Increasing Flight Time of Hexacopter

[Theinventor10]

My batteries are being charged to 4.2 volts right before I use the helicopter and I let the charging cycle finish of course, also I try to store them as close to 3.8 volts as possible. Im just wondering on your flamewheel what are the flight times you get for say a 3000mah battery? Maybe DJ motors are better cause im using generic motors now. Generic is the name of the brand of motors.

 

[Motopreserve]

I love that the brand name is Generic

I think the quality of the motors Is the most likely culprit. I ran an f450 with the 1000kv motors from turnigy (same/similar to yours) with fairly bad results. A better motor will be more efficient - resulting in better flight times. If/when you upgrade, take a look for motors that can handle 4S batteries as well. This will allow you to use them when you up the power later.

While I agree that imbalanced/chipped props wouldn't be the largest factor, the flight times you are getting are really low. So every bit counts.

 

[John Doecliff]

My flamewheel which is a quad can get up to 10 minutes on a 2200 mah battery. It has the DJI 2212 motors. Your motors could be the problem. I have found out that a lot of claims manufactures make are simply not true. So maybe your motors are cheap and not really 1000Kv?

 

[cootertwo]

Just my 2 cents worth here. I'd start by trying different props, it's the cheapest place to start, and you'll learn the differences between sizes and pitches. What you have now, is a working, flying test bed. I'd experiment with it, and take those lessons and build a new rig. That way you'll always have a rig that fly's, rather than a big box of assorted parts that didn't work, and a rig in pieces, and tons of frustration.

 

[Theinventor10]

I went over to eCalc and after spending alot of time finding the right variables as close as possible to the components on my hexacopter I got 7.8minutes of hover time on a 2700mah lipo which is really close to what I get when I actually fly my hexacopter at a hover. I think im going to experiment with different variables now and see which motors and props are best for me.

Picture of variables at eCalc: http://imgur.com/4c975oo

 

[Motopreserve]

Make sure you're basing it on the new larger capacity battery. 2700mah is way too small for a craft that size.

 

[violetwolf]

Good advise from Cooter about props. Batteries too.. I have a flamewheel 550 as my beater machine, and run 5000mah 3s batts on 10" props (4.5" pitch). I'm getting about 10 mins flight time but she's a heavy old dog too.