Whenever I'm flying in a public place, I have all kinds of people come up to me and talk. It can be annoying at times, but mostly it's great to be able to share a little bit about the hobby with newcomers or enthusiasts.
I know right 😄😄😄 in his other video with the boat on the lake he also gets girls turning up. Man has secret JuJu magic powers, I need more baffling gadgets in public view 😀
i agree, but it is also an rc that you cant get tited of flying because it almost doesnt run out of battery. This plane is really for those who cant make up their minds haha.
That's a candidate for self-flying plane that does entire mission by itself. You give it a mission, go to picnic and return to pick it up in the evening.
Or some dog owners... I have encountered some really intrested and friendly people here in germany when flying, but many of them just have no empathy at all for us RC Pilots...
@@Freebird_67 I had many of them in the past point out how flying my Quadcopter FPV was "illigal". I usually tell them that it is not, since i always have a spotter, not keeping their dog on a leach however IS, infact illigal though ^^
We used those same solar cells on the Missouri S&T Solar Car Team vehicle. It was pretty astonishing to see how well those cells performed even when smashed. All the electrical contacts are on the bottom and they're very thick metal, so they take a good amount of abuse!
Came across you channel last week purely because of the v2.... Was bitterly disappointed i couldn't find a third vid, and then this pops up on my feed. Perfect timing.
Well done. I love really slow planes and would like to hear some technical particulars of this plane’s aerodynamic configuration. I don’t think I would attempt the solar power, however cool and experimentally useful that is. All of your videos are narrated clearly and concisely, unlike some “pro” reviewers. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
@Andrew Crews I watched the live stream of solar impulse 2. while I didn't get to meet them, they did land in Dayton Ohio not too far from where I live (maybe 30 miles) and basically flown over the city I live in.
You need to set up your gains on a pot for turbulant areas in your flight path. When I get into some cumulus, sometimes they can be choppy. I just turn up the gains with a pot in the Tx and it smooths out good. Then you can turn them back down when you find better air.
Gabe Darrett When the solar cell isn't charging it becomes quite the resistor. Having a bypass diode, which has very low resistance, will preserve relatively high current if one or some solar cells are obstructed. This should increase over-all efficiency in such a case.
It's the way most solar panels are built. They will connect I diode to a row of cells so in the event that the row (even something as a small stick) covers part of the cell then the row is bypassed. This keeps your overall amperage high and ensures your amps are not brought down. Otherwise most of your amperage goes back into that covered cell (resistance).
Mt. Si, my favorite place place to hang glide, four hour flights were common. Thanks for the ride and good work on plane, it has come a long way in the past two years.
That is the benefit from Sunpower Maxeon cells. The copper backing keeps all the chards of a cracked cell connected so they still provide power. This makes them much more DIY friendly! The copper also helps with soldering as you can't "suck" all the tinning off the cell like you can on a normal cell. You can solder em pretty much as if they were a circuitboard.
it's nice to see that people are interested. i'm always happy when people come to me and ask me questions. unfortunately, there are often some who grumble and claim that you're not allowed to do that.
I just wondered does the glider have dining similar to regenerative braking where the propeller spinning the motor generates power or would it be too bulky?
Propeller regen works on bigger electric planes, but there's not enough torque to make it worthwhile on models. In any case, the amount of energy recoverable is tiny, but may be enough to help in a life saving situation, such as running out of charge at altitude then charging during a dive to get some power for controls and landing.
Had to subscribe because you do such interesting RC projects. I'm looking forward to what comes next. You were so patient and kind to that couple! Kudos for being such a gentleman.
I read between the lines with those folks. I thought they were a bit nosey and hoping to find a reason to rain on your parade. Thanks for keeping it professional, I would have told them to beat it 10 minutes earlier. I love these solar projects. It' be cool if you built up the airframe a bit and ran it on a another mission with a built in land sequence. I keep thinking of how cool it was when you landed another plane on the side of that mountain.
