i2 Most efficient air speed

[Apache]

Morning all,

Something dawned on me yesterday, what would be the most efficient air speed for the i2 to make as much ground as possible while holding on to as much battery current as you can. Thus giving you more time on scene to shoot before the return journey home.

I have no situation in mind for this, but just thought of a hypothetical situation where for instance you may need to get to an oil rig 2 miles away to shoot for the client. (With the proper permissions of course) I can never see me needing to do this. But if there is an agreed sweet spot in term of efficiency, then wouldn't it be good to know this?

 

[cvanhoose]

You would have to maintain a specific constant speed to determine these values.
With so many variables in every flight/camera shots, every flight will have different results.
Some of my shots require full throttle to maintain a similar speed as a vehicle.
If you are mobile, then I can see needing to maintain a constant speed for a long traveling shot.

 

[Apache]

Of course there are many variables. I just wondered what the most efficient speed of transit is while not shooting. When rolling film all this goes out of the window as, like you said, this will be dictated by the shoot itself.

 

[NickU]

Probably the best thing would be to minimise changes in speed, but more so changes in height - looking at the current drawn from the batteries on my Healthydrones flight logs, the highest amps usually occur when ascending or descending. After that, it pulls more power when pulling tighter turns into the wind.

So, in a perfect world without wind, get to a height, and travel at that height at constant speed and with minimum turning. Now of course, wind and gusts will play a large part in determining your actual performance and endurance in any one flight.

 

[Aerial Boundary]

Clearly a constant speed is going to be best, and I'm sure the OP would be willing to assume no wind for the purposes of this discussion. Obviously you're not going to go as far at 1mph on a single battery charge as you will at 20mph, but can go you farther at 20mph than 40mph? Wind resistance at 40mph will be four times what it is at 20mph so it comes down to how much energy is spent overcoming forward wind resistance versus overcoming gravity. I'd like to know the answer too.

 

[Scoobywrx05]

Idk about the i2 but with my i1 with no or very slight wind 25 mph is a good cruising speed to cover the most ground with saving the battery. All I can say is watch your battery voltage closely and you'll figure out the sweet spot.

 

[Apache]

Yes, assuming no wind. It's not a very easy one to find out it seems. When you think about it, it'd take quite a lot of data over many runs to get a solid average to get this answer pinned down.

Perhaps put this question to DJI?

 

[Aerial Boundary]

If had to guess I'd say that it takes a lot more power to stay aloft than it does to move forward, and wind resistance is pretty low so the optimal speed is probably close to the maximum speed.