Your Maximum Altitude

[themosttoys]

I'm tempted to try a freefall but I'm worried that the props will somehow come loose.

Good point, I am not familar with the new self tightening props but I guess making them spin the opposite way through the falling air will make them unscrew?


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Yeah those are my thoughts exactly...

If that's your only concern, just tighten the props a little (by hand or with the included wrench). The force of the wind will not loosen a taught prop. BTW, as long as you have enough freefall space / time, the P2V should recover. At least I can say that it sure looked like it was trying to recover, just before it hit the ground. Of course in the case that I saw, it was a fall after hitting tree branches at about 110 feet. If the props had not been so badly damaged, I do believe it would have recovered.

 

[pault]

I'm tempted to try a freefall but I'm worried that the props will somehow come loose.

Good point, I am not familar with the new self tightening props but I guess making them spin the opposite way through the falling air will make them unscrew?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah those are my thoughts exactly...

Maybe you could put a turn or two of PTFE tape (the stuff that plumbers use) around the threads. That would provide enough resistance to stop them unspinning whilst being light enough not to alter the flight characteristics (and easy to remove).

 

[Scottrod]

I'm tempted to try a freefall but I'm worried that the props will somehow come loose.

Good point, I am not familar with the new self tightening props but I guess making them spin the opposite way through the falling air will make them unscrew?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah those are my thoughts exactly...

If that's your only concern, just tighten the props a little (by hand or with the included wrench). The force of the wind will not loosen a taught prop. BTW, as long as you have enough freefall space / time, the P2V should recover. At least I can say that it sure looked like it was trying to recover, just before it hit the ground. Of course in the case that I saw, it was a fall after hitting tree branches at about 110 feet. If the props had not been so badly damaged, I do believe it would have recovered.

I agree with you I think that the Phantom could freefall from quite long distances long as it has the battery power it would recover. I've been very tempted to try letting it freefall from like thousand feet but I worry that it will not receive the command to turn the Motors back on. Which is why thought about trying it in manual mode but I haven't had the guts to try it yet. I figure if it's freefalling and you flip it back into GPS mode it should catch itself after hundred feet or so.

Maybe you could put a turn or two of PTFE tape (the stuff that plumbers use) around the threads. That would provide enough resistance to stop them unspinning whilst being light enough not to alter the flight characteristics (and easy to remove).

That's actually not a bad idea.

 

[Meluk]

Or if your feeling brave fly inverted in manual mode. Now that would be a rush


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[Big Ben]

Flew my second 'set' of three batteries this afternoon with my FC40. Quite a bit less windy than my first set Saturday so this time I 'pushed' it all the way up to the 30m limit I had set the geofence ceiling to. Funny to see it indeed doesn't go higher. I could hear the motors adjusting. This way I now know roughly how high 30m is. Next time I'll try 50m.

Shortly after my last flight a small business jet very nearby turned towards a Schiphol approach I imagine. I was surprised at how low it flew. I'm allowed to fly up to 300m here with an RC aircraft and If I would have flown at that height I imagine the pilot of the small jet would probably have seen the lights of the Phantom and maybe not too far below him... if at all.

Flying my Phantom at ten times the altitude I flew it today is something I'm not seriously contemplating for the moment. The 400ft. (120m) FAA guideline seems quite enough for most situations. Four times as high as I flew today seems more than enough for me for the time being... but maybe I'll think differently at some time in the future.

Since I don’t have the telemetry on my FC40 that a P2V has the geofence feature is quite useful for knowing how high you have flown. I do intend to gradually increase it to see what images I get shot from those heights and to see how far my WiFi connection with the FC40 camera will go.

 

[nhoover]

Some more antenna testing today. This time with 8dBI omni combined with 9dBi directional. I mostly tried long distance (at 200') but did one altitude test. Lost control and triggered RTH 1914' up with solid wifi. Wifi was also solid over 3000' away. I wish I could program the RTH vertical speed. It appears to be a bit over 3mph which is slow. I took control pretty soon and descended comfortably 5-6mph. I am loving the wifi performance now. Hope to eventually get to 1 mile. I have a 5.8Ghz antenna to add to the transmitter for next time.

 

[krsdj1]

Are you all stock.Any upgrade done, I can only reach 4G ft before I get a signal lost message

 

[rbarghini]

Are you all stock.Any upgrade done, I can only reach 4G ft before I get a signal lost message

I'm stock and quite frankly I have no reason to mod it... In my experiences, the distance it can achieve (& consistently), both TX and wifi video, is nothing short of impressive - open area or not! It definitely exceeds their tech spec communication distances.

 

[nhoover]

I think I verified a great thing today. People have mentioned on the More Powerful Repeater thread that keeping the repeater charged up seems to be a good thing. I think my last 4 flights show that it puts out more power when fully charged:

1) Repeater not fully charged, not powered during flight - distance result not as good as I had achieved before (2800' away).

2) Charging repeater, but distance result still not that great (it wasn't fully charged). 3300' by flying sideways, losing connection.

3) Repeater almost but not quite charged (sat over night), powered during flight - first try at distance similar to 1 and 2. But tried again and dramatically got further (4472' away vs max of 3300' before). I didn't look at the repeater light, but I believe this is because it had reached a full charge.

4) Repeater fully charged, powered during flight - altitude test. Previous high was ~1900'. This time went to over 3500' and could've gone higher. Wifi solid at >3500' altitude! Repeater 100% charged at the end.

This is with stock Tx and P2V, repeater has 8dBi omni and 9dBi directional. On the altitude test, I was flying almost straight up with the directional parallel to the ground exactly.

