Walkera launches hybrid drive in April

[Brutaly]

This will stir up things tbh.

Just got this from Walkera rep and she stated that this would go into production i April.

Range Extender | GeneratorSmart that has designed the drive promises 2 hours flight time and the ability to turn charging on and off in mid air. So basically you turn off the engine/power source when you want silence and turn it on when you need more power. Built in battery so you just refuel alcohol and no external charging is needed but can be done.

1495 dollars for the copter with no gimbal and camera but RTF. I think this was to cheap so i asked for a clarification so its just not the hybrid drive .

Supercool but at the same time disturbing since i been building my own gas electric driven X8 for the last 6 months and is maybe 2000 dollars and 3 months away from 2 hours flight time. Lol, will drop the project and buy this....

 

[Brutaly]

More info.

$1499 is just for the hybrid drive.

It can be hooked up to any drone.

It plugs into the drone in parallel with the battery.

It has a Y connector for the positive and negative so you plug our unit into the drone and the battery.

You might need to solder on the correct connectors for your drone and battery but that is all you will need to do.

The units is smart and totally automatic. It will auto-start and stop and will turn off when the lipo battery is fully charged.

Right now it is set up to work with 6s lipo batteries at around 26V.

 

[bbfpv]

lol I can't imagine flight distance not being limited by the battery, but by the control signal range instead. interesting times.

 

[alokbhargava]

Interesting. I will buy one.

 

[Brutaly]

Here is the down side. Its alkohol and nitro that propels it.

So its not cheap to fly with it and since it delivers about 1500w the engine is approx 3000w. This is one huge glow engine so it wont be silent at all. A Saito 120 consumes about 3kg fuel per hour at full throttle and these hybrid systems should be operated at about 65% throttle for best efficiency. So lets say it burns approx 1,5kg fuel per hour.

This means your drone need to be able to carry at least 3kg payload for the drive it self and fuel. At cruise speed the energy consumption should be max the power output of the drive (1500w) and the battery should mainly be used for adjusting (peak current) the copter in the air.

So i say low KV motors, <400, and large propellers. Minimum 15 inches but preferably about 22 inches. On a quad i would go for something like this:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...tor_With_Extra_Long_Leads.html?strSearch=4014

On a octa or X8 rctimer has the 5010 360KV that would fit very well tbh and its a bagain. I use this in the copter i built this autumn/winter and its a very nice motor.

 

[Brutaly]

The small one Dry weight is 12 lbs, it won't work on the Phantom 3, boys and girls so don't hold your breath

That is the one they have on sale now.

The one that launches in April is 1200 gram and 1500w. Check the flier in the first post.

 

[Brutaly]

Nothing new, just as i wrote an earlier post regarding suitable prop size which clearly says larger props than a P3 can drive.

Btw the part you quoted is btw a direct quote i made from a mail i got from J Miranda.

And ofc it can be hooked up to any drone. The question is if the drone can:
1 lift it
2 gain any uptime from lifting it
3 packs 6s batteries, which also is clearly stated in an earlier post.

My intent when posting iwasnt to state that i would put it on my P3. The point was that the competition is launching something that will increase the competition.

I actually sold my P3 and started to build an X8 with the intent to use this as secondary drive.

Btw 17x5.5 props and 8*320kv motors with 6s batteri

 

[FASTFJR]

I've owned two Walkera products (2) H500, freaking junk.

 

[Brutaly]

I've owned two Walkera products (2) H500, freaking junk.

Yeah i had one as well and if you are into DIY they can work really but in general i agree, its just to much that can and will go wrong.

I have ordered a drive and will put it on a frame design of my own, with a pixhawk.