Flight time with 50mm EDF

[krissondors]

I have never built a plane nor flown one until a week ago.

I built a foam board plane from scratch and I have finally been able to fly it well enough that I could enjoy flying around the park but then was kinda bummed that it died on me so quickly (about 3 minutes of flight time total). After doing some research after the fact, I found that having a 50mm EDF 4500kv motor with a 2200mah 50c 3s battery setup is kinda normal to have a 3 minute flight time. I know my current plane is pretty heavy, especially after all the repairs, so I have to use almost full power during the flight.

Can I get away with just adding a larger battery for longer flight time? Like using a 5200mah battery? Or is 3 minute flight time just the reality of my setup?

I'm planning on building a smaller and lighter foam board plane to hopefully need less thrust to flight. Would a propeller setup be more efficient and give longer flight times? I want to have 10 minute or longer flight times if possible.

Thanks!

 

[Burnhard]

Hi there. Edfs are notoriously energy hungry. And it further comes down to a thrust weight ratio and your flying habit. Full throttle will drain your battery quickly. To get to a longer flight time, key is building light and using an energy efficient setup. A larger battery means more weight so the additional capacity is partly offset by a higher energy consumption. Prop set-ups are more efficient than edf set ups. If fly my Bushwacker with a 4s 3000 an get to 10 minutes if I behave on the throttle.

 

[Flyingshark]

A 5200mah battery will be much larger and heavier than a 2200mah, so your plane will probably be much harder to fly with the larger battery. It sounds like your plane is already underpowered with the 2200, so I doubt it would even fly with the 5200.

Unfortunately, EDF-powered planes tend to have much shorter flights than prop planes because it takes a lot of power to get that fan spinning so quickly. If you're aiming to hit 10 minutes or longer in the air, I would definitely go with a propeller. It won't be as fast as a jet, but it will be much more efficient!

 

[krissondors]

A 5200mah battery will be much larger and heavier than a 2200mah, so your plane will probably be much harder to fly with the larger battery. It sounds like your plane is already underpowered with the 2200, so I doubt it would even fly with the 5200.

Unfortunately, EDF-powered planes tend to have much shorter flights than prop planes because it takes a lot of power to get that fan spinning so quickly. If you're aiming to hit 10 minutes or longer in the air, I would definitely go with a propeller. It won't be as fast as a jet, but it will be much more efficient!

Thanks for the response! So it's a catch 22. Heavier battery means more energy needed means less flight time.

Thanks, makes sense why EDFs are more energy hungry. Do you have a prop and motor size recommendation? I realize it's dependent on the plane but would a larger, slower prop be more efficient?

Hi there. Edfs are notoriously energy hungry. And it further comes down to a thrust weight ratio and your flying habit. Full throttle will drain your battery quickly. To get to a longer flight time, key is building light and using an energy efficient setup. A larger battery means more weight so the additional capacity is partly offset by a higher energy consumption. Prop set-ups are more efficient than edf set ups. If fly my Bushwacker with a 4s 3000 an get to 10 minutes if I behave on the throttle.

Thanks for the response! I'll definitely look into the prop setup. I originally had a 1400kv a2212 with a 8060 prop on my plane but it seemed very lazy and required lots of throttle. The EDF definitely helped but I hate the 3 min flight time. Would there be any benefit going from a 3s to 4s with the same mah lipo as far as run time?

 

[Flyingshark]

Thanks for the response! So it's a catch 22. Heavier battery means more energy needed means less flight time.

Thanks, makes sense why EDFs are more energy hungry. Do you have a prop and motor size recommendation? I realize it's dependent on the plane but would a larger, slower prop be more efficient?


Thanks for the response! I'll definitely look into the prop setup. I originally had a 1400kv a2212 with a 8060 prop on my plane but it seemed very lazy and required lots of throttle. The EDF definitely helped but I hate the 3 min flight time. Would there be any benefit going from a 3s to 4s with the same mah lipo as far as run time?

Larger diameter props with a less aggressive pitch are more efficient at low speeds and smaller diameter, higher pitch props are more efficient at higher speeds. So if you want to cruise around slowly for a long time, go with a prop in the first category. In terms of motor and prop combos, my favorite is a FliteTest C pack (2218 1180kv) on 3s with either a 9x6 or 10x4.5 prop. The FT B pack (2212-1050kv) sounds roughly equivalent to your a2212 and it comes with a 9x4.5 prop. I have many FT power packs, so I'm not the most experienced with motor/prop combos outside of those.

Going from 3s to 4s on the EDF would increase the voltage and give you more power, so you might be able to cruise at a lower throttle setting. Not sure how the weight increase and that lower throttle would affect flight time though. It might at least be more fun to have the extra power though—most EDFs I've seen are run on 4s-6s rather than 3s. Just be sure to check that your EDF and ESC can handle the voltage before you do that upgrade.

Just out of curiosity, how much does your plane weigh? Are you using one of the heavier types of foam board like Elmer's?

 

[Burnhard]

Larger diameter props with a less aggressive pitch are more efficient at low speeds and smaller diameter, higher pitch props are more efficient at higher speeds. So if you want to cruise around slowly for a long time, go with a prop in the first category. In terms of motor and prop combos, my favorite is a FliteTest C pack (2218 1180kv) on 3s with either a 9x6 or 10x4.5 prop. The FT B pack (2212-1050kv) sounds roughly equivalent to your a2212 and it comes with a 9x4.5 prop. I have many FT power packs, so I'm not the most experienced with motor/prop combos outside of those.

Going from 3s to 4s on the EDF would increase the voltage and give you more power, so you might be able to cruise at a lower throttle setting. Not sure how the weight increase and that lower throttle would affect flight time though. It might at least be more fun to have the extra power though—most EDFs I've seen are run on 4s-6s rather than 3s. Just be sure to check that your EDF and ESC can handle the voltage before you do that upgrade.

Just out of curiosity, how much does your plane weigh? Are you using one of the heavier types of foam board like Elmer's?

Thanks for the response! So it's a catch 22. Heavier battery means more energy needed means less flight time.

Thanks, makes sense why EDFs are more energy hungry. Do you have a prop and motor size recommendation? I realize it's dependent on the plane but would a larger, slower prop be more efficient?


Thanks for the response! I'll definitely look into the prop setup. I originally had a 1400kv a2212 with a 8060 prop on my plane but it seemed very lazy and required lots of throttle. The EDF definitely helped but I hate the 3 min flight time. Would there be any benefit going from a 3s to 4s with the same mah lipo as far as run time?

I sort of did a field test of a 3s vs 4s setup yesterday with my funcub. I was first flying the cub with a 4s 3000mah battery which gives me great performance, vertical climb etc and about 10 minutes of flight time (with about 10% left) if I behave. On my last flight of the day I used a 3s 2600mah and just did circles in the air. That got me to 11 minutes and I still had 30% left.

 

[krissondors]

I sort of did a field test of a 3s vs 4s setup yesterday with my funcub. I was first flying the cub with a 4s 3000mah battery which gives me great performance, vertical climb etc and about 10 minutes of flight time (with about 10% left) if I behave. On my last flight of the day I used a 3s 2600mah and just did circles in the air. That got me to 11 minutes and I still had 30% left.

Very interesting, thanks for the feedback!