Eco payloads?

[bjoernk]

I'm planning a aerial photo/video setup with either a plane or a helicopter. I've noted that when using IC helicopters one of the problems (apart from the noise) is that there are so much vibrations that the photos are unsharp.
How much weight will it be possible to attach to an Eco (8 or 16) and still get an acceptable flight duration (> 5 min) ?

I'm planning to use an Olympus Digital camera that comes with video out. Then I'll plug a lightweight video transmitter to this, and then I'll be able to view through the viewer at the ground, and optionally hook up a VCR to the video receiver to record the video.
The whole setup should weigh less than 400grm.

[Sture Smidt]

Check www.flyheli.de (http://www.flyheli.de) ! You will find a lot of interesting stuff regarding aerial videos.

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Sture Smidt
RC Pilot
Norway

[Aceman2000]

There is also the smoke problem with normal helis...messes up the shot and coveres everything with grime.

I'f you use a brush type motor the brush dust can be significant FOD hazard also...and it is black graphite.

I think you most certainly will have to use the 16 cell version. How much does your camera weigh? (sorry i just saw...400gms) That's not too bad.

I think it probably also depends on the kind of flying too ... hovering takes a lot of juice.

If you want to just hover on station at 50 feet or so maybe a light weight tether might be the answer?

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Robert Harker

"Facts are stubborn things"

"Flying is heavenly ...hovering divine...electric is ecstatic!

[This message has been edited by Aceman2000 (edited 12-10-1999).]

[Aceman2000]

PS:
I have the 16 cell version.

I use a tether for training...It's heavy gage speaker wire at about 25 feet. I need to put a 5lb weight on the chopper to make it stable . So I think you could use a lighter weight tether. That way you can get away without the transmitter using coax.

The US military has several versions of this type of drone for over the horizon recon. Some of them stay up for hours.



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Robert Harker

"Facts are stubborn things"

"Flying is heavenly ...hovering divine...electric is ecstatic!