Help me Mod the $#!+ out of my Solo

[Anttler]

I was contemplating selling my Solo after turning to the light side. I don't see the value in selling it, the used market price has dropped after price reduction at the retail level. So I have decided that I want to instead mod the Solo to do the things I don't like about the Solo... mainly the short flight time. Solo has great cinematic capabilities with it's "shots," that no other drone does quite as good.

I have found a way to add about 1 minuet of flight time as of now. It is through weight reduction. I had posted before about drilling holes in a shell, and removing some redundant screws, removing the GoPro battery and counter weights (it balances nearly perfect without the weights and batteries.)

I am looking for anyone who has any input on flight time extension. 1 minuet is good, they add up. I really want to see a true 17-19 minuet flight time with a small battery reserve. I have struggled to get anything more that 12-13 minuets useful flight time with Solo and it would again be used if I could get those types of flight times.

I am also looking as removing the smart battery and using a small, lighter, higher energy density battery. Maybe instead of trying to put a larger battery, the lighter battery route may be the way to go.

I am considering the T motors, has anyone shown a real increase in flight time using that? Propellers added any flight time for anyone? Anyone have any other ideas on how to put Solo on a diet? Having a different drone to fly really leaves Solo open for a long term extended modification program, and this is what I have always does with 3DR equipment... While I never saw this coming with Solo, it is now the primary plan.

Well unless someone want to make me an offer I can't refuse on my non-modded up to this point Solo.

 

[Matt Garcia]

I'm very interested to see where this thread goes. I too haven't gotten more than a 14 min flight with a brand new solo with gimbal...

 

[n01kn0ws]

Hi Anttler,

If I remember correctly I think that I saw somewhere information about flying with apc 11 inch props and tmotor kv880 or kv800. Probably he/she got 1 min extra flying time. There is topic for tmotor motors here on forum.

 

[d69ce2a5]

Momentum theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If you are after flight times, they are linear in prop diameter and proportional to 1/mass^1.5. So, lose some weight and increase prop diameter. You can probably do that with stock motors.

IIRC a fair amount of weight can be saved by dremeling off the tail end of the mainboard. There's a giant groundplane where the wifi antenna used to be. There's a lot of copper there. As long as you avoid the compass connector and the visible traces on the board, you can safely dremel off everything else - there are no internal traces that extend further back than the visible traces.

Also lose the GPS cover, LED lenses, go to a flex HDMI cable...

 

[Anttler]

In loosing 200g's I have removed much of what you mentioned. Except hacking off part of the board. I believe you had mentioned that before, and I looked for a part that could be removed and did not see any part at all the looked as thought they could be sacrificed.

 

[pyrate]

Wow amazing effort for 60 seconds
Ever try planning??

 

[erikgraham]

How about ripping out the guts and mounting on a DIY heavy lifter?

Personally that's my dream machine. We had to get an m600 though.

 

[Anttler]

"Every try planning??"?

Wow amazing effort for 60 seconds
Ever try planning??

Well worth the effort.

 

[pyrate]

spoken like a DJI pilot
LOL

 

[aidanlou]

The real question is how you know you are getting that additional minute? Are you flying inside? How are you controlling for other variables?

As far as changing the battery goes, be careful--some of the battery volume stuff may be written into Solo's code so you could maybe have problems if you change that.

To increase air time: bigger, slower props with lighter motors. Problem is that will mean the PIDs built into Solo will be off since the motor voltage/power curves will be different. In addition, larger props have more rotational inertia, so they spin up (and down to a lesser extent) more slowly. This changes maneuverability and wind stability. Also, sometimes smaller motors end up with heat problems depending on the load.

In the long term, what are your goals? Rock-solid in wind? Fast? Long/slow flights? These things matter when deciding how to cut weight and modify.

 

[ProStock]

Maybe you can shave somes mores
How about you drill holes or slots in the 4 legs
and who knows you might gain somes more signal for wifi
if you clear up the portion where the antenna is located
just saying

PS: Im using the slow speed setting not rabbit and im able to reach 18mins at 18% {amp's range from 19A to 16A }
of course low winds but if you use the infos about the battery top bar you can see how much amps you draining
it helps

 

[PdxSteve]

I wouldn't do it, but you could maybe remove the legs and secure the compass antenna to the bottom of solo. Then make a platform to launch from so the gimbal isn't sitting on the ground. Probably have to hand-catch on landing... I wouldn't try it, but I wouldn't try most of what you're doing. It was just a thought.

 

[PdxSteve]

If you do find a lighter 4s 5200mAh lipo pack, you could swap that in too. It would have to be the same specs though (only lighter) or you'd have to reprogram the bms chip in the battery pack to reflect the new voltages/mAh, etc.

 

[Anttler]

The real question is how you know you are getting that additional minute? Are you flying inside? How are you controlling for other variables?

I have no interest in controlling for all variables to perfectly quantify the increase in flight times. How I came up with 1 minuet was looking back on my flight history before an after the changes. I fly with the same Standard Operating Procedure all the time. I fly to and from locations at 15mph, I quit filming and return to home at 32% power left, I do all my testing at the same location within the same distance limits. I noticed that a full battery would give me 12-13 minuets flight time. I never had a flight over 13.5 minuets, after the weight mods I never had a flight less than 13 minuets I also made the 15 minuet mark once. It's anecdotal data, there are also variables I can't control, wind speed/direction, temperature, air pressure ect. My prior flight times were recorded when the temperatures were lower, so under identical conditions I may get more than one minuet extra flight time, it's not that important. What is important is that I am getting extra flight time. How do I know this? Look above, if you lighten the craft you will need less energy to hover the craft, less energy equals more flight time. So by lightening the craft by 200g's I know I'm getting more flight time, how much more is not as important as the continued increase in time by reducing the weight even more.

 

[Anttler]

If you do find a lighter 4s 5200mAh lipo pack, you could swap that in too. It would have to be the same specs though (only lighter) or you'd have to reprogram the bms chip in the battery pack to reflect the new voltages/mAh, etc.

I'm considering an even more crazy approach. How about a smaller 4500mHa battery that weighs significantly less and ditch all the "smart battery" electronics, turn off auto return to home functions, and use battery voltage (AMP old school style) to know when it's time to return home. Looking st this drone the problem I see is the use of the GoPro for a camera. The camera is heavy and has a lot of crap that the drone doesn't need: dedicated power source, viewing screen, additional weight to balance the gimbal, a larger than idea gimbal to support all the extra weight of the large camera. This additional beef continues through the rest of the drone.

 

[Anttler]

spoken like a DJI pilot
LOL

My first wife kept making comments like that also... I guess if I just lower my expectations then I'll be happy with what I have.

 

[yt lee]

that is a lot of works for that kind of (uncertain) gain. If I get the impression right, you want a weight reduction and battery change. If that i your goal, Why not move the component to a 350 frame or 450 frame for bigger props. As for battery, swap out the FW replace it with generic PH code.

BTW, I also assumed you don't care about the warrant

 

[PdxSteve]

that is a lot of works for that kind of (uncertain) gain. If I get the impression right, you want a weight reduction and battery change. If that i your goal, Why not move the component to a 350 frame or 450 frame for bigger props. As for battery, swap out the FW replace it with generic PH code.

BTW, I also assumed you don't care about the warrant

You don't need to swap the entire fw lol. You just need to change one parameter to use a different battery type, which can easily be done with Tower or MP.