Deciding a safe altitude for a Litchi Flyby mission

[Brit in NB]

I am planning a Flyby of a castle in Ireland for later this year using Litchi mission.
I have discovered that the castle itself is 90 feet high BUT it sits on an elevated mound and I will have to start the mission from much lower ground about 200m away.
I cannot visit the site in advance because I live in Canada. Any advice on how to determine the safe altitude to set for this
Google Earth gives no information ( that I can see ) about ground elevation and I have no access to printed maps of the area.
The only thing I can think of is to fly the bird when I get there, note the safe altitude and then modify my mission accordingly, but I would prefer to save my battery power if possible.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Air Ontario]

Consider this.

Distance Calculator

It will plot elevations for your flight waypoints. It isn't exactly correct but close. I use it

 

[Brit in NB]

Consider this.

Distance Calculator

It will plot elevations for your flight waypoints. It isn't exactly correct but close. I use it

Thanks a lot - that looks as if it will be a good starting point. Probably need to add a safe margin but that's always a good idea anyway.

 

[Ed209]

Why not just use 1 battery for flying and planning altitudes and modify your Litchi settings. Then fly the mission on a fresh battery? If the mission is within r/c range then you're just introducing another possible point of failure by trying to calculate your altitude settings ahead of time. The only time I will calculate ahead of time is when I'm flying out of r/c range.

 

[Brit in NB]

Why not just use 1 battery for flying and planning altitudes and modify your Litchi settings. Then fly the mission on a fresh battery? If the mission is within r/c range then you're just introducing another possible point of failure by trying to calculate your altitude settings ahead of time. The only time I will calculate ahead of time is when I'm flying out of r/c range.

Thanks for those suggestions. I would certainly do that if I was planning to fly only the one mission in a day but my schedule will require probably three or four castles or abbeys per day, quite a lot of travelling. I shall have four batteries but not sure how fast they recharge in the car. Any recommendations for a good battery charger for the car ?

 

[Ed209]

Thanks for those suggestions. I would certainly do that if I was planning to fly only the one mission in a day but my schedule will require probably three or four castles or abbeys per day, quite a lot of travelling. I shall have four batteries but not sure how fast they recharge in the car. Any recommendations for a good battery charger for the car ?

I don't have either of these because my vehicle has a 110 outlet but others have said both of these work:

Amazon.com: Anbee® Car Charger & Adapter for DJI Phantom 3 Quadcopter (Professional & Advanced): Toys & Games

Amazon.com : BESTEK 300W Power Inverter 12V DC to 110V AC Car Inverter with 3.1A Max Dual USB Ports for Smartphones, Tablets and More : Vehicle Power Inverters : Car Electronics

 

[Brit in NB]

I don't have either of these because my vehicle has a 110 outlet but others have said both of these work:

Amazon.com: Anbee® Car Charger & Adapter for DJI Phantom 3 Quadcopter (Professional & Advanced): Toys & Games

Amazon.com : BESTEK 300W Power Inverter 12V DC to 110V AC Car Inverter with 3.1A Max Dual USB Ports for Smartphones, Tablets and More : Vehicle Power Inverters : Car Electronics

Thanks for the links. I think I'll go with the BESTEK converter at $30 Canadian, the Anabee charger is almost $62 Canadian.
We are certainly being gouged here in Canada at the moment with the current exchange rate !!

 

[Ed209]

Thanks for the links. I think I'll go with the BESTEK converter at $30 Canadian, the Anabee charger is almost $62 Canadian.
We are certainly being gouged here in Canada at the moment with the current exchange rate !!

Wow that's crazy... the Anabee is $15.99 USD and the Bestek is $26.99 USD!

 

[Fat City]

Google Earth gives no information ( that I can see ) about ground elevation and I have no access to printed maps of the area.

I looked at a few places in Ireland and Google Earth (Pro version) does show the elevation. Make sure that Status Bar is checked under Tools. If you want to get fancy, draw your flight path under Add -> Path, and then you can view the elevation along the path using Edit -> Show Elevation Profile.

 

[Brit in NB]

Wow that's crazy... the Anabee is $15.99 USD and the Bestek is $26.99 USD!

Tell me about it !!! Looking to buy spare batteries for my P3P - and lowest price I can find here in Canada is about $215 each - quite expensive I think

 

[Brit in NB]

Google Earth gives no information ( that I can see ) about ground elevation and I have no access to printed maps of the area.

I looked at a few places in Ireland and Google Earth (Pro version) does show the elevation. Make sure that Status Bar is checked under Tools. If you want to get fancy, draw your flight path under Add -> Path, and then you can view the elevation along the path using Edit -> Show Elevation Profile.

Thanks a lot for that advice - I will certainly check it out. I love working with Google Earth.

 

[Brit in NB]

Thanks a lot for that advice - I will certainly check it out. I love working with Google Earth.

Just checked it out - FANTASTIC !!! Just what I was looking for - many thanks to all those who read and gave suggestions, much appreciated.

 

[With The Birds]

As suggested above, if your homepoint is only 200m away do a quick exploratory flight to check elavations. You can have your waypoints pre set in a mission and will only need to tweak altitudes on location. You wont be wasting battery as tou can take photos or video while flying manually which will likely be of value to the final edit of your video. You will probably also reconsider some of your focus points once you have flown around.

 

[Frankc]

Consider this.

Distance Calculator

It will plot elevations for your flight waypoints. It isn't exactly correct but close. I use it

Very good app. Thank you. Do you know another one for heights at a certain point?

As usual I can now answer my own question.

This calculates elevation. Elevation Finder

 

[WetDog]

There is another reason to do a manual flight before an autonomous one. No map in the world is going to be completely accurate. For all you know, somebody strung some high tension pylons next to the castle. I would do all the homework you are doing and then fly manually to make sure that you are not going to get an Irish surprise.

 

[Air Ontario]

Tell me about it !!! Looking to buy spare batteries for my P3P - and lowest price I can find here in Canada is about $215 each - quite expensive I think

Try Henry's Camera for batteries. 209 regular price.

Just a note for caution sake... the one you picked isn't a pure sine wave that I can find. I only use pure/true sine wave for electrical devices, may want to check Canadian tire

 

[Ed209]

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00KMYRPM0

 

[Air Ontario]

+
++

Very good app. Thank you. Do you know another one for heights at a certain point?

As usual I can now answer my own question.

This calculates elevation. Elevation Finder

Google Earth does two ways, wherever the mouse cursor is located on the map the elev. appears along the bottom header near the "eye elevation" height numbers and under EDIT(top left) the select show elevation profile from the pull down menu.
You have to draw a line on map using the ruler icon, then name the yellow line, select edit, the select show elev. profile from pull down menu.

 

[Brit in NB]

Try Henry's Camera for batteries. 209 regular price.

Just a note for caution sake... the one you picked isn't a pure sine wave that I can find. I only use pure/true sine wave for electrical devices, may want to check Canadian tire

Just tried Henry's Camera online - price is $220, though postage is free. Same price if I pick it up at a store.