I don't know how you guys do it...

[PJA]

I'm evolving... Just like everyone in this hobby. It's slow, but I am learning as I go along and taking one small step at a time.

That being said, I have had my Phantom in the air since June... Crashed, rebuilt it and have recently flown again this week for a few flights. So today I decided to try my Goodluckbuy Gimbal @ 190 grams (because I can't afford the Zenmuse) on the Phantom. I used a very small 7.4 volt battery to run the gimbal, because everyone is saying how you lose minutes on the battery as you add to it. I also flew with my PocketFinder for peace of mind (in case of a FlyAway). I'm sure it's lighter than a Garmin GTU 10. See photo below.

I had to KICK the transmitter lever up full throttle to get this thing off the ground. You could actually see it struggling in the beginning, however, I did get some height and the Phantom was very nimble in the air... I was surprised. However, I didn't expect to see the red light warning for the battery so soon... I'm use to 7 to 8 minutes.... I've even squeezed out close to 10 minute flights on a battery... I only got 4 mins 40 sec of flight time on one battery and @4 minutes on another... What a difference with the extra weight.

How do you guys add FAT Sharks and heavier landing gear and extra batteries and other add-ons and get this thing in the air for any decent length of time? I'm running Stock Battery, Stock Landing Gear, Carbon Fiber 8" Props with Prop Guards and a GoPro...

I saw a 2500 mah battery on eBay that claims you can get 20 minutes flight time on a DJI Phantom... Is that possible? (http://www.ebay.com/itm/350836606473?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Oh, and my gimbal worked flawlessly... Very steady!

PocketFinder and 7.4 volt battery for gimbal... The only added extra weight besides the gimbal and GoPro...

 

[martcerv]

What is your total weight with batteries? Every gram you add will have an effect and reduce lift or take more power to maintatin lift. Its a bit of an art form to balance weight battery capacity and lift via props to get the most out of your setup. Adding extra batteries arent always going to help and if you use a big heavy battery to power the gimbal this may take more load off your battery then the gimbal would take by needing to also lift this extra battery.

No way a 2500mah will get 20 minutes out of a phantom either it may give an extra minute but thats it.

 

[DeweyAXD]

What on earth is that big white lump above that batt? I just posted on DJI guys about flight weights for a person that was asking: http://www.djiguys.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1753
You really need to get you Phantom on some scales as Martcerv suggests. Garmin GTU10 = 50g so 10g heavier than PF.

So a few questions - what battery charger do you have and how do you store your batts? Why i ask? The stock charger has no storage mode so people end up leaving batts either very low or fully charged.... Neither are good for batt life.

Fpv kit is actually pretty light weight and the TXs are max 600mw which is nothing like as draining as say a gimbal motor. Gimbals are the hungry beasts. I'd say u were running maybe 1.15kg with that kit. 190g for the gimbal needs checking on scales....just in case it is a little more. You should get maybe 6 mins tops on a fresh batt but u won't likely get any higher. What altitude do u live at too? If you live high up the air will lower flight times it seems.

 

[marcus_canada]

What on earth is that big white lump above that batt?

Yea, what the heck IS that ?!?!?!

 

[PJA]

What on earth is that big white lump above that batt?

A PocketFinder GPS System... Equivalent to a Garmin GTU 10 (somewhat)...

So a few questions - what battery charger do you have and how do you store your batts? Why i ask? The stock charger has no storage mode so people end up leaving batts either very low or fully charged.... Neither are good for batt life.

A Titan B6... Been using it for the last 3 years... It has storage, charge, discharge, balance etc...

You really need to get you Phantom on some scales as Martcerv suggests.

You are right... Today's mission is to find a metric scale to weigh my Phantom add-ons instead of going by what the listings say... e.g. Goodluckbuy lists the gimbal as 190 grams...