Miniquad Fliers - What Props are You Using

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Non scientific Prop Comparison

Been playing with props on the hellbender after this thread got started. I've done two out of the three of these in the last week.
Left: HQ5045
Center: RK5051
Right: DALPROP 5045
PropsA.jpg

Had been running the DALPROPs last week when doing full throttle racing around the tree at our local field. Max amps was in the mid 90s. Yesterday I was running the HQs and I was repeatedly getting 100 amps on the OSD, and not just peak. Peak was 121. That said, I was able to do a lazy fly and get 7:30 in the air with a 1550mah battery. The DALs seem better at tight maneuverability for me, but my tight in skills are pretty weak. Haven't run the RKs on the Hellbender yet. Like to get a few flights in to get a overall impression with different types of flying when trying different props. Will throw the RKs on next time out. Managed to break another DALprop this weekend. TREE! I must have a mix of some old ones and the newer bendy ones.

I did run the RKs on the BabyTri, and it got really bumpy without making any adjustments. Haven't developed the film from the Baby flights yet.

Cheers!
LitterBug


EDIT: Other interesting note, I have a 4S 1300mah 75C battery that I had never puffed before switching to the HQ Bullnose props. Must have just been enough over it's threshold to enter it through the gates of PuffyLand. I thought it was a recent purchase, but went back through my emails and it was from early June. The 3S 1300mah 45C and 75C batteries of the same brand (not tattu) have never puffed even pushing them way past their limits.
 
Last edited:

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Dude you are pulling massive amperage for some reason. I have finally manned up and done full throttle runs on the Alien with heavy T5045 Dals and I have yet to pull over 63 amps that I can see on the footage. That is at 683 grams with the 1800 gens ace and 636 grams with the 1300 graphenes. If you are pulling 100+ amps in them little beasties I would seriously look at some maths and find where that massive draw is coming from before you turn a quad into a meteor and burn down that tree you love to fly around or scorch the pretty earth of your field.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
I easily pull 60 amps with my 1306 motors with 3" tri-blade props on my owl frame. Should be no surprise I can pull over 100 with my 2204 and 2206 motors on the Hellbender and BabyTri. My calibration is pretty spot on for current and mah used vs battery state of charge and the capacity used to recharge them. I have a standalone power/watt meter to use for validation as well as my charger. The batteries also have to be up to the task. I got 104 max amps out of Mr. Puffy. (1.3*75 = 97.5) So Technically I was just over it's rating. I got the 121A max when running a Tattu 1550 75C. 1.55*75 = 116.25. Slightly over it's rating too, but it was not sagging under those conditions. But this isn't a battery testing thread. <yet> LOL

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

Ocean

Member
LittleBug's motors seem about right for the prop he's running, those HQ bullnose draw lots of amps.

Conversely having less than 15A a motor is very low. I know the kV on those Lumeniers are below stated but on heavy DALs I would expect 18A-20A a motor.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Just looked through the tail end of the videos for three back to back different props ran across the baby Owl. A very unscientific example because I did not specifically run any full tilt battery burning runs or similar flying. All three had max 90ish Amps (90, 94, 89). Not sure what batteries I used either. I'll have to do some back to back to back battery burners with all three props and maybe a GPS for top speed too. :)

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Not saying LitterBug has something wrong, but I can confirm bad PIDs can cause excessive amp draw. A while back I set too high D gain on my martian while trying to tune out bounce backs and ended up pulling north of 100 amps just doing a quick LOS punch out. Now with more acceptable PIDs I rarely see more than 90 amps, usually around 70. I don't do full throttle very often at all because I prefer more freestyle over all out speed. Now saying that, I have the craving to see what my top speed is.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
I'll be the first to admit that tuning is not my game (yet) and I'm running stock BetaFlight PIDs at the moment. These high numbers are mostly "maximum" numbers that I never see in the OSD just on the summary page at the end of the run. Some pretty extreme battery/ESC/Motor punishment at full throttle, top speed, and then yanking it 180 degrees. Not just punchouts when flying around lazily. Typical fly amps are 10 at easy fly, 20-40 normal.

Cheers!
LitterBug

EDIT:
Sample from a less agressive flight. Peaked at 101A during a full throtlle maneuver but mostly 20ish. You can see I have some bounceback on the snap roll and snap pitch. This was running the HQ 5045BN props
 
Last edited:

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
That is the smoothest I have seen that fly. The peak spikes in mid range seemed to be down around high 30s to mid 40s instead of the 60 to 80 range like in other flights I have seen you do.

