How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe flight?

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It looks like (finally!) by the end of the week, I'll have my P2 with a Dronexpert RX100 kit and iOSD-mini all hooked up and working.

The whole thing (with the camera) will weigh in at 1.337 kg. But, after just getting an email from someone who lost 6,000 euro worth of gear with a lost hexacopter last week, I'm now looking to put a tracking device on my P2 which will weigh another 30g. And if I want to use a pol filter on the camera, that's going to add another 34g. So that would take me to 1.4kg.

How critical is DJI's stated maximum take-off weight limit of 1.3kg? Do you think 1.4kg will be OK?

And, also I'm sure I read somewhere that each 1g of weight equals a loss of 1 second of flying time. Does anyone know if that's correct?
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Peter you can add those items but your rig won't be very nimble. Mine weighs over 1500gs and it's anything but nimble. And currently with cold weather I'm getting about 13 mins of flight time.
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

EMCSQUAR said:
Peter you can add those items but your rig won't be very nimble. Mine weighs over 1500gs and it's anything but nimble. And currently with cold weather I'm getting about 13 mins of flight time.

Nimbleness is not much of an issue, to be honest. For photography and video (for me at least) nice and easy does it every time (there must be a song in there somewhere) :)

So are you flying a P2? And is the 13mins the point at which you get your first 'battery low - go home!' warning? Or does it include the coming home and landing after the first battery warning? And what period have you set for the battery warning?

Thanks
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Thanks Peter, I didn't know they had a Phantom mount for the RX100! Doesn't look like the sell it without the monitor though :|

Do you have the RX100 or the RX100 II?
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Peter Evans said:
EMCSQUAR said:
Peter you can add those items but your rig won't be very nimble. Mine weighs over 1500gs and it's anything but nimble. And currently with cold weather I'm getting about 13 mins of flight time.

Nimbleness is not much of an issue, to be honest. For photography and video (for me at least) nice and easy does it every time (there must be a song in there somewhere) :)

So are you flying a P2? And is the 13mins the point at which you get your first 'battery low - go home!' warning? Or does it include the coming home and landing after the first battery warning? And what period have you set for the battery warning?

Thanks

Peter mine is a hybrid or officially a Dewey Phantom 1.5. It's a P2 shell with P1 guts. I can use either P2 or dual P1 batteries. It has ISOD mini, FPV, Zenmuse gimbal, 2.4 Ground station and it's packed tight. I'm on the same thought as you smooth flight for video.

My 13 mins is with P2 battery and it's to first warning but I have my first warning set at 10.3 volts that gives me about 2 mins until auto land to get home. Less if it's really cold.
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

With my Rotorpixel gimbal, Vision camera, lens filter kit, circ polarizer, Flytrex and battery my take-off weight is 1385g and it flies and handles fine. It won't break any speed records but for your purposes (stills, I believe?) I think you'll be fine. Just give it a bit more time to climb and descend vertically to avoid pushing anything too hard (especially the descent, watch out for vortex ring state). I get approximately 16/17 minutes flight time taking the battery down to 20% to avoid stressing it too much. If you need a bit more time to get that killer shot then you can set your autoland threshold a bit lower and push the battery harder every so often if you wish.

EDITED to say that I believe the actual max all up weight the P2/P2V airframe can physically handle is closer to 1500g - although at that weight it will probably barely fly and the flight time will probably be sub 10 mins.
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

OI Photography said:
Thanks Peter, I didn't know they had a Phantom mount for the RX100! Doesn't look like the sell it without the monitor though :|

Do you have the RX100 or the RX100 II?

I need the monitor of course so the whole kit they sell suits me fine. It's a bit expensive but then it's Hobson's choice, they have no competition.

