Phantom 1.1.1 flight times

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Question:

What would be the average flight time of a phantom 1.1.1 with the following:

-Gimbal
-Gopro hero 3+
-Fatshark fpv gear

5-6 minutes?
 
Stock batt and stock (8") props? If so, then yeah 5-6 min avg would be realistic, depending on which gimbal (how heavy) and how much wind and other environmental factors there are.
 
My setup:

DJI Phantom v1.1.1
2200 mAh Stock battery
9443 DJI Props (Phantom 2 stock props)
Video Transmitter (Fatshark) with spiroNet Antenna
Flytex
Storm SD-10 Gimbal (Helipal)
Gopro Hero 3

I get 8 minutes fly time! Lipo voltage check just after flight gives 11.1V.
 
My Setup

Phantom v1.1.1
Zenmuse
Gopro3
FPV transmitter
Vision Props

With standard battery 10mins.
With Dinogy 2800mah 12 mins (16% charge left).

The above times were taken last weekend, light breeze, temp around 5c, normal flying.
 
Phantasmic said:
amrflyingdude said:
Question:

What would be the average flight time of a phantom 1.1.1 with the following:

-Gimbal
-Gopro hero 3+
-Fatshark fpv gear

5-6 minutes?

With a 2700 mAh battery assuming stock props

When I was running pretty much the same setup as the OP (Arris CM2000, GP3B, Immersion Tx) on my 1.2 with stock batt and 8" props, my avg was right at 5 1/2 min. Moving to a 2700mAh pushed that to over 7 1/2 min, and the vision props extended it to over 10 min. YMMV of course.
 
Well... A little bit of a disappointment here guys.

Myy original project consisted on installing on my 1.1.1 EZOSD, Fatshark Attitude V2 and good luck buy gimbal I managed to get on board everything but the Gimbal (waiting for it to arrive) so here are my flight times with everything but the gimbal and go pro encased on the plastic housing:

-Stock batteries 8 minutes,
-Zippy 2800 10mins.

That is again with Fatshark system (VTX+Filter), EZOSD (Current Sensor + Module) and my gopro inside the plastic housing and P2 props.

So when I get my gimbal I assume my flight times will be about 7 to 8 minutes only?

Curious note: Without FPV and EZOSD I was getting 14 and 1/2 minutes with my 2800 battery. Does the VTX and EZOSD weigh that much that eat 4 1/2 minutes of my flight ttime?



i really was hoping to get at least 10 minutes.
 
amrflyingdude said:
Well... A little bit of a disappointment here guys.

Myy original project consisted on installing on my 1.1.1 EZOSD, Fatshark Attitude V2 and good luck buy gimbal I managed to get on board everything but the Gimbal (waiting for it to arrive) so here are my flight times with everything but the gimbal and go pro encased on the plastic housing:

-Stock batteries 8 minutes,
-Zippy 2800 10mins.

That is again with Fatshark system (VTX+Filter), EZOSD (Current Sensor + Module) and my gopro inside the plastic housing and P2 props.

So when I get my gimbal I assume my flight times will be about 7 to 8 minutes only?

Curious note: Without FPV and EZOSD I was getting 14 and 1/2 minutes with my 2800 battery. Does the VTX and EZOSD weigh that much that eat 4 1/2 minutes of my flight ttime?



i really was hoping to get at least 10 minutes.

You were getting 15 minutes with a GoPro + housing? That sounds a bit high, but it's definitely possible on a 2800.

My VTX (no OSD) is light enough and consumes so little power that it makes zero measurable difference in flight time whether on or off, so 4.5 minutes off is a bit strange. Are you mounting everything with fancy plates/landing gear or lots of wire/solder?

The GoPro + housing is about 180g. A gimbal + GoPro is about 250-280g. Depending on power draw of the gimbal controllers and motors (fairly small), that's a couple of minutes off. Assuming the math is correct, you should be able to get back to ~10 minutes with 9443 props. But what you're seeing is pretty much the norm. There are lots of things you can do to push those flight numbers up, most take some time and some money (and usually involve taking things OFF the Phantom rather than bolting on MORE).
 
