Endurance Quad Build: Calculating weight, thrust and flight time

[@jamfixer7033]

Best multi-rotor channel on KZbin, my go to for education / R&D. I love to build and race FPV for fun though my bread and butter is real estate and water sport video and photography. My goal has always been to fly lowest cost reliable aircraft for my various camera payloads. Your channel has been a large part of nearly every build I have completed. I appreciate that you devote time to both small and larger frame builds now.

[@licensetodrive9930]

This is a fascinating build series, with the goal of a really long flight time it almost seems worth looking into adding a 3-axis gimbal, not one of the big bulky ones that can carry a sportcam but something that only needs to carry the camera part of a RunCam Split Mini, severely reducing the size & weight of the motors needed.

[@CurryKitten]

That is a potentially fantastic result on this sort of setup. In the "old days" the logic was to lower the KV and increase the cells. At the time I remember people going 12-14" props on 6S motors, maybe 300-400kv (can't remember) Which I think would be interested, but does involve you getting hold of a whole new set of motors/escs/etc, which does tend to be a bit pricy

[@Painless360]

That's where I'd like to end up. The challenge with modern motors with those lower KVs are they are incredibly expensive..

[@beebakrizzle]

Lithium ion is really the future of our hobby (on the scenic flying side of things for now). I just built myself a 3s2p to use on my 5" freestyle rig (2600kv motors) and I fly it for close to 14 minutes! On 5 inches props! Max amp rating 60A burst which is very respectable, I fly at 80kmph in the mountains no problem.

[@NicolaGuerrera]

Very cool! What cells are you using?

[@beebakrizzle]

@@NicolaGuerrera I'm using Sony VTC6 cells for their high capacity and discharge rate.

[@NicolaGuerrera]

@@beebakrizzle Thank you very much! I'll definetly try them on my endurance build!

[@JustAnotherAlchemist]

Another option is LG HG2's; very similar cell to the Sony VTC6, just a different company. Do avoid ebay/Amazon for getting either of these though.18650 cells are an absurdly common item to have counterfeit. I got my HG2's from Liion wholesale. They are well known in the vaping community for providing legit cells. A bit pricey, and takes ages to get to you, but you can't put a price on avoiding immense disappointment and frustration. You CAN put a price on skin grafts, however.

[@beebakrizzle]

@@NicolaGuerrera Check out Philipp Seidel's blog for instructions on how to assemble a pack. Also nkon.nl is a legit reseller for Li-ion cells.

[@HughD]

Lee, I'm really enjoying this series. I took a look at the old Phantom 2 specs which has similar motors/props/battery specs and a claimed 25 minute flight time (I know DJI exaggerates flight time) but their listed weight including 5200 mAh battery is 1000 grams. So you're still considerably higher. One of your viewers already commented on the current frame weight, but look what DJI is doing and maybe learn from that?? Two or three years ago I tried building a flamewheel style quad using DJI Phantom motors and props and at that time was only getting maybe 16 minutes. I wasn't getting the results I wanted so quit and am now enjoying watching you go through the exercise. This is a good series. Good luck!

[@Painless360]

Phantoms and similar used moulded plastic to keep down the weight. I'm hoping we get more options for these kinds of builds as more of us demand them from manufacturers..

[@HughD]

i think there could be some weight savings on LiPo's by using as low of a C-rating as possible without getting into a voltage sag problem. Higher C-ratings being heavier, of course.

[@blackmennewstyle]

I would love to build a 15" quad like my Aerobros T41 back in the days but that market is pretty cold dead! Big quads are such interesting to fly in term of flight characteristics but with all the upcoming regulations i can understand people are targetting 5", 6", 7" quads for building endurance machines... Good luck with project and looking forward to the next videos of this serie :) Have a great weekend and keep on flying!

[@immortalsofar7977]

Lee, if you're really trying to drop weight consider getting carbon/balsa core arms. Massively lighter, and believe it or not, much stiffer, weight for weight. The balsa also helps dampen vibrations and you get an overall much more stable/smoother flying quad that wastes less power on constant motor corrections due to the vibrations.

