Official Mavic Pro Range Leaderboard!

[CyberNate]

Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

Jake Jones... 1 flight i did not post yet... But since i made it back, it was way better then the 45 k flight is on the leader board
. Nothing special after the crazy flights of CyberNate, unkown Member and digdat0.. CONGRATS... But still European Record
. Used boosted Nanosync Antennas and 2x 3000 mah Batterie Upgrade. Next try will be 2 x 4000 Mah,.. Tried allready, but one cell was broken... But after that 46k flight of Digdat0 i have now a new Motivation to get the bronce

With dual 4000s you can go for the gold. A 46,000 ft flight with dual 3000s is the equivalent of 55,000+ with dual 4000s. You get about 9500ft total flight distance for every additional 1000mah of battery if there is little to no wind.

 

[beanbubba]

Well there are 3 main things regarding battery mod to pay attention to:
- Battery mod needs a good connection to minimize resistance. If you are using the clip which goes on pins, the contact points are quite small. If you often remove and replace clip, it gets loose and contact is even more poor. I used a drop of solder on the contact point to help. For maximum performance you need leads connected directly inside Mavic to the main battery leads. WIth that setup I get 40 minutes runtime out of dual Multistar 4000 LiHV (not Lipo).

- The batteries you choose need to have low internal resistance. The Multistar Hi Capacity Lipos are not good. Too much resistance and you'll always see like 3.75 to 3.8V remaining even when Mavic main battery is at 11%. You'll see better results with the Multistar LiHV batteries. Many people run dual 3000mah LiHV. I run dual 4000mah LiHV for my record breaking runs.

- When you fly, you need to keep the motor out of red zone. By read zone, I mean pushing them above 80% on the tachometer/power meter. Even in P mode with obstacle avoidance off, the motors can be pushed too hard at full pitch (full right stick. You should always monitor motor speed in P mode by having sport mode switch set to ON before you turn controller on. Use these steps when starting:

- Sport mode switch on first
- Power on controller
- Power on Mavic

Now Mavic will be in P mode, but the tachometer will be displayed. Use that meter to keep tachometer below 80% if needed. Usually only in headwind to you need to modulate power. If you have enough wind that modulation of power is needed, then you will likely need to use sport mode on return leg to leverage wind. Same applies. Modulate power in sport mode if need to keep under 80%.

If you have a perfect day with almost no wind, then it's better to stick to P mode for entire flight. Go out with full right stick. Coming back use RTH mode all the way back, but hold right stick in full up position. This gives you 33.6mph. That is a good balanced speed and is what I used to get 108,600ft and just under 40 minutes runtime with dual 4000 LiHV and direct battery mod.

Cybernate, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for spoon feeding the noob, it is appreciated. Just curious, I was our shopping for these batteries and noticed multistar has a 5200 lihv. Have you tested this one yet? I would assume the weight on this is approaching the point of diminishing returns??

 

[beanbubba]

I do not know how you performed the battery mod (you have good times, which packs are used?) but for now, do not attempt to mod via the lead wires in the main battery, see my concerns in the battery mod thread.
Im experimenting with some glues and connectors tonight, want to do a clean mod on the mavic. Just 2 bullet connectors on top, most of it inside the shell. No cables sticking out. Although the double mod is nice (left and right of the gimbal, 2 xt60 connectors) i cannot help it reminds me of a clown and im claurophobic.

Hey Maclek, got any pictures of the mod you mentioned that you are working on?

 

[CyberNate]

Cybernate, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for spoon feeding the noob, it is appreciated. Just curious, I was our shopping for these batteries and noticed multistar has a 5200 lihv. Have you tested this one yet? I would assume the weight on this is approaching the point of diminishing returns??

You can run one 5200mah lihv. 2 would likely be a little too heavy. Dual 4000s are getting near the limit of the Mavic, close to 600 grams with battery mod and dual lock tape.

 

[MacIak]

Hey Maclek, got any pictures of the mod you mentioned that you are working on?

