My quad cannot fly high in just little wind

[Velen]

I was turning my PID and did a test flight outdoor. It was only very small wind in that day. It didn't seem to have influence to my quad at all. When I fly, my quad lift for approximately 2 to 3 meters and it just cannot fly higher. It seems to fight with the wind influence a lot to hold it position and lose the power require to fly high.

It was in horizontal (level) mode but no baro. I think maybe my I is too high. I know I need big adjestment.
Is there any suggestion on what I should change for my next fly?

[tovrin]

that sounds like classic vibration issues. when there is a vibration coming to the flight controller it constantly compensates motor speeds to adjust and really takes away from your throttle.

try to eliminate the vibration, or add a low pass filter to the ACC settings (LPF) and you should see an immediate change.

[PatrikE]

That sounds like classic vibration issues.

+1

[Peter]

I would try a gyro lpf of 42hz or 20hz.
20hz was necessary for my dji flame wheel clone to fly well. Exact same problem.

[Velen]

Thank you so much.
I use 98hz and it fly good now.

I also tuned PID as well, however the motors become so much hotter than before.
And esc heat up a little as well.
Turning PID seems like put some extra power to my motors and thus the heat. Is this normal?

[Peter]

Maybe they can finally run constantly at higher throttle values.
Because it does not have those large corrections anymore.
With multiple smaller corrections the motors can run at higher speeds.
So more amp draw..

[tovrin]

http://www.ecalc.ch/xcoptercalc_e.asp?ecalc

use this tool to determine if your motors are enough for your weight, and if they are going to get too hot.

[Velen]

Thanks Peter and tovrin.
It appears I am flying in very close range of max weight of my quad. Hovering it creates this heat problem. I will drop my props from12" down to 11"to reduce the pressure from my motors output.
Thank you for all your help.

[tovrin]

if you are approaching max weight, then dropping prop size isnt likely going to help. you need bigger/faster motors, stronger battery, or lighter parts.

now if your motors are simply getting too hot because of props to big for them, thats different, but weight issue wont be helped by reducing prop size.

also, i just noticed you said you have level mode on, fly around with level off and see if the motor temperature and flight speed change. if turning off level mode makes your copter fly faster then you have a level mode issue, possibly caused by amplified vibration, which can also heat up your parts.

[Velen]

Thank you tovrin.
I use sunnysky v2216 800 kv and they can run12"props but I always got heat issue. After I fix this viberation I found that that are too hot too hold after 6mins flying. When I use 11" props the heat is ok. I can feel it is heavy and easy to go down when I was trying to hover my quad at 1 m height, but I can hover at around 50% thorrtle. 12" props fly easier but also give me 1mins less hover time(don't know why).

I will try turn off level mode and fly. Thanks again.

[tovrin]

if you get hover at 50% its not weight thats killing you.