Draganflyer 3 battery Mods?  
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Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/4/2003 11:57:17 AM   
Jderringer


 

Posts: 3
Joined: 1/4/2003
From: Belleville, MI, USA
Status: offline 		I have been reading the posts- and I know that some of you have draganflyers, BUT, has anyone experimented w/ other batteries for longer flight times or more cargo capacity (NiMH or Lithium)? I just e-mailed the company that makes them and I will post their reply here. I would appreciate any experiences that any one would care to share! (Good or bad)
       Post #: 1

Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/7/2003 9:46:10 AM   
jqxl


 

Posts: 7
Joined: 12/22/2002
From: S.W. Washington
Status: offline 		Hi,

I have a draganflyer 3 and I use the standard 10 cell sanyo 600ae battery packs. I bought 3 so that I can get a little more flying in before charging. Each batt pack takes about 40 min to charge.
I am maybe getting 5 minutes per run.
I called DF and they said a Li-Poly battery pack would be available in FEB. Zenon indicated the run time would be about 15 minutes.

It is a very cool flying machine. I am still a neophite and won't attempt to fly with the camera until I become more expert.

Jack

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 2

Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/8/2003 5:41:21 PM   
Jderringer


 

Posts: 3
Joined: 1/4/2003
From: Belleville, MI, USA
Status: offline 		as promised, here is the reply from the company that make the draganflyer:

The current battery is at 10 cell (1.2v/cell = 12volts), 600mAH NiCD battery. We have tried many forms of NiMH batteries, and none can provide the current that the Draganflyer III requires to be a fun machine like the NiCDs can. We have tested about 5 different varieties of the Lithium batteries and have found one that works awesome. Even more power, and 15 minute flight times. We are OEMing a charger, and it will be ready for February. We will be carrying this battery system in February for all interested customers.

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 3

kewl - 1/12/2003 2:16:52 PM   
turbocivic


 

Posts: 71
Joined: 11/24/2002
From: Maui, Country
Status: offline 		Cool I cant wait for Febuary, even though my dragon 3 is at the repair shop cause i had some faulty electronics, but great customer service helps a lot. Thumbs up to Dragon Innovations for a fun machine. P.S my blade broke 14 feet in the air and had a ultimate crash landing and still only adjustments to the carbon rods and engines was needed. Glad to see others flying

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 4

Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/13/2003 1:46:05 AM   
jqxl


 

Posts: 7
Joined: 12/22/2002
From: S.W. Washington
Status: offline 		What sort of faulty electronics problem did you experience? Did you send it back to Draganfly or somewhere else? Any charges to you?

The new battery pack should be great! Check out FMAdirect for alternative batteries. I am considering their 3000mA 3 cell.

So far I am OK in a hover with in a 10 foot circle. I still must keep it oriented away from me for control. Too chicken to try the camera yet in flight. Someday!

Jack

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 5

Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/13/2003 8:53:30 AM   
gregw


 

Posts: 82
Joined: 11/13/2002
From: NA, HONG KONG
Status: offline 		I also had electronic problems with my Draganflyer III

Mine started as intermittent problems arming the motors, which became intermittent loss of power DURING flight, i.e. nicely hovering, and then suddenly, my DF3 would drop like a stone to the ground. The final stage before I sent it in for repairs was that I had to wriggle the battery connector to even get power to my DF3!

Called Draganfly and talked to Zenon Dragan, and it seems I'm not the only one that has this problem!! There seems to be a design weakness in one of the components on the board. When you insert/uninsert the battery connector, it flexes the circuit board and causes the connection to the L1 diode to fail.

Draganfly sent me an email and asked me to send it back to the manufacturer of the board, Spectrolutions Inc. in New York. It's been around 2 weeks now and I haven't heard anything from them yet..

On Lipoly batteries, I was about to order a 3s3p Kokam 1020 from Troy ([url]www.b-p-p.com[/url]) for my DF3 before I had the problems. It measures 62mm x 34mm x approx 60mm (fits in a DF3 perfectly!), provides 3060mah and should weigh around 190grams (standard 10cell is 196grams). Based on LipoCal estimates (https://www.fmadirect.com/site/lipocalc.htm), flying time is 26 minutes at 100% throttle at 7 amps, or 32 minutes at 80% throttle at 5.6 amps!!

In the mean time, I've ordered a Corona instead.

< Message edited by gregw -- Jan 13 2003 4:21AM >

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 6

hi - 1/13/2003 12:36:19 PM   
turbocivic


 

Posts: 71
Joined: 11/24/2002
From: Maui, Country
Status: offline 		Hi what he just said is the Exact problem I ran into and I soldered a wire in place of the L1 connection and my motors then came haywire, I sent mines out saturday before last I hope spectrolutions got it already. Keep me informed on your board as im in the exact situation as you are!!

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 7

Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/13/2003 11:28:36 PM   
mark1231


 

Posts: 8
Joined: 1/13/2003
From: Wilmington,De
Status: offline 		If you slightly increase the throttle on my Draganflyer it will climb to a new altitude and then descend all the way to the ground. I recently switched to a computer radio and set up a flatter throttle curve to help, however I still need to constantly alter the throttle to hold the model at any elevation that's above ground effect. Is this normal?