He probably has it on the radio. I've yet to figure out how to feed dragon-link digital rssi into arduplane, and the support channel is completely worthless
Those little Genasun charge controllers are fantastic, they gather an impressive amount of power from your panel, even in challenging solar conditions.
@@towers3372 2160 cells have good energy density per unit volume. Pouch style LiPo cells _usually_ have higher energy density per unit mass, which is more useful for things that fly.
Really excited to see the improvements to V4 both in terms of hardware and software. Having more information and better quality is going to result in a great craft. Some day I'll get my design flying too.
@rctestflight, i would recommend you use a bulk dc to dc converter. A bulk converter can limit amp output, therefore solar panels stay at max efficiency, and also step up the voltage thereby helping charge the battery.(edit) this may let you run the solar panels at the most efficient voltage. to add on, if set to output 15 volt, with 2 relays it could be possible to set the plane battery to charge, use or solar only. as mentioned in 24:12, since the 3.2 is the max efficiency, the bulk converter could be limited to 3.2 amp and if wired properly, when using less than 3.2A the excess could charge the battery. (edit 2) also try leaving some slight airflow to the solar panels as hot solar panels are not as efficient as cold ones, or so I've heard.
He is using an mppt(Maximum Power Point Tracking) which finds the maximum power point and keep stracking it and uses a buck boost converter to charge the battery
I love this. A great project, and you have a deep technical knowledge of how the things work, and you explain why are doing what you're doing. I hope you'll keep improving on the solar plane!
Altitude record plane. Make a first battery that gets it to 30k ft and then drop the 1st battery Then use a smaller onboard battery to get to 40k ft or something like that, kerbal like
Karthick Ashwath It shouldn’t be much different than the people who launch the weather balloons. It’s certainly not an unfeasible amount of paperwork. I think he used to do some pretty high altitude stuff when he was young but I can’t remember any figures
Love the videos. I barely keep in touch with my R/C hobby anymore but I’ve been watching for years. Always click on one of your videos if I see it. Keep it up man
That couple was super awesome!! Actually engaging with a stranger and having genuine interest in what you’re doing.
UnoriginalPun they probably turned everything over to FAA. Just saying
Whenever I'm flying in a public place, I have all kinds of people come up to me and talk. It can be annoying at times, but mostly it's great to be able to share a little bit about the hobby with newcomers or enthusiasts.
Having someone interested in your hobby is a great feeling, even if with anxiety you only appreciate it after it happens.
@@Freebird_67 I don't think you're right about that
Ssssh Washington is horrible and you should never move there... totally not paradise
Your solar planes got me into rc planes so I'm happy to see it again
Same. I had basically zero interest in this hobby until this video.
Me too. I started this Hobby with his first solar plane. One year ago I started Fpv and now I have my own solar bixler with 18560 cells.
Same here!
I second that
LOL "How far does it go"? "Is this your science project?" "I'm a cougar" XD
I know right 😄😄😄 in his other video with the boat on the lake he also gets girls turning up. Man has secret JuJu magic powers, I need more baffling gadgets in public view 😀
infront of her husband too😵
@@gabeross9745 "so majestic" 😎
If he keeps practicing, he'll be in avionics in no time.
@@BenjiNotknown no... no doubt.. he's got game!
"Is this your science project" lol.. "no, I am a total nerd, and this is what we actually do for fun..." that's great.
Those spectators are the best I've ever seen. So smart and understanding. And the conversation was so smooth.
The only rc plane where you actually get tired of flying because it flies too long
No solar panels, but a properly set up Nano Goblin can make more than 3 hours on one battery pack. ruclips.net/video/Tqc-wCbm1kE/видео.html
Never
i agree, but it is also an rc that you cant get tited of flying because it almost doesnt run out of battery. This plane is really for those who cant make up their minds haha.
That's a candidate for self-flying plane that does entire mission by itself. You give it a mission, go to picnic and return to pick it up in the evening.
My modified parrot disco could fly over 2.5 hrs just on batteries
Those folks were so friendly. In germany I'd get barked at by some farmer
Or some dog owners...
I have encountered some really intrested and friendly people here in germany when flying, but many of them just have no empathy at all for us RC Pilots...
