Low Batt Flying

[bigfish2]

Hello all. 1+ month owner/ lurker, now addicted (and my wife thought the fly fishing was bad) Ultimate goal is a river flight up the Chattahoochee near me. My experiences to date is of you fly out to marginal visual range and the battery power goes down (LED warning from afar) it seems to go down hard..is this normal? I flew it straight up the other night and killed the Tx...she seemed to float down fine but landed hard? Stock machine...recalibrated/ upgraded once...2000 m really ?

 

[Peter Patricelli]

Not exactly sure what you are saying/asking. I don't understand the "2000m" reference. But, the normal sequence of warnings which begins with red light warnings gives you, depending on your load, between one and 2 minutes before the weakening throttle power begins. If you keep flying eventually almost total cutoff will occur and it will be abrupt.

No sure what is happening to you but the best way to find out I to go out on a test run and just hover in front of yourself, time the flight, and time when the red lights start flashing, when the throttle thrust begins weakening. You could, hovering inches off the round, keep going until power off but that might be damaging to the battery. You certainly want the bird back and in front of you before the throttle power weakens.

If yours is not playing within usual time frames then you either have a bad battery, a bad charger, or a bad bird electronics. A battery voltage reader will tell you what your charged voltage IS and read the discharge level after your flight.

The hover test will tell you whether your system is normal or not, and the voltage tester will tell you whether the charger o battery have problems.

I would recommend sticking with fly fishing....it is infinitely less frustrating.

 

[bigfish2]

OK so basically its up to me to feather her in at low batt time, she will not take over and ease herself in. 2000m ref...when I recalibrated on line...it also upgraded me to a 2000m control distance...correct v?

 

[Peter Patricelli]

"OK so basically its up to me to feather her in at low batt time, she will not take over and ease herself in"

Ah.........yes! What the bird itself will do.......is what you are complaining about. It was never intended to be a "smart" bird than knows when it is time to come home...and do so flawlessly. Even the Return To Home (RTH) feature will run into trees in the way...or run out of battery if started too late in a battery cycle. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to know what you general flight time will be and to start preparing/looking/returning for a landing when you know the red lights are going to start flashing. And if you want a soft, controlled landing...you need to do it yourself. All the other features are just one crude step better than a totally dumb bird that will fly endlessly in any direction until the battery simply quite altogether....and then drop like a rock!.

 

[fizzviic]

Gee, how hard is it to find a nice cheap kitchen countdown timer with really big numbers that you can velcro to your transmitter to tell you when to fly it home?

 

[Peter Patricelli]

I think we had a very basic misunderstanding as to what the bird will and won't do and what the flyer must do. That said, you should know that the two landing options are on the ground or a surface of your choice. Land softly, bu the last foot or so can get squirrely due to ground effect, reflection of the wind stream back up into the bird. Then turn off motors by putting throttle in full down position and holding it for 3 seconds...the motor will stop...

OR .....bring the bird to a hover in front of you, reaching out and grabbing a leg and holding on while you throttle down and turn off. The latter avoids the risk of landing hard or on uneven ground and tipping...which can chip a prop. Really, grabbing out of the air is easier and safer than landing on ground.... with stock landing gear anyways.

 

[viper102]

I have had a couple of instances of a hard landing until I read about this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_ring_state

Descending straight down puts the aircraft into it's own propwash. In this unstable air it tries to stabilize but with a depleted battery the power is just not available to stabilize the decent and it comes down hard.

I have not had a hard landing since I followed the advice in the Wiki and have been flying the aircraft down on a slope rather than allowing it to come straight down.

 

[bigfish2]

Thanks all. I'm sorry for any confusion. I guess what I am asking in a low batt/ no Tx situation she will not automatically throttle down and land softly?

 

[miskatonic]

Thanks all. I'm sorry for any confusion. I guess what I am asking in a low batt/ no Tx situation she will not automatically throttle down and land softly?

If you have the low voltage protection set in the Naza software set then yes it will auto land at a certain point. But you should be landing on your own long before this occurs.

 

[bigfish2]

Got it. I only saw it once and I just didn't know if it was SOP. I do land on my own and I do get 10 minutes per batt with a standard set up/ GoPro 3+

 

[martcerv]

If you lose radio it will come back to home but if you reach 2nd level battery setting it will autoland where it is. If your flying out of range at close to your max flight time your just asking for trouble so a timer and flying so you are back hope with a minute or 2 to spare is best practice I think.