Flight times with new gimble

[Firestat]

Received the new Gadget Salon gimble yesterday and installed it. Everything seems to work very well, with the gimble being very smooth and precise.

I realize that the flight times would be less, but I can only get about four and a half minutes out of it. By the way, I am using an outboard 3 cell 800 mAh Glacier battery for the gimble, directly behind the gimble mount on the back.

Question is, would it be better to use the power feed from the Phantom, or just keep the battery? The main battery I use, by the way, is the standard Phantom battery.

Thanks
Chuck

 

[Gizmo3000]

using an external battery to power a device almost always results in decreased flight time vs just powering the gimbal from the Phantom battery. use the aux power out cable and you should be able to achieve 5.5-6 minutes

The gimbal uses only a small amount of power compared to the juice it takes to keep the craft in the air.

 

[Roadkilt]

My flight time has dropped from 10 minutes without a camera, to 7 minutes with a gopro in ts plastic box, to 4-5 minutes with a aeroxcraft gimbal and naked gopro running off the main battery. Just enough time to launch, get the video I want, and get home. Then plug in another battery!

 

[Firestat]

Thanks, guys. I guess that is what I should expect. Still, it is not bad enough for me to not want to use the gimble. It really works well. I will work on the internal power lead and use it instead of the outboard battery.

 

[porl_hopkins]

Just got my Arris CM2000 installed. Very happy with the results EXCEPT flight time are now just over 4 mins compared to 9-10 mins naked.....

 

[Firestat]

Hopkins, that is about what I am getting now. I finally went in and solder the power leads up (dang screws at the tip of the arms, stripped 2 of them out and had a hell of a time trying to get them out).

Anyway, I think I am getting about a minute more time than what I got with the outboard battery. By the way, the gimble I got from Gadget Salon on ebay ($219)seems to work very well with very smooth shots.

Thanks, Guys

Chuck

 

[FangsCPO]

I know the feeling. I also have installed the ARRIS CM2000 v4 gimbal and it is awesome. Unfortunately, my flight times have been reduced. I'm using the Dronefly.com Lipo 2250 45C and I can get about 6 minutes of flying time but I'd better be back on the ground because at 7 minutes it's coming down hard. LOL!!! Once the second fail safe kicks in, it starts coming down and since the gimble and HERO3 add so much weight you need to be on the ground quickly. Aside from that, it's awesome.

The stock lipo gives me about one minute less.

I really wouldn't recommend a second battery for the gimbal. The power that is uses is so minimal that a secondary battery would just add additional weight. Happy flying!!

 

[porl_hopkins]

I know the feeling. I also have installed the ARRIS CM2000 v4 gimbal and it is awesome. Unfortunately, my flight times have been reduced. I'm using the Dronefly.com Lipo 2250 45C and I can get about 6 minutes of flying time but I'd better be back on the ground because at 7 minutes it's coming down hard. LOL!!! Once the second fail safe kicks in, it starts coming down and since the gimble and HERO3 add so much weight you need to be on the ground quickly. Aside from that, it's awesome.

The stock lipo gives me about one minute less.

I really wouldn't recommend a second battery for the gimbal. The power that is uses is so minimal that a secondary battery would just add additional weight. Happy flying!!

Totally agree FangsCPO.... Just ordered a 2800 mAh Zippy battery and 2650mAh Turnigy battery. They should both fit in the battery tray with no mods. Will give them a try and post up some flight times

 

[Firestat]

Pori, keep us informed about the new batteries. I am sure that new batteries will be coming out to handle the gimbol.

 

[FangsCPO]

Pori, keep us informed about the new batteries. I am sure that new batteries will be coming out to handle the gimbol.

Keep in mind that it's not the power consumed by the gimbal because it's very minimal. The flight times are being affected by the additional weight you are carrying now by adding a gimbal to your setup. Good Luck!

 

[martcerv]

This is something worth experimenting with if you have an extra battery for the gimbal, try both methods if you can and see which gives you a longer flight time. Weight itself is quite a big issues and every gram will reduce flight time but then there is also battery draw depending on the gimbal and also if it is powering the gopro that is one more thing drawing power.

I am getting the CPG gimbal and it comes with a small 50g battery that can power the gimbal for an hour, I will try this first and also the hardwired option and see which gives me better flight times.

I have also experimented quite a bit with different props and weights on the phantom along with some stock and larger 2700mah batteries. I have found good benefits flying with larger tri blade propellers but have tried lots of different props and results are quite strange most of the time :mrgreen:

I will at some point do up a video testing most of the props I use also showing the results of each but on my phantom with tiger motor mt-2216 with gopro, FPV, fairly heavy anti jello mount (much the same weight as the gimbal I am getting) and filter adapters plus futaba radio recently. This weighs in at 1150g for a single cam setup and 1300g for a 2 cam 3d setup both with FPV. The batteries only have a difference of 30g between 2200 and 2700 with about a 2 minute boost out f the 2700's. Using the triblades I get good flight times but it struggles quite a bit with pretty much every other prop I have tried including different triblades so its a bit of a black art I think to get the balance between weight, lift and battery life.

I am interested in seeing what my times will be like with the gimbal as it should all add up around 1150g still but I will likely also get the PMUv2 and dji OSD so there is more weight which may be pushing me to around 1250g with all that and gimbal. I lose about 2 minutes flight time between 1150g and 1300g using stock or 2700 battery so I really dont want to be adding too much more weight though OSD would be nice to have.

 

[miskatonic]

The reality is that the DJI Phantom is not made to be a gimbal platform. Low flight times and a lot of wobbling are going to occur when you throw that much weight onto a 330 frame.

 

[Firestat]

Fangs, I understand that. Maybe they will come out with a better battery to handle the weight.

Things keep inproving.

 

[Firestat]

Martserf, waiting to see your results.

 

[martcerv]

The reality is that the DJI Phantom is not made to be a gimbal platform. Low flight times and a lot of wobbling are going to occur when you throw that much weight onto a 330 frame.

Here is my heavy phantom setup with some slower flying in a bit of wind, 2700mah battery GWS 9050 triblades, 2x hero3 black cameras and SRP adapters with filters. Mount was a bit loose so had a little jello but here flight time was exactly 9 minutes at 1305g total weight.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFHL0YtVWxE[/youtube]

Video is in 3D to show that 2 cams were used here, I have some better flying with the same setup. Here is another 3D video but after I fixed my mount. This one is cut from a few flights so not indicating a single flight time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9t50dLsa3A[/youtube]

I also uploaded these videos in 2d but YT has blocked them due to a copyright violation LMAO, wants to know what music was used :?: The same videos uploaded just one in 2d the other in 3d and somehow one got flagged and they dont believe its my content. :x

I would say this shows its far from an unstable platform when heavy if dealt with properly. Im getting a gimbal next week and weight will still be well below my 2 cam 3d setup so I see no reason why the phantom would be a bad gimbal platform due to the 330 frame if this is how it fly's at 1.3kg so my gimbal setup will be under 1.2kg even if I use a separate battery for the gimbal itself.