Racer to endurance! Can it be done?

[YetAnotherDave]

Ok so I am a "very experienced" pilot with around 5400 ... seconds of flight time >.>

I got a racer and want to do more then 8 minute flights. I know I know, 8 is good for a racer and I should be happy.

But the truth is I am greedy. I want to fly for an hour before I need to swap batteries. I want to sit on a mountain and explore! .... I'm also near broke... SO! here is my idear (see fancy words makes me sounds smarter.. per say)

I bought a storm racing drone form helipal. I know its a knock off but I did say I was near broke.

Point is I want to know if I can pull off the legs, motors, and esc's and replace them with 15" props, 'propriate motors/esc's

With a new power source (I'm looking at building a pack with old laptop batteries or something like the Panasonic 18650b batteries)

In my mind I think its a great idea however, with my 1.5 hours of flight experience (and that's being generous) I seem

to find myself lacking the knowledge of "will it work?"

Will I need a new flight controller or will my CC3D work just fine? Can I keep the same programming in my radio or do I need a new programming set for the new arrangement?

Yes I know that an hour is a lot but if I could get 30 minutes I wold be ecstatic! If it works like it will in my mind then I will have quick release behind the esc's and swap the legs out as one motor/esc/prop/leg piece to be replaced with the other.

The main idea being I could switch between racing and extended flight in less then 20 minutes.

Help me internet! your my only hope!! (of not spending moths actually learning about the things I'm trying to do before I know if it will work)

 

[ExperimentalRC]

Not to be a downer, but your idea is completely outrageous. That frame wont be able to fit anything near a 15" sized prop. It was designed around a 5" prop. Modifying that frame to fit 15" props would be absolutely ridiculous. Flying for an hour is also a far-fetched goal for someone inexperienced. Most 1 hour flight are achieved by hovering in one place. The amount of money to buy motors, escs, 15" props will be WAY out of your budget if all you can afford is the storm drone. 8 minutes is amazing for a mini quad, so id recommend to buy yourself more batteries for the storm drone. You can still get one hour flight times, but you will be landing every 8 minutes to swap out, which isnt a bad thing. Id recommend that you learn to fly well before going on to bigger and more expensive things.

I could go into so much more detail, but part of me is thinking that this post is a complete joke.

 

[ExperimentalRC]

Sorry if I sound a little angry or mean, I love the idea of doing a quick swap and getting longer flight times, but what you want to do is near impossible.

 

[YetAnotherDave]

Sums it up nicely.

And no worries. I figured as much. Otherwise we would see more swap sets I would think.

Thanks

 

[ExperimentalRC]

Im really interested in the concept though. Its like the Flyzone Switch, Its a high wing trainer when you want it, but when you're feeling more acrobatic you can easily make the "switch" to low wing. I think some manufacturers should look into this more.

 

[YetAnotherDave]

One main question on this.

Whats the difference between getting a whole new frame vs. getting getting longer legs on the frame I have?

If the flight controller can handle it but the programming is different (there was 30 pages on the manual for helicopter programming on the to do list. Wife/new baby/ job have put it on the back burner)
Then couldn't I make a new folder for the swapped set.

 

[Craftydan]

With the dropping cost of many flight control boards these days, a majority of your cost are the parts you'll need to swap -- the motors and the ESCs.

It's a cute idea to make the arm a swappable module -- hardcore racers are starting to do that for quick field repair -- but if the goal of the swappable is to reduce cost, the common part needs to hold the largest expense.