Flight times

[Rickesco]

Hey Guys,

I'm curious to see how much flight time you guys are getting. I have only been able to get 9 min on one battery and 13 min on another.

Rick

 

[B4orce]

Hi Rick - take a look at this thread.......

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=16146

 

[Rickesco]

Thanks, Found the thread..

 

[Dirty Bird]

I get about 17 mins until first low battery alarm @ 30%. Around 21 mins until 15%. Its pretty much identical for all four of my batteries.

 

[Skynet1]

I get about 17 mins until first low battery alarm @ 30%. Around 21 mins until 15%. Its pretty much identical for all four of my batteries.

Interesting! and amazing at the same time how some may be getting so much more flight time out of their battery than others.
What's the secret Dirty, Virgin Olive Oil. :lol:

 

[BlackTracer]

I get around 17-20 mins at 16-20% battery left, depending on how fast I fly. I normally don't race to where I go so mostly I get in the 20 minute range. I have my low limit set to 15% so when I hit 16% the skids are on the ground. All three of my batts perform the same.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Interesting! and amazing at the same time how some may be getting so much more flight time out of their battery than others.
What's the secret Dirty, Virgin Olive Oil. :lol:

Not sure? I always rotate the batteries, and generally run them from full down to around 15-18%. They actually got stronger over the first 5-10 cycles, which is typical of Li-Po batteries. Flight time likely depends somewhat on how aggressively you are flying. I wouldn't say I am crazy aggressive, but I usually cover a lot of ground when I am in the air. Getting close to the point where I need to deep discharge them down to 8% as per the manual (every 20 cycles).

Funny because I came from RC airplanes, where you often get only 5-10 minutes of flight on a battery, so 15-20 minutes on the Phantom is pretty awesome. Part of the reason for that is most RC airplanes don't have the telemetry features available to the Phantom. Flight times are usually calculated and set for a certain number of minutes. My main RC controller is a Hitec Aurora 9x, which I usually pair up with one of the Hitec Optima 6, 7, or 9 channel receivers. If you do a little soldering, the Optima receivers do provide battery telemetry to the transmitter's display. I also have a bunch of RC aircraft fitted with Airfield RC or Dynam receivers, and paired with an Airfield or Dynam 2.4 Ghz transmitter. No telemetry, but the Xmit/Rec combos work well and they are dirt cheap.

 

[jodaddy23]

conditions you fly in and how you fly will affect battery flight time .

 

[Skynet1]

I had almost thought that sooner or later the topic of lubrication of the motors, as well as balancing both motor hub and props may be incl. as a means of extending flight times, then again I may have simply missed that posting.

Yes, I would expect aggressive flying or weather conditions to be obvious factors reducing battery life, but has anyone experimented with using some sort of lubricant onto the motor shafts or other critical area within the motors themselves to help minimize wear, and enhance overall flight times?
I realize this may not necessarily be listed as a preventative maintenance procedure recommended in the Phantom manual, but possibly just good form.