[@Painless360]

I'm hoping that will stop see more choices for builds like this coming soon. I do think it could be a little bit lighter- the Motors are very heavy considering for the power they are using too..

[@leveckfamily8841]

I'm using a balsa plate and sandwich it with foam that i cut with a hot wire to give me an aerodynamic profile and then sheet that in carbon fiber. I end up with something that is SUPER LIGHT and nearly indestructible. I'm trying to move towards a design that will function as a lifting body. I want to be able to get some aerodynamic lift and try to get some "flat" forward flight using the props like a helicopter to fly on the rotor discs. It would be so much more efficient. My rotary wing aircraft like a helicopter starts flying on its disc it actually going that's why they call him rotary wings the pilot can actually decrease the collective and the power in forward flight you're flying on it like you're gliding on a wing. I think it'd be more efficient and allow lighter aircraft with smaller batteries to stay up a lot longer. Light is better for maneuverability light and agile fast zippy aircraft very aerobatic. Right now quads are using huge motors with multiple props swinging multiple blades with big heavy batteries to basically beat themselves into the air. And we could do it because the technology has advanced faster than the airframes.... and with the modern flight controllers new pilots didn't even have to learn how to fly... I'm not saying the things that you can do with our amazing because they are incredible but it's a whole different kind of flying there's nothing aerodynamic about it. We're just beating the air into submission by clawing and scraping our way across the sky, grabbing big gulps of air and pushing and throwing it behind us, fistfuls of it. I think it's time to take a step back and start working on more efficient airframes, maybe even something that will glide if I lose my motors.... Even a helicopter will auto rotate and they're just hanging from a pipe. Unless it's a chinook and they're hanging from two pipes. But having survived a crash into the sea in a Chinook I can tell you I don't put a lot of faith in them. Anyway I'm off on a tangent now.

[@actionguitar]

Take into account that LiIon cells will drop down to 2.5 V when you are trying to get the full specified charge (mAh) out of them. On a 3s LiIon this will end up in 7.5 V total which might be critical if not impossible to fly on a quad. That's why using 4s LiIon would probably be more appropriate with an end voltage of 10V.

[@kareemsalessi]

What is the minimum-TWR a drone could hover with ?? at 9:20 you have a 3:1. Is that the minimum??

[@Painless360]

The minimum aould be 2:1 with most modern quads having a lot more...

[@kareemsalessi]

@@Painless360 Thanks. So, with TWR

[@SimonA-vs5mh]

Looking forward to seeing the results of this build, keep up the great work. I tried out the 2.4 Furious on a Dock King yesterday, 0.6 Km with 99% reception with just a whip antenna on the quad, it's brilliant.

[@sricharan7287]

Searching for a video like this and got now!!!!

[@chrisshepherd8082]

Keep going with this it’s brilliant and fascinating to me. I would love to build something capable of longer flight times and better range. Great work man.

[@Blindman-k8c]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this project

[@Painless360]

Check the playlist - it’s flying but a few tweaks are needed.. :)

[@Kettenhund75]

Greetings! I looked up specs - the F450 flamewheel frame weighs in at 282g. The iFlight DC10 (the only 10" carbon frame I can find) weighs 310g. Other than the F450 not having mount holes for a 30.5x30.5 stack, is there a valid reason for not using the F450 frame?I plan on using the phantom motors on whatever 10" quad I build, as they are lighter than any other 2312 960kv motor I can find. I have an RDQ 4s 5000mah battery I will be flying. There will be other accessories I will use from time to time - GPS, fpv cam, gimbal, etc. What I am trying to decide is if it is worth swapping to a DC10 frame from the F450 I currently have. Can you shed some light on my predicament?

[@CJDavies]

I wonder how much weight is in those flat arms, compared to hollow round/square carbon tube arms that frames that size traditionally use?

[@Painless360]

Good question. I've spoken to the manufacturer about that but adding solid alloy/composite mounts for the body and motor that would be strong enough would a lot of weight back into it. I hope that we start to see far more options for frame and motors as more of us are after these products..