I HATE how the app's distance turns to N/A at 3300' but luckily, altitude doesn't have that bug. But it's ok if the FPV works, and there's always Flytrex telling me the exact distance.

 

[Scottrod]

I think I verified a great thing today. People have mentioned on the More Powerful Repeater thread that keeping the repeater charged up seems to be a good thing. I think my last 4 flights show that it puts out more power when fully charged:

1) Repeater not fully charged, not powered during flight - distance result not as good as I had achieved before (2800' away).

2) Charging repeater, but distance result still not that great (it wasn't fully charged). 3300' by flying sideways, losing connection.

3) Repeater almost but not quite charged (sat over night), powered during flight - first try at distance similar to 1 and 2. But tried again and dramatically got further (4472' away vs max of 3300' before). I didn't look at the repeater light, but I believe this is because it had reached a full charge.

4) Repeater fully charged, powered during flight - altitude test. Previous high was ~1900'. This time went to over 3500' and could've gone higher. Wifi solid at >3500' altitude! Repeater 100% charged at the end.

This is with stock Tx and P2V, repeater has 8dBi omni and 9dBi directional. On the altitude test, I was flying almost straight up with the directional parallel to the ground exactly.

I HATE how the app's distance turns to N/A at 3300' but luckily, altitude doesn't have that bug. But it's ok if the FPV works, and there's always Flytrex telling me the exact distance.

I agree I hate how the app distance turns to N/A at 3300. I hadn't noticed it was happening consistently at the same distance until my last flight. I will say the best mod I've done with my P2V is adding the 9dbi antenna to my wifi repeater. Now I'm looking for other antenna solutions to see it there are others that will give more distance.

 

[nhoover]

Have been having some good distance/altitude test flights lately - always with the repeater fully charged and powered. Almost got a mile away today (5035', 1.53km). On my altitude test, the app said 4049' (maybe higher, but I did a screenshot at 4049'). But when I got home and looked at the Flytrex data, it maxed out at 3853', about 5% lower. I assume it's more accurate since it uses a barometer, but has anyone else noticed such a discrepancy?

I'm not sure I want to fly much higher either. Slightly stressful!

Oh, and I filed a bug with DJI for the 3300' N/A problem. If enough of us file that, maybe they will fix it? Seems to me that it would be a simple, software-only fix in the app.

 

[Scottrod]

Have been having some good distance/altitude test flights lately - always with the repeater fully charged and powered. Almost got a mile away today (5035', 1.53km). On my altitude test, the app said 4049' (maybe higher, but I did a screenshot at 4049'). But when I got home and looked at the Flytrex data, it maxed out at 3853', about 5% lower. I assume it's more accurate since it uses a barometer, but has anyone else noticed such a discrepancy?

I'm not sure I want to fly much higher either. Slightly stressful!

Oh, and I filed a bug with DJI for the 3300' N/A problem. If enough of us file that, maybe they will fix it? Seems to me that it would be a simple, software-only fix in the app.

That would be great if they would fix the 3,300' bug.

 

[714Aberdeen]

Hi

this video was taken before ten days

Flying with my phantom vision through and above heavy clouds 1 KM

my setup was two 8dBi TP link antenna

my P2V and controller stock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWKoMWCdzkc

 

[pault]

Hi

this video was taken before ten days

Flying with my phantom vision through and above heavy clouds 1 KM

my setup was two 8dBi TP link antenna

my P2V and controller stock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWKoMWCdzkc

Very nice shots through the clouds
I guess one of the problems trying this with the stock controller is that you could lose signal and initiate a RTH and then the P2V would descend under her own control and you would not have a chance to counter/avoid VRS until you regained control.

 

[714Aberdeen]

Thank you for feedback pault
Im trying always to avoid signal loss in controller
Especial in the high altitude

 

[ladykate]

If you're in the US you need to keep it under 400 ft almost everywhere.

There is a thread about this. The 400 rule is a recommendation only and not subject to prosecution unless there are extenuating circumstances. If you have a definitive ruling you can quote, I would like to see it. Recommendations are just that - they are not binding.

I've flown a 550 very high but the battery was almost dead when I got it back down. Not something I would like to repeat - I was at 80 percent throttle just to slow it for landing. I suspect the P2 could get quite high.

 

[nhoover]

I flew my P2V to about 4000' and had good video at that height. Just descended because I wanted to avoid a RTH from that high as the descent rate is about 3.3mph which is scary slow. But now I know that the TX reaches quite a bit farther I could maybe try again, but probably as it's too stressful. If you beef up the TX antennas you could probably go to 10k' if you wanted to/had the balls.

 

[Luap]

Going for an altitude record (distance) I had a close encounter
Thankfully, nothing came of it, well apart from losing the Phantom.

I still have some hopes to find it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c41LUKdIlI

 

[Opp5151]

Hi

this video was taken before ten days

Flying with my phantom vision through and above heavy clouds 1 KM

my setup was two 8dBi TP link antenna

my P2V and controller stock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWKoMWCdzkc

You can get a picture
Of your flyer.
And the sign

 

[2trickpony]

I flew my P2V to about 4000' and had good video at that height. Just descended because I wanted to avoid a RTH from that high as the descent rate is about 3.3mph which is scary slow. But now I know that the TX reaches quite a bit farther I could maybe try again, but probably as it's too stressful. If you beef up the TX antennas you could probably go to 10k' if you wanted to/had the balls.

You prob wont have enough battery power to get to 10k feet.