You guys running stock controllers have to hit the range limit pretty soon. That's just crazy distance, going over 50,000ft with stock controller. That's the one thing that I have no issue with. I can go miles beyond 50K once I get to the bay. Problem is the wind usually hits hard at that point. Stock, I'd never make it through the interference to actually get to the bay. I'd have to fly strictly over water to make that distance around here with stock controller. I do have a stock controller as well as the modded, so I can also try for the stock range board once that's up.
Official Mavic Pro Range Leaderboard!
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Today I modded up the Mavic with a direct mod for external batteries. it took less than an hour. I took it for a test flight this evening with a battery that I built just for the Mavic. I turned around early, it was a direct crosswind so I didn't want to push it. It'll get me on the board, great first flight with the bat mod.
40,549'
stock rc
bat mod
i'll get an HD report and better flight log images later[emoji41]
I guess I've officially joined the club.
Did you convert your Multistar 4S 10AH battery to a 3S 7500mah? That would be a really great size for the Mavic, reducing weight by having only 1 set of battery wires which are also shortened. That's a really slick setup.
Edit: I bet you also charged the cells to 4.35V to put right at around 8500Mah.
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digdat0
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I think he took a ms 6600 4s lipo and took one cell off. The mah stays same, just voltage drops due to one les cell. (I don't pretend to understand all this lol)
Ugh, of course. I need more coffee. But not sure if it's the 6600 or the 10,000. That looks really large give that it extends well past the rear leg pivots and all the way to the camera.
Don't need to pretend -- you do! Or you stumbled on the right explanation...
The understanding isn't complicated, though. General rule with batteries of any type: Parallel connections increase storage capacity, series connections increase voltage at same capacity.
This assumes, of course, we're using identical cells.
digdat0
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He told me it was the 6600 
the one thing I know about dirtybum is that he's very transparent and will be truthful on what he runs. I don't think he's ready to take apart the 10.0 cause those are so hard to find right now, and I think he has some p3 flights up his sleeve with that battery. I'm sure he'll pop in tough, maybe he already hit 50k ...
the one thing I know about dirtybum is that he's very transparent and will be truthful on what he runs. I don't think he's ready to take apart the 10.0 cause those are so hard to find right now, and I think he has some p3 flights up his sleeve with that battery. I'm sure he'll pop in tough, maybe he already hit 50k ... I'm stoked about tracking modded mavic vs stock. Thanks for keeping it up Jake
dirtybum
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Dang what's all the buzz about this flight for? It was only 40,000 a couple of you've gone way beyond that![emoji41]
Yeah, because we know you're going to roll in here with a 55000+ with that setup.
dirtybum
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honestly don't even know if I have signal for 55! I have two flightpaths one E. and one W.
The one that goes east has where I've done all my big record flights, with boosted panels I can go 60 to 100,000 on the P4 & p3 , When I take the Mavic that path, yes the stock controller is amazing but after 25,000 I start losing bars, that 40,000 was going west, even with my best P3 antennas west I can only go 55,000 and then there's too much congestion. so I wouldn't be surprised if with the Mavic, I'm limited by signal not by battery. which is the opposite with the other aircrafts.
Besides ,I thought you guys wanted to see 55,000[emoji41]
We'll get those rp-sma cables installed on the Mavic controller do you can use your p3 antennas. I'm sure it's coming before to long.
dirtybum
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1). I don't think the Mavic would carry a 10.0. my motors were very warm after that flight! At least it wouldn't carry it for too long/too many flights.
2). I don't know that I would ever get rid of or alter my MultiStar 10.0 LIHV 4S battery, for all I know it's the last one on earth, I've put feelers out there for used ones and I don't know of anybody that has one.
3). when you cut the 10.0 down to 3S, it's still going to run at about 600 g.
i'm sure someone would be willing to try it, but to me, 600 g would be the death of a Mavic! Plus look how big it is on there
1). I don't think the Mavic would carry a 10.0. my motors were very warm after that flight! At least it wouldn't carry it for too long/too many flights.
2). I don't know that I would ever get rid of or alter my MultiStar 10.0 LIHV 4S battery, for all I know it's the last one on earth, I've put feelers out there for used ones and I don't know of anybody that has one.
3). when you cut the 10.0 down to 3S, it's still going to run at about 600 g.
i'm sure someone would be willing to try it, but to me, 600 g would be the death of a Mavic! Plus look how big it is on there
The mavic will carry 600grams. My setup is close to 600grams with 2 4000mah LiHV at 265g each plus all the dual lock tape, battery mod. Motors get warm with stock configuration if you push sport mode on a windy day. It's all about throttle/pitch modulation. If you're delicate with controls and keep tachometer below 80% during ascent and flight, no issues. Motors are just warm to the touch. Of course you need a calm day with no more than 7mph winds. Once the motors are pushed to max motor speed errors, the battery is hit hard as motors heat up. I keep my motors under 80%. It might spike quickly to 100%, but I back off immediately. I have no interest in losing my craft due to failed motors/ESCs.
One thing I've noticed in the DAT files is that the rear motors are running much harder than the front for these heavy load flights. I think moving the center of gravity more forward could really help to keep the heat low on those rear motors. I was getting some max motor speed errors when I hit the strong bay winds on my flight before I backed off. I might have to try that if my cables are long enough and can stay out of the propellers. Unfortunately I'm limited with the top mounted dual battery mod and don't want to add extra cabling and zip ties.
DJI needs to give you guys a room, some cash, and 12 months to go nuts and see what you can do with this stuff.
