I set out in 2016 with a radian glider on a 3cell 2200 to do my longest flight, it was over 4 hours. It was extremely painful the last hour or so. I was in a lawn chair and got the worst sunburn I ever got. I kept getting thermal after thermal and hungout with birds most of the time but I pretty much used only servos the entire time. I’ll never forget that day.
Bro that's crazy I just got my radian yesterday and I'm gonna fly it on Sunday hoping for a long flight time but not that long XD I've got 4 1 cell batterys
Ill be honest, when I first clicked the video, I wasn't really impressed. Once I realized how LONG you were flying - I am totally blown away. Really great work.
Hi: full scale planes can drop their empty tanks in the military. I believe your plane can be more efficient if after a battery is depleted, the dead weight is dropped. The space shuttle has the same idea. Rocktes also utlize the same principle
Yeah, haha I’ve thought about this too. I’d love to have several batteries and safely drop them as they are depleted, but it seems tricky, managing the voltage and battery connections
You can drop off package as long as you have an autonomous flights controller such as pixhawk You ser up the waypoint ( specific location) and the pixhawk will send a signal to the servo to release the package
Wouldn’t it be cool to send it at a general heading towards another city 150 miles away where you have it land and drop off a usb and fly back . This would be supper cool . Probably 😢illegal
Isn't 300 miles 482 KMs? That's more then this flight. Great flight but 2019 with an old Disco did over 300 miles. Good to see there's people striving to do long range though.
I really like your pragmatic approach. Instead of trying to work on some technological issues, you step back and realize that other (simpler) solutions appear. Well done
Yes, they can carry a lot of extra weight, especially with a high aspect long wing.. WOW what a result! would be neat to make a video talking about all of the arduplane settings, and why you chose each one. I see you have comment from Andrew Tridgell. He's the lead dev. for arduplane. Having his compliment to your work is amazing. Great Job!
Hey Spike! Thanks! I bet that you noticed the square APC prop 😁. I've gotten a lot of use out of that info that you taught me (among the many other things)! Thanks again! That's a good idea to explain my arduplane settings. I figured that Andrew Tridgell was a dev, but I didn't know he was the lead dev! Very cool! How are your projects going?
@@MatthewHeiskell*arduplane works with American military questionable human right record ... droning people in the middle east comminuted a lot of war crimes stop supporting baby - killers*
Yes, and money (~$300 battery). Congrats!!! Comparing to gtrick90's 4h 100 mile flight on 4s-7000 with the z84, 7 times the Wh to travel 3.4 times the distance.
Hi, I get 3 questions. 1: Do you change the motor from the original 4023/1050kv to your 4108? 2: How do you connect the flight controller's tele port to the OSD and the data link to the ground control simultaneously? 3:how can you move the camera installed on the tail? I dan't see the gimbal in the Video.
Hello! 1. Yes I changed the motor. 2. The fpv video is passed through the flight controller, the OSD info is added, then the signal exits the flight controller and goes to the video transmitter. 3. The fpv camera is glued to a servo that is embedded in the vertical stabilizer.
@@MatthewHeiskell Hi,Thanks to your answer. Do you mean you don't use ground control station to control the plane so that you don't use a data-tele module?
Under admittely somewhat optimal and given conditions, solar and batteries can already work quite well in planes, like surveillance drones, training and things like that. 10 hours of flight is really wow, when even one hour would have looked good. Cool!
I have watched your video several times and I have to say, You did such a great job with this mission. I think I am going to go out and purchase the same plane just for soaring out in the desert. I subscribed for sure.
Hey man. I m completely new to the UAV world. I was wondering how you managed to create such efficient aerodinamics. This is amazing. Keep up the good work!
It was not especially efficient, half of the endurance came from the Li-Ion cells that I used to build the battery pack. They have twice the energy density of a standard LiPo RC battery.
Hi. Matthew. I have got a 30000mah battery to drive the plane like you. But I just can’t fix it into the plane at the right position. How can you do that? Could you give me the details about this?
@@MatthewHeiskell Yeah.I do the same. But the battery is still too big to fit in the fuslage since there is a wooden board in the middle of it. And the board is used for fixing the wings. So how can you solve the problem?
Would love to see some videos on building the battery the specific programming and also exactly which 2400 frame it is, there are several variation of the phoenix 2400 and I want to replicate your current design, I think it would be a great starting point for mounting a 360 pivoting camera underneath been looking at finding a design platform to start from to build something close to the capabilities of the militaries surveillance drones to use during paintball matches
That's RAD! That would be a really cool recon RC plane. There's an open sources HD FPV system called "ez wifibroadcast" I think there's a newer version now, but basically it uses two raspberry Pi and webcam and USB wifi dongle to do HD wireless video. The only catch is that it uses 2.4GHZ, so you'd need to use a different frequency like 915MHz for RC control.
Starting from absolutely nothing, about $1,000. But most RC people already have a lot of the gear, so about half that. The custom diy battery was the most expensive component.
Excellent accomplishment! Excellent video! This is how you edit together 10 hours of flight video into something interesting and compelling. Thanks for sparing us the 10 hours of footage at high speed with a terrible sound track.
Hello, what would happen to efficiency if you were to use a folding prop? Obviously your particular setup isn’t made for slope soaring but I would like to do something halfway so I can get the best of both worlds.
Thanks! I built the battery pack with a spot welder and nickel strips. There are lots of good tutorials on UA-cam, especially the people who build packs for DIY ebikes. The olny significant difference is that RC people don't include balance boards or BMS boards. We let our RC chargers take care of that.
