This adds up you can see it in led lights through the camera. Buck and boost are probably pwm. Maybe a capacitor or just match cells to battery possibly?
Great job despite the issues! You need a bigger airplane! 🤣 Sure you can continue to learn lots from this one though as you work out issues. Still lots more potential.
I can only imagine how hard it would have been to make the slot to fit the solar cells in! Nice work! You might want to use a good quality esc like a small vesc or any other esc with foc. more efficient, smoother, highly customizable. Not to mention very reliable too! You can also set current limits to prevent motor burnout!
Yeah, I did my best at adding solar cells but it is very tricky haha. You make a great point about FOC ESCs! I think that they are the future. Have you used one before? I’ll look up vesc.
@@MatthewHeiskell I currently use a VESC 4 on my Endurance E-Flite Opterra. Everything is setup in a GUI and the motor noise is insanely quiet!! I could not hear the plane above 200ft. The ESC also does an Automatic FOC detection, and had tons of possible telemetry via UAVCAN.
@@MatthewHeiskell Just made a video detailing my VESC setup on my Endurance Plane Project - th-cam.com/video/4pyNNaFG2Sw/w-d-xo.html I would also love your input on your improvements with Flight time! I'm really excited to go down the same route.
Hello, I’m planning to build such a solar plane. I was wondering how the battery would be balanced charged onboard the plane. Did you use a BMS between the moot and the lipo?
That’s a good question! I’m my case, since the battery was only being discharged one time, albeit more slowly because of the added solar energy, I didn’t need to worry about keeping the cells balanced. There weren’t enough cycles for the cells’ voltages to drift apart. If you want to be 100% sure that your battery stays properly balanced, and prevent over charging, then you can use a battery management system (BMS). My plan for preventing over charging was to increased the throttle and fly faster, but my output power was always slightly higher than the input power. Perhaps it would have been better for me to use a smaller battery. Perhaps that weight reduction would have reduced the cruise power low enough for the solar cells to keep the battery fully charged.
You can cut a solar cell in half, still get the 5v but half the current. Cut the cells and wire them in series and parallel to get double the voltage and half the current.
Cells can lose efficiency depending on the materials placed on top of them - you could make some gains just by changing out the laminate and experimenting with the top substrate.
Yes, I thought that I did a pretty good job flush mounting and covering the solar cells, but apparently the top surface of the wing is VERY important to efficiency. I had better results with a battery only configuration, plus I eliminated the weather dependency.
Nice work. Try cut cells in half to gain more voltage,that will eliminate the need for bottom wire. Half cell arrangement should give you 19,2v and half the amps
So are you using 9 - 21700-50E Li-ion battery's in a 3s configuration?? how are the battery's arranged in the phoenix to achieve proper CG?? Need a re-try with less wind & get rid of the laminate, its robbing your solar panels. Good job though, I know you can get better results, don't give up!!
Yeah, the battery is most of the plane's weight. It is right under the wing. Less wind would make a HUGE difference. I don't think the laminate it a significant problem, but the cracked cell is haha. I just don't have the time. A single test flight takes an entire day haha.
Hey Kerry, my FrSky Taranis X9D Plus lasts that long. I always fully charge it before a big flight. I did a couple things to help life too, like disabling telemetry and the screen back-light. As a backup, I have the charger and a power inverter in the car.
Thanks! I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I was disappointed that the weather was bad, but I'm glad that I made the video because I have not gotten a chance to fly it since.
Hey Matthew. I'm not sure if you still reply to messages but I'm very intrigued by this setup and am starting to look at options to build something similar. It seems the Phoenix 2400 has great surface area for a solar project. Have you considered a more "fabric" style cell. I don't think I can send a link on YT but there's a company on Amazon called JIANG that sells them. Also, I'm wondering about a controller like the BQ24074 and how you might be able to integrate that into your power system. Great work on your setup and thanks for sharing it with the world!
Hello Andrew, yeah the Phoenix 2400 is a great airplane. Those fabric solar cells sound interesting. That BQ24074 charger might work, but it only charges one cell, so you’d need 4 of them for a 4S battery. Also, the output current is only 1.5A, that might not be enough depending upon the number of solar cells that you can fit on the wings. The good thing is that you can test your solar power system on the ground.