[@CJDavies]

I imagine square hollow arms like the RCExplorer tricopter would be the easiest/lightest solution, potentially not requiring any mounts at all (just bolting through top & bottom plate), but yes for the more common circular hollow arms the additional mounts would probably be counterproductive.

[@NicolaGuerrera]

I got hex-shaped arms on my new 8-9inch build.They seem much stronger than stock dji f450-f550 arms, and they are also 5grams lighter - not to mention they are really easy to adapt to different prop sizes.

[@northernflyer5311]

Nicola Guerrera Cool. Where did you find these?

[@NicolaGuerrera]

@@northernflyer5311 i 3d printed them. I'll share the design as soon as it's somewhat usable

[@MCsCreations]

Just finished watching, Lee! And, I probably already told you, but I'm going to build a TBS Discovery clone. The frame is a bit different, but I'm going to use the NAZA Lite, SimonK escs and so on. I'm going to put a FrSky X8R for now and maybe I replace it with a R9 in the future. Anyway, the battery is going to be a 4s 4500mAh, 2212 SunnySky motors (I think they're 980kv or 960kv, something like that) with 9" props. 😊 I still don't have a test rig here, otherwise I could test them for you. The idea is to put a gimbal in front of it to fly and record at my parent's farm. You know? But I think about building something like you are in the future. 😊 BTW, when I started build stuff for this quad last year my idea was to use the cheapest components possible. That's why I bought that frame, otherwise I would buy a real TBS one. But then a robbery entered here, hurt me and my mother, almost killed me (he hit my head with a hammer - luckily he only hurt my ear). So I said for myself "screw it, I'm going to build a good quad!"... You know?

[@Painless360]

Sorry to hear about that, I hope that you and the family are on the road to recovery. Nothing wrong with either approach IMHO. This one I'm making here is definitely a test rig and will no doubt end up with different code and pieces in the future..

[@MCsCreations]

@@Painless360 Sure, I agree totally. But... That kind of thing change the way you see the life. You know? But we are ok now, thank you! 😊

[@RobB_VK6ES]

probably a wise choice going with the DJI motor and props. [Never thought I would ever say that:) ] No doubt they ran all the permutations long ago. Have you seen Iforce2D's work with Ardupilot on F7 boards?

[@leveckfamily8841]

I have. He did a series on using Revo Mini with APM. I've got one but so far, no luck getting it to work. I need to revisit. It would be really cool to fly a 3 inch with all the autonomous capabilities.....

[@CharlySayz]

Loving this Lee, what's really funny to me is that I'm building mine using an old Q450 frame (Flamewheel copy with tougher arms) Fullsize Pixhawk with GPS etc. Just stuff I have lying around to save cash and Its more or less complete. Cant wait to compare results :)

[@Painless360]

There seems to be so many of us who are re-visiting the early days of quad copters using more modern components. Let’s hope suppliers and designers tap into this wave and give us much better options for frames and motors.

[@CharlySayz]

@@Painless360 I find it amazing that it was your videos I used for my first 450 build about 3yrs ago, how time flies. FPV was pretty rubbish and Gimbals were the big thing lol. My F450 pixhawk ended up weighing 2.2kg with Gimbal & Camera etc, I also had to jump to 4s to get it to take off lol. I did lots of testing and tried lots of props and eventually could fly for 22-25 mins with two 5200mah batteries. Was a bit of a monster 🤣

[@starhawke380]

You said something about hooking up GPS to this build using the SpeedyBee F4 controller. I cant seem to fins any good data on that combo. Is it capable of mission programming using waypoints or just useful as a failsafe return to home function? I like my pixhawk, but my brother is making me build him an aluminum frame and we would prefer a less expensive gps FC.

[@Painless360]

It's the all-in-one board I'm using. The manual for the all-in-one board shows the connections for the GPS. All covered in the next video, stay tuned.

[@Kettenhund75]

I am building one of these quads right now. I just received my HolyBro Kakute F7 v1.5 FC. I am using an iFlight Succex mini 40a 4-in-1 esc, but I do have a HolyBro Tekko32 45a 4-in-1 ESC available to use if you think that would be a better solution. I have a dozen or so of the DJI 2212 960kv motors, so I will be using those. I had planned on using my Flamewheel F450 frame until you mentioned how ugly and heavy they are. I noticed when I pulled it apart that the arms flex quite a bit in all directions. If I remember correctly, they are pretty fragile as well. This video is 2 years old. Is there a current frame you would suggest for this setup?