Many thanks! Yeah, battery power is nice because it still works at night, or when it’s cloudy, or when the days are short. It is also pretty simple and cheap.
My question is, would there be a way to get the picture quality of a dji mini and be able to travel roughly the same distance away as a dji mini. I always see lots of videos or planes or built drones but never see them be able to go As far and as with as good picture quality as the dji. Maybe with an 03 air?
In in the US we are not allowed to fly beyond visual line of sight, but you can get long range with a great picture quality using the DJI digital FPV system. It's basically the same as a DJI camera drone, but modular so you can put it in a quad or a plane.
Is the Volantex Phoenix 2400mm a good lit/platform to build a long range fpv plane? I just wanna cruise around mostly and do the recordings with a gopro.
@@MatthewHeiskell Cool, I got most of the hardware except the plane now. Raspberry pi zero, Flight controller, GPS module with compass, reliever, ELRS controller. Need some nice VTX system then. I will go Analoge at first. as for plane I already have a Z84 and a 1.500dm balsa glider. what do you think use the Z84 or balsa glider or get a larger Phoenix? The Z84 is a flying wing with roughly.1 meter wingspan.
This is an amazing channel! Nice video with very high production quality and great effort! This video taught me that putting solar cells on aerofoils is not a very good idea unless done properly! The bird chirping noises in the background is also nice to hear Thank you and all the best for your future endeavours!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your encouragement! I plan to film a couple new videos this weekend. One about my Talon 250g and the other about my nano goblin. Both of them squeak in under the 250g limit. The nano goblin actually has HD recording too. Both of them are very amazing for their size and weight. I’m talking hour+ flight times if you’re cruising and 30 minutes of ballistic ripping.
This is super neat! Thanks for posting! How can I get started learning to play with flight controllers and OSDs like this? Which FC should I buy for a plane I build myself?
Thanks! 😄 there are a lot of flight controller options out there. And more a released with every month. I really like the Matek F405 Wing flight controller. But watch some videos and pick one that has a good tutorial. INav makes it easy to get started. It’s the common software that runs a lot of flight controllers
How does the airplane adjust to wind etc.? You said something about a gps tracker, but how does the airplane know the direction it has to move? Is the code written by yourself?
Good question! The code exists in arduplane. By comparing the GPS ground speed to the data from the accelerometers and gyros, the plane can fly in a circle determine the average wind. It’s surprisingly accurate.
Thanks! Just for fun, what kinda range could you get with my 4s 50Ah battery pack on an E-bike? (riding efficiently on level ground) I might have to build one haha 😁
Congratulations, pretty impressive. If you are going for highest efficiency, I highly recommend changing the prop. A GM - folding prop (Georgi Mirov Propellers) is an affordable solution. More efficient than APC, Aeronaut Cam Carbon or any random prop solution. Between appr. 10 - 20% better efficiency. Keep on flyin ♥
Hi, I wanted to know if you chose the Phoenix 2400 precisely because it is probably the model that consumes less energy in flight compared to a classic airplane and I also wanted to know if such a powerful 50 amps battery could heat up too much and burn since I have read many recommendations in this regard for much smaller batteries (LI-PO) while instead such a powerful LI-ION battery of this type is perhaps one of the most dangerous there could be
Good questions! I picked the Phoenix 2400 because it has an excellent glide ratio and efficiency, and huge wings. Larger batteries store more energy and if an accident happens more energy will be release. But using a larger battery for the same task will put proportionally less load on the battery, making it last longer and for more cycles. In a crash, the main issue is the kinetic energy, but if the battery is damaged enough, it could catch fire. Battery fires are pretty scary.
@@MatthewHeiskell I wrote the comment because I would also like to build a configuration for long flight times. I would like to know if with batteries that have the same capacity a 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s etc. which of these will discharge sooner.
What do you think about making the battery shape fit into the fuselage? It's probably very complicated, but it would be interesting to know how it would affect efficiency. Or make some fairings on the back of the battery to minimize turbulence. By the way, where is the stats table at the end of the video? It would be very interesting to compare with your previous setups!
Good ideas! I bet a fully internal battery would improve the efficiency. Yes, even a faring would help too. I didn't update the data table because this is a different battery (4S 50Ah vs 3S 45Ah).
its good to know that flight can be achieved with such weight the next challenge is custom made solar panels that will compliment the wing span then the next challenge will be the regenerating system whereby the solar panel charges the battery when the voltage drops to a certain level the system will require one main battery and one redundant battery when the main battery is low it triggers the solar panel charger and the redundant battery is activated when the main is fully charged the redundant battery is deactivated and also begins to cool while the main takes over i believe this system than bring about limitless flight time in the future i am very busy now trying to settle other projects however i will hope to realise this project in the future sincerely ejike
Even though it is running on automatic flight plan, does it still require to have a connection to the controller? Or can you launch it, shut down your RC and just let it do its thing as programmed?
Good question! Sorry for the late reply. I didn't have a waypoint mission loaded into the flight controller, so turning the RC transmitter off, or losing RC signal would put it into return to home mode, which is what is was already doing. Super Safe. When you have a waypoint mission loaded, you can adjust the flight controller's response to a lost RC signal. You can make it return to home OR make it finish the mission.
Can you elaborate on the battery build? I am going to build my own. I think I might need a 6s for extra accessories drawing power. Cells are also not easy to find in Canada.
