Camera drones are becoming a new tech product craze, with more and more people taking drones into the air. But soon, the drone is ready to return. Why is the drone's flight time so short?
Today, we will explore many topics related to battery life in depth.
Why does a drone's flight time not exceed one hour?
Most camera drones cannot fly for more than one hour, mainly due to factors such as battery technology, load, flight conditions, and power system efficiency. The technology of miniaturizing high-capacity batteries still needs to be improved. With the continuous advancement of drone intelligence, the increase in payload and sensors on the fuselage, the flight time of drones will be greatly compressed. Therefore, most camera drones do not fly for more than one hour.
The flight time of a drone is an important factor in determining its performance and application range. Regarding the issue of drone flight time, we can analyze it from multiple angles, including why flight time is so important, current technical limitations, and how to extend flight time.
Why is it important for drones to fly for a long time?
The longer a drone flies in the air, the greater the potential it can exert.
Aerial drones can repeatedly practice flying movements, master photography skills, and shoot farther and more beautiful scenery. Long-term flight of commercial drones allows drones to perform more complex tasks in the air, such as agricultural monitoring, rescue, patrol, etc.
Long-term flight of drones can improve the efficiency of drone mission completion, cover large areas, reduce the risk or loss of interruption of missions due to exhaustion of power, and help aerial missions in all walks of life.
How long can a drone fly at most?
Children's drones: Children's drones are usually used as flying toys, and the flight time is not long, about 10-20 minutes, just to understand and practice drone flight.
Consumer drones: Most consumer drones (such as photography drones) usually have a flight time of 20 to 30 minutes, which is a common range.
Professional commercial drones: Some high-end commercial drones can fly for 60 minutes or longer, especially drones with larger capacity batteries or optimized power systems.
Fixed-wing drones: Compared with quadcopters, fixed-wing drones can fly longer, usually up to several hours, because they use aerodynamic principles to fly.
View More: How Long Can A Drone Stay In The Air?
Why are drones and quadcopters so short in flight time?
Most consumer drones are quadcopters, while commercial drones are more diverse, including quadcopters, hexacopters, and fixed-wing aircraft. Commercial drones are usually larger and have longer flight times.
The short flight time of drones and quadcopters is mainly due to the limitations of battery technology, the high energy consumption of drones, the weight of the fuselage, and the air resistance. In the balance of various factors, the flight time of drones and quadcopters will mostly not exceed one hour.
Autel EVO Nano+ is a small drone weighing less than 250g, and the drone can be folded and put into your pocket. Such a small quadcopter drone naturally doesn't have much battery life. Yes, it only has a continuous flight time of 28 minutes.
Although the EVO Nano+ is a small drone, it has three-axis gimbal stabilization, three-way obstacle avoidance, five-level wind resistance, active tracking, low-battery return, three-band transmission, multiple photo modes and one-key movie lens, 28 minutes of flight time and 10 kilometers of image transmission distance, which is the leader among consumer drones.
Autel Robotics EVO Nano+ Drone Premium Bundle
$799.00 USD
Currently, drones mainly rely on lithium batteries for power supply. Although lithium batteries have high energy density, they have not yet achieved the ideal weight-to-power output ratio. At the same time, the design of quadcopter drones requires more power to stabilize the flight attitude.
Secondly, the fuselage weight, load, and air resistance of the drone will affect the battery life. Carrying heavier equipment or flying in bad weather conditions will accelerate power consumption.
How to extend the flight time of drones?
If you use a new CTOS drone, then you need to pay attention to daily battery maintenance, the correct charging method, and avoid over-discharge to keep the battery at its best performance.
If you are a DIY drone enthusiast, you need to choose a larger capacity battery, a more efficient motor, and reduce unnecessary loads to extend the flight time.
In the flight of the drone, try to use a stable flight mode, reduce sharp turns, hovering and acceleration, all of which will increase battery consumption and damage your flight experience.
How To: Maintain and Store Your Autel EVO Nano Battery
Why do drones have short flight times and long charging times?
Most consumer drones only need one lithium battery, and a lithium battery needs to be charged for 90 minutes and can only be used for half an hour during flight. Why is this?
The long charging time of drones is mainly to protect battery life. One reason is that the charging current is limited, and another reason is that drone batteries will heat up during charging and discharging. Too fast charging will increase battery temperature, thereby damaging battery life or safety. Therefore, drone batteries take a long time to charge.
The main reason for the short flight time of drones is insufficient battery capacity. And each drone has an optimal balance between battery size and drone efficiency. Whether you choose a toy drone, a lightweight consumer drone or a commercial drone, rich drone features can make your drone flight experience more enjoyable and diverse, but they will also drain the battery faster.
Summary
The flight time of drones is critical, especially in professional application scenarios. Current flight time limitations are mainly due to battery technology, power system efficiency, and drone design. By optimizing batteries, reducing weight, and improving flight modes, the flight time of drones can be effectively extended. In the future, with the advancement of battery technology (such as solid-state batteries or hydrogen fuel cells) and drone design, flight time will be further improved.
