Hi guys I'm trying to improve my flight time with my CS8. I'm running MK electronics (PDB and ESC), 5208's and APC props, lifting a custom brushless gimbal with a Canon 5D mk III / 60D. Currently, I'm getting poor flight times with parallel 6200mAh 4S lipos, and a little better, but still not great parallel 4S 9000mAh FreeFly lipos. Can I get an improvement if I add some 5S batteries to my arsenal? If so, what batteries can you recommend? I figure some light ones with high mAh? But I see some of you are flying with dual 5000mAh's. What can I expect with a 5S contra a 4S setup? Is it time for some new electronics or props? I really hope you can help me out. Any recommendations regarding batteries is appreciated !! - Sejer
HI Sejer Are you running the stock QC 3328 motors's? If so your payload is probably too much for the 3328's as I would be estimating that your 5D with the brushless gimbal is about 16 pounds depending upon lens? If you want really good flying times (and lower motor temps) you really need to convert over to a 6S MK HL which many of us have already done. 6S is really the way to go and MK has new electronics to make it work really well. This would include upgrading your flight control board and running the new MK power distrubtion V3 boards. With U5 motors, the MK 2.5 FCB, new Quad XL power baord and 15" props I have already gotten 20 minutes flight time at a flight weight of 23.5 pounds and 19 minutes at 24.25 pounds. At 16 pounds GAW I could easily get 16 minutes with one battery and about 23-24 minutes using 2 QSC 10000batteries. IF you don't need this kind of flight time you could probably save some money and stay with the 450 mm booms and 14" inch props as well as Zippy 8000 batteries. Flight time would probably be a little less but still give you really good flight time.
Hi Dave I'm running with MT2814 Tiger motors, which I can see are pretty much the equivalent of the QC 3328's. If I were to continue with the current setup, would I gain anything by running with 5S's? Any chance of the BLv2.0 ESC's overheating? And is the FlightCTRL 2.1 even compatible with a 5S? Converting to a HL is quite an expense, I can see. New power distribution board, new ESC's, new FCB, new motors, new props and longer booms. Is the Navi-ctrl 2.0 compatible with the new MK 2.5 FCB? Thanks for your help!! - Sejer
The cost to upgrade your batteries to 5S would not be worth it for what you need to invest. You might get small gains in flight time. If you are going to upgrade batteries go 6S. BTW: Do you don't necessarily have to go with bigger booms and pros necessarily depending on your payload. But you definitely would need to upgrade to the new MK 2.5 flight control board, 3.0 power boards, and upgrade the motors and batteries. Yes it is expensive. That is why you are seeing so many Cinestar ready to flies for sale.
What is your AUW (all up weight)? And what kind of flight times are you getting? If you post one of your GPX files, that’d be helpful, too.