Pictures of the idea are in the " battery mod" thread.
I use the 5200LiHv but only 1 at the time. they are 380g and lighter than twin 2200mAh LiPo. I managed to get 73000' out of these in a bit too much wind....didn't make it back

 

[armyav8tor]

Let us know if you find such a battery upgrade, very interested!
Stock, in FCC region, over water? Those are truly ideal conditions. Congested, CE region, radio-interference? Some cannot even go out 1 mile without disconnects. That's when you want to boost (and if you want to kick @CyberNate off his mighty throne)

Agreed, over water, the range is amazing. I would definitely look to boost if I fly in a more congested area. However, home base for me is right now is Tampa, FL, so I'll still be flying mostly over water.

For some reason, my Mavic doesn't like .800/.900. I flew 3 batteries today with .900 and all three times the gimbal and video reset on me mid flight. When it does that, it also corrupts the video recording. Really odd as I've only read of one other person having this issue. Anyway, I'm flashing back to .700 as I type this as it has been super reliable for me thus far. Cheers!

 

[beanbubba]

at that point i was just worried about the heading and height, i didn't care what speed it was going this was my first time flying autolanding on the mavic, im just glad it didnt start spinning like some of the other guys have shared.

at that point i was just worried about the heading and height, i didn't care what speed it was going this was my first time flying autolanding on the mavic, im just glad it didnt start spinning like some of the other guys have shared.

I have been doing several tests to see the aircraft behavior at under 10% battery after a long range test flight. I had done a half dozen of these tests and it worked OK assuming you right stick up while you find a landing spot. Then this last test, the mavic got a mind of its own and summarily crashed. Attached is the google earth KML and the end of the flight log notifications. Question to the group, I do all my range tests at night and wondered if this has any correlation?

 

[CyberNate]

I have been doing several tests to see the aircraft behavior at under 10% battery after a long range test flight. I had done a half dozen of these tests and it worked OK assuming you right stick up while you find a landing spot. Then this last test, the mavic got a mind of its own and summarily crashed. Attached is the google earth KML and the end of the flight log notifications. Question to the group, I do all my range tests at night and wondered if this has any correlation?

View attachment 15780 View attachment 15781 View attachment 15782

I'm sorry to hear about your crash. It happens when you are testing the limits.

Regarding flying with Landing Mode, I think you mean "left stick up". When you have auto landing, you need to push your elevator stick to around 75% up to maintain altitude. You definitely don't want to be flying over trees at 1% battery. I don't think night time has anything to do with the crash. Mavic uses primarily GPS. It will use vision system for extra stability and the ultrasonic sensors once you get below 30 ft to help sense the ground. The Mavic gets unstable below 10%, especially under 3%. At 1% (or perhaps 0%, can't remember) it does a Level 2 forced landing which you no longer can over-ride. At that point it's coming down and you can only control direction it's going until it reaches the ground.

 

[beanbubba]

I'm sorry to hear about your crash. It happens when you are testing the limits.

Regarding flying with Landing Mode, I think you mean "left stick up". When you have auto landing, you need to push your elevator stick to around 75% up to maintain altitude. You definitely don't want to be flying over trees at 1% battery. I don't think night time has anything to do with the crash. Mavic uses primarily GPS. It will use vision system for extra stability and the ultrasonic sensors once you get below 30 ft to help sense the ground. The Mavic gets unstable below 10%, especially under 3%. At 1% (or perhaps 0%, can't remember) it does a Level 2 forced landing which you no longer can over-ride. At that point it's coming down and you can only control direction it's going until it reaches the ground.

Of course left stick (remember noob here). It took me 2 weeks to get that aircraft out of the tree canopy and a lot of poison ivy later. We had 2 inches of rain during that time, but when I got it back, there was zero damage and I have been flying daily with it. These are tough little aircraft and I am on my 3rd one

 

[MacIak]

Of course left stick (remember noob here). It took me 2 weeks to get that aircraft out of the tree canopy and a lot of poison ivy later. We had 2 inches of rain during that time, but when I got it back, there was zero damage and I have been flying daily with it. These are tough little aircraft and I am on my 3rd one

You are very modest! I fly rc CP high end heli for a couple of years now and the mavic is my first drone too. I refuse to call myself noob though, this mavic is the same one i received early December! It has suffered. When i see your man-cave setup and the way you report findings saying you're a noob....i feel humbled by your humbleness.

