RC Airplane Endurance build explained

Big thank you to Spike at FPVREVIEWS for his advice and informative videos!
One of my first long endurance electric powered RC airplane flights.

[@AndrewNewton]

Stunning flight and loved the day / night cut.

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Thanks Andrew! Your videos are awesome! I really appreciate how well you compare all of the common banggood gliders. The P2K is one of the best planes that I have ever flown. I can't say much about the Phoenix 2400 because it has spent most of its life in RTL mode. I was thinking that you could program a plane like the P2K to fly for a very, very long time by flashing your F-405 Wing FC with arduplane. (I think that you could use inav, but arduplane is better at throttle management) Here is a great "how to flash F-405 wing arduplane" video that I followed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaesY32mZ6-EqZI You could design a "mission" in mission planner that has two points. You place those points at the end of a straight section of your slope soaring hill (or multiple points along a curved section). You can adjust the altitude of those points, and uncheck the box that says "RTL after completion" . You would flip into "auto mode" and the plane would just fly back and forth between those two points until you take manual control to land. It it gets too low, it would use power to climb. When it gets pushed upward, it would decrease/cut the power and push the nose down to maintain the preset altitude (of those two points). In theory, it would fly for as long as the wind blows favorably.

[@rektrc1142]

Hey it's Mr. Newton! Love your videos as well.

[@contraptionsandcrashes]

I like the design. Simple yet elegant. Great job!

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Thank you! 😊

[@jojo42069]

Loved that effect as well with the night time.

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Glad you liked it too! 😁

[@sarahdaviscc]

That is a cool jump cut! Very well aligned!

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Thanks! 😄

[@MasboyRC]

Awesome !! Your plane so heavy but can fly perfectly. Love it 👍

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Thanks 👍 I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

[@FPVREVIEWS]

First of all, congrats on the flight. It's a great accomplishment regardless of exactly how you look at records. I'm pretty sure there have been some other aircraft fly longer on electric power, for instance several of the solar powered aircraft that are capable of staying aloft for multiple days have to fly through the night, and during that time of 8-10 hours, (depends on time of year and latitude) have had no solar power available, so had to rely on battery power. helios, solar impulse 1 and 2, and Atlantik solar . Now it gets complicated, because the majority of them use altitude gained during sunlight hours to gain altitude, and use that potential energy to at least partially power the aircraft during the night, by letting the aircraft descend, even if partially under power. So it's a mixed bag, and your approach of using no solar cells takes out most of the guess work from the data collection. there is still thermal activity, and some people have had great success in programing the auto;ilot to take advantage of it, teaching it to thermal, in effect. That, however, is also unpredictable, as is solar power at low altitudes. fun to play with, and think about though, and hard to measure. Let me also point out that my demo was a utility aircraft (although with no payload, as yours) and using a battery which allowed it to carry several pounds of payload. (although a larger aircraft) and has fixed tricycle gear. I also flew it on a very windy day, so probably would have had better efficiency if i had better weather, also without autopilot. I could carry a bigger battery, so it's likely that it could fly longer. (perhaps your's could carry a larger battery too?) At any rate, does not matter to me to argue, as comparing any aircraft with another is almost always comparing apples to oranges, all depends on how much detail you get into.. My point is, i'm happy that you flew longer, and look forward to seeing you fly even longer in the future! if i can help in any way... not sure if you have plans to my design? if not, i'll be happy to share with you. If you build it or not, does not matter, but perhaps there is something to be learned. the high aspect ratio is for the reasons you stated, but also has to do with having a smaller drag penalty for the wingtip vortex. I'm sure that the wingtips you are using help for that too. for my V-2 i decided to keep constant chord, to simplify building for scratch builders, and kit builders. a more sophisticated wing design would fare better, such as the one you are using. the emphasis on low compression of a large amour of air is something that is so important to almost all aspects of any type of aircraft design, and so few people seem to know about. they tend to be successful mostly by copying other successful designs, so nice to see a first-principles approach on your part. another key to endurance is getting the optimal angle of attack for the wing, and the prop blades. well, happy to see the record beaten, and look forward to more! BTW i have a new version partly built, 4+meter span, with retractable gear.. i can send pics if you want.. [e-mail] ping me, as i don't want to share in public yet. and thanks for the shout out in the description! i'm flattered.

[@rohankatreddy3260]

Thank you for sharing your project. It gives me hope mine will work too.

[@MatthewHeiskell]

You can do it!

[@dsemolian3071]

That is VERY cool!! Congratulations!!!

[@Jdogdrums7]

60 watts of cruise power seems pretty good! Especially considering the 30mph cruise speed and how much battery payload you had.

[@sUASNews]

Very pretty machine, well done

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Many thanks!

[@Kennydrone]

I really love this and am looking forward to make my first endurance plane also

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Go for it! The Phoenix 2400 is a great plane!

[@Kennydrone]

@@MatthewHeiskell am working on my own design currently but I don't have good battery for endurance flight only have a lipi 4s 3000mah and I need some thing of 22000mah to ba able to stay at least an hour or 2 on air

[@jojo42069]

I also found, that going a little bit on the high power high speed side with the Prop, Motor and Battery configuration. It cruises at a lower Throttle and very good speed

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Nice! Whatever works for you! It's all about testing new combos and doing test flights.

[@yerffejmurffy]

Great video! This video also works well as a white noise maker.

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Thanks, I think, haha.

[@eligaga]

Amazing!

[@rohankatreddy3260]

I am planning on making a plane of something like yours, except mine with a custom flight controller and solar panels.

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Cool idea!

