Non-flying, battery life?

Neumanns · Jul 22, 2017

Just curious if anyone has any experience or knowledge with flying out a short distance landing on a suitable perch...recording while transmitting preview followed by return flight.

What's the battery impact/draw....

Let's say 5 min out and 5 minute return....how long would the mavic be able to transmit preview and still have sufficient battery to return.

My Google Foo is weak....any experience with this?

4wd · Jul 23, 2017

The main risk will be losing contact when it gets near the ground any distance away, or up on a ledge you might still lose line of sight and be unable to take off .At a distance the signal will be far weaker than a few feet away.
If that wouldn't matter too much it would be interesting to try.
Think about what you want it to have it do if contact is lost while descending.

Neumanns · Jul 23, 2017

Appreciate the food for thought...if I can't take off because contact or dead battery I can recover by hand. But losing contact while setting down is a whole nother bag o beans!

dewster · Jul 23, 2017

When I'm unable to fly due to weather or lack of time I'll discharge the batteries by letting the Mavic run without flying it. The fan will start up after running for a minute or two. I haven't timed how long it took, but it seemed like an hour before the battery light indicator was down to the last bar.

You'll have to do some test runs:

See how long the craft takes to discharge the lipo while powered without actually flying it.

See how much power is consumed on the flight to your destination and figure out how much you need to get back.

You should also consider the heat your craft will be exposed to during the summer. The battery sits on top and is getting full sun without benefit of air flow from flying.