6s would be a good pack too. Just need to adjust your ESC and motor kV. I just ordered my cells from online stores. Can you do that in maple syrup land? 😄
This is very inspiring Matthew. Setting this bar and having been over 2 years is impressive. This probably constitutes as a Guinness World Record. Have you thought to reach out and claim it?
Thanks! Glad to hear that you enjoyed it too. I contacted AMA, but there's not a category for this kind of RC endurance flight. They guy was like, "wait, you never turned the motor off?!" haha
Hello sir, im new to these rc planes and fpv models, but not to tinkering with electronics and fabrication stuff with all kind of differences, but how does one get started in building these planes and understanding flight and the workings of this stuff ? I like your material thanx for sharing.
Hello! Start with a simulator. Something like this: www.horizonhobby.com/product/realflight-evolution-rc-flight-simulator-with-interlink-dx-controller/RFL2000.html Flying a RC plane can be very tricky at first. Once you get good at that, you can get a beginner RC plane. Then later you can get fancy and add a flight controller for autonomous flight. You MUST be able to fly the plane manually. It is pretty common to need to take manual control of the plane. There are TONS of good videos on UA-cam.
The key to long range flight depends on the battery capacity and long wingspan? Have tried to use autonomous pixhawk flight controller ? How much is that battery and it's weight?
Yes, those are two of the many key factors. The Matek flight controller that I was using was running the same Arduplane software that pixhawk flight controllers use. It is very smooth and efficient after you tune it, much better than iNav. I can’t remember the weight of the battery pack, but I’m sure I put it somewhere in the video. The pack was 4s 50,000 mAh Li-Ion.
Hello, Yesterday with the small volantex sky rangers 600 ..and 350 lipo ..with good condition 22 minutes ..on thermic .. for me it ll bee so good ..with the gyro assistance it s a good optimisation of the energy 👍
I see your big battery pack and as an experiment... What if you could have a lightweight mechanism that could select and discharge one cell (or 2s whatever) at a time and eject spent cells at a certain way point? Even as a thought experiment... Would there be any benefits. A use case would be longer loitering for a particular location for example.
It’s been a while, so I forget the details, but I made a few video about this plane. You’ll just have to watch the other ones. I’m sure I cover that info.
I would throw a Dji Caddax system on there, doesn't weigh much and a TBS crossfire receiver. That thing flies great!!! 10 hours has to be a record forsure
Hi, I have got a 4108/600kv motor to drive a 12*12 propeller just like you do. However, the motor gets extremely hot while it is working at 70% throttle with 4S battery. Is your motor the same? I am afraid the motor can't work for a long time in this condition.
Yes, you should use a slightly smaller prop. I used that big prop because I knew that my battery voltage was going to decrease a lot throughout the flight. I over-propped the motor at the beginning so that I had sufficient thrust when the battery was getting low and weak.
Liked all your RC videos and subscribed! Question about the battery if you would be so kind: I have researched all your replies to other people regarding the battery. I have seen your XUAV Talon battery overview. As a beginner, do you have a couple videos you could recommend to BUILD a similar battery? Or maybe a step by step with parts? So far I have gathered 1. Spot welder 2. Proper batteries 3. Connectors? 4. Load balance? Thanks for your awesome work, it’s inspiring.
Awesome! Here's a good video about pack building. The only difference for us RC people is that we don't need a BMS (battery management system). We just need the main positive and negative and the balance lead for balance charging the battery. ua-cam.com/video/tKg-jIrr_JE/v-deo.html
The little FPV camera? It was a cheapie from banggood. If you want a small camera for a plane, check out the RunCam Thumb Pro. You can put it on anything and get awesome smooth footage: amzn.to/3XcrhSx
Can you please us how to setup the plane especially the electronics, what electronics did you use and the configuration with it, I’m beginner so😅, with the ground controllers, 🙏 please
Many thanks! Sorry for the late reply. Yeah, a few days later I got on Google Maps and started drawing distance lines to see how far it could have gone on a one way mission.
Thank you Matthew. I have tested my phoenix with a 30000mah/4s battery. It has crashed in the launching since the vehicle is too heavy to launch with hand. What’s your plane’s max thrust? And how can you launch such a heavy plane without stalling in the launching?
I’m sorry to hear about your crash. Launching it is very challenging because it is so large and so heavy. There are a few tricks though. Launch into the wind at full power. Launch with full flaps. Launch and try to fly level and build speed before trying to climb. Run and throw the plane as strongly as possible. My max thrust was not very high. I was just barely able to launch mine. Maybe launch from a hill top.
Hi Matthew. Thank you for your help. My plane can fly for 3hrs now. However It is still hard to launch. I wanna replace the motor form the 4108/600kv to a more fit in motor. So why do you choose the 4108/600kv? Is there any motor more powerful, which is still suitable for the long endurance flight? Thank you.
Hello Matthew, you are amazing.. But I am really very keen to know about the motor here. Is it true that you use the Racestar 4108 Kv600 that weight oonly 92gr and power about 400 watts??? Tks
have you considered a translucent top to the foil with solar cells inside the wings? Then you can optimize the wings for aerodynamics and the solar cells for power generation.
Higher voltages are usually more efficient because you don’t need as much current to make the same power. (Power = current * Voltage) Less current means less I^2 * R losses. This is based on the equation for heat generated in a circuit. (Power = current * current * resistance)
I wonder about the discharge rate. How can you improve it, sir? The discharge rate I archive from LG mg50 is a bit low and your motor sometimes draws more than 10 A.
Good question! Each cell in parallel contributes to the discharge rate capability. Since there are 10 cells in parallel, and each cell can deliver 10A, the whole pack can deliver 100A.
