Most efficient flying, speed or economy?

[JustinVV]

What is more efficient to get to a point. Sport mode and get there as fast as possible, or normal mode, maybe take longer but use less battery? anyone tested this, or point to a test?

Cheers

 

[JustinVV]

What is more efficient to get to a point. Sport mode and get there as fast as possible, or normal mode, maybe take longer but use less battery? anyone tested this, or point to a test?

Cheers

BTW Most efficient on power usage.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

In the data I've seen (marketing stuff from DJI) they state the longest flight time off 27 minutes as being achieved with a forward speed of 15.5mph, so if that's in still air then it should be the same hovering in 15mph of headwind, going 8mph into a 7mph headwind, going 30mph with 15mph of tailwind etc etc etc

 

[Robbyg]

Normal mode moving forward at around 15 MPH with the wind pushing you. Watch out for the return trip, if your fighting the wind the power consumption will go up.

Rob

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Normal mode moving forward at around 15 MPH with the wind pushing you. Watch out for the return trip, if your fighting the wind the power consumption will go up.

Rob

That's not necessarily true - DJI state a shorter time in the hover than in forward flight, which makes sense as in the hover the aircraft is not just pushing down enough air to support itself but is doing it in a column of descending air that it is producing - a kind of vortex ring effect.

If you're moving over the ground at 15mph, but in a 15mph tailwind, you're basically hovering over your own downdraft which is moving along with you in that mass of air.

So in a tailwind, you want to be moving with a groundspeed of TW+15mph.

I would have thought it at least theoretically possible for the app to calculate and display a spot wind based on what the drone is having to do to maintain a given flight path, but I don't know if DJI will implement that.

 

[CyberNate]

Depends on what you define as efficient. If you are talking about miles per watt-hr, then around 31 mph air speed is the most efficient. If you watch all of the 7km distance out flights, the common thing about them is that they are all flying at 30-31 mph. You can achieve this speed using P-mode and turning off obstacle avoidance. Push the right stick full forward and you see the most efficient speed, just over 30mph if there's no wind. You can also use sport mode and watch the the tachometer/power meter around the radar screen. Adjust the pitch (right stick forward) until the tach/power meter is at the intersection of green and blue. This also translates to around 31 mph air speed.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Nice to know - I see, so 15mph in still air should be best endurance, and 30mph best range. I would not have flown it that fast on a waypoint mission to maximise range but I'll certainly keep that figure in mind now

 

[Andrew F]

Here's a graph showing double tested results:
Mavic Battery and Speed efficiency chart