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 8

hey - 1/14/2003 12:49:52 AM   
turbocivic


 

Posts: 71
Joined: 11/24/2002
From: Maui, Country
Status: offline 		Maybe its your batteries , some of my batteries are stronger then others? I got a Futaba 9c pcm/fm can i use this for my dragon3, wish i had my dragon 3 runnin though

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 9

Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/14/2003 2:02:13 AM   
mark1231


 

Posts: 8
Joined: 1/13/2003
From: Wilmington,De
Status: offline 		I'm using the 10cell 600mah batteries, I cycle and peak charge them for each flight and only get about 4 minutes of actual hovering time, It does seem like increasing the throttle causes a temporary voltage reduction and it dips down until the battery recovers. I'd like to buy the Lithium pack as soon as it's available, hopefully the greater capacity will help stabilize the altitude. I'm sorry to hear about your board problem. I was thinking about adding a lead to the board connector to prevent the flexing, it would add some weight but might prevent the damage. Have you found any other useful computer mixes for the Draganflyer?

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 10

Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/14/2003 5:02:24 AM   
jqxl


 

Posts: 7
Joined: 12/22/2002
From: S.W. Washington
Status: offline 		As long as were talking performance, has anyone considered new motors/props for increased efficiency? These Mabuchi motors feel very heavy to me being the brush type. I checked the Mabuchi web site ( [url]www.mabuchi-motor.com[/url]) and I believe it is their model RK-370SD. They show them at 51 g each.

Check out a motor comparison test at [url]www.rcmicroflight.com[/url] (NOV 2000) and see that the Faulhaber msys 1524 @6.3:1 puts out over 5 oz of thust at 1/2 the weight! Pretty spendy though.

Has anyone tried different motor/prop combos? I'm getting ready to order one of these motors myself and do some tests.

Jack

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 11

hey - 1/14/2003 5:11:30 AM   
turbocivic


 

Posts: 71
Joined: 11/24/2002
From: Maui, Country
Status: offline 		I heard the new battery will cost well over a 100 ive been told by them. Let me know about those motors im interested to see how it works out for you.

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 12

Re: hey - 1/14/2003 6:53:55 AM   
gregw


 

Posts: 82
Joined: 11/13/2002
From: NA, HONG KONG
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by turbocivic
I heard the new battery will cost well over a 100 ive been told by them. Let me know about those motors im interested to see how it works out for you. [/QUOTE]

The Kokam Lipoly configuration I posted above costs only $80, and Troy will build the pack for you for an additional $9. Based on what I've read on the capabilities of the Kokam Lipoly batteries, this configuration will easily be able to sustain the required 7 amps current of the DF3 at under 3C which means that it will not degrade the batteries and it will still give 30 minutes of flying time.

My only problem with Draganfly Innovations are the prices that they are charging.. e.g. $29 for a set of rotors, $5 for a set of battery connectors, $40 for a battery pack that you can buy elsewhere for less than $30, etc.. BTW, I found a place in New York that sell rotors for the DF3 at $19. Go to http://airdyn.com/roswell/parts.htm for more info.

On the motor, I'm not sure if it's a standard Mabuchi motor or it's specifically made for Draganflyer because I remember reading somewhere that the motor was specially wound. I'd be interested to hear the results of the experiment though..

Mark1231, do you have "click" stops on your throttle? If so, you need to modify it so that it is smooth like a normal heli radio. If you have "clicks", your DF3 will Yo-Yo because of the sudden increase in throttle. It is normal to have to adjust the throttle to keep the heli at a constant height during hover.

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 13

hey - 1/14/2003 7:23:31 AM   
turbocivic


 

Posts: 71
Joined: 11/24/2002
From: Maui, Country
Status: offline 		Hey Greg im interested in what your doing with the battery situation, will this damage the dragon cause it says to only use certain batteries but i tink its b.s i dont know. Did you get your dragon back yet and do you think you will make like some kind of a rig to extend the power line and have a serperate adapter so as not to flex the board? Will the charger we got that came with the dragon charge the Lipoly? Test the batteries then let me know so I can get the same one thats supposedly even better then dragons

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 14

Re: hey - 1/14/2003 7:31:40 AM   
gregw


 

Posts: 82
Joined: 11/13/2002
From: NA, HONG KONG
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by turbocivic
Hey Greg im interested in what your doing with the battery situation, will this damage the dragon cause it says to only use certain batteries but i tink its b.s i dont know. Did you get your dragon back yet and do you think you will make like some kind of a rig to extend the power line and have a serperate adapter so as not to flex the board? Will the charger we got that came with the dragon charge the Lipoly? Test the batteries then let me know so I can get the same one thats supposedly even better then dragons [/QUOTE]

Actually, I WAS going to go to Lipoly, but I've kind of given up on my Draganflyer since I just bought myself an LMH Corona with a brushless motor setup. You need to buy a new charger to charge Lipoly batteries. The charger that came with the DF3 WILL NOT charge lipoly. You can buy the batteries and the charger from Troy at [url]www.b-p-p.com[/url]

I included a tamiya connector with wires when I sent the circuit board to be repaired by Spectrolutions Inc. for them to replace the weird connector that came with the DF3. Don't know if they've done as I asked though..

(in reply to Jderringer)
       Post #: 15

Draganflyer 3 battery Mods? - 1/14/2003 6:14:24 PM