@@MatthewHeiskell Thanks for the quick response! I actually was thinking about the "single cell at a time" charging with that chip. I also like the bypass ability if the solar power is greater than the draw. 4 of those for 4 cells plus a buck converter to get to a target voltage maybe? Thanks again and I look forward to more of your content!
dont need charge controller, it does not really do anything but unefficiency for something like this. cant over charge the batteries when they are loaded down and so few solar cells.
Hi again! Have you considered the same kind of test with a wing like the X8 or the FX79? It souds very interesting comparision, taking into account the larger wing area could have more solar cells. I´m not sure if you have realized that MPPT charger could be the one for LiFEPO4 cells, not for Li-ion cells, it´s not only a question of higher voltage on the solar cells.
@@miguelcamus8484 Yeah, the charger is designed for lead-acid, so it wants to charge to 14V. That is higher than the 12.6V of the battery pack, but the energy output was greater than the energy input, so the voltage only went down. It wasn't a problem.
I haven’t flown px4, but I have flown iNav and arduplane, and the clear winner is arduplane, especially when it comes to efficiency. INav still has an issue with horizon drift, last time I checked.
Hey man, I love your EA scratch builds. I was just using a boost converter for this flight. I actually got a MPPT Boost charge controller and used it on a later flight, but it was really windy that day and I wasn't able to break my record.
@@MatthewHeiskell Thanks! I'm thinking about doing the same when summer gets ready and I'm watching your videos a lot. But, If I remember correctly, in one of your videos, you used a 3S-balance connector coming from your DC/DC booster to power (charge) your flight battery. Is that safe enough to fly with for a long time? (Bc, I'm planning to make something similar but as light as possible with a minimal amount of components)
@@MatthewHeiskell Nice. Thanks so much for answering my questions so far. you are really helping me out! But I have my last question before I go planning :) I'm flying only with 4S Li-Ions and let's say that I'm flying with the 8V solar panels; 1. Will it not overload the DC/DC converter? Will that be efficient? 2. If it doesn't work, what is the minimum solar voltage for the 4S flight pack?
@@AeroStuffFPV That will work, but it won't be very efficient. Ideally you want the solar voltage to be higher than your battery voltage. MPPT charge controllers that steps down are smaller and cheaper. But there is no problem boosting 8V up to 4s voltage.
great efforts, but why average current was 5.9Amp with first case when average wind speed was 2.6mph as compared with second case of 5.5Amp with wind speed 5.1mph ?
Good question! Thermals are a bit weather dependent. I wanted to see how long it could fly day or night, good thermals or not. But you're right, using thermals would have let it fly for even longer.
boost converter* Buck converter "pulses" the current, and uses a capacitor to smooth the square wave out to an average, lower voltage. Boost converter will send a pulse of current though a coil. The coil generates a magnetic field. When the current stops, the field collapses, causing a voltage spike, which is used to get the higher voltage
Yeah, haha, the weather was going to be good so I used what I had. I got an MPPT charge controller later and it helped, but going battery only gave me the best results . . . 10 hours and 45 minutes.
I dont think a buck step up could ever deliver any amps for something like that. What you could do is use the solar lower voltage to charge only some batteries at a time, using relays. ie. 1 or 2 at a time. and do not use a charge controller, very non efficient. just direct solar to battery, or use a diode also. This would give the best efficiencies but if you do not want to monitor it, can build auto with raspberry pi pico.
@@MatthewHeiskell Hi.. thank you for your replay.. what battery do u use 3s lipo or liion ? and how much for mAh, can i see your wiring on the plane please..
@@MatthewHeiskell is it the same because I have an oral and I have to experience if it is possible to give me the instruments I would need and how to build by writing in this comment if there is no problem because I did not understand well in the video and thank you very much Relly i need your help😊😊
@@jaxonfpv That's a good amount of juice though! Generally you can double the capacity and maintain the same weight when switching from lipo to Li-Ion.
I have to make a prototype of solar plane. Can you share that how you build it and the concept behind its working. Any kind of help will work a lot
This adds up you can see it in led lights through the camera. Buck and boost are probably pwm. Maybe a capacitor or just match cells to battery possibly?
Thanks! 😄
Cool flight. ESC hesitation can sometimes be PWM signal noise. Added power electronics (MPPT/boost converter) might cause PWM interference.
Great job despite the issues!
You need a bigger airplane! 🤣
Sure you can continue to learn lots from this one though as you work out issues. Still lots more potential.
