It would be more correct to say to some GPS trackers use satellite radios to report positional information.
The thread kind of went off into other suggestions. My 2 cents? Every little bit helps. I’ve been on my way back before with 1%. Turned off lights and sensors and prayed to make it home. So far so good.
Too insignificant to matter. Mavic 2 can fly for about two more minutes after reaching 0%. It then forces an uncancellable Autoland, but still keeps flying until the battery reaches 2.5V on any one cell, unless it runs into the ground first!
".... went off into ......"
Remaining flight time (much like remaining mileage on a tank of gas) is a projected calculation which becomes more accurate the closer you are to the end of the flight. Less variables remaining. It is common to see the remaining flight time increase by several minutes when under 10 minutes, just by heading straight home, as opposed to flying laterally. If there is no wind, at 30mph, you'll cover a mile every two minutes. If you plan on 2.5 to 3 minutes a mile, using the remaining flight time, you'll have a more accurate indicator with room for error. This assumes flight to 0%, which means fighting Autoland after 10%. If you want to land before 10%, subtract 2.5 minutes from the displayed remaining flight time before making your calculation.
Great info!
Since your goal is absolute maximum flight time, which is mine as well, I would highly recommend getting comfortable learning to fly the M2 batteries down to as low as 0% by learning how to compensate for the Autoland which starts at 10% remaining by adding sufficient left stick ascension. The M2 batteries have lots of extra juice in them even at 0% so you won't be damaging the batteries by taking them down under 10% to as low as 0%. 0% is still well over 3.5V per cell. Once the battery reaches 0%, you still have 2 minutes of flight time left before any cell drops below 3.0V, which then triggers a forced uncancellable Autoland where you cannot cancel the descent. Learning to use the last 10% of the reported battery remaining will add a good 2-3 minutes to your flight times, which is far more than anything else you can do! I have over 40 flights each on 5 batteries with no degradation from taking them all down to under 5% on a regular basis.
eurekaproducts.com
Nice to hear similar experiences.
Nice suggestions.1) Do the lights use energy, and 2) do they take that energy from the batteries that are the only source of power for the aircraft, and 3) do those batteries also supply power to the control electronics and motors?
Yes, yes and yes.
So, the lights reduce the flight time by some (probable) small amount as mentioned by others.
If you are going to cut the flight time that close, you my want to invest in a Marco Polo lost aircraft radio tracker to help you recover your crashed and/or lost aircraft from the tree it’s hung up in. Here’s a link:
RC Model Drone Tracking & Recovery | Eureka Products
We build the Ultralight and Advanced drone recovery systems. These drone tracking and recovery solutions possess up to 15 days of battery life per charge.
Also, if you are flying FPV and need long flight times, consider buying a less expensive hexacopter that can carry bigger batteries, or better yet a fixed wing RC aircraft with a head tracking FPV camera. A motor glider will have the longest flight time if you use thermals on a sunny day. On a good, sunny day, flight times can last longer than you can. You’ll have to learn to fly a motor glider, and you may need both fixed wing and multi-rotor aircraft so you can fly in a wider range of weather.
Maybe put radio trackers on the sheep and learn how to use radio direction finding techniques to track them down. Check out the Marko Polo units and Google “Radio Direction Finding Locators” for other solutions.
In any case, best of luck!
Except that the "little bit" is so little that you can't even measure the increase in flight time. It might be 1-2 seconds in a twenty minute flight.
