Originally Posted by foamwingnut

Hey guys,
I've got a 450 that is stock across the board. I've been flying it with a 3 cell 2200 which I will probably bump up for more flight time. Can anyone tell me what the safe payload capacity is? How can I tweak my set up to get the most out of it?
Thanks!

Check out my Signature info and you'll see what I use.
I get anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes of flight time depending how aggressive I fly.

Regards
Bernd

Witespy-DJI NAZA F450 Flamewheel
2212/920kv DJI motors and Opto 30A ESC's
10x4 Gemfan Woodies or 10x5 Graupner E props
GoPro Hero HD2
Fat Shark Predator V2 FPV
AUW with Turnigy 3S-4000mah = 1585g
Spektrum TX DX-7 (original) / Spektrum RX AR6200

My F450 (stock motors+ESC, 9" Graupner props, 4S 2800mAh) weights 1080g with no payload, 1290g with GoPro+housing, and I've just added 210g of FVP gear and it didn't make any noticable difference in flight (and I like it alive) or LiPo life (I get 11-13 mins).
I think it could carry 300g more for a total of 1800 without much troubles.
For a 3S, 1500-1700g seems quite fair, wild guess.

----

About the Naza flying level (or not ), I have a video, was zooming around, not using the throttle that much, some time you can see it's loosing some altitude when the turns are too hard, but most of the time it's quite decent I think... 1st few seconds in the video, its : take-off to 2 meters high, full forward for like 6 secs, release, hard yaw for a 180°, then the quad is about 1 meter higher, from the turn.

I suspect it may all be about the shape of the machine, mine is quite "streamlined", there's no stuff hanging below, I don't want it to look like a flying radio tower. No offence to radio towers ! =)

Quadcopter - 04/01/2013 (1 min 27 sec)

Originally Posted by alwaysconfused

I am going to try the G10 first. If the prices are right I might just stick with it.

having just made by big quad and gimbal from G10 (easily available from a local PCB manufacturer), you had better stock up on scroll saw/ hacksaw blades, and drills etc...... G10 and carbon plate are very abrasive to work with..... Carbon fibre dust is conductive too so keep it well away from any electronics.

Originally Posted by MCrites

Having flowing in working chemical plants, I agree to a point. These things are made to take the open seas and I cannot think of any way they could hurt the ship. It's all steel, the windows are made to take hurricane force winds... even if it happened to go into the exhaust it's so small in comparison it wouldn't even slow the exhaust gasses.

There's certainly equipment on a ship that you wouldn't want to crash a multicopter into - radar/comms arrays etc. But probably health & safety would be more of a concern i.e. flying near people. I work for a large shipping company btw, although not at sea.

Originally Posted by Av8Chuck

What's your definition of a hobby grade coper?

One that's not operated professionally i.e. with the permits / insurance / certification / etc. that most countries require now for anything other than recreational flying.

Originally Posted by foamwingnut

Hey guys,
I've got a 450 that is stock across the board. I've been flying it with a 3 cell 2200 which I will probably bump up for more flight time. Can anyone tell me what the safe payload capacity is? How can I tweak my set up to get the most out of it?
Thanks!

have you tried this?

http://www.ecalc.ch/xcoptercalc_e.htm?ecalc

Originally Posted by jetstuff

having just made by big quad and gimbal from G10 (easily available from a local PCB manufacturer), you had better stock up on scroll saw/ hacksaw blades, and drills etc...... G10 and carbon plate are very abrasive to work with..... Carbon fibre dust is conductive too so keep it well away from any electronics.

What thickness are you working with? It looks like the dji parts are using 1.5mm. I dont have my slide measure but the ruler says 1.5. Now... I have a head cold and eyes are a tad runny from the sneezing but...lol

Originally Posted by jetstuff

having just made by big quad and gimbal from G10 (easily available from a local PCB manufacturer), you had better stock up on scroll saw/ hacksaw blades, and drills etc...... G10 and carbon plate are very abrasive to work with..... Carbon fibre dust is conductive too so keep it well away from any electronics.

I use a carborundum cut off wheel (the really thin brown ones for steel) and it cuts through G10 and CF sheet like butter (I got tired of buying scroll saw blades). Of course there are still some shapes I need the scroll saw but not many.
You are right about the dust! I wear a painters mask if I am doing a simple trim and a full mask if I am doing complex cutting. Also true about the conductivity - KEEP THIS DUST OUT OF YOUR ELECTRONICS! (unless you like light shows and smoke).

Does anyone here happen to know if Banana Hobby offers their employees a vision plan for their insurance?

VID00443 (0 min 47 sec)

Goldsworthy, you and I have about the same amount of good luck... ZERO!
When you and your wife go on that cruise, I want you to visit the craps table in the casino.
When it comes time for you to roll the dice, bet with the house.
You should make a fortune...

Just spent the last hour with hellscream..lol I had the FPV set up running on it and it was balanced and working great (except the GPS) I need to figure out why the GPS plug wants to come out. oh..the gps on the osd .
This F550 is freaking AWESOME!
And I figured out why it is so wonky at the building. A: HIGH magnetic fields B: HIGH radio wave saturation C: The winds that cut through where I was trying it out are insane and come from many directions at once.
So..
No flying in that building..lol

I have my F450 with naza gps flying nice. Now I'm adding a gopro and iris aerial legs and bat wings.I'll be moving my batteries to the back batwing to counteract the gopro. I know i have recheck the balance and setup in assistant. But what if i use different size packs say from 2800 to 4800 will it compensate for that ?

Originally Posted by mori55

I have my F450 with naza gps flying nice. Now I'm adding a gopro and iris aerial legs and bat wings.I'll be moving my batteries to the back batwing to counteract the gopro. I know i have recheck the balance and setup in assistant. But what if i use different size packs say from 2800 to 4800 will it compensate for that ?

Mine does. I was using a 5000mah. used it up, switched to a 2800 and it flew just as well. So unless it is a different cell number I dont think it would matter much in your configuration.

Originally Posted by alwaysconfused

Mine does. I was using a 5000mah. used it up, switched to a 2800 and it flew just as well. So unless it is a different cell number I dont think it would matter much in your configuration.

Different size (mAh) batteries with the same cell count (3S for example) can be used provided the battery sits at or near COG.
If your battery is hung out away from the COG, changing from a 5000mAh to a 2800mAh will change the COG.
Changing the COG will make the airframe drift or not be flyable at all.

Originally Posted by alwaysconfused

Mine does. I was using a 5000mah. used it up, switched to a 2800 and it flew just as well. So unless it is a different cell number I dont think it would matter much in your configuration.

Weres you battery located?