Take off and land in water
- Thread starter Promod7
- Start date
lol Doesn't take a genius to figure out those short floats are not going to do the job.
That's what I like about that water bottle system. Screw on, screw off. The mounting plates stay attached.
Connectors make no difference because all LiPo's have unsealed tabs on their cells for leads to connect to. They may look sealed - but that plastic heat shrink cover is not.
FYI - I use both Deans and XT60's ... with 4mm bullets on my high power stuff.
Nigel
Thanks. Was really curious because someone on another thread one day (don't think it was this thread) claimed that he dropped his Phantom in the drink and fried batteries, board, etc. His essential "claim" was that he dropped more than one of his R/C craft in the drink and did not destroy the batteries. I wanted to challenge that, but, although I have a lot of experience with R/C, I've met lots of other people who know lots more than I - and you never know!
My plugs are all the EC3 variety. (For LiPo batts and my R/C craft.) They are tight, but they're not water-resistant and certainly not water-proof (I've met a surprising number of people who don't recognize the difference!).
Now, one day I put a powered glider in the water. It crashed upside down and the styrofoam kept most of the components above the water level and I was able salvage virtually everything except the fuselage - it was pretty mutilated, even for a foamy. So, maybe what the guy meant was that if the battery didn't get wet - which, with a Phantom would be a pretty tall order.
I'm convinced my Phantom would need a foam lifeboat to stay dry. And that would probably require enough foam that it would always be visible to the camera!
Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL
First thought is that it's Photoshopped. However, it looks pretty authentic.
Don't know what was done to the guts of the Phantom, but that does NOT appear to
be a stock Phantom camera.
The rest, though, if authentic, is pretty impressive.
Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL
Interesting ..... but note that they are not P3's ..... the camera gives it away straight away ..... first by the wide angle distortion on first view and the actual view of it later ...
You could if you wanted to douse a P1 or P2 in CorrosionX and then fit a GoPro in its waterproof case ...
But a P3 ? The camera and gimbal board ??
Nigel
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It's a Phantom 1 and the video is from 4 years ago.
Here's some background to it: Anyone have any experience with waterproofing your drone?
I was searching different float systems and came across that video and who cares if it wasn't a P3.My point is,it can and was through DJI by the company in that video.When that company starts back up maybe they will advertise and we will know more about their product.
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I still think that the best compromise has to take a leaf from the Helicopter boys ...
Training 'legs' are a set of CF rods set up in a cross that is much wider than the U/C to give stability when lifting or landing on the ground. They have large table tennis balls on each end.
Now first thing to think of - displacement of the AC ... that means to float - the AC must displace its own weight in water. Taking fresh water - you can say1kg = 1 litre ... as salinity increases to standard Sea Water - that becomes 1.025kg = 1 litre.
We also have to think that the camera hangs down under the body ... it only has a cm or so clearance from the ground. So if the camera is to be saved as well - we must be able to float the AC well out of water ... meaning a P3P weighs approx 1.3kg in flying form incl. battery. That = 1.3 litres or 1300ml ..... 10.6 x 10.6 x 10.6 cm
Therefore floats that would be with tops level with water surface occupy 1300ml volume. So we need to increase that volume significantly to have reserve volume ABOVE water ... lets say 2x ... that is 2600ml.
So taking cylinder calculator ... we can say a 5cm diameter foam pipe insulation, 150cm long formed into a circle will create a flotation collar capable of up to 2.95kg fresh water as its volume is 2.95litres.
It will float approx half submerged leaving just over 2.5cms above water ...
Fix that ring to the CF rods crossed under the P3 U/C ... and you may stand chance of upright flotation but only in calm waters ... The sizes here are a MINIMUM to obtain any chance to float ...
People make mistake of thinking that big tubes make a good float system ... but in fact its not whats above the water but what is in it. Anything NOT in the water is wasted ... and we call that Reserve Bouyancy ... such as bow and stern upper parts of a ship - designed when they submerge to force ship back up again. But when not in water - they are a deadweight.
Nigel
Training 'legs' are a set of CF rods set up in a cross that is much wider than the U/C to give stability when lifting or landing on the ground. They have large table tennis balls on each end.