People here in Canada still see it as a toy... they have no idea... I just consider it a workplace hazard at this point. XD
Omg yes
muh1h1 exactly! Dog walkers are the worst!
@@Freebird_67 I had many of them in the past point out how flying my Quadcopter FPV was "illigal". I usually tell them that it is not, since i always have a spotter, not keeping their dog on a leach however IS, infact illigal though ^^
“I bet you can sell these photos!”
Lol, thats when you hit them with that business card 😏
And explain all the cash you've spent so you're allowed to lol
Just some dumb shit boomers say
@@Kay12111 how is that dumb shit.
@@boogalooblue6723 He is projecting
I love that plane
Look who dropped by
The solar plane has got to be the coolest RC project I’ve seen.
Good to see it back
It would be fun to see a super long range flight!
She said "He's a bit young that's alright tell him I'm a Cougar"
LMAO 😂🤣 😂
5:36
Haha, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that heard that 😅
The best part about this hobby is the curious spectators that show up. I genuinely enjoy teaching them about what’s going on.
Your solar plane was the first of your videos that I ever saw, and it was the reason why I subscribed to this channel
Yep, me too. No regrets thus far.
Me too
Yes!! So happy to see your solar plane back! What about the V4? It will be awesome to see how you built it. Many thanks for your inspiring videos!
When you just smoked a bong and your mom is waiting for you at home 10:45
And you answer to her: 11:22
A flying wing combined with solar power!?! I can't wait to see that video!!! So cool!
Oh my god it’s back. You have no clue how happy I am
"Solar Plane" is my favorite RC series on youtube. Nice to see it's back!
I love these solar plane videos ! Please more of it or a v4 would be great.
Man.. I've watched the series of this solar power plane for hundreds of time. Good to see it back.
We used those same solar cells on the Missouri S&T Solar Car Team vehicle. It was pretty astonishing to see how well those cells performed even when smashed. All the electrical contacts are on the bottom and they're very thick metal, so they take a good amount of abuse!
I love the nice people who come to talk to you in the videos, pretty heartwarming
You've got to do a lot more flying with this plane.
Keep them coming mate. 👍
I love ppl that are curious. I like answering there questions. It has happened a few times with my drone in a local park. Cool video
I've recently watched your old solar plane video and wanted a new one. I really love the idea of solar planes!
this is actually enjoyable, the camera angle isn't so bad, just the quality of the video from it.
That would be great to see the solar wing V4 build progress, not only the first flight!
Came across you channel last week purely because of the v2.... Was bitterly disappointed i couldn't find a third vid, and then this pops up on my feed. Perfect timing.
I'm so happy you finally uploaded another solar plane video. Keep up the AMAZING work!!
Glad you flew this one again. I've always been fascinated with gliders/solar powered flight.
Great video! That cougar had no clue everything you were juggling at the moment.
Can't wait to see the Solar Flying Wing! The Cougar lady was hilarious.
A 25 minute video ?! Get the popcorn !!
I'm glad you kept the people in the footage. I like the interaction.
Older folks always drop that “you could make money selling photos” line if they come up while I’m flying a UAV. It’s kind of adorable tbh
More solar plane videos! Glad you brought it back
Well done. I love really slow planes and would like to hear some technical particulars of this plane’s aerodynamic configuration. I don’t think I would attempt the solar power, however cool and experimentally useful that is. All of your videos are narrated clearly and concisely, unlike some “pro” reviewers. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
As soon as they plane camera came on screen i remembered you original video from a few years again. This thing is awesome!
I've been fascinated with solar planes, this solar RC plane, and Solar Impulse 2.
@Andrew Crews I watched the live stream of solar impulse 2. while I didn't get to meet them, they did land in Dayton Ohio not too far from where I live (maybe 30 miles) and basically flown over the city I live in.
Don't know why the solar plane videos are so fun to watch, but they always are =)
"Tell em Im a cougar"
"So do you fly out here often?"
Lol
Nice catch, haha.