[@Painless360]

Nothing newer at the moment but there does seem to be more interest in the non-5" racing frames that seem to have been what most frame designers have been making fro the past 6 years.. I hope to see more options soon but nothing imminent that I've heard of..

[@Smt_Glaive]

When I get time I am gonna do a motor hunt. I have a feeling newer motor designs could make a significant change. I've been browsing the tmotor website recently and I came across some good new flat cake like motors meant for endurance builds. Hopefully they have smaller ones too.

[@Painless360]

If you find ones please let me know. I can find T-motor units that would be great but cost a lot..

[@MaciejWiniarczyk]

Probably the most efficient propellers for these motors are Master Airscrew 10x4.5. They are more expensive than other makes but well worth the price. I use them on my 480mm quad switching from DJI 9.5x4.7. Here is test comparison data against other props pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8e46/ce903050b3bd4220b9434e41f45ae49a0a68.pdf and link to props here www.masterairscrew.com/collections/mr-series/products/mr-series-10x4-5-propeller-set-x2-white I bought mine in the UK from Sussex Model Centrer on-line shop if you would like to try them.

[@LeonVuksic]

I run 2212 motors 980kv on 4s and get 30-35 min flight time with a 5Ah lipo, and the props are 1045 with a 4in1 20A esc and matek f405 fc

[@Painless360]

Cool! What’s the weight of the model and LIPO?

[@LeonVuksic]

@@Painless360 I don't have a scale so I cant tell, the battery is a Zippy 20c 5ah blue color one, motors are racerstar ones and the frame is a diatone q450 v3

[@NicolaGuerrera]

I have almost the same configuration on my old F450, 5Ah 4s lipo, DYS 2212 750kv w/ 10x4.5 prop and SP F3. My motors get VERY hot to the touch. I think that my old Hobbyking ESCs can't really handle the voltage.

[@LeonVuksic]

@@NicolaGuerrera did you check if your motor screws are too long?

[@Painless360]

I'm not sure that those motor can handle that sized prop on 4s.. Best of luck!

[@SimonA-vs5mh]

Lee, could you please tell me if I have made a mistake buying these items, do you feel they match? I bought - iFlight XL8 8 inch + EMAX LS2207 Lite Spec 2207 1900KV + Matek F405-CTR AIO Flight Controller + Matek GPS Module & Compass.. Just watching your INav tutorials, got to number 4, you really do brilliant explanations, very professional...Will watch the other 4 tomorrow. I just now feel I should have watched them before investing in possibly the wrong gear? Your input would be greatly appreciated.

[@Painless360]

I've not used all of those pieces. Check out the 7" endurance quad build, that's the closest to what youre looking at. Best of luck!

[@MikikiFPV]

Really interesting, can’t wait

[@comandernehal8567]

Sorry but I am having some trouble calculating my flight time. Can you kindly tell how you got 8.8 amps here. I am using emax-XA2212- 1400KV with 8.45 inch Propeller.

[@Painless360]

Its all in the video. You start with the weight of the model.. best of luck

[@Billbobaker]

I still fly a David Windestål tricopter with wood arms and get pretty decent flight times.. I use cheap props that jellow with a Gopro but it's a blast to fly at night as it's loaded with hundreds of bright shiny ledsstrips

[@kalinkha]

looking forward mate, cheers!!!

[@ChrisBalmforth]

I really like what you're trying to do with this project Lee, but this latest video puzzles me a bit! Your thrust tests and calculations show that the 10" quad will give around the same endurance as your previous 7" quad using the same battery, and presumably the 7" version will show the same improvement using the Li-Ion battery. So, what is the advantage of a larger, heavier and presumably more expensive unit?

[@Painless360]

That’s what we’re finding out. Until I did this video we didn’t know that did we :)

[@ChrisBalmforth]

Point taken! Thanks Lee.