@@Joneszee1969 I show the pan servo in another phoenix video. Here is a link that will start you at the exact moment, but You might enjoy the whole walkaround section: ua-cam.com/video/M-j0khC0x80/v-deo.html
so during the 10h you were always on the motor? you were never gliding? do you think if you go to altitude and glide and then use the motor to regain altitude you can increase the flight time even further?
The motor was running the entire time, just enough to maintain altitude. I think this is more efficient then climbing and gliding, unless you were hunting for ridge lift or thermals.
Awesome. Hey I will like to do city to city using autonamous flight and having connection via 4G LTE. What other plane will you recoomend for my project ?
Don’t apologize for being excited! Anyone who sets such a record for themselves would surely feel the same!
Thanks! 😄
Yup :)
I set out in 2016 with a radian glider on a 3cell 2200 to do my longest flight, it was over 4 hours. It was extremely painful the last hour or so. I was in a lawn chair and got the worst sunburn I ever got. I kept getting thermal after thermal and hungout with birds most of the time but I pretty much used only servos the entire time. I’ll never forget that day.
That sounds awesome! (except the sunburn, haha)
Bro that's crazy I just got my radian yesterday and I'm gonna fly it on Sunday hoping for a long flight time but not that long XD I've got 4 1 cell batterys
Radians are fun.
Don't apologize for feeling joy! It's the most beautiful emotion and I petty the one's who judge people for that!
Thank you so much! 😄
Ill be honest, when I first clicked the video, I wasn't really impressed. Once I realized how LONG you were flying - I am totally blown away. Really great work.
Many thanks! 😄
Holy moly! I did not think that was possible. It even flies pretty slow for such a heavy plane. Very impressive.
Hi: full scale planes can drop their empty tanks in the military. I believe your plane can be more efficient if after a battery is depleted, the dead weight is dropped. The space shuttle has the same idea. Rocktes also utlize the same principle
Yeah, haha I’ve thought about this too. I’d love to have several batteries and safely drop them as they are depleted, but it seems tricky, managing the voltage and battery connections
Dropping LiPos around might be very, very dangerous unfortunately.
You can drop off package as long as you have an autonomous flights controller such as pixhawk
You ser up the waypoint ( specific location) and the pixhawk will send a signal to the servo to release the package
Rc Bomber
@@idiotequedwaal good thing it’s not a lipo😏
Crazy man. Almost 340 miles on a single flight. Good stuff
Many thanks! 😄
Wouldn’t it be cool to send it at a general heading towards another city 150 miles away where you have it land and drop off a usb and fly back . This would be supper cool . Probably 😢illegal
@@j.s3612i don’t think it would be illegal if you register the flight
Isn't 300 miles 482 KMs? That's more then this flight. Great flight but 2019 with an old Disco did over 300 miles. Good to see there's people striving to do long range though.
I really like your pragmatic approach. Instead of trying to work on some technological issues, you step back and realize that other (simpler) solutions appear. Well done
Well said! Thanks!
Holy crap! That is fantastic! Congratulations & Hats off on 10h without solar power!
You’re one patient dude. What a cool project. Congrats man!
Many thanks! 😄
Fair play to you staying out in a field all day, takes some dedication!
Many thanks! 😄
Yes, they can carry a lot of extra weight, especially with a high aspect long wing..
WOW what a result! would be neat to make a video talking about all of the arduplane settings, and why you chose each one.
I see you have comment from Andrew Tridgell. He's the lead dev. for arduplane. Having his compliment to your work is amazing. Great Job!
Hey Spike! Thanks! I bet that you noticed the square APC prop 😁. I've gotten a lot of use out of that info that you taught me (among the many other things)! Thanks again! That's a good idea to explain my arduplane settings. I figured that Andrew Tridgell was a dev, but I didn't know he was the lead dev! Very cool! How are your projects going?
@@MatthewHeiskell You should join Aerorozvidka fren. You will enjoy it.
@@MatthewHeiskell*arduplane works with American military questionable human right record ... droning people in the middle east comminuted a lot of war crimes stop supporting baby - killers*
fantastic! Getting that sort of flight time takes a lot of effort
Thanks! I tried iNav at first, then I flashed arduplane onto the FC. What a difference!
Did you tried to fly with inav?
@@sarantis2 Yes, iNav is more user friendly, but Arduplane is better in every other aspect, especially efficiency.
@@MatthewHeiskell I cannot agree more. After this video I order the same plane
Yes, and money (~$300 battery). Congrats!!! Comparing to gtrick90's 4h 100 mile flight on 4s-7000 with the z84, 7 times the Wh to travel 3.4 times the distance.
Now that's a calming hobby! Great.
Yeah, it was very relaxing to watch and check everything. 😄 thanks!
Thank you for taking us with you! @@MatthewHeiskell
incredible! I have no RC fixed wings but this is the motivation i need!
Multirotor can do very special things, but fixed wing is the king of staying in the air haha. I have both and I love both.
I’m surprised that thing flies at all that battery looks insanely heavy.
This is so cool though props to you for spending so much time on this.
Amazing, its look so stable to fly, gliding, and cruising. Love it 👌
Thanks! Arduplane flies really smoothly.
@@MatthewHeiskell yeahhh.. really is. Greetings from indonesia 🇲🇨
Hi, I get 3 questions. 1: Do you change the motor from the original 4023/1050kv to your 4108? 2: How do you connect the flight controller's tele port to the OSD and the data link to the ground control simultaneously? 3:how can you move the camera installed on the tail? I dan't see the gimbal in the Video.
