Gamechanger - Propellers

atsphenomenon · Feb 27, 2020

So, I've been using the Mini for 3 months now and have been extremely pleased with it. I've flown it over rivers and oceans, in fairly windy conditions (have been lucky) and over large distances.
After clocking about 100 flights with 11 hrs of flight time across 50kms, I faced the infamous uncommanded descent issue. That shook my confidence for the first time and made me too cautious. The max power load warnings became more frequent. High wind warnings even in not so windy conditions became more prevalent. The uncommanded descent happened another couple of times.

I learnt from these forums that it might be a propellor issue and ordered propellers and sunny life version 2 motor covers from ali express. Later, I heard not so good things about those but since I had already placed the order, and the stock propellers aren't available, I did not cancel the order.

Move to today. Got the motor covers and propellers. And they work just fine. The noise levels have gone down, the mm is more stable, it's not showing any max power load or uncommanded descent warnings - I'm quite happy.

The propellers are thicker than the stock ones. I've now made up my mind that propellers on this thing should be seen as consumables and I intend to order them in bulk, and change them every 2 months/10 hrs of flight.

I wasn't able to get any reviews of these when I was placing the orders and thought some might find this useful.

Here are the links:
Propellers:
#Aliexpress Rs. 259.02 17%OFF | 8PCS Quick Release Propeller Blades Foldable Low Noise Propellers For DJI Mavic Mini RC Drone Accessories

2.36US $ 29% OFF|8pcs Quick Release Propeller Blades Foldable Low Noise Propellers For Dji Mavic Mini Rc Drone Accessories - Camera Drones - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

a.aliexpress.com

Motor covers (look at the version 2 - photo 4 to 6):
#Aliexpress Rs. 219.91 20%OFF | Upgrade 4PCS Aluminium DJI Mavic Mini Motor Cover Cap Drone Dust-proof Waterproof Protector Motor Caps Protective Accessory

6.79US $ 20% OFF|Upgrade 4PCS Aluminium DJI Mavic Mini Motor Cover Cap Drone Dust proof Waterproof Protector Motor Caps Protective Accessory|Drone Accessories Kits| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

a.aliexpress.com

Also, bonus video which I'm very pleased with:

atsphenomenon · Feb 27, 2020

Here's a picture of the motor covers and the new propellers

Alex Baxter · Apr 5, 2020

I've not got a mini (yet, it's on order) would you imagine the issue to be that the original propellers pitch flattens out, causing an increase in RPM to maintain height? If that is the case, would it be feasible to do a rate of climb test every few hours flight, and once it decreases below a certain point, then change the propellers. My thinking being that the aircraft will maintain attitude when doing a vertical climb, and with everything else being equal, then if the pitch has decreased, then the rate of climb (assuming max RPM in every case) will also decrease?

Sully888 · Apr 5, 2020

Alex Baxter said:
I've not got a mini (yet, it's on order) would you imagine the issue to be that the original propellers pitch flattens out, causing an increase in RPM to maintain height? If that is the case, would it be feasible to do a rate of climb test every few hours flight, and once it decreases below a certain point, then change the propellers. My thinking being that the aircraft will maintain attitude when doing a vertical climb, and with everything else being equal, then if the pitch has decreased, then the rate of climb (assuming max RPM in every case) will also decrease?

I think it's hard to get the wind, temperature, moisture, and everything else equal as those things can change day to day and even minute by minute.

atsphenomenon · Apr 5, 2020

Some here have done the tests that have linked propeller age to motor rpm. Fairly proven that the pitch decreases with time, either due to usage or storage - not very clear there.