[@wildbill4680]

Chris Balmforth the proof will be in the flight tests 🤪 it’s all theory at the moment 👍

[@dempa3]

Great stuff as always! I have rwo questions: What makes you switch from the 4 in1 ESCs to "regular" ESCs in this model? Additiobally I wonder if perhaps the li-ion batteries are less sensitive than the li-pos. Could one discharge them more than 80% safely?

[@Painless360]

1) lack of space inside the frame 2) stay tuned ;)

[@dempa3]

Great! Thanks!

[@ds3656]

Won't you be able to drain the Li-Ion batteries lower that you can the Lipo? You also could shave off a bit of weight by getting flynoceros to cut you some shorter arms?

[@NGAGEFPV]

3.0v per cell is nice. some manufacturers state as low as 2.5v. but I'm running them down to a resting 3.2v without anything to report

[@jirx7]

What’s the weight saving on this compared to the old flame wheel frame.

[@alchemicalanarchist]

I got 10 mins flight time on a 2205 motor with 5x4x3 props and a 1500 mah battery. Why cant I just put a huge 3s battery under the quad and get 20 mins of flight time. Sure it wont have as much thrust because the battery is heavy but wont it fly a lot longer? I mean you dont want thrust if you are just buzzing around. Like that Diatone model that has really long flight times. What happens if you put that 3700 mah 3s lipo on it? 25 min flight times?

[@Jpilgrim30]

Try out the furiousFPV stealth 2.4ghz transmitter. Been thinking about getting one to swap out my tbs unify 2g4 with. It has 16 channels and selectable up to 800mw

[@Painless360]

That's the plan, I have one and the Rx on order due here next month.. Can't wait! :D

[@northernflyer5311]

Painless360 How about 1.3 for video.?

[@marko5766]

The DJI prop beat the Graupner at hover, but it looked like the Graupner was more efficient at throttle settings above the hover point.

[@denniskatinas]

Cool project! I'm going to take a seat here. I know this is an endurance, but how long could it fly at 100% thrust and more importantly for me, at what top speed? I'm looking for 125 mph / 12min flight time...

[@Painless360]

Not that fast - to be tested but I'd expect in the 50-60mph. You'd need to look at something with more powerful motors and sports props for that..

[@denniskatinas]

@@Painless360 thanks thats still great pace. Is there any motor config coming to mind?

[@nucleo1772]

so what was the total of fly time? do you have the video? Nice job Painles :)

[@georgitushev]

Next on line for that frame:)

[@Matt-re8bt]

It's interesting you've chosen a 3S rig. I had always understood you could get greater efficiency if you chose a higher voltage (eg 6S) and a deeper pitch prop.

[@Painless360]

I want to play with LI-ion so this works. Also, the exotic lower KV motors needed for 6s are EXPENSIVE!! :)

[@northernflyer5311]

Painless360 These aren’t too bad: www.myrcmart.com/rcx-be360815-460kv-24n18p-outrunner-brushless-motor-designed-for-multicopter-free-mounts-high-quality-p-6239.html

[@scott7344]

Hey painless360, really interested in how much each arm weighs individually.

[@Painless360]

Not sure, if I ever take it apart I’ll weigh it..

[@wildbill4680]

Ardupilot ChiBios for the win 👍👍👍👍

[@wiccanfpv]

The kakute f7 does support inav

[@Painless360]

Look how old the video is. Things change fast...

[@pk10006]

Nice review! I wish there were more endurance flights on youtube. Everyone is just focusing on racing and power with extremely low efficiency which is sad.

[@Painless360]

Then you are in the right place. More videos coming soon, check out the Endurance quad builds already on the channel.

[@jplo5299]

Hi P360, I'd just like to say I have one of those 'hideos' flamewhel 450 drones :) and they are Top for me..then again I've not progressed from CC3D. Returning to basics is great..I have 935kv motors Emax with a 3300map battery... and after some research they work great with 30amp ESCs no matter SimonK or BL Heli. what is important is the configuration..and if you have more wobble from the PID's then the flight time will be reduced...it's about the build quality and the configuration set up equally...