 

[beanbubba]

You are very modest! I fly rc CP high end heli for a couple of years now and the mavic is my first drone too. I refuse to call myself noob though, this mavic is the same one i received early December! It has suffered. When i see your man-cave setup and the way you report findings saying you're a noob....i feel humbled by your humbleness.

I am truly a noob. I haven't touched an RC device since I was a kid in the 80's. I have had many other hobbies over the years, but none in this discipline.

The mavic is simply the coolest readily available consumer device in the history of mankind, period. I am just now enjoying what the rest of you felt last fall when it released. So forgive my enthusiasm late in the game here but I can't help myself.

I am a technology/electronics junkie and the mavic is what was promised when I was a kid, but it was only available to military types at this level until now. It's like Christmas every day I fly and I am hooked.

Sue me

 

[Kestrel]

Relatively calm day today so I went for a distance test. 18,209 feet at point of return to home. Stock.

 

[CyberNate]

Relatively calm day today so I went for a distance test. 18,209 feet at point of return to home. Stock.
View attachment 15829

Nice flight! I'm sure the next one you'll push it over 20k. Plenty of battery left!

 

[JakeMaxxUAV]

Hey guys ad gals, I am a noob to the sport but dove in head first with battery and antenna mods. This was my first real long range attempt and made it out 22,683 feet. I flew out as low as possible until signal is almost lost then gradually increase altitude to regain signal. Each increase in altitude increased the headwind (its always windier higher). I started out at 25mph and by the end of the run I was going 12mph and made the turn at 46% battery, but to return I jacked up my altitude to get into a big tailwind and cruuzed home at 41mph and landed with 11% battery. Still trying to figure out all the different variables and this forum is fantastic with information from all you enthusiasts. I am hooked!

I would appreciate any tips or tricks anyone has to offer.

Airdata logs:
Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones
View attachment 15684

Hey bud, which antenna mod are you using?

 

[JakeMaxxUAV]

At my day job I work on commercial radio and antenna systems. I used some spare parts and built this setup that allows me to fly from inside my workshop. Also setup an AppleTV to screen share the DJI app on my larger computer monitor. It's pretty fun. You guys on this forum are awesome and I am thrilled to have a brand new hobby for us engineering types.View attachment 15702 View attachment 15703 View attachment 15704

Now that is awesome! Little jealous... haha!

 

[LGV850]

Flew Sunday, light wind and turned around at 50% and came back with a tail wind. Stock

 

[beanbubba]

Hey bud, which antenna mod are you using?

Jake, I bought a mod'd controller from you last month. The rest are spare parts from work with a 2.4g 30x30 degree panel antenna (plots are attached). I also added the geometric coverage pattern from google earth for reference (-85dBm in this example of my current setup).

 

[CyberNate]

Flew Sunday, light wind and turned around at 50% and came back with a tail wind. Stock
View attachment 15838

Way to go man! Over 20k is good! You still had plenty of battery left as well. I think you could get 22-23k without too much drama. That's really good for flying in wind.

 

[LGV850]

Way to go man! Over 20k is good! You still had plenty of battery left as well. I think you could get 22-23k without too much drama. That's really good for flying in wind.

Thanks, I'm going to have get out 22-23k just to stay on the stock leader board.

 

[beanbubba]

I do not know how you performed the battery mod (you have good times, which packs are used?) but for now, do not attempt to mod via the lead wires in the main battery, see my concerns in the battery mod thread.
Im experimenting with some glues and connectors tonight, want to do a clean mod on the mavic. Just 2 bullet connectors on top, most of it inside the shell. No cables sticking out. Although the double mod is nice (left and right of the gimbal, 2 xt60 connectors) i cannot help it reminds me of a clown and im claurophobic.

Do you have a reference for the aircraft internal battery hookup mod? I feel the need to try this