Any progress with power efficiency?

Haven't flown in a year or so and I know there have been lots of advancement in video, but curious if power efficiency is any better, or yall still swapping out batteries every 15 min or so of freestyling?

7 points · 6 comments · view on lemmy.world

6 Comments

Eheran@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (5 replies)

Efficiency is not the problem, except perhaps at the props. Otherwise things are somewhat efficient.

venusaur@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (4 replies)

do you remember brushed motors? quads can always be more efficient at more than just the props. batteries are super heavy and motors and electronics drain the batteries quickly.

Eheran@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y (3 replies)

The path from battery to rotation of the motor is something like 90 % efficient. There is not much to gain. But having just 20 % higher energy density in the battery makes a big difference, since you need less mass for the same energy, so less power to fly, etc.

venusaur@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Any updates in battery tech then? What needs to happen to get longer aggressive flight time besides lighter battery or frame?

Eheran@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Higher energy density of batteries. It goes up, I think, roughly 5 % per year. Does not sound like much but makes a big difference after 10 years. But there are no quick gains to be made in the short term, sadly.

venusaur@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y

For sure. I’ll be excited to see what the tech is like in 10 years. Gonna be crazy. Control it with your body or voice.