[@Painless360]

That original kit is still very capable. Great to hear you’re having fun with it, let’s hope we can get some modern components that will give us even better flying experiences for longer to.Thanks for posting, happy flying!!

[@jplo5299]

Thankyou! Thanks for the great tutorials and reviews! :)

[@nikleiser5888]

Why dont you fly with 4S ?

[@Painless360]

I do now, and 6s...Happy flying

[@kral5932]

You should try the RCtimer sl2212 920kv motors, they are very efficient. Although they do take a while to ship to the uk. You should also try 4s, it can be more efficient sometimes, and also a bugger battery, I use an 8000mah 4s on my hex, maybe you should try a 5000mah 4s.

[@youpattube1]

Hello - I am very interested in this project, but am also slightly confused. A few weeks ago you interviewed a buddy of yours that flies drones for a living, and I thought I heard him say he could stay up for 4 hours. If that is the case, I don't quite get why you are struggling to get 35 minutes. Or did I misunderstand what he said ?

[@Painless360]

I'd recheck that video, he definitely didn't say anything about 4 hours with a multirotor like this...

[@youpattube1]

I did check on it. In part 1 of the interview, at 10:20 he did say 4 hour flight time (when you were discussing lipo vs liion) but he was referring to his fixed wing. Still ....

[@Painless360]

Yep, see my video on Li-ion in planes. Fixed wing will always give you a huge advantage over mutli-rotors. My little ZOHD Dart FPV wing can fly for over 35 mins on a 850mAh 3S LIPO, you can't do that on a quad :D

[@youpattube1]

By any chance, did you ask him what duration he got from the big korillian jobs ?

[@ijustwants]

I guess i need to make a video of my quad now. 1 hours 36 mins and landed with 20% battery. I will share a link soon :)

[@Painless360]

You definitely do! There needs to be more content on this subject. Please let me know when you’ve made it.. happy flying!

[@northernflyer5311]

Love to see more info.

[@silbernersurfer8264]

My recommendation is to use a 2212 motor with around/below 500kv on 4s. Use a 10x3.3 CF prop (Lower pitch means less performance, but higher efficiancy for endurance.). Build your own light weight wooden H-frame (around 100g). Use the smallest possible ESC's. Use the lightest electronics possible. Build evrything together. Test the motor/prop combination for max thrust. Divide the max thrust from all 4 motors together by 2 for hovering thrust. Hovering thrust minus weight of quad will give you the weight for the batt. Choose a 4s Multistar LiHV batt with this weight. You can also use 3s Multistars. You have to use more kv then. And the max 3s available is 5200mAh. Thats why I would say a 4s is better. They are available up to 10.000mAh. Maybe more, dont know.

[@Painless360]

If you can link me to a motor of that specification that doesn't cost a fortune than that sounds like a great plan.

[@silbernersurfer8264]

Maybe this one? 83g, 460kv or 630kv. www.dys.hk/product/BE3608.html

[@silbernersurfer8264]

hobbyking.com/de_de/turnigy-multistar-3525-650kv-14pole-multi-rotor-outrunner.html

[@silbernersurfer8264]

hobbyking.com/de_de/3508-580kv-turnigy-multistar-14-pole-brushless-multi-rotor-motor-with-extra-long-leads.html

[@silbernersurfer8264]

Sorry, I wasent able to find a 2212 with low kv!

[@flyt129]

With that little Ampere drawn from the motors you can also go for a FC, PDB, ESC All-In One solution to save some additional grams. At first I thought about the KISS, but there is no inav for that, so I had a look at getfpv and saw some that might work: www.getfpv.com/electronics/electronic-flight-controllers/aio-all-in-one-fc.html

[@Painless360]

Great idea. Thanks for the post!

[@flyt129]

You are welcome! Just had an additional idea if there are no inav targets for those AIO FCs a 20x20 4in1 ESC should weight about one normal ESC and would work as well. Not much weight saved, but every gram counts in the end. A friend of mine even cut the screws on his motor directly above the propnuts to save 2g per motor.

