What about tlogs? Better than nothing.
I didn’t have mission planner connected for the outdoor flight as I hadn’t charged my laptop, I have the tlog for the indoor test as I had it connected to my pc.
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I don’t think tlogs contain both resting estimate and loaded voltage as Ardupilot sends one or the other to the GCS, though one probably could trick the FC to send both by setting a second monitor configured as sum on the first one and configured to report the other voltage.
I am looking at voltage characteristics for better estimating time remaining.
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I meant log the important ones on onboard flash and the remaining data can be inspected via tlogs, if required
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I have decided to rebuild the version 1 again but with some upgrades to make the flight time a bit more useful.
It will keep the speedybeef405 mini, 6A x4 esc and the mavic mini clone motors
Its main upgrade will be a new frame,
1A started off as a solid off the shelf frame and got 44 minutes flight time with a 5000mah battery.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010518980813.html
1B got the original tube frame with woven carbon and could fly for over an hour with esp32 digital fpv, optical flow and lidar.
this 1C version will have essentially a copy of the v2 frame with its lighter carbon and better wire routing but a little smaller to account for the 4.7" vs 6" propellers, That should shave off some weight so I can add some accessories while keeping the hour flight time.
The receiver has been changed from the frsky R9 receiver to a 2.4ghz ELRS receiver running mLRS, 2.4ghz gives much faster telemetry with a smaller antenna, 2kb/s vs around 1kb/s and will still give more than enough range.
Since I’m now using 2.4ghz RC I’m limited to 5.8ghz video so the FPV has been changed to a 400mw AKK AIO camera, that should give it some decent range. it’s around 4g heavier than a 25mw camera but the lighter frame should offset the extra weight, it will also use a lot more power than a 25mw camera, in most builds its insignificant but on something like this it could be few minutes flight time running at 400mw constantly. its got smart port so I can control it from ardupilot, that will at least that will limit its power draw when it’s not needed.
update: it arrived and it turns out it doesn’t have smart port and isnt made by akk,dispite it being in the name so not ideal, il probably use it for my rc car.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007989854892.html
I will add the VL53L1X lidar and CX-OF optical flow sensor back on, its only around 2g and its nice being able to loiter it indoors.
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hi
Do you have the video file from the esp32 fpv?
Thanks
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It’s pretty good for what it is, the main issue is it’s on 2.4ghz so you need to use 868/900mhz rc.
Something I have been meaning to test is if it works with dsm2, basically the old spektrum protocol works different from DSMX and all modern 2.4 RC systems, it just picks 2 channels and sticks to them rather than hopping all over the spectrum so if you power up a 2.4ghz video system then power up the spektrum DSM2 radio it will detect the video system and pick channels that don’t interfere with it allowing it to operate alongside with both on 2.4ghz. I used to do this with Wifibroadcast many years ago so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with this. you obviously give up any telemetry and are limited to 8 channels but if you can’t use uhf and you have GPS failsafe and a multiprotocol module or spectrum handset then its an option.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007713528783.html
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I have ordered another 2 sets of batteries,
and the Amprius SA110 4000mAh 18650, its less energy but its also much lighter, the ultralite should fly for an hour with them with a total weight of only 170g.
The Amprius SA112 6500 mAh cells have been through the tester and seem perfect, showing 6700mah, I’m happy with that result so I can get them made up into a pack.
I just realised something about these new 6500mah cells, the “rated capacity” of 6500mah comes at the expense of a lower nominal voltage of 3.46v instead of 3.7v, meaning that although it can output more amps for longer, it comes at the cost of a lower voltage and because of the lower voltage the total energy ends up actually being lower than the F63 6250mah cell.
A box of torches arrived with the new cells in them, so i guess that price does include the torch, it would explain why they are so expensive..anyway I have a nice collection of decent torches that focus and have a brightness/flashing modes that I have filled with some old cells that are more than good enough for a torch.
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Do any dji mini series motors work?
probably but their thrust would be likely less and then drone weight needs to be adjusted accordingly
I believe all the versions of the DJI mini are similar, so their motors should all be capable of an hour. But I think the 3 pro uses slightly bigger propeller around 6" compared to around 5" on the rest.
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Hello! I’m new here and before I made a new post, I thought that I would ask here. I need a long range (long flying time) drone sub 200g (not 250g, but sub 200g, sub 0.44 lbs), no need for any stunts and high speed. I need it for an accessory that weights 50g. This would be my second drone made (this weekend I’m going to assembly my first whoop), so I have almost zero experience.
So would anyone suggest parts for a drone 199g or less with O4 air unit lite? I really like that 21700 battery is used, so I can very quickly swap for a new one and they are affordable (although I have some 18650 already).
I don’t care about control range that much, I won’t be flying far away. It’s not for long range contest, if something would decrease flying time by a bit, but made performance better or made drone a bit more quiet, then that’s fine.
The accessory is a long range speaker and the whole thing must be under 250g, so I can legally fly it in Europe. I’m going to offer services like for example the drone coming in to a garden party and it (me) would say wishes or some other message. A friend asked me to do this, I did it using my Avata 2 and it was super fun also with videos. But adding anything to Avata 2 isn’t legal where I live, so here I am.
I would be very thankful for a suggestions what parts would be the best, I can return a favor by sending a small tip using one of buy me coffee services for example.
If you decase the speaker you probably could save a few grams. Latest Geofrancis build was pretty close to 200g IIRC.
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Oh it’s already decased! I added 10g for cover to be sure, maybe I will use some foil in the beginning. Its battery is just 4g, but since power would be the same voltage, then I can get power directly from 21700. With a case and mount it weighted almost 100g, but when it’s like this, I could use two rubbers to mount it. I will do some tests, but I think it will be well heard even when installed horizontally on the bottom. It doesn’t look like it when decased, but it’s pretty loud.
I will see this user posts, thank you! 
I don’t think it can be done with 21700 cells, if you drop down to 18650 it will fit within your weight budget.
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Thanks for the reply, even better because I’m using 18650 and I have many accessories for these batteries. So what changes would you suggest? I’m not sure how this is treated here, but if you listed me suggestions with links to AliExpress, where are nice discounts now, then I could for example buy something on AliExpress for you, shipped to some parcel locker you pointed as a thank you. It would save me a lot of time. Actually without links it would help me a lot too, I can look for parts myself.
I don’t need anything but thank you.
There was a couple of builds posted here that have used 18650 cells.
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Thanks, I will look for posts like this. There are also videos on YouTube with this power source, but I decided to ask, because my user case is pretty specific, I need the drone to be sub 200g and not very small. But since you mentioned my weight budget, then won’t using 18650 make it not fly for too long? Or you meant two batteries?
Sure thing, but suggesting some newbie a list of parts would take time, and save me a lot of it, so I think some souvenir would be in place.
The issue with this design is it is purely optimised for flight time, as soon as you start trying to carry anything your flight time is going to drop significantly due to either added weight or using a smaller battery to stay under 250g.
the whole aircraft without its battery is 60g, and you want to carry another 50g without it effecting flight time, that’s just not possible.
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I understand, yes. So my question is: could this design be modified the way that for majority of the flight time could 50g be saved? Lets say 20 minutes or more would be more than enough for me, I don’t need an hour. I’m sorry if I wasn’t precise enough from the start, of course I know that a lot of flight time must be sacrificed by reducing the weight.