I have the RX100. The Mark 2 doesn't give me anything extra that I need and it weighs 41g more than the Mark 1 (plus it costs a hell of a lot more!)
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Pull_Up said:
With my Rotorpixel gimbal, Vision camera, lens filter kit, circ polarizer, Flytrex and battery my take-off weight is 1385g and it flies and handles fine. It won't break any speed records but for your purposes (stills, I believe?) I think you'll be fine. Just give it a bit more time to climb and descend vertically to avoid pushing anything too hard (especially the descent, watch out for vortex ring state). I get approximately 16/17 minutes flight time taking the battery down to 20% to avoid stressing it too much. If you need a bit more time to get that killer shot then you can set your autoland threshold a bit lower and push the battery harder every so often if you wish.

EDITED to say that I believe the actual max all up weight the P2/P2V airframe can physically handle is closer to 1500g - although at that weight it will probably barely fly and the flight time will probably be sub 10 mins.

Thanks Simon, that's really useful information. Stills are my main reason for going down this route but I suddenly find myself hooked on video again (I did a lot back in the day - I started when the camera sat on your shoulder and a recorder the size of a briefcase hung from a strap over the other shoulder!)
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Peter Evans said:
I have the RX100. The Mark 2 doesn't give me anything extra that I need and it weighs 41g more than the Mark 1 (plus it costs a hell of a lot more!)

Thanks Peter, that's pretty much the same conclusion I've arrived at and for the same reasons. I may PM you later for some more input on that. Thanks again!
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Peter Evans said:
It looks like (finally!) by the end of the week, I'll have my P2 with a Dronexpert RX100 kit and iOSD-mini all hooked up and working.

The whole thing (with the camera) will weigh in at 1.337 kg. But, after just getting an email from someone who lost 6,000 euro worth of gear with a lost hexacopter last week, I'm now looking to put a tracking device on my P2 which will weigh another 30g. And if I want to use a pol filter on the camera, that's going to add another 34g. So that would take me to 1.4kg.

How critical is DJI's stated maximum take-off weight limit of 1.3kg? Do you think 1.4kg will be OK?

And, also I'm sure I read somewhere that each 1g of weight equals a loss of 1 second of flying time. Does anyone know if that's correct?

I'm really interested in your Dronexpert RX100 kit. I cant wait to see the images you can produce with that setup.
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

The heavier weight will help with smooth flying in return for less flight time. Thats not too bad a deal, after all with all the money hanging from your props your nerves on the first few flights won't last a normal 18 - 20 minute flight :twisted:
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Shrimpfarmer said:
The heavier weight will help with smooth flying in return for less flight time. Thats not too bad a deal, after all with all the money hanging from your props your nerves on the first few flights won't last a normal 18 - 20 minute flight :twisted:

Correct! :lol:
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Wrong section or not, we're all friendly here. :)

And because you might find it interesting I'll link to a post I just made in the Rotorpixel thread as I did some endurance and range testing flights this morning with my new all-up weight of 1385g...

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6508&start=2510#p92020
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Thanks again, Simon. Very useful to know. You've confirmed my calculation of about 18 minutes for my kit, using the formula (25 - ((1400-1000) / 60)

1400g being my gross weight and 1000g being the published weight of the P2 with battery - and of course 25 being DJI's claimed flight time with nothing slung underneath.
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Peter Evans said:
Thanks again, Simon. Very useful to know. You've confirmed my calculation of about 18 minutes for my kit, using the formula (25 - ((1400-1000) / 60)

1400g being my gross weight and 1000g being the published weight of the P2 with battery - and of course 25 being DJI's claimed flight time with nothing slung underneath.

Sounds about right, although I'd probably bank on 17 and keeping the battery happy. Given that for your purposes there will probably be very little "yee haw" flying involved then it seems on the money. Having said that, I think I'm right in saying that hovering uses a little more juice per minute than gentle forward flight but not sure if it's really measurable in the scheme of things...
 
Re: How critical is the P2's 1.3 kg weight limit re safe fli

Yes, that seems sensible. And I with all the maneuvering into position when I'm shooting stills ('cos I'm very picky as to composition) I'll be doing a lot more hovering than flying around ;)
 

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