[@rohankatreddy3260]

@@MatthewHeiskell Hello thanks for replying. I am 13 and don't have an idea on fuselarge construction could you give me the dimensions of your diy fuselarge. keep making more videos, Thanks in advance :)

[@rohankatreddy3260]

I am not great at physics. But i do like planes and coding thus, I am trying to make an autopilot system using python on an rpi!

[@MatthewHeiskell]

@@rohankatreddy3260 Oh wow! You should check out "Experimental Airlines" He build with dollar tree foam board, packing tape, and hot glue gun. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJfZZWSOiN1nj68

[@rohankatreddy3260]

@@MatthewHeiskell Thank you very much

[@AChicken-sh1gc]

damn the audio sounds like my 25mw fpv signal behind trees

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Haha nice!

[@AChicken-sh1gc]

@@MatthewHeiskell sry if i was mean and the video is really good its just the audio and i learnd something from this vid wich rarely happens ... so imma build my 1.5m 2.5cc disel long range 2 stroke airplane and put it at 4km alt so the feds come visit me XD but ofc only in minecraft

[@SandraSantos-rp6yl]

Your plane is amazing, the local police department should adopt it for neighborhood patrol, it’s inconspicuous and has a longer flight time than a drone 👍🏾

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Thanks! 😄

[@yalmadiable]

Hey man great work. Do you have the drawing for this design I want to make one to try 😄

[@MatthewHeiskell]

I think that I saved the sketch up drawing for the fuselage design. It is a flite test style design. Would you like that?

[@yalmadiable]

@@MatthewHeiskell yes that would be fine

[@MatthewHeiskell]

@@yalmadiable Ok, what is your email address?

[@coltenpulis3347]

How much wind?

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Pretty low wind, 5-7mph.

[@mannyN54]

How many amps can you continuously discharge from that battery you made ?

[@MatthewHeiskell]

That's a great question! I used Sanyo NCR18650GA cells in the 4s6p pack. Each cell can deliver 10 amps continuously, and there are groups of 6 cells connected in parallel, so the whole pack can discharge 60 Amps continuously at 4s voltage (14.4V).

[@mannyN54]

@@MatthewHeiskell Thanks for the reply. I'm making my first battery for my first long range build and this video helped out a lot. Nice build 👍

[@nasergorgesttani858]

Hello ✋great job! Which motor you are using exactly? Which brand? Which diameter? Kv? Thank you

[@MatthewHeiskell]

D3648-700KV w/Motor Shaft from HobbyKing

[@nasergorgesttani858]

@@MatthewHeiskell Thank you very much🔥

[@qaswedfrewq717]

Would 6s setup increase the effiency?

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Yes, I think that would help.

[@kermets]

Because your guys dont read your subs post I moswell talk to myself and state your plane is not very economical if you used 16500ma over 85.5 miles thats 192ma per mile or 121ma per kilometre my S800 used 2861ma for 32.3 kilometers thats 88.5 ma per K. that’s about 37% more efficient.... but you did a good job packing your plane with heaps of battery’s, I think the goal to skite for endurance would be more how low you could get the mahs over distance low as possible

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Hi Kermets! Your S800 is 37% more efficient, but my plane flew 327% farther. Your Corolla gets better gas mileage, but my Camry has a much larger gas tank. If you want to fly far and long, then you need a lot of batteries. That extra weight hurts your mah per km, but it is necessary. For every plane, there is a certain amount of batteries to carry for maximizing endurance, and also a slightly more amount of batteries to carry to maximize distance/range. Adding more batteries to your wing will hurt your mah per km. Switching to Li-Ion cells (NCR18650GA) will give you 44% more energy for the same exact weight. Keeping your weight the same, means that your mah per K will stay the same.

[@fazrulrusdi3709]

Maybe you can try with several battery weight and plot the auw over efficiency.. Maybe from there we can the sweetspot for these plane.. If we want the endurance we need to sacrifice the range.

[@tahanprahara]

would you like to share the plane plane? thank you

[@MatthewHeiskell]

I built the fuselage from scratch, but the most important thing is the wing. Just order a Phoenix 2400.

[@adarsfpv]

Can I know more about batteries and autopilot system please. Where did you got those batteries!? Please help me !!!

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Hello, the flight controller is a Matek F-405 Wing. It can run the default easy to use inav, or you can flash it to use the more complicated, but powerful arduplane software. I recommend inav. Next you need some endurance Li-Ion batteries. IMRbatteries.com is my favorite source. The standard endurance cell is the NCR18650GA it has an excellent energy to weight ratio. www.imrbatteries.com/sanyo-ncr18650ga-3500mah-10a-flat-top-battery/ if you buy these it will be cheaper, but you will have to build the pack with a spot welder or very hot soldering iron. Another option is to buy a prebuilt pack from Titan. www.gettitanpower.com/collections/endurance/products/7-0ah-14-8v-160w-endurance I had the equivalent of three of those Titan packs in my plane at the time.

[@adarsfpv]

@@MatthewHeiskell thanks a lot 😊 And can I know which motor ,ESC, prop were used there.? Actually I am working on solar plane with tarrot 380kv 18 inch Prop on 4s on custom made plane with 2500 mm wingspan

[@adarsfpv]

@@MatthewHeiskell can I get more flight time with that setup

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Wow, you should be able to get some killer endurance with that plane that you're building. I posted another video where I got 4 hours and 44 minutes. I was using the Phoenix 2400, 28xx propdrive v2 motor 800kv version with a 13x6.5 prop and a DYS BLheli 30A esc. Keep in mind that your ESC should not have a low voltage cut off

[@adarsfpv]

@@MatthewHeiskell thanks a lot Oh yeah ESC

[@rabaranwer9752]

What is the motor and prop?

[@MatthewHeiskell]

12x6 APC and 800kV motor