I can only imagine how hard it would have been to make the slot to fit the solar cells in! Nice work! You might want to use a good quality esc like a small vesc or any other esc with foc. more efficient, smoother, highly customizable. Not to mention very reliable too! You can also set current limits to prevent motor burnout!
Yeah, I did my best at adding solar cells but it is very tricky haha. You make a great point about FOC ESCs! I think that they are the future. Have you used one before? I’ll look up vesc.
@@MatthewHeiskell I currently use a VESC 4 on my Endurance E-Flite Opterra.
Everything is setup in a GUI and the motor noise is insanely quiet!! I could not hear the plane above 200ft. The ESC also does an Automatic FOC detection, and had tons of possible telemetry via UAVCAN.
@@Jdogdrums7 That's awesome! Can you make a video about it?
@@MatthewHeiskell Sure, I’ll see if I can later today or tomorrow.
@@MatthewHeiskell
Just made a video detailing my VESC setup on my Endurance Plane Project - th-cam.com/video/4pyNNaFG2Sw/w-d-xo.html
I would also love your input on your improvements with Flight time! I'm really excited to go down the same route.
Very nice plane 👍
Thank you! Solar is really a pain though haha. I think that I will stick to battery only from now on.
Hello, I’m planning to build such a solar plane. I was wondering how the battery would be balanced charged onboard the plane. Did you use a BMS between the moot and the lipo?
That’s a good question! I’m my case, since the battery was only being discharged one time, albeit more slowly because of the added solar energy, I didn’t need to worry about keeping the cells balanced. There weren’t enough cycles for the cells’ voltages to drift apart. If you want to be 100% sure that your battery stays properly balanced, and prevent over charging, then you can use a battery management system (BMS). My plan for preventing over charging was to increased the throttle and fly faster, but my output power was always slightly higher than the input power. Perhaps it would have been better for me to use a smaller battery. Perhaps that weight reduction would have reduced the cruise power low enough for the solar cells to keep the battery fully charged.
You can cut a solar cell in half, still get the 5v but half the current.
Cut the cells and wire them in series and parallel to get double the voltage and half the current.
Oh cool, I didn't know that!
Check out the Genasun boost MPPTs. I think one of them might work here.
Oh, wow! Thanks for this info! This might be the ticket!
Cells can lose efficiency depending on the materials placed on top of them - you could make some gains just by changing out the laminate and experimenting with the top substrate.
Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!
Hi mate, nice video! Don´t you consider the modification on the wings to place the solar cells is what caused less lift and affected the performance?
Yes, I thought that I did a pretty good job flush mounting and covering the solar cells, but apparently the top surface of the wing is VERY important to efficiency. I had better results with a battery only configuration, plus I eliminated the weather dependency.
@@MatthewHeiskell now I want to build a solar phoenix 2400 too 😂
Nice work. Try cut cells in half to gain more voltage,that will eliminate the need for bottom wire. Half cell arrangement should give you 19,2v and half the amps
Thanks! That’s a good idea!
I am not sure how that will affect the efficiency,
So are you using 9 - 21700-50E Li-ion battery's in a 3s configuration?? how are the battery's arranged in the phoenix to achieve proper CG?? Need a re-try with less wind & get rid of the laminate, its robbing your solar panels. Good job though, I know you can get better results, don't give up!!
Yeah, the battery is most of the plane's weight. It is right under the wing. Less wind would make a HUGE difference. I don't think the laminate it a significant problem, but the cracked cell is haha. I just don't have the time. A single test flight takes an entire day haha.
@@MatthewHeiskell Yea, 7-8 hours you could take a nap,lol. I watched your other vids & see the setup now. Very impressive.
Very cool. Did you simply turn off your transmitter or perform a battery change? Or does your transmitter battery last that long?
Hey Kerry, my FrSky Taranis X9D Plus lasts that long. I always fully charge it before a big flight. I did a couple things to help life too, like disabling telemetry and the screen back-light. As a backup, I have the charger and a power inverter in the car.
@@MatthewHeiskell I also have the original XD9 and LOVE it - what battery are you powering it with? The NiMh that come with it last amazingly long!
Very interesting! Great video!
Thanks! I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I was disappointed that the weather was bad, but I'm glad that I made the video because I have not gotten a chance to fly it since.