Hello! 1. Yes I changed the motor. 2. The fpv video is passed through the flight controller, the OSD info is added, then the signal exits the flight controller and goes to the video transmitter. 3. The fpv camera is glued to a servo that is embedded in the vertical stabilizer.
@@MatthewHeiskell Hi,Thanks to your answer. Do you mean you don't use ground control station to control the plane so that you don't use a data-tele module?
Very nice long flight!!!
Many thanks! 😄
Nice project!! Do you mind sharing more detail as to fc placement and battery cutout ?
Trying to add fpv gear as well !!!
Incredible! A BVLOS flight would be incredibl'ER
Thanks! Yeah, I’m not allowed to fly BVLOS 😔
Under admittely somewhat optimal and given conditions, solar and batteries can already work quite well in planes, like surveillance drones, training and things like that. 10 hours of flight is really wow, when even one hour would have looked good. Cool!
Thanks! Have you seen the drones that perch on power lines and draw power to recharge?
That is freaking incredible!! Helluva lot of determination to make it through the flight! Awesome Engineering job 🤙🏼
Not embarrassing at all man, congratulations!!! You did a really nice job!!!!
Thanks Pedro! 😄
Amazing accomplishment!
Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to write your nice comment!
One of the best videos I have seen in a while. Really inspiring. Would love to see a video about the auto pilot components you used
Thanks! The autopilot is nothin’ fancy, just a Matek F405-wing running arduplane 3.9.11
F405 wing is a fantastic product by maytec,I still use them with inav,great achievement there.
I have watched your video several times and I have to say, You did such a great job with this mission. I think I am going to go out and purchase the same plane just for soaring out in the desert. I subscribed for sure.
Thanks so much! It’s a fantastic plane!
Hey man. I m completely new to the UAV world. I was wondering how you managed to create such efficient aerodinamics. This is amazing. Keep up the good work!
It was not especially efficient, half of the endurance came from the Li-Ion cells that I used to build the battery pack. They have twice the energy density of a standard LiPo RC battery.
@@MatthewHeiskell oooh I get it. Do you think optimising the airplanes shape could have a major impact on flight duration?
In 1990 I found a model plane magazine from the 60s with a description of a 14 hour record flight, it was a huge glider with a 1.5cc motor.
Wow, that’s awesome! I’ve heard of an RC place that flew across the Atlantic too! Amazing!
...Great Endeavor! I keep watching certain sections over and over. Impressive!
Many thanks! 😄 Glad that you enjoy this stuff too!
@@MatthewHeiskell yes!
Hi. Matthew. I have got a 30000mah battery to drive the plane like you. But I just can’t fix it into the plane at the right position. How can you do that? Could you give me the details about this?
I cut a large section out of the bottom of the fuselage to make the battery fit
@@MatthewHeiskell Yeah.I do the same. But the battery is still too big to fit in the fuslage since there is a wooden board in the middle of it. And the board is used for fixing the wings. So how can you solve the problem?
@@MatthewHeiskell And BTW. Why don't you install your autopilot in the head of your plane since there is much of space for it.
Very nice achievement. Great video. Camera pan was awesome upgrade! KEEP EM FLYING!! 🛩
Thanks! Will do! 🛩🛩🛩
Ahhh. The sweet smell of success. FYI. My throw......It would have nailed the fence. Love the
wing insert design. Great vid. 🏞
Why the .... do you need to apologise ... dude you are owed some ADRENALINE from all of us. that was just amazing.
Haha, thank you so much! 😄
Would love to see some videos on building the battery the specific programming and also exactly which 2400 frame it is, there are several variation of the phoenix 2400 and I want to replicate your current design, I think it would be a great starting point for mounting a 360 pivoting camera underneath been looking at finding a design platform to start from to build something close to the capabilities of the militaries surveillance drones to use during paintball matches
That's RAD! That would be a really cool recon RC plane. There's an open sources HD FPV system called "ez wifibroadcast" I think there's a newer version now, but basically it uses two raspberry Pi and webcam and USB wifi dongle to do HD wireless video. The only catch is that it uses 2.4GHZ, so you'd need to use a different frequency like 915MHz for RC control.
Now THATS a battery!!! Amazing job dude
Many thanks! 😄
How much would this cost to buy/build ?
Starting from absolutely nothing, about $1,000. But most RC people already have a lot of the gear, so about half that. The custom diy battery was the most expensive component.
Excellent accomplishment! Excellent video! This is how you edit together 10 hours of flight video into something interesting and compelling. Thanks for sparing us the 10 hours of footage at high speed with a terrible sound track.
Thanks Brendan! I really appreciate hearing that! Cheers! 😄
Congrats for this, you make me and my kids dreaming !
Many thanks! 😄 that’s awesome! It’s a great skill set to teach to future generations!
Hello, what would happen to efficiency if you were to use a folding prop? Obviously your particular setup isn’t made for slope soaring but I would like to do something halfway so I can get the best of both worlds.
I think there would be only a small hit to efficiency if you used a folding prop.
Dude, you make some high quality videos. Incredible.
Thanks! It’s fun to make them, and pretty easy when I’m stoked to share the results of this cool project. Cheers! 😄
@@MatthewHeiskell now you need to buy a 03 airunit by dji digital camera or add a gopro on your plane and your videos are perfect !
Great achievement. Will be a great success video or videos series you show how to use, configure and tips and trick with the Arduplane
Hi Matthew great video! have you got any more information/instruction on how you made the battery pack?
