Hi Folks,
I'm looking into the possibilty of building up a helicopter based aerial photography platform, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience of using a TREX 600 or 700 for lofting a digital SLR camera? I'm initially going to be using a pair of GoPro Hero 3 cameras, but I want to move on to a more chunky DSLR, hence I want to get the right balance between a small heli for portability, and large heli for load carrying capability.
Cheers
Andy
My good flying buddy has the perfect vid just for you. ;D
Weightlifting - TREX 700E (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBKZJm0xF7U#ws)
Hi fella,
I have a trex 600 E with Photoshipone gimbal that can carry dslr with ease. Mine was only 6s & came in at maybe 5.6kg - cant remember. I didn't stretch it to a 700 but what made a massive difference was changing out the standard Align mains for semi-symetrical Spin blades, 600mm ones work well - you can go 620mm for that little bit extra if you need.
Semi's give more lift but can be prone to being effected by air currents & wind.
Ah fantastic, thanks guys. It looks like a 600 is the one for me though. Something I can load up with the cams, and a decent sized battery for good duration.
Andy
In all honesty go for the 700... You'll be happy you did in the end. A 600 can cope just fine, but if buying new with this specific goal in mind I'd go 700 (or 800 even).
Fit it with spinblades semi symmetrical blades and gear down using a lower Kv motor and/or larger pinion. The larger disc will allow you to load up more on batteries and carry equipment with less loss of efficiency.
With a 700, good gearing, semi symmetrical blades and some nice big batteries you'll easily get over 20 minutes even with the payload of a dslr.
I've actually just been looking at the Fastlad website, and the cost difference between the 600e and 700e kits is minimal....
When you say gear down, would that mean running a lower head speed as a result? Or do you mean gearing down to make use of higher voltage packs running at a lower current (for the same overall power)? I'm quite interested to find out what sort of headspeeds people run when using a heli to loft camera equipment, instead of making it do crazy mad 3D aerobatics. Running silly high headspeeds must sap a lot of power?
Andy
Having flown both quite a bit the 700 makes a much better camera ship and the 600 is a good sports model but can be tamed down, the 700 is noticeably smoother and more stable but that may well have been it the setup, i only flew both flybarless, i did not like the 700 as it felt lazy but thats just because i like hooning it about, if i was to buy a camera ship i would use a 700 but it terms of lift i doubt you would max either out with any slr setup look at the climb rate of them in a 3D setup they have mammoth power
Gear down as regards headspeed... 600's and 700's are already running 12S these days so theres no need for higher voltage. With semi symmetrical blades you can run much lower speeds and still produce the same lift so you can make huge efficiency savings (not to mention less wear and tear on bearings etc).
For a 700 with semi's I'd start at around 1200rpm... With a 600 maybe 1400 or so, but watch out for the tail as they are usually geared for much higher speeds - you'll have to consider semi symmetrical tail blades too.
Hi Folks,
Just an update, but I went for a 550DFC in the end, second hand, but in pristine condition. I'll run it as is for now, but move the battery mounting to the rear, and add a camera mount to the front. I may even stretch it to 600 size in the future :)
Andy
550 DFC is an awesome machine have set a couple up what FBL controller you going for ?
Well it's come witha beastx ar7200bx, so iI'm going to start off with that. The plan is is to get hold of a naza with gas though...
I love the beastx it is a great unit yes the vbar is marginally better and unless your a real stick banger is very hard to get anything extra out of a vbar. Stick with the beastx it will be rock steady