[@JustAnotherAlchemist]

Cool project. I, too, am interested in endurance multi-rotor, and (hint to vendors) would be willing to buy related goods if they existed. MIT, if I remember correctly, was doing a multi-rotor endurance project of their own using a hybrid topology that was quite interesting. It's much the same philosophy as modern hybrid cars; run an internal combustion engine at peak efficiency, then use the shaft power to turn a generator. The idea is to tap into a liquid fuel's substantially higher (1 to 2 orders of magnitude!) energy density. Never mind 30-40 minuets, try 4-5 hours!!!! Theoretically, with low demand and something large enough to absorb/retain electrical power, the hybrid gen could be totally turned off. In practice, there is no such thing as low demand for a quad; even just hovering takes substantial energy. No... it's really about all that energy density. So much so that I intend to do something of my own if possible. I envision using a modern nitro engine on an oversized in-runner (or custom alternator/generator) as the hybrid generator, combined with a custom uC + sensors + electrical-mechanical system to regulate the engine. I've seen some cheap ~300 gram RC car nitro's quoted at 2.5+ shaft HP, which equates to around 2000 watts. Combine that with a ~300g EDF in runner and 300g worth of fuel, 100g worth of control/electronics, and you're looking at 1Kg in weight for 2000 watts worth of power plant. Assuming 700g for the rest, and 200 watts per Kg for hover, you would have a 1.7Kg aircraft with ~1600 extra watts to spare. Totally doable... but then... we already knew fuel could fly. :)

[@TheQaczek]

go for li ion man in these sizes its best

[@NGAGEFPV]

So the previous 7" build you did inspired me. So I made a 7" myself that quickly became a 9" using what now turns out to be a very similar motor/prop and now battery combo as you are here . Multistar 2213-935kv DJI 9" props Stretched martian II cross iflight Frame to make 9" Samsung 30q x8 (4s2p) =6000mah around 8C 35m47s :) Running the cells down to a resting voltage of 3.2v AUW is a little heavier at 1120g But I have loads of stuff on board . GPS tracker, 9w headlight ect.

[@chrisjames9150]

thanks for all the great videos,my first build was a endurance quad using a alien 560 frame from hobby king love the look of the frame but the legs were way to weak,ended up buying another frame and using the legs to double up to sturdy the legs.since I had a second frame decided to build a second quad found some dji s800 motors to put on it. the specs say 17 inch props max but was wondering if 18 inch props would work? since the release of inav been thinking of revisiting that build with more modern equipment. what flight controller and esc's would you recommend for a gps build?

[@Painless360]

Most modern flight controllers work great. Make sure it has exposed i2c pins for the compass and you’re good. I’d have used a F4 AIO Holybro for the vibration isolated IMU if I’d had the space in the frame..

[@alexis9200]

How about the weight of the 3s2p 6000MAh pack ?

[@NGAGEFPV]

There about 48-50g per cell so in lee's case 6x 50g = 300g

[@Painless360]

Thanks for answering that. It’s a very close estimate! More in the LI-ion pack when we get to the testing..

[@Smt_Glaive]

If you beat the 25-30 minute mark... You would've done it fantastic

[@Painless360]

I'm hoping so - there is a little more work to do to have it flying buttery smooth and have the GPS RTH fail-safe solid before the test. I cover that all in the next video..

[@MCsCreations]

Why the hell didn't I see this video before? O.o

[@Painless360]

It’s still not published :) this is why mooching in my playlists allows you to spot videos before they are released..

[@MCsCreations]

@@Painless360 Oh! Really nice, didn't know that! 😃

[@goobisoft4873]

I myself fly big quads dont line small quads annoying prop sounds and big motor are really hard to find everyone Making small motors esc flight controller etc

[@ericwil76]

Yeah that frame is crap and holding you back. You need a single layer not multi layer multi piece frame with a foam or honeycomb core. You can make a feather light stiff frame doing this ditch the overly robust quad racer style frame.

[@Painless360]

I think 'crap' is a bit harsh. Happy for you to suggest a better alternative..

[@ericwil76]

@@Painless360 I was attempting to be sardonic really meant nothing by it love your channel. Your going to have to go high tech to lose weight on that frame.