I love seeing the telemetry and the voltage actually going up
The cheap ali solar cells seem to be better than you thought. Great work. Great design. Great example for solar use case - on sunny days.
Thanks for coming back with the plane
Watching your voltage climb while your flying Awesome! Love the concepts and how slow(majestic) it can fly.
Best QA ever! Asking all the interesting questions
You need to set up your gains on a pot for turbulant areas in your flight path. When I get into some cumulus, sometimes they can be choppy. I just turn up the gains with a pot in the Tx and it smooths out good. Then you can turn them back down when you find better air.
So glad to see this back to your channel you literally make the best stuff
Can't wait for v4, hoping for all day long flight!
autonomous too!
FINALLY ANOTHER SOLAR PLANE VID!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ
You need to add bypass diodes to the individual panels so the voltage doesn't break down as much when a shadow hits them.
Could you please provide a schematic? I'm interested, but a little confused
Gabe Darrett When the solar cell isn't charging it becomes quite the resistor. Having a bypass diode, which has very low resistance, will preserve relatively high current if one or some solar cells are obstructed. This should increase over-all efficiency in such a case.
If that's truly an issue then the diodes ought to be Schottky type.
It's the way most solar panels are built. They will connect I diode to a row of cells so in the event that the row (even something as a small stick) covers part of the cell then the row is bypassed. This keeps your overall amperage high and ensures your amps are not brought down. Otherwise most of your amperage goes back into that covered cell (resistance).
Wonderful video and very good explanation of the technology being used. The intelligent spectators with their relevant questions are a bonus.
Thanks, I've been waiting for this one quite long...
Hey that's Mount Si, I climbed that a few years back. Cool stuff!
I noticed Too! just did little si last week
my most favorite rc project ever
YESSSS the solar plane is back!!!
when i saw this the first time i always wanted to build one myself
Mt. Si, my favorite place place to hang glide, four hour flights were common. Thanks for the ride and good work on plane, it has come a long way in the past two years.
Are you able to give us a list of what you have on the airplane? FC and so on?
That is the benefit from Sunpower Maxeon cells.
The copper backing keeps all the chards of a cracked cell connected so they still provide power.
This makes them much more DIY friendly!
The copper also helps with soldering as you can't "suck" all the tinning off the cell like you can on a normal cell. You can solder em pretty much as if they were a circuitboard.
It's good to see the solar plane flying again!
Good video.
it's nice to see that people are interested. i'm always happy when people come to me and ask me questions. unfortunately, there are often some who grumble and claim that you're not allowed to do that.
I just wondered does the glider have dining similar to regenerative braking where the propeller spinning the motor generates power or would it be too bulky?
Propeller regen works on bigger electric planes, but there's not enough torque to make it worthwhile on models. In any case, the amount of energy recoverable is tiny, but may be enough to help in a life saving situation, such as running out of charge at altitude then charging during a dive to get some power for controls and landing.
Oh ok, thanks!
Great video live the solar panels on the aircraft
Are there any construction plans to rebuild this by myself?
Had to subscribe because you do such interesting RC projects. I'm looking forward to what comes next. You were so patient and kind to that couple! Kudos for being such a gentleman.
What if you try to fly in circles around your field just on solar panels without a battery.
Just to test the principle.
Awesome Flight. Love the PasserBys standard comments. Fun Times. Appreciate and staying tuned
How do you get that kind of range out of your remote...? mine tops out at 2.5km
That's a dragonlink module
Glad to see it again!
An Ampmeter for the solar inside the OSD would be great :D
Nice to see it fly again. Thx.
5:37 my pants would have been straight off!
MAN that thing launches nicely!
“Tell them I’m a cougar” lol I. Think she wanted you
Dunes4321 what does it mean
@@dnh3005
It's an older woman who is attracted to younger men.
I read between the lines with those folks. I thought they were a bit nosey and hoping to find a reason to rain on your parade. Thanks for keeping it professional, I would have told them to beat it 10 minutes earlier. I love these solar projects. It' be cool if you built up the airframe a bit and ran it on a another mission with a built in land sequence. I keep thinking of how cool it was when you landed another plane on the side of that mountain.