Plus a very long testing area
Plus a very long testing area
First, I want to assert at the outset that you guys are the experts, I have no meaningful experience with optimizing the Mavic (both setup and flight control) for maximizing range. So please don't hold back with any comments/criticism/your-a-complete-idiot responses to this post -- I can take it!
Now, that said, I got into this sort of thing with my Hubsan 501S. Never did any mods to add more battery, but I did some antenna mods to the controller to gain some distance.
Anyway, what I really wanted to discuss here is optimal speed/forward thrust. After many many flights trying to keep extending my record, flying the standard practice of out into the wind, return with a tailwind, I found that the most distance-efficient speed was quite a bit higher than the limited speed with GPS active.
The 501S is similar functionally to the Mavic in this respect: With GPS positioning on, speed is limited to about half the top speed with GPS disabled. It flies very much like ATTI mode on the Mavic when GPS is turned off. With GPS on, top speed is about 15mph, about 30 with it off. 501S has a 2200mAh battery.
My record is 3300m, just a hair over 2 miles. For the 501S and it's controller, this is pretty amazing.
However, I found that in order to do this, I need to fly OUT full throttle in no-GPS mode, as well as back. I simply can't get far enough in GPS mode -- it's moving too slow. IOW, at the GPS limited speed, too much of the power is going into hovering vs. forward movement.
Where exactly the sweet spot is in terms of speed I didn't rigorously test. It may be balls-out all the way in full-stick "sport mode" (not what they call it), or something a bit less than that. Don't know. But the same questions apply to the Mavic as well.
So, I'm thinking you guys can get farther by going faster on the way out than P mode max speed. What we need to do is characterize speed efficiency. What I can say with fair certainty is that doing the entire outward leg in P-GPS is almost certainly decreasing your possible max range.
I'm thinking of doing some controlled testing to compare current draw from the logs to incremented fixed speed tests, and see where the peak speed/amps spot occurs -- this is where we'll get the greatest distance.
Mathematically, that works out to the distance/charge rate, as both amps and speed are time-rate metrics -- m/s divided by C/s (C==coulombs, a measure of charge), which yields m/C. mAh can be converted to C (divide by 36), so figuring this from the telemetry logged is doable.
Of course, when trying to maximize range, you want to fly at the highest m/C speed.
Now, that said, I got into this sort of thing with my Hubsan 501S. Never did any mods to add more battery, but I did some antenna mods to the controller to gain some distance.
Anyway, what I really wanted to discuss here is optimal speed/forward thrust. After many many flights trying to keep extending my record, flying the standard practice of out into the wind, return with a tailwind, I found that the most distance-efficient speed was quite a bit higher than the limited speed with GPS active.
The 501S is similar functionally to the Mavic in this respect: With GPS positioning on, speed is limited to about half the top speed with GPS disabled. It flies very much like ATTI mode on the Mavic when GPS is turned off. With GPS on, top speed is about 15mph, about 30 with it off. 501S has a 2200mAh battery.
My record is 3300m, just a hair over 2 miles. For the 501S and it's controller, this is pretty amazing.
However, I found that in order to do this, I need to fly OUT full throttle in no-GPS mode, as well as back. I simply can't get far enough in GPS mode -- it's moving too slow. IOW, at the GPS limited speed, too much of the power is going into hovering vs. forward movement.
Where exactly the sweet spot is in terms of speed I didn't rigorously test. It may be balls-out all the way in full-stick "sport mode" (not what they call it), or something a bit less than that. Don't know. But the same questions apply to the Mavic as well.
So, I'm thinking you guys can get farther by going faster on the way out than P mode max speed. What we need to do is characterize speed efficiency. What I can say with fair certainty is that doing the entire outward leg in P-GPS is almost certainly decreasing your possible max range.
I'm thinking of doing some controlled testing to compare current draw from the logs to incremented fixed speed tests, and see where the peak speed/amps spot occurs -- this is where we'll get the greatest distance.
Mathematically, that works out to the distance/charge rate, as both amps and speed are time-rate metrics -- m/s divided by C/s (C==coulombs, a measure of charge), which yields m/C. mAh can be converted to C (divide by 36), so figuring this from the telemetry logged is doable.
Of course, when trying to maximize range, you want to fly at the highest m/C speed.
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There are a lot of variables at play which include wind speed/direction and payload. For my heavy payload, around 70-80% of maximum thrust gives me the most efficiency. If you go over 80%, the rpm fluctuates too much and the motors get hot. Over 80% hits the batteries hard and sustained flight MIGHT put the Mavic motors and ESCs into danger of failure. I say MIGHT, as no one has tested it to failure. Just the battery penalty alone, I keep the power to 80% or less. For a stock mavic and no wind, sport mode might very well be the most efficient if you can fly it smoothly without RPM spiking. If there is any headwind, then you would need to back off on pitch/throttle in sport mode to under 80%. Most of us fly P-mode with obstacle avoidance off into the wind as it's simply easier to deal with. Coming back, we use Return to Home for turn around and then switch right into Sport mode if there's a tailwind and use full pitch if wind is 6mph or higher, or modulate power to keep under 80% if tach is jumping over 80%.
Unknown Caller
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Yeah you're right at the location that I have been flying I don't think I could go much further then 10 miles under 400 ft. Altitude. Lake Okeechobee is my Force multiplier. I bet you out there I could do 10 miles under 100 feet altitude the signals crazy out there. I'm debating whether or not I should mod the controller. I mean even if I could go more than 10 miles at my normal spot with a nano sync I could probably cut my maximum altitude in half and that saves a ton of battery. I'm up on the fence about it.
Unknown Caller
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I think a lot of it have to do with most of us having the clip mod see you doing more with less. The exception of you and dig and Big Chuck there hasn't been many actual direct mod Mavics on the board.
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