Mostly
people want to know the formula for estimating flight duration. And what should
be the average time for RC Airplane. The basic formula is:
(battery capacity/average current consumption)
x 60 = flight time in minutes
we know
battery capacity is 4200 mAh = 4.2Ah.
Let's
assume average in-flight current consumption is 20A.
So the
calculation is:
4.2/20 x
60 = 12.6 minutes
How long
an RC airplane can fly really depends on the type of plane, the power system,
and how you fly.
It takes a
different amount of power to keep different types of RC aircraft in the air.
For instance, gliders can stay in the air for an extremely long time if an
experienced pilot knows how to ride the thermals.
On the
other hand, it takes much more power/weight to keep heavier planes with less
lift a float. Therefore the flight times will be much short.
If your RC
airplane is powered by a glow engine, your flight time will also depend on the
size of fuel tank. But I'd say 10-12 minutes is about the average flight time
for a typical glow powered airplane. I'm sure many go longer, but I'd say this
is about the average amount of time a glow planes can fly.
Electric
RC airplanes generally do not fly as long as glow powered RC planes. Where as a
glow powered RC airplane's duration is determined by the size of the fuel tank,
the capacity of the battery has a great impact the flight time on an electric
RC airplane.
Flight
times for different types of electric aircraft
can vary great depending on the size, type of motor,
In
electric aircraft, the propellers are turned by a motor powered by a
rechargeable battery pack. An electronic speed control (ESC) regulates the
motor's output for throttle control. The motor, battery, and ESC are all
installed on-board the model. The first electric R/C models were equipped with
brushed motors — in which brushes carry current and spin the rotor — and
nickel-cadmium (NiCd) rechargeable battery packs. They provided flight times of
around 5-10 minutes.
A glow
engine plane of similar weight and power, however, would allow nearly double
that flight time when fully fueled
Whether
you're flying electric or glow, the way you fly has a great impact on the
flight time. If you just flying gently around the sky your flight times will be
much longer than if you flying around at full throttle performing demanding 3D
maneuvers etc.
Well, the
average endurance for running a .40 size glow engine at full power is about
10-12 minutes with a 10 once fuel tank.
I run my
O.S. .46 a little bit lean of peak, so at full power it gets about 13-15
minutes of flight time on a 12 ounce tank. But throttled back to about half
throttle, I have gotten about 25-30 minutes of flight time with a half tank
reserve. With that, I would run my battery on my transmitter and receiver out
of battery before I landed.
If you are
looking for long run times, just throttle back when you are in level flight. If
you are going for speed, just run it wide open.
The engine
running lean of peak is not always good, some people will say that it burns
pistons, but i still do it, because it saves gas, and it develops more power.
And if you
are running LOP (lean of peak) on a two stroke engine, make sure to run between
10%- 15% nitro. Else you will burn the piston.
If you run
20%, it would not be cheaper to run LOP, because you would have to buy a new
engine about 6 months after you buy it. This is because the engine will seize
up.
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