Now first thing to think of - displacement of the AC ... that means to float - the AC must displace its own weight in water. Taking fresh water - you can say1kg = 1 litre ... as salinity increases to standard Sea Water - that becomes 1.025kg = 1 litre.
We also have to think that the camera hangs down under the body ... it only has a cm or so clearance from the ground. So if the camera is to be saved as well - we must be able to float the AC well out of water ... meaning a P3P weighs approx 1.3kg in flying form incl. battery. That = 1.3 litres or 1300ml ..... 10.6 x 10.6 x 10.6 cm
Therefore floats that would be with tops level with water surface occupy 1300ml volume. So we need to increase that volume significantly to have reserve volume ABOVE water ... lets say 2x ... that is 2600ml.
So taking cylinder calculator ... we can say a 5cm diameter foam pipe insulation, 150cm long formed into a circle will create a flotation collar capable of up to 2.95kg fresh water as its volume is 2.95litres.
It will float approx half submerged leaving just over 2.5cms above water ...
Fix that ring to the CF rods crossed under the P3 U/C ... and you may stand chance of upright flotation but only in calm waters ... The sizes here are a MINIMUM to obtain any chance to float ...
People make mistake of thinking that big tubes make a good float system ... but in fact its not whats above the water but what is in it. Anything NOT in the water is wasted ... and we call that Reserve Bouyancy ... such as bow and stern upper parts of a ship - designed when they submerge to force ship back up again. But when not in water - they are a deadweight.
Nigel
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These hopeful contraptions really are silly.
It's an irrational fear that makes timid flyers think they are a good idea.
People touting them say they are to save the Phantom in case the worst happens.
Do you have a parachute and airbags in case it happens over land?
If you are unfortunate enough to have a fall-from-the-sky incident, your Phantom does not make a gentle descent and land on it's undercarriage.
It's going to be spinning and tumbling and will crash upside down. The Phantom will get a soaking.
If it's salt water, within 1/10th of a second, all that can be saved would be the sd card and the props.
Everything else is toast.
If it's fresh water ... maybe it could be dried and repaired - but maybe not.
If your Phantom comes down half a mile out, do you have a safety boat on standby to go and find it?
But the most important point is what lumbering a Phantom like this does to its aerodynamics.
We never hear anything about this from the designers and constructors.
How much does it slow the Phantom down? How much flight time does it reduce with the added wind resistance?
How much does it increase the wind's ability to blow your Phantom away?
Most of my flying is over water and there's no way I'd ever handicap my Phantom with any of these contraptions because I always want to bring it home.
A cost-benefit analysis shows, they will cost you every flight in lost performance while any benefit is much less than imagined and only likely in very rare circumstances that never happen anyway.
That's a loss-lose situation.
Unless you actually want to land and take off on water, these things are more likely to cause the loss of your Phantom than do anything to save it.
It's an irrational fear that makes timid flyers think they are a good idea.
People touting them say they are to save the Phantom in case the worst happens.
Do you have a parachute and airbags in case it happens over land?
If you are unfortunate enough to have a fall-from-the-sky incident, your Phantom does not make a gentle descent and land on it's undercarriage.
It's going to be spinning and tumbling and will crash upside down. The Phantom will get a soaking.
If it's salt water, within 1/10th of a second, all that can be saved would be the sd card and the props.
Everything else is toast.
If it's fresh water ... maybe it could be dried and repaired - but maybe not.
If your Phantom comes down half a mile out, do you have a safety boat on standby to go and find it?
But the most important point is what lumbering a Phantom like this does to its aerodynamics.
We never hear anything about this from the designers and constructors.
How much does it slow the Phantom down? How much flight time does it reduce with the added wind resistance?
How much does it increase the wind's ability to blow your Phantom away?
Most of my flying is over water and there's no way I'd ever handicap my Phantom with any of these contraptions because I always want to bring it home.
A cost-benefit analysis shows, they will cost you every flight in lost performance while any benefit is much less than imagined and only likely in very rare circumstances that never happen anyway.
That's a loss-lose situation.
Unless you actually want to land and take off on water, these things are more likely to cause the loss of your Phantom than do anything to save it.
And with that I'm going in to watch Sheldon, Leonard & Penny to see what they come up with tonight! Lol