Thanks Guys! You are always guiding me so thanks in advance.

I only added 2 additional Things:

Carbon fiber plate to mount VTX and EZOSD GPS module and a XT60 extension to get the current sensor reach the battery and yes a couple of soldered cables but only 2.

I will weight my phantom, definitely a good idea, just wanted to make sure this is the norm and I am not draining the batteries due to a bad connection or something out of the regular

My batteries have not flown for about 2 weeks and I just flew them, can that also affect my flight times?
 
amrflyingdude said:
Thanks Guys! You are always guiding me so thanks in advance.

I only added 2 additional Things:

Carbon fiber plate to mount VTX and EZOSD GPS module and a XT60 extension to get the current sensor reach the battery and yes a couple of soldered cables but only 2.

I will weight my phantom, definitely a good idea, just wanted to make sure this is the norm and I am not draining the batteries due to a bad connection or something out of the regular

My batteries have not flown for about 2 weeks and I just flew them, can that also affect my flight times?
Yes...from what I've seen they drain about 1% every few days.....
Always check your battery voltage with a voltage checker, before flight. You might also want to check after flight too, to get an idea of the amount remaining when the 1st level warning comes on.

You're not going to get 10 minutes, ever, with FPV, Gimbal, Go Pro, and an OSD. The best I've gotten, at 1270 grams, and a MadDog 2800mah battery is around 9 minutes, before 1st level warning-I land then.
Also-a lot depends on how you fly. If you're moving forward, slowly-you will notice your throttle position is below 50%. If you avoid abrupt maneuvers this can increase your flight time as well.
OH, and the blade guards, will cost you almost 1 minute of flight time-so if you have those, leave them in the box.

As far as adding Vision props-there's some posts about that here;http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6817
 
havasuphoto said:
amrflyingdude said:
Thanks Guys! You are always guiding me so thanks in advance.

I only added 2 additional Things:

Carbon fiber plate to mount VTX and EZOSD GPS module and a XT60 extension to get the current sensor reach the battery and yes a couple of soldered cables but only 2.

I will weight my phantom, definitely a good idea, just wanted to make sure this is the norm and I am not draining the batteries due to a bad connection or something out of the regular

My batteries have not flown for about 2 weeks and I just flew them, can that also affect my flight times?
Yes...from what I've seen they drain about 1% every few days.....
Always check your battery voltage with a voltage checker, before flight. You might also want to check after flight too, to get an idea of the amount remaining when the 1st level warning comes on.

You're not going to get 10 minutes, ever, with FPV, Gimbal, Go Pro, and an OSD. The best I've gotten, at 1270 grams, and a MadDog 2800mah battery is around 9 minutes, before 1st level warning-I land then.
Also-a lot depends on how you fly. If you're moving forward, slowly-you will notice your throttle position is below 50%. If you avoid abrupt maneuvers this can increase your flight time as well.
OH, and the blade guards, will cost you almost 1 minute of flight time-so if you have those, leave them in the box.

As far as adding Vision props-there's some posts about that here;http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6817


Thanks Hava for pitching in.

Right now I am recharging my batteries and see how mud time they will let me fly freshly charged. I have seen people posting 11 to 12 minute flight times with similar setups so I really was shooting for 10, if I can get 9 with the gimbal on I will be happy but the problem is I am getting 10 now without gimbal.

Let's see how the batteries do after a fresh recharge. I will use a chromo also to get more accurate readings.

No prop guards on my bird BTW
 
What batteries are you using?
I've not heard of anyone using FPV, gimbal, osd, video TX, getting over 10 minutes. And, those that come close to that, are using the Vision props.
 
Stock batteries?
I'm thinking that's pretty cold-and that your flight time may improve as the season changes.
I think we're only talking about a 1 battery set-up?
 
havasuphoto said:
What batteries are you using?
I've not heard of anyone using FPV, gimbal, osd, video TX, getting over 10 minutes. And, those that come close to that, are using the Vision props.

