Maximize battery while in flight?

[J Hopkins]

Hi - new pilot (Christmas - 3 hrs flight time). All seems as expected - loving the #perspectives.

Question: Do some flying activities use the battery faster? For example, does Sport drain faster, or does video drain faster? Just looking to maximize flight time. With two batteries ... just when I get ramped up I need to start thinking about bringing her home.

Thanks - happy, safe flights today!

 

[Echoblue]

Hi - new pilot (Christmas - 3 hrs flight time). All seems as expected - loving the #perspectives.

Question: Do some flying activities use the battery faster? For example, does Sport drain faster, or does video drain faster? Just looking to maximize flight time. With two batteries ... just when I get ramped up I need to start thinking about bringing her home.

Thanks - happy, safe flights today!

I would say sport mode drains the battery at a quicker rate, faster flights requires more juice. In my experience, high wind drains it faster too since it needs more power to stay in a fixed position. I usually get about 12 minutes of flight time switching between recording video from takeoff to landing, don’t want to miss anything, lol. I only switch to sport if I need to get back quick.

 

[AeroMirage]

Echoblue nailed it.
Sport and wind are the 2 main drains of battery power.

 

[J Hopkins]

Echoblue nailed it.
Sport and wind are the 2 main drains of battery power.

Thanks Echo and Aero - appreciate the quick reply and confirmation!

 

[bishybob]

Sport mode seems to be a little more efficient as long as you are moving in a straight line to get to a destination.

And...
I have no evidence for this, but I would imagine the farther your spark is away from the controller, the more it has to ramp up the signal and the more power it uses. I'm sure others can chime in on this.

 

[strobing_nyc]

Yup nailed the question above. Sport mode is a killer and high winds. You can see your amp use in http:www.AirData.com and analize if you like.
Q

 

[John Harvey]

Sports Mode for sure, although I get on average 12 - 13 minutes flight all in Sports Mode. In addition Hovering also uses up battery power,,,

 

[mimixtz]

I think transmitting has nothing to do with distance. It is as it is. But I could be wrong.
Power used for trransmitting is very small I think - even in FCC mode.
If we are talking about 600mW in FCC, then approximate calculations could be (but it could also be wrong):
U=11.4V
P=0,6W
I=P/U=52mA
Even if we double it because of the heat losses of the transmitter, that is only app. 100mA.
I think 1 motor only can pull up to 10 Amps or even more - for comparison.
I can't find details about motors and speed controllers so I'm not sure. But since racing drones of similar sizes have 30 or more Amps speed controllers... I don't know.

Motors are main loads. So more acceleration and breaking - shorter flight time.
Next to them I think we could list gimbal motors. Which again means: more movement, more work for them.
And then processor (flight controller) with its heat losses and consequently cooling needed. Logically: more action, more work for flight controller.
Leave your Spark just connected and you'll se how warm it gets. And this tiny fan blowing on maximum all the time.

 

[Teq]

List above is pretty good.
Since dji lists the max flight time using 12.4 mph that is probably the sweet spot for endurance. For any aircraft the max endurance and max range speeds are different.
Small smooth control inputs take less power.
We are probably not talking more than a couple of minutes difference in any of the scenarios. Suggest just getting another battery and have fun.

 

[Barennes]

Surprisingly, Sport mode is definitely not the "battery killer" in most cases.
Having analysed some logs, I confirm that main battery drainer is "acceleration" (+ or -) then probably fighting high winds, WHATEVER the speed. 0 or 30 miles won't basicaly change at all !
Base on what I remarked, high speed "cruising" in sport mode (with moderate wind) absorbs even lower "amperage" as ground hoovering.
Now go far and fast but don't "hesitate" ! The more regular, the longest...

cheers from France