Thanks! I built the battery pack with a spot welder and nickel strips. There are lots of good tutorials on UA-cam, especially the people who build packs for DIY ebikes. The olny significant difference is that RC people don't include balance boards or BMS boards. We let our RC chargers take care of that.
@@MatthewHeiskell thank you!
Hey respect to you for this flight and I have one more question what did you use during this flight I mean telemetry?
Many thanks! 😄 I used the FPV OSD to monitor the specific values.
Great to see a different perspective on endurance flight. I had assumed solar is the only option. But you proved otherwise
Many thanks! Yeah, battery power is nice because it still works at night, or when it’s cloudy, or when the days are short. It is also pretty simple and cheap.
how long will it take for that battery set to become fully charged for another 10 hrs of flight??
Recharging the battery takes 2 hours.
@@MatthewHeiskellWhats the weight of the battery?
This is amazing! I’m gonna build I li-ion pack for my phoenix s 1600
Thanks! Yeah, switching to Li-Ion basically doubles your flight time for the same battery weight.
My question is, would there be a way to get the picture quality of a dji mini and be able to travel roughly the same distance away as a dji mini. I always see lots of videos or planes or built drones but never see them be able to go As far and as with as good picture quality as the dji. Maybe with an 03 air?
In in the US we are not allowed to fly beyond visual line of sight, but you can get long range with a great picture quality using the DJI digital FPV system. It's basically the same as a DJI camera drone, but modular so you can put it in a quad or a plane.
@@MatthewHeiskell were not allowed out of line of site in Canada either, but.... still had the question lol
Is the Volantex Phoenix 2400mm a good lit/platform to build a long range fpv plane? I just wanna cruise around mostly and do the recordings with a gopro.
It is for sure!
@@MatthewHeiskell Cool, I got most of the hardware except the plane now. Raspberry pi zero, Flight controller, GPS module with compass, reliever, ELRS controller.
Need some nice VTX system then. I will go Analoge at first.
as for plane I already have a Z84 and a 1.500dm balsa glider. what do you think use the Z84 or balsa glider or get a larger Phoenix? The Z84 is a flying wing with roughly.1 meter wingspan.
This is an amazing channel! Nice video with very high production quality and great effort! This video taught me that putting solar cells on aerofoils is not a very good idea unless done properly! The bird chirping noises in the background is also nice to hear Thank you and all the best for your future endeavours!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your encouragement! I plan to film a couple new videos this weekend. One about my Talon 250g and the other about my nano goblin. Both of them squeak in under the 250g limit. The nano goblin actually has HD recording too. Both of them are very amazing for their size and weight. I’m talking hour+ flight times if you’re cruising and 30 minutes of ballistic ripping.
This is super neat! Thanks for posting!
How can I get started learning to play with flight controllers and OSDs like this? Which FC should I buy for a plane I build myself?
Thanks! 😄 there are a lot of flight controller options out there. And more a released with every month. I really like the Matek F405 Wing flight controller. But watch some videos and pick one that has a good tutorial. INav makes it easy to get started. It’s the common software that runs a lot of flight controllers
How does the airplane adjust to wind etc.?
You said something about a gps tracker, but how does the airplane know the direction it has to move?
Is the code written by yourself?
Good question! The code exists in arduplane. By comparing the GPS ground speed to the data from the accelerometers and gyros, the plane can fly in a circle determine the average wind. It’s surprisingly accurate.
That battery would run my E-bike ! Good job bro.
Thanks! Just for fun, what kinda range could you get with my 4s 50Ah battery pack on an E-bike? (riding efficiently on level ground) I might have to build one haha 😁
@@MatthewHeiskell I think e-bike engines require at least 10S battery packs with 13S becoming the new standard...
@@kmieciu4ever Wow! That is a LOT of voltage! Thanks for the info!
Beautiful setup! Can you please share the details of the current sensor that you've used? Is it the one that you get with cube?
Thanks! I was using the Matek F405 wing flight controller's built-in current sensor.
Cool and great job!! what materials is your plane made of?
Many thanks! 😄 it is made from plastic and foam and aluminum wing spars.
Cool!! Thank you for responding. I'm thinking of making my own plane... But it's an ambitious and time consuming project for sure.
Congratulations, pretty impressive.
If you are going for highest efficiency, I highly recommend changing the prop.
A GM - folding prop (Georgi Mirov Propellers) is an affordable solution.
More efficient than APC, Aeronaut Cam Carbon or any random prop solution.
Between appr. 10 - 20% better efficiency.
Keep on flyin ♥
Hi, I wanted to know if you chose the Phoenix 2400 precisely because it is probably the model that consumes less energy in flight compared to a classic airplane and I also wanted to know if such a powerful 50 amps battery could heat up too much and burn since I have read many recommendations in this regard for much smaller batteries (LI-PO) while instead such a powerful LI-ION battery of this type is perhaps one of the most dangerous there could be
Good questions! I picked the Phoenix 2400 because it has an excellent glide ratio and efficiency, and huge wings. Larger batteries store more energy and if an accident happens more energy will be release. But using a larger battery for the same task will put proportionally less load on the battery, making it last longer and for more cycles. In a crash, the main issue is the kinetic energy, but if the battery is damaged enough, it could catch fire. Battery fires are pretty scary.
@@MatthewHeiskell I wrote the comment because I would also like to build a configuration for long flight times. I would like to know if with batteries that have the same capacity a 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s etc. which of these will discharge sooner.
