Hey Cybernate, pleasure to meet you. I am still absorbing all the data points in this sport of competitive long range testing (if I see anything labeled "leader board" I am immediately attracted to that). Some of these top range numbers are not adding up in my simple brain. I would surmise that you would need a day with barely any headwinds at low altitudes, then a strong return tailwind in order to get the numbers seen on the top of the board. I have also experimented with several battery packs described in this site and can only get maybe 10 extra minutes of flight time and the batteries come back at 11.2 volts. I will keep researching as I am still a noob, but any advice or tips would be welcomed around how to get more out of the add on batteries.
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.
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.