I hope you add a ardupilot real soon!
Good to see it back!!!
Just curious, why don’t you ever use rssi and have activated on osd?
He probably has it on the radio. I've yet to figure out how to feed dragon-link digital rssi into arduplane, and the support channel is completely worthless
Zapf ok. That’s what I was thinking was going on too. I never could get pixhawk 1 rssi Arduplane to work either with Frsky R9.
Those little Genasun charge controllers are fantastic, they gather an impressive amount of power from your panel, even in challenging solar conditions.
very very cool , can I ask how much the solar panels set you back ? I'm interested in doing a solar project myself . Great work mate
Im interested Too in a Solar Plane Project and how you build your Planes to learn from you
You really handled those people well, they gwent away with a positive experience thanks to you. Subscribed.
Solar plane 😍
Nice flight,thanks for posting.Surprised there are not more postings with solar powered craft.A monitor is always a plus when there are passersby
Has anyone ever tried putting old phone batteries in the wings, they're pretty thin and I think you could fit a few of em in a plane like this
I don't think they'd be able to deliver near enough current, even paralleled up
@@Sharklops but has it been tried before?
Erik Jansen 2160 cells like Tesla Model 3 uses would be sick because they have better energy density than his lipo
@@towers3372 2160 cells have good energy density per unit volume. Pouch style LiPo cells _usually_ have higher energy density per unit mass, which is more useful for things that fly.
Awesome! Good Job Daniel!
10:45 thats me on saturday nights
There's no doubt about it. The man's got game!
I’m dying at the random strangers. I would love to invade one of your videos just saying nutty stuff.
Really excited to see the improvements to V4 both in terms of hardware and software. Having more information and better quality is going to result in a great craft. Some day I'll get my design flying too.
@rctestflight, i would recommend you use a bulk dc to dc converter. A bulk converter can limit amp output, therefore solar panels stay at max efficiency, and also step up the voltage thereby helping charge the battery.(edit) this may let you run the solar panels at the most efficient voltage. to add on, if set to output 15 volt, with 2 relays it could be possible to set the plane battery to charge, use or solar only. as mentioned in 24:12, since the 3.2 is the max efficiency, the bulk converter could be limited to 3.2 amp and if wired properly, when using less than 3.2A the excess could charge the battery.
(edit 2) also try leaving some slight airflow to the solar panels as hot solar panels are not as efficient as cold ones, or so I've heard.
He is using an mppt(Maximum Power Point Tracking) which finds the maximum power point and keep stracking it and uses a buck boost converter to charge the battery
Amazing setup and nice flight recordings. Thanks for sharing.
That old cougar is THIRSTY
I love this. A great project, and you have a deep technical knowledge of how the things work, and you explain why are doing what you're doing. I hope you'll keep improving on the solar plane!
Altitude record plane.
Make a first battery that gets it to 30k ft and then drop the 1st battery
Then use a smaller onboard battery to get to 40k ft
or something like that, kerbal like
That would require permission from the authorities in concern and co ordination with the atc in the region ...a lot of paperwork too I believe
@@oadka Two aircraft with two operators might be an easier sell. And who doesn't want to fly a mother ship?
@@JoeOvercoat Sir I can't understand what you are saying.
Karthick Ashwath It shouldn’t be much different than the people who launch the weather balloons. It’s certainly not an unfeasible amount of paperwork. I think he used to do some pretty high altitude stuff when he was young but I can’t remember any figures
@@mcearl8073 Nice.I did not know that.
I remember your first solar plane attempt. Glad you still experiment. "Not for school or anything." LOL!
Put a folding prop on it.
Love the videos. I barely keep in touch with my R/C hobby anymore but I’ve been watching for years. Always click on one of your videos if I see it. Keep it up man
"Are you flying beyond VLOS?"
"Yes, I'm breaking the law, but it's all good."
You've got a good handle on talking to Boomers.
When was this? I didn't hear anyone say anything like that....
good to see the solar plane back !