A significant accomplishment. Historic note, the League of Silent Flight accomplishment program required an UNPOWERED 8 hour flight.
Wow! The only way I can think to do that is to slope soar somewhere with really consistent winds!
What do you think about making the battery shape fit into the fuselage? It's probably very complicated, but it would be interesting to know how it would affect efficiency. Or make some fairings on the back of the battery to minimize turbulence. By the way, where is the stats table at the end of the video? It would be very interesting to compare with your previous setups!
Good ideas! I bet a fully internal battery would improve the efficiency. Yes, even a faring would help too. I didn't update the data table because this is a different battery (4S 50Ah vs 3S 45Ah).
its good to know that flight can be achieved with such weight
the next challenge is custom made solar panels that will compliment the wing span
then the next challenge will be the regenerating system whereby the solar panel charges the battery when the voltage drops to a certain level
the system will require one main battery and one redundant battery
when the main battery is low it triggers the solar panel charger
and the redundant battery is activated
when the main is fully charged the redundant battery is deactivated and also begins to cool while the main takes over
i believe this system than bring about limitless flight time in the future
i am very busy now trying to settle other projects however i will hope to realise this project in the future
sincerely
ejike
Is there an STL file aomewhere for this so We can print and try this out? Good job 👍
Even though it is running on automatic flight plan, does it still require to have a connection to the controller? Or can you launch it, shut down your RC and just let it do its thing as programmed?
Good question! Sorry for the late reply. I didn't have a waypoint mission loaded into the flight controller, so turning the RC transmitter off, or losing RC signal would put it into return to home mode, which is what is was already doing. Super Safe. When you have a waypoint mission loaded, you can adjust the flight controller's response to a lost RC signal. You can make it return to home OR make it finish the mission.
Can you elaborate on the battery build? I am going to build my own. I think I might need a 6s for extra accessories drawing power. Cells are also not easy to find in Canada.
6s would be a good pack too. Just need to adjust your ESC and motor kV. I just ordered my cells from online stores. Can you do that in maple syrup land? 😄
This is very inspiring Matthew. Setting this bar and having been over 2 years is impressive. This probably constitutes as a Guinness World Record. Have you thought to reach out and claim it?
Thanks! Glad to hear that you enjoyed it too. I contacted AMA, but there's not a category for this kind of RC endurance flight. They guy was like, "wait, you never turned the motor off?!" haha
Crazy I just found this.. I'm gonna have to get back into this someday.
It's a fun hobby, so many aspects to it!
Hello sir, im new to these rc planes and fpv models, but not to tinkering with electronics and fabrication stuff with all kind of differences, but how does one get started in building these planes and understanding flight and the workings of this stuff ? I like your material thanx for sharing.
Hello! Start with a simulator. Something like this: www.horizonhobby.com/product/realflight-evolution-rc-flight-simulator-with-interlink-dx-controller/RFL2000.html Flying a RC plane can be very tricky at first. Once you get good at that, you can get a beginner RC plane. Then later you can get fancy and add a flight controller for autonomous flight. You MUST be able to fly the plane manually. It is pretty common to need to take manual control of the plane. There are TONS of good videos on UA-cam.
@@MatthewHeiskell Nice! Thank you
Are you controlling/adjusting the throttle manually or is the flight controller doing that?
Good question! The flight controller was managing throttle, but I could add bonus throttle if I wanted.
Great flight and project. Subbed.
Many thanks! 😄
Congrats! By the way Are there laws in the us saying it cant be too heavy or something? Just curious
Thanks! There’s extra restrictions and safety requirements when your RC aircraft hits 55 pounds.
Yo thats so more strict in japan it cant be more than 100 grams same for drones or you need to get permission from the government
The key to long range flight depends on the battery capacity and long wingspan?
Have tried to use autonomous pixhawk flight controller ?
How much is that battery and it's weight?
Yes, those are two of the many key factors. The Matek flight controller that I was using was running the same Arduplane software that pixhawk flight controllers use. It is very smooth and efficient after you tune it, much better than iNav. I can’t remember the weight of the battery pack, but I’m sure I put it somewhere in the video. The pack was 4s 50,000 mAh Li-Ion.
Hello, Yesterday with the small volantex sky rangers 600 ..and 350 lipo ..with good condition 22 minutes ..on thermic .. for me it ll bee so good ..with the gyro assistance it s a good optimisation of the energy 👍
Wow! That’s awesome!
Could you not get even longer flight times if you build a mechanism to eject empty cells?
Yes, haha, losing weight like burning liquid fuel.
I see your big battery pack and as an experiment... What if you could have a lightweight mechanism that could select and discharge one cell (or 2s whatever) at a time and eject spent cells at a certain way point?
Even as a thought experiment... Would there be any benefits.
A use case would be longer loitering for a particular location for example.
Congrats, I never though this very long flight could be possible only with batteries.
Thanks! 😁
I’m trying to find more information on this build. What was the takeoff weight? I’m thinking over 8 lbs?
It’s been a while, so I forget the details, but I made a few video about this plane. You’ll just have to watch the other ones. I’m sure I cover that info.
I would throw a Dji Caddax system on there, doesn't weigh much and a TBS crossfire receiver. That thing flies great!!! 10 hours has to be a record forsure
Thanks! I've since gotten crossfire and I love it! I haven't switched to HD FPV yet, maybe this summer though.
Hi, I have got a 4108/600kv motor to drive a 12*12 propeller just like you do. However, the motor gets extremely hot while it is working at 70% throttle with 4S battery. Is your motor the same? I am afraid the motor can't work for a long time in this condition.
