes on a HobbyKing Bixler 1.1 with a 5aH battery. I'm using an EzUHF for control with an EzOSD and 1.3Ghz for the video downlink. In a noisy place, like the suburbs of San Antonio, TX I could get 4 miles of range reliably before the video started breaking up. I'm in AK now and have flown to 12 miles with rock-solid video.
kenrikm 12y ago
We have been building them from scratch ;-) Much more fun that way and you learn more. 3DRobotics/Pixhawk is where it's at for the hacker minded with good support. If you really want to get in the nity gritty get into MultiWii but expect to be tuning a lot and you give up good GPS support. 30 - 60min Flight times are doable depending on your setup but at that point your payload is almost all battery. Keep in mind weight begets weight. The Phantom is a toy.
- thaumaturgy 12y ago
  My local hackers group has also built a 3DR/Pixhawk-based model. Just got an upgraded chassis for it. We're working on an Arduino kit to collect micro-climate data and do some modeling of that. (But also FPV -- everyone wants FPV.)
bliti 12y ago
Nitpick: Getting started with flying drones would be a better title. If you are starting with flying drones (quadcopters, airplanes) a visit to an R/C forum will be helpful. There you can learn about many things related to maintaining and operating such machine. Stuff that is usually missing from blog posts because they are old tips & tricks.

97 points by PStamatiou 12y ago

alanpca 12y ago

I would like to hear some experience in building drones with higher (~30 min) flight times.

thelonelygod 12y ago
For higher than 30 minutes you really want to look into planes instead of quadcopters. Running 4/6/8 heavy duty motors forces battery life to be an issue. A plane has significantly less than that which lets them go for longer.
- kenrikm 12y ago
  Good point Skywalker X8 or 1900 are good for longer range FPV planes, I've seen some setups with 80-100km range (UHF Setups) which is pretty impressive.
- commandar 12y ago
  A fixed wing can also generally run its single motor at lower power most of the time, which contributes as well.
  - larrydag 12y ago
    Perhaps incorporate solar panels to the wings?
    - commandar 12y ago
      People have looked at it, but I think the general consensus is that there's not enough surface area on the airframe to generate enough electricity to make a significant impact. Depending on the exact motor+prop setup, peak draw of between 200-400W is pretty common for fixed wings in the 1.5-2M wingspan range, and cruise is often around half of that.
mbrameld 12y ago
I get 30 minutes on a HobbyKing Bixler 1.1 with a 5aH battery. I'm using an EzUHF for control with an EzOSD and 1.3Ghz for the video downlink. In a noisy place, like the suburbs of San Antonio, TX I could get 4 miles of range reliably before the video started breaking up. I'm in AK now and have flown to 12 miles with rock-solid video.

kenrikm 12y ago

We have been building them from scratch ;-) Much more fun that way and you learn more. 3DRobotics/Pixhawk is where it's at for the hacker minded with good support. If you really want to get in the nity gritty get into MultiWii but expect to be tuning a lot and you give up good GPS support. 30 - 60min Flight times are doable depending on your setup but at that point your payload is almost all battery. Keep in mind weight begets weight. The Phantom is a toy.

thaumaturgy 12y ago
My local hackers group has also built a 3DR/Pixhawk-based model. Just got an upgraded chassis for it. We're working on an Arduino kit to collect micro-climate data and do some modeling of that. (But also FPV -- everyone wants FPV.)

bliti 12y ago

Nitpick: Getting started with flying drones would be a better title. If you are starting with flying drones (quadcopters, airplanes) a visit to an R/C forum will be helpful. There you can learn about many things related to maintaining and operating such machine. Stuff that is usually missing from blog posts because they are old tips & tricks.