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- Dec 13, 2013
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I've been playing with my Taco (could be taken many ways) gimbal. It's been very windy lately, so good opportunity to test it. The Taco has been performing well but that's for a different thread.
This thread is to talk about the different way the P2V handles when heavy.
My P2V with Taco gimbal, amp and Skew Planar antenna ready to fly (with props) weigh in at a full 1381g. In the past, I've done weight testing and in my opinion, this is at the top of usable weight limit for this platform.
The battery had just dropped below 30% and I was behind some trees.
I did a full left stick up to ascend above the trees and fly back toward me.
The P2v struggled, teetering back and forth like it was climbing stairs (similar to the look of when it falls to fast and perhaps enters VRS) but it was not descending, I was ascending. Good news (I guess) is that the video was stable (the Taco was working).
I looked down and the battery was at 13% (two seconds ago it was 28%).
The P2V just cleared the trees when it decided it was time to land.
I was still FULL left stick up and the P2V was LANDING. I looked at the battery and it showed 25% (back up from 13% just a few seconds ago).
So 25% full stick up and the P2V landed, well it was heading down fast (faster than RTH autoland) I ran and caught it at about 3 feet from the ground (I hang my antenna below the landing gear, so need to catch.)
I do believe that if it had not been for the extra weight, the P2V would have been able to continue flying (or at the very least not come down so rapidly). I believe it came down early and fast because of the extra weight.
The battery has about 45 flights on it and was freshly charged 24 hours ago. Used it last week without the Taco (installed this past weekend) and worked as normal.
Moral of the story, 30% is the new dead. Thank goodness I was not over water or on a return from a long distance flight.
For those going heavy (gimbal) be careful.
This thread is to talk about the different way the P2V handles when heavy.
My P2V with Taco gimbal, amp and Skew Planar antenna ready to fly (with props) weigh in at a full 1381g. In the past, I've done weight testing and in my opinion, this is at the top of usable weight limit for this platform.
The battery had just dropped below 30% and I was behind some trees.
I did a full left stick up to ascend above the trees and fly back toward me.
The P2v struggled, teetering back and forth like it was climbing stairs (similar to the look of when it falls to fast and perhaps enters VRS) but it was not descending, I was ascending. Good news (I guess) is that the video was stable (the Taco was working).
I looked down and the battery was at 13% (two seconds ago it was 28%).
The P2V just cleared the trees when it decided it was time to land.
I was still FULL left stick up and the P2V was LANDING. I looked at the battery and it showed 25% (back up from 13% just a few seconds ago).
So 25% full stick up and the P2V landed, well it was heading down fast (faster than RTH autoland) I ran and caught it at about 3 feet from the ground (I hang my antenna below the landing gear, so need to catch.)
I do believe that if it had not been for the extra weight, the P2V would have been able to continue flying (or at the very least not come down so rapidly). I believe it came down early and fast because of the extra weight.
The battery has about 45 flights on it and was freshly charged 24 hours ago. Used it last week without the Taco (installed this past weekend) and worked as normal.
Moral of the story, 30% is the new dead. Thank goodness I was not over water or on a return from a long distance flight.
For those going heavy (gimbal) be careful.