Hey Matthew. I'm not sure if you still reply to messages but I'm very intrigued by this setup and am starting to look at options to build something similar. It seems the Phoenix 2400 has great surface area for a solar project. Have you considered a more "fabric" style cell. I don't think I can send a link on YT but there's a company on Amazon called JIANG that sells them. Also, I'm wondering about a controller like the BQ24074 and how you might be able to integrate that into your power system. Great work on your setup and thanks for sharing it with the world!
Hello Andrew, yeah the Phoenix 2400 is a great airplane. Those fabric solar cells sound interesting. That BQ24074 charger might work, but it only charges one cell, so you’d need 4 of them for a 4S battery. Also, the output current is only 1.5A, that might not be enough depending upon the number of solar cells that you can fit on the wings. The good thing is that you can test your solar power system on the ground.
@@MatthewHeiskell Thanks for the quick response! I actually was thinking about the "single cell at a time" charging with that chip. I also like the bypass ability if the solar power is greater than the draw. 4 of those for 4 cells plus a buck converter to get to a target voltage maybe? Thanks again and I look forward to more of your content!
@@AndrewMillhouse Yeah, that might work, you can test all of that on the ground.
dont need charge controller, it does not really do anything but unefficiency for something like this. cant over charge the batteries when they are loaded down and so few solar cells.
Hi again! Have you considered the same kind of test with a wing like the X8 or the FX79? It souds very interesting comparision, taking into account the larger wing area could have more solar cells. I´m not sure if you have realized that MPPT charger could be the one for LiFEPO4 cells, not for Li-ion cells, it´s not only a question of higher voltage on the solar cells.
It would be neat to test solar on a flying wing, but I don’t have any plans to do that. I’m not sure what you’re saying about the charger.
@@MatthewHeiskell It seems your charger is the one for Lead-acid batteries and I´m not sure if that will match the Li-ion cell voltages.
@@miguelcamus8484 Yeah, the charger is designed for lead-acid, so it wants to charge to 14V. That is higher than the 12.6V of the battery pack, but the energy output was greater than the energy input, so the voltage only went down. It wasn't a problem.
Fabulous.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Matthew, I noticed you are using Arduplane. Do you see advantages over px4 for this long range fly? Thank you.
I haven’t flown px4, but I have flown iNav and arduplane, and the clear winner is arduplane, especially when it comes to efficiency. INav still has an issue with horizon drift, last time I checked.
This is so amazing man! Really cool stuff.
Question: Did you fly with a MPPT? Or just the Boost converter alone?
Greetings!
Hey man, I love your EA scratch builds. I was just using a boost converter for this flight. I actually got a MPPT Boost charge controller and used it on a later flight, but it was really windy that day and I wasn't able to break my record.
@@MatthewHeiskell Thanks! I'm thinking about doing the same when summer gets ready and I'm watching your videos a lot.
But, If I remember correctly, in one of your videos, you used a 3S-balance connector coming from your DC/DC booster to power (charge) your flight battery. Is that safe enough to fly with for a long time?
(Bc, I'm planning to make something similar but as light as possible with a minimal amount of components)
@@AeroStuffFPV Yeah, it worked for me. Just adjust the buck converter to 12.6V. Connect it RIGHT before launch.
@@MatthewHeiskell Nice. Thanks so much for answering my questions so far. you are really helping me out! But I have my last question before I go planning :)
I'm flying only with 4S Li-Ions and let's say that I'm flying with the 8V solar panels;
1. Will it not overload the DC/DC converter? Will that be efficient?
2. If it doesn't work, what is the minimum solar voltage for the 4S flight pack?
@@AeroStuffFPV That will work, but it won't be very efficient. Ideally you want the solar voltage to be higher than your battery voltage. MPPT charge controllers that steps down are smaller and cheaper. But there is no problem boosting 8V up to 4s voltage.
Awesome!!!
great efforts, but why average current was 5.9Amp with first case when average wind speed was 2.6mph as compared with second case of 5.5Amp with wind speed 5.1mph ?
I adjusted some flight controller settings and I think that I adjusted the rudder trim position.
hey, nice build. I was also wondering if any carbon/ steel spars were used to strengthen up the wing and also are you using a lipo or a lion battery?
I did not reinforce the wing in any way. I used a DIY Li-Ion battery pack.
Please also try in deserts, more Sun light, more power
If you're doing an endurance flight why not use thermals and/or convergence?