Well, I wouldn't be THAT adamant about it. I have FPV, gimbal, gopro (but no OSD) and I get 12.5 minutes from a single Maddog 2700. I'm pretty sure I'd still break 12min with an EZOSD or minimosd.

11-12 minutes with a big battery and 9443s isn't at all uncommon for Phantom 1s, but I haven't been carefully tracking single-battery numbers....
 
havasuphoto said:
What batteries are you using?
I've not heard of anyone using FPV, gimbal, osd, video TX, getting over 10 minutes. And, those that come close to that, are using the Vision props.

I'm using Zippy flightmax 2800 and also using vision props.
 
Well i'm definitely learning from this. So Flying conservatively gave me almost an extra minute and a half, and after flying freshly charged batteries and seeing no differences I am now facing the real problem which is that if I want more flying time I need to lighten up the phantom.

I am however going to wait for my gimbal to arrive and install it and see how much this additional weight will affect my flight times, If I can get 9 to 10 minutes with this setup I am happy, less than that I will remove stuff I guess.

Any advice for overweight 1.1.1's ?? LOL
 
amrflyingdude said:
Any advice for overweight 1.1.1's ?? LOL

ElGuanosize it! :lol:

I heard a rumor that he dipped the shell of his Phantom in an acid bath to shave off an even .01mm of it all the way around :shock:

(I'm kidding....or am I?)
 
Found this excellent chart on another forum:

Phantom's flight time is relative to 6 main variables:

1) Total weight (phantom + battery + Extras as camera, gimbal, FPV etc)
2) Flight style ( slow, fast climb, descend, aggresive sticks, etc)
3) Wind condition + GPS active (as stronger winds as more battery juice for keep hover)
4) Battery status / cycles reached.
5) ALS (at highlands, more power for flying in thin air, so shorter flight time)
6) Propellers size / brand

In general as i have read here, and my own experiences, some average flight times are:

Naked phantom: 12-14 min.
Phantom + GoPro stock mount: 10-12 min.
Phantom + GoPro waterproof case: 9-10 min.
VTX / OSD : decrease 1-3 min
FPV mini camera (no GoPro): decrease 1-2 min.
Gimbal: decrease 3-5 min.
Graupner/ Zinger props 8x5": decrease 1-2 min.
Graupner/ Zinger props 9x5": increase 1-2 min.

My phantom actually flights 5-6 min. with gimbal + gopro3 + FPV + mini OSD + stock propellers at 2000 mts ASL.
Every one must do own tests because it is very relative to field, altitude, style, add ons and other stuff on phantom IMO.
 
amrflyingdude said:
Found this excellent chart on another forum:

Phantom's flight time is relative to 6 main variables:

1) Total weight (phantom + battery + Extras as camera, gimbal, FPV etc)
2) Flight style ( slow, fast climb, descend, aggresive sticks, etc)
3) Wind condition + GPS active (as stronger winds as more battery juice for keep hover)
4) Battery status / cycles reached.
5) ALS (at highlands, more power for flying in thin air, so shorter flight time)
6) Propellers size / brand

In general as i have read here, and my own experiences, some average flight times are:

Naked phantom: 12-14 min.
Phantom + GoPro stock mount: 10-12 min.
Phantom + GoPro waterproof case: 9-10 min.
VTX / OSD : decrease 1-3 min
FPV mini camera (no GoPro): decrease 1-2 min.
Gimbal: decrease 3-5 min.
Graupner/ Zinger props 8x5": decrease 1-2 min.
Graupner/ Zinger props 9x5": increase 1-2 min.

My phantom actually flights 5-6 min. with gimbal + gopro3 + FPV + mini OSD + stock propellers at 2000 mts ASL.
Every one must do own tests because it is very relative to field, altitude, style, add ons and other stuff on phantom IMO.

Don't forget battery capacity. Weight, battery capacity and props are by far the 3 major determinants of flight time. Everything else is literally measured in seconds.

I'd say real world flight times are closer to your lower ranges listed. I've never heard of a VTX taking off 3 minutes of flight, that's like 200 grams of weight.
 

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