Unil whatt % battery you fly

t2adze · Jan 22, 2016

When do you land? I usually after 30% low battery warning signal, descend the craft and fly low to ground and close to me a lil bit more. So i land at around 16-20% is it ok?

robinb · Jan 22, 2016

It is but give yourself time and you do NOT want auto land to kick in as most people panic and then things go horribly wrong.

happydays · Jan 22, 2016

It depends what's being filmed - and if it's a one off (like a train going over a bridge or similar) then stay out as long as possible. There's only one chance to get a good shot! Under test conditions and normal use come back in, when the first warning goes off come back in and land. One every 30 flights or so, I take it down to 8% by hovering and holding the throttle up to keep it in place. Makes hand catching a wee bit interesting.

Here's one of the stay-out clips.

robinb · Jan 22, 2016

Is that Thomas the Tank engine ?

Do you have warp capability to zap from each side of bridge as well ?

happydays · Jan 22, 2016

It was done with 5 aircraft - 2 V+ and 3 P3As. We were expecting it to be a lot slower as the few miles up to the viaduct is on a fairly steep incline and there is a station about half a mile after the crossing. However, he was on full beans and was across the viaduct in about 10 seconds!

robinb · Jan 22, 2016

That explains it, but was it TTT engine ?

happydays · Jan 22, 2016

Yes. Of course.

alokbhargava · Jan 22, 2016

t2adze said:
When do you land? I usually after 30% low battery warning signal, descend the craft and fly low to ground and close to me a lil bit more. So i land at around 16-20% is it ok?

This is ok if you have left the battery warning and critical level settings at 30and 10%

tcope · Jan 22, 2016

I try to be at the landing point or very close at 30% battery. I don't know that I've ever pushed landing past 20% battery. I see nothing wrong with landing at 20% but at that 10% is a safety buffer. I've been in situations were I've needed that buffer, hence the few times I've touched down at 20%.

I think the bigger issue is the design of a lipo battery. They give high voltage for a maximum time and then drop off _very_ quickly. Granted, this drop off probably won't happen until 8% or 5%.

PJ Orlando · Jan 22, 2016

I have my warning at 20% and critical at 15%. About 70% of the time I land above 30% remaining; it just all depends.

shockwave199 · Jan 22, 2016

Usually between 30-40%. Often I land in the low 40's because I've had a long enough flight to be satisfied and since I never know when the heck I'm gonna fly that battery again I prefer the storage charge for a possible extended time be 40% and not much lower.