Good question! Thermals are a bit weather dependent. I wanted to see how long it could fly day or night, good thermals or not. But you're right, using thermals would have let it fly for even longer.
🤘Awesome🤘
I am trying to build a plane like this, I am wondering what are the electronics used in this project? Specifically on the autopilot stuff.
I used the Matek F405 wing flight controller. I flashed arduplane onto it instead of the standard iNav. The GPS is a cheap little BN 220
Hello, which model of aircraft did you use as a basis?
I used a Phoenix 2400
boost converter*
Buck converter "pulses" the current, and uses a capacitor to smooth the square wave out to an average, lower voltage.
Boost converter will send a pulse of current though a coil. The coil generates a magnetic field. When the current stops, the field collapses, causing a voltage spike, which is used to get the higher voltage
Yeah, good catch. I said the wrong one in the video. Thanks for the explanations too! 😄
Terminal Insanity sorry but I didn't understand. For this type of project we should use the Buck converter or Boost converter?
@@marcomoreira8951 boost will increase voltage. Buck will reduce voltage.
Some power regulator chips/boards will have both.
I am shocked to see after all your preparations, you used DC- to DC convertor instead of an mppt charge controller.
Yeah, haha, the weather was going to be good so I used what I had. I got an MPPT charge controller later and it helped, but going battery only gave me the best results . . . 10 hours and 45 minutes.
Great video thanks for the idea what motor and prop did you use?I well try to make it
No need to answer 😆 I reddit
Thenks
I dont think a buck step up could ever deliver any amps for something like that. What you could do is use the solar lower voltage to charge only some batteries at a time, using relays. ie. 1 or 2 at a time. and do not use a charge controller, very non efficient. just direct solar to battery, or use a diode also. This would give the best efficiencies but if you do not want to monitor it, can build auto with raspberry pi pico.
what vers AP did you use? i thought AP already compare GPS altitude to barometer altitude for drifting issue...
I think you’re right about the newer software. It runs arduplane 3.9.11 which is a bit old now.
@@MatthewHeiskell and autolaunch is a mode now. No need to set via wp
Hi.. so u use battery and solar cell? how long for the endurance? thank you
Hello Deki, the plane has a large battery and solar cells. The endurance is almost 8 hours.
@@MatthewHeiskell Hi.. thank you for your replay.. what battery do u use 3s lipo or liion ? and how much for mAh, can i see your wiring on the plane please..
What plane did you use?
Phoenix 2400
foam fish filleting... 🤣😂
emailed you some information :)
Email me tooo
from what height does the plane become invisible?
I don't know, I've never flown it over 400 ft AGL.
Please use TH-cam's "About" tool to provide a safe path to your email address.
I did.
Please i have to do a prototype for the solar impulse...how can i do it
Can you help me?????
Hello Ikram, I am happy to answer any questions. Go ahead and copy my solar plane design, or modify it as necessary.
@@MatthewHeiskell is it the same because I have an oral and I have to experience if it is possible to give me the instruments I would need and how to build by writing in this comment if there is no problem because I did not understand well in the video and thank you very much
Relly i need your help😊😊
Hello Ikram, check out this video about solar airplane design. th-cam.com/video/7ltzgJIuQSs/w-d-xo.html
@@MatthewHeiskell okkk,thanks a lot
Do u have links to the solar panels
Sure, search: FULL BATTERY SUNPOWER C60 SOLAR CELL 3.55W
what motor did you use?
I don’t remember, but I’m sure that I put that info in other videos about that plane.
*Boost converter.
I think you need to boost the voltage to something like 14 V.
Good Job. 👍
I see guys cutting these cells in half. You could double your voltage and just connect to your battery with a Schottky diode.
That’s a good idea!
im still in disbelief
haha, this isn't even my longest flight. I made a video documenting my battery only 10 hour and 45 minute flight.
@@MatthewHeiskell i actually laughed out loud when i saw the 50,000 mah sticker hahaha.
@@MatthewHeiskell i thought i was pushing it by putting two 5s 2200 mah in my wing lol
@@jaxonfpv That's a good amount of juice though! Generally you can double the capacity and maintain the same weight when switching from lipo to Li-Ion.
What cells are you using?
fullbattery.com/products/sunpower-c60-solar-cell
Which plane are you using ?
Phoenix 2400