On my runs I have been doing (shorter flying field) I have been spiking 40 ish amps on straight runs down to less then 10 amps at the turn and 25 -30 amps coming out of turns into next leg. I have done full throttle punch outs and full speed straight runs and top out mid to high 60 amps on T5045's (the fat ones) When I push it hard and ambient air is 65 or lower the motors actually come down cooler then when they started a few times I actually thought the felt cold.

I did some race practice the other day and was going to post it to show what is happening but the crappy dvr I have was glitch as heck and the videos looked like something from the matrix with stalls, stutters and crazy speed ups when it would hit its write cycle. I notice that gets worse if I go to long without formatting so Ill format today before I go out and get better I hope so we can compare.

Nice flight though. Ill bet you felt good after that one being all smooth and all. :D
 

mpbiv

New member
For a long long time I was running the HQ 5040x3's on 5" quads, HQ 4040x3 on 4". I still have a pretty large stash of them in the car because I would go through them like eating a box of tic tacs..... performance was good, but they are way too brittle.

I like to run 5040x3 because they are super efficient compared to some of the higher pitch props, so I can still run real lightweight setups, i.e. quads with full AUW including battery well under 450g running 1000mAh packs.

Now I've pretty much switched to running only RaceKraft props on my stuff. Still sticking with 5040x3 on my 5" and 4040x3 on 4". On my 3" quads I was running RotorX 3040t (triblades), which were great, but I have also switched to RaceKraft 3030x4 on that now too.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Thanks PB. One of my buddies at the field is a long time flyer of full scale, Planks, and Multirotors. When He is around watching in the goggles, I feel the need to keep the stick movements clean and smooth. He also eggs me on to do crazy races around trees and Mr. Puffy tests. LOL

I've been thinking about picking up a set or two of the RaceKraft 3" props. Have several builds I could try them on. Currently favor the RX3040T on my Owls which are pretty porky for a 3" build at over 300g AUW.

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

mpbiv

New member
I've been thinking about picking up a set or two of the RaceKraft 3" props. Have several builds I could try them on. Currently favor the RX3040T on my Owls which are pretty porky for a 3" build at over 300g AUW.

I'm definitely loving them so far. Way more durable than the RotorX 3040t so far. Here is a video of me ripping around on them after a race. Didn't event bend a prop on the gate hit at the end.


I also have another SCX-140 with Emax RS1306-4000kv motors that I have been running RotorX 3040t on, which I need to switch over to RaceKraft props to get a good back to back comparison. Both builds are under 250g with battery (of course I am running 500mAh LiHV 4S to keep weight down and still get good thrust).
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Was flying Saturday and managed to go through about a whole set of DAL T5040s. Not all from one package, but various colors from my remaining supply. Two of them were used and slightly bent so I bent them back, but both failed mid flight. Luckily my setup somehow game me a controlled decent after the failures. I also clipped a tree trying to fly a gap and got a nice bend. Someone on Instagram suggested I might be using the T5040 v1s and not the v2s which are better. I just checked my order and I did buy the v2s.

IMG_3706.JPG

I'm thinking about trying the HQ duraspec T5040s. They have a unique shape with claims of more efficiency and durability.

hqprop_ds5040x3.jpg
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Yup those bend just like mine except mine tend to bend downwards. I am surprised I have not nicked my ESC's yet (knock on wood).

Those Cyclones look interesting might have to give the them a shot next time I need replacements.
 

Habakkukk

Fly Eagles, Fly!
Those Cyclones look interesting might have to give the them a shot next time I need replacements.

Agreed! I just stocked up on the rk5051's and dal quad blades so I'm not due for a purchase any time soon but I'm interested in seeing some reviews and thrust data on them.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Ok was gonna do specific tests now that I have an osd to show amperage use today but sadly it was 81 degrees and sunny.. with gusts from 18 -40 mph during the day at various times. Anyway I post this as my offering from the other day to the amperage use debate with certain props.

This is done with the full KISS Alien using Lumenier 2350kv motors spinning T5045 Dal props. There is various speed things in this with two full throttle punch outs that maxed at 63 amps as best I can tell in the video. Even had the flock of birds out playing on this run with me.

 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Saw this from Dal Props on instagram today:

IMG_3056.JPG

Note they cost twice as much as the regular colors.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Ohh Steam punk props. Josh Bixler will love those. I think he mentioned being into steam punk stuff in a few of the videos.

Heres what is on mine now (Dal TJ5045) after post crash repairs and clean up. I call it The Bat Flowbile now.

The Bat Flowbile.jpg The Bat Flowbile Front.jpg