CX4 flight times

jackwrangham

jackwrangham

Member
Hi Everyone

I'm new to this forum, but i've been reading a few posts - lots of great info, and seems very friendly!

I'm hoping you guys can help - I have a Droidworx CX4 with WKM FC - working well, nice and stable - a joy to fly. However i'm only getting about 4-6mins flight time. I've read on here that people are getting upto 20mins in some cases.

AUW weight will be a little higher than most - its carrying a GoPro but also another 200g camera plus mount (probably an extra 300g all in all). We're running Pulso U28M motors, and Align 70A ESCs (i know these are massive overkill - its what we had spare - intend to switch to hobbywing 40A soon). Have tried 11x5.5 and 12x3.8 APC - both similar flight times. 4S 5000mah gives us about 4mins, 8000mah about 6mins. Tried 5S but the motors got pretty hot.

Any suggestions/ideas appreciated - I'm starting to think maybe switching to Axi motors on 5S will be the way forward, but that's quite a big change, so i'd like to be sure its worth it.

Thanks!

Jack
 


A

AIRCONROB

Member
jackwrangham said:
Hi Everyone

I'm new to this forum, but i've been reading a few posts - lots of great info, and seems very friendly!

I'm hoping you guys can help - I have a Droidworx CX4 with WKM FC - working well, nice and stable - a joy to fly. However i'm only getting about 4-6mins flight time. I've read on here that people are getting upto 20mins in some cases.

AUW weight will be a little higher than most - its carrying a GoPro but also another 200g camera plus mount (probably an extra 300g all in all). We're running Pulso U28M motors, and Align 70A ESCs (i know these are massive overkill - its what we had spare - intend to switch to hobbywing 40A soon). Have tried 11x5.5 and 12x3.8 APC - both similar flight times. 4S 5000mah gives us about 4mins, 8000mah about 6mins. Tried 5S but the motors got pretty hot.

Any suggestions/ideas appreciated - I'm starting to think maybe switching to Axi motors on 5S will be the way forward, but that's quite a big change, so i'd like to be sure its worth it.

Thanks!

Jack
Click to expand...
Hi Everyone,

I work for a UK based RC heli company. Im looking for reccomendations for a control board for some new small quad frames we are selling, small version is abour 30cm motor-motor, large version about 45cm. Something that is as close to plug and play as possible... i.e minimal set up required.

We'd be ordering quite a few, any suggestions would be appreciated, im aware of the Hoverfly Sport - I like it, but getting a hold of them is proving difficult, and they are quite expensive.

Thanks

Jack
user_online.gif

<tbody>
</tbody>


If you guys at Heliguy are stuck, I'm sure there's plenty of guys out there that can help you, so long as there's no repeat of Droidworx Europe and keep it to yourselves
 

Droider

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
jackwrangham said:
Hi Everyone

I'm new to this forum, but i've been reading a few posts - lots of great info, and seems very friendly!

I'm hoping you guys can help - I have a Droidworx CX4 with WKM FC - working well, nice and stable - a joy to fly. However i'm only getting about 4-6mins flight time. I've read on here that people are getting upto 20mins in some cases.

AUW weight will be a little higher than most - its carrying a GoPro but also another 200g camera plus mount (probably an extra 300g all in all). We're running Pulso U28M motors, and Align 70A ESCs (i know these are massive overkill - its what we had spare - intend to switch to hobbywing 40A soon). Have tried 11x5.5 and 12x3.8 APC - both similar flight times. 4S 5000mah gives us about 4mins, 8000mah about 6mins. Tried 5S but the motors got pretty hot.

Any suggestions/ideas appreciated - I'm starting to think maybe switching to Axi motors on 5S will be the way forward, but that's quite a big change, so i'd like to be sure its worth it.

Thanks!

Jack
Click to expand...

@UP Jack welcome to MRF's.. This is a great forum for new comers to Multirotor platforms.. AND a great resource for the long time users to post their findings to help others with less experience.. We are here to help and try and save you getting your trousers downed by unscrupulous vendors..

IMO You have something seriously wrong if you are only getting 4 mins on a 5000mah battery!

One recent contributor that claimed 20 mins on 8000amh but would not fully explain his set up..

The CX4 is designed as a light weight manoeuvrable quad.. why would you stick 70 amp esc's on it?

Guess you dont do much with multirotors. I can carry two GoPro2's in their housings on my WKM quad for 8/10 mins on 2 x 2200 3 cell no mither.. 18amp esc's and TorxPower motors

I am not familiar with the Pluso Motors u are quoting but I recon 70 amp esc's are WAY to big for what you are doing..

Please post up some pics of your build so we can try and help...

Dave

PS

Also are you from HeliGuys as previous contributors have asked?
 


jackwrangham

jackwrangham

Member
Guys, I do indeed work for heliguy, fair enough that you asked. The CX4 is however my own project (carrying thermal and standard camera at same time), and thus a bit of an experiment.

I have a lot of experience with larger machines, and when I say a lot, there's always more to learn :) but i wouldnt go so far as to say im stuck, its nice to get other opinions and share. This is the way we develop new machines - I make the mistakes with my own first!

AIRCONROB - im not up to date with the DWE situ? But know that im happy to share and help - always the best way.

Anyway, I know I should be getting better flight times - its annoying me! lol, to be honest I never considered the ESCs would have such a large effect on flight time (as in 50% effect)... had them spare so I used them, I'll swap them out for hobbywings.

Dave - photos soon.

Thanks
 




BorisS

BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
Jack i am pretty sure krleas as MK hardware in his CX, so either standard MK Bls or a Herk boards.
 

BorisS

BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
Did you also try different timing on your ESCs can make a difference ! I also have a CX WKM but i have a herkules board (FW off) inside and i get around 12 13 mins indoor hovering with a 4s 6000 mah, axi 2217/20 11 x5 graupners, copter weight 1.8 kg, probably could get more, but i dont squeeze my cells more than 3.6v no load.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Droider

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
Guys, I do indeed work for heliguy, fair enough that you asked. The CX4 is however my own project (carrying thermal and standard camera at same time), and thus a bit of an experiment.
Click to expand...

@up Jack what thermal camera are you using?
 

mbsteed

mbsteed

aerial video centric
You start putting odds and ends on a ship and it quickly adds up. ...just looking at, it looks heavy. The question should be how much does it weigh with cameras and everything onboard? The frame on my X8 is heavy so that really cuts down on flight times.
 

E

elossam

Member
19 min flying time with 4s 6600 remaining 950 mah inside after flight. Wkm +herkules+ axi2217/20 and 12x3.8APC. Motor are very hot after 19 min hovering in gps hold. Actualy testing different configurations to get close to 25 min but lower the engine temp. TOW 2200 gr including a 800mah bat for video, a 100 mw video and a small fpv camera
 


jackwrangham

jackwrangham

Member
Hi Everyone

Thanks for all the input, greatly appreciated, sounds like you guys have some great setups!

Sorry havent updated sooner - been sooo busy, anyway finally got around to re-working the CX.

Replaced the align ESCs with hobbywing, did a bit of re-wiring and saved weight wherever I could. Its very windy here at the moment - hopefully I'll get some flights in later. Will let you know how it goes! @Boris - i'll try different timings to see how that effects things!

@Droider - a Tau 640 (most likely slow vid version - would love the fast frame rate version - but it looks like it takes about 3 months to pass all the import checks!)
 

You must log in or register to reply here.
Top