Yes, you should use a slightly smaller prop. I used that big prop because I knew that my battery voltage was going to decrease a lot throughout the flight. I over-propped the motor at the beginning so that I had sufficient thrust when the battery was getting low and weak.
Liked all your RC videos and subscribed! Question about the battery if you would be so kind: I have researched all your replies to other people regarding the battery. I have seen your XUAV Talon battery overview. As a beginner, do you have a couple videos you could recommend to BUILD a similar battery? Or maybe a step by step with parts? So far I have gathered 1. Spot welder 2. Proper batteries 3. Connectors? 4. Load balance? Thanks for your awesome work, it’s inspiring.
Awesome! Here's a good video about pack building. The only difference for us RC people is that we don't need a BMS (battery management system). We just need the main positive and negative and the balance lead for balance charging the battery. ua-cam.com/video/tKg-jIrr_JE/v-deo.html
Whats the camera you used? I just got into RC and id love to stick a camera on my plane
The little FPV camera? It was a cheapie from banggood. If you want a small camera for a plane, check out the RunCam Thumb Pro. You can put it on anything and get awesome smooth footage: amzn.to/3XcrhSx
Can you please us how to setup the plane especially the electronics, what electronics did you use and the configuration with it, I’m beginner so😅, with the ground controllers, 🙏 please
How to build Super Monster 18650 battery with balace connector ?
There are lots of good videos on UA-cam to show you how to build one. Here is one:ua-cam.com/video/Y4CmVSJvJQ8/v-deo.htmlsi=lq5bHkMbv6o8jcn8
340 MILES!!! That is some serious distance congrats
Many thanks! Sorry for the late reply. Yeah, a few days later I got on Google Maps and started drawing distance lines to see how far it could have gone on a one way mission.
Spectacular. Congratulations!
Thank you so much 😀
Thank you Matthew. I have tested my phoenix with a 30000mah/4s battery. It has crashed in the launching since the vehicle is too heavy to launch with hand. What’s your plane’s max thrust? And how can you launch such a heavy plane without stalling in the launching?
I’m sorry to hear about your crash. Launching it is very challenging because it is so large and so heavy. There are a few tricks though. Launch into the wind at full power. Launch with full flaps. Launch and try to fly level and build speed before trying to climb. Run and throw the plane as strongly as possible. My max thrust was not very high. I was just barely able to launch mine. Maybe launch from a hill top.
Hi Matthew. Thank you for your help. My plane can fly for 3hrs now. However It is still hard to launch. I wanna replace the motor form the 4108/600kv to a more fit in motor. So why do you choose the 4108/600kv? Is there any motor more powerful, which is still suitable for the long endurance flight? Thank you.
Hello Matthew, you are amazing.. But I am really very keen to know about the motor here. Is it true that you use the Racestar 4108 Kv600 that weight oonly 92gr and power about 400 watts??? Tks
Thanks, yeah, that’s the motor that I used.
have you considered a translucent top to the foil with solar cells inside the wings?
Then you can optimize the wings for aerodynamics and the solar cells for power generation.
Yeah, I covered the cells after I embedded them in the wings. I thought it looked pretty good, but apparently the efficiency was reduced.
Hello my friend,
Are you using pitot tube?
Regards
I did not use a pitot tube.
I thought 3s was more efficient. What made you decide on 4s?
Higher voltages are usually more efficient because you don’t need as much current to make the same power. (Power = current * Voltage) Less current means less I^2 * R losses. This is based on the equation for heat generated in a circuit. (Power = current * current * resistance)
Great job! This airplane is very good. I have one my version is 2000.
Thanks! Yeah, they made a fantastic design!
Great video! What a long flight. Super!
Many thanks! 😄
I wonder about the discharge rate. How can you improve it, sir? The discharge rate I archive from LG mg50 is a bit low and your motor sometimes draws more than 10 A.
Good question! Each cell in parallel contributes to the discharge rate capability. Since there are 10 cells in parallel, and each cell can deliver 10A, the whole pack can deliver 100A.
That was pretty awesome, thanks for that video. I’d be interested in your tail camera pan until set up.
Thanks! It is just a cheap FPV camera glued onto a servo. And the servo is glued into the upper edge of the vertical stabilizer.
@@MatthewHeiskell Awesome, very simple thanks for the response. Happy flying
@@Joneszee1969 I show the pan servo in another phoenix video. Here is a link that will start you at the exact moment, but You might enjoy the whole walkaround section: ua-cam.com/video/M-j0khC0x80/v-deo.html
so during the 10h you were always on the motor? you were never gliding? do you think if you go to altitude and glide and then use the motor to regain altitude you can increase the flight time even further?
The motor was running the entire time, just enough to maintain altitude. I think this is more efficient then climbing and gliding, unless you were hunting for ridge lift or thermals.
@@MatthewHeiskell thanks for the quick reply and good video :)
I bet he said "noice" all day... Would have driven me nuts!
Haha 😄
How much extra altitude can be gained by targeting thermals, as a glider pilot would:?
That would help quite a bit!
Cool flight, very nice! Thank you!
Dunwell mate good on your buddy
Thanks so much! 😄
Awesome. Hey I will like to do city to city using autonamous flight and having connection via 4G LTE. What other plane will you recoomend for my project ?
Cool project! The Phoenix 2400 is excellent. The big sky hunter is also good, but the Phoenix is the most stable and reliable. I highly recommend it.
Have you ever though about using like 5 batteries and dropping them, when they are empty?