Optimizing Drone Performance: Small Changes That Make a Big Difference

[dronedrone]

Hey everyone,


I’ve been experimenting with different motor and propeller combinations on my drones, trying to get smoother flight and better stability. Surprisingly, even small changes in prop size or motor KV can have a noticeable impact on flight performance.


For example, switching from a 12x4 to a 13x4.4 prop on a U3 KV700 motor under 11.1V made a difference in vibration and battery efficiency. I’ve documented a few setups that seemed to work best for different drone weights and battery voltages.


Curious if anyone else has done similar testing? I’d love to hear what combinations you’ve tried and what worked best for you. I’ll be sharing more detailed setups and testing results in the coming weeks.

 

[Daniel NZDF]

Hi, @dronedrone, Welcome to the forum! I haven't actually done much testing with motors and props on the DJI phantom drones, although I did notice that carbon fiber props didn't work on my phantom 2 as there was not enough flex in the blades, causing the drone to crash! (never trying that again) . When I could not get hold of new props for my DJI Tello drones, I started getting small props off other mini drones I had and adjusting pitch and blade length. I found that the shorter the drone prop's blade, the faster the prop would spin, but it required higher revs to keep it airborne

 

[RodPad]

@dronedrone,
Welcome to the forum!

What birds are you testing this on?

Rod ..

 

[scbenoit]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Harleydude]

I ran the gamut with my Phantom 1. By the time I was done with motor, prop and battery upgrades, she was almost a heavy lifter. The biggest upgrade was going from 3C 11.1v to 4C 14.8v batteries. According to my research, all of the electronics were rated for 4C batteries. And the new Tiger Motors were also rated to 4C. So the battery upgrade not only increased overall power, but increased flight time significantly.

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I have tried different props on my Inspire 1 with minor varying results. Nothing worth reporting. I eventually went with a stiffer, carbon prop setup. But I honestly didn't see any real-world performance boost.

D