Difference in Propellers?
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Waldo Pepper
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I bought a set of four for my Mavic 2 Pro, still have the set but stopped using them.
They actually do reduce noise, but increased heat in the motors. When landing, the motors were too hot to touch. I was afraid eventually would have a motor failure during flight, stopped using them.
Never put them back on, because of this ill probably never buy another set for another drone.
What to add additional information, the RPM‘s would decrease when using the tri-propeller set with the Mavic 2 Pro. You can visually see the RPM decrease on the controller, that’s proof they do help with longer flight times and lower noise. But the overheating of motors, that’s a disaster waiting to happen.
They actually do reduce noise, but increased heat in the motors. When landing, the motors were too hot to touch. I was afraid eventually would have a motor failure during flight, stopped using them.
Never put them back on, because of this ill probably never buy another set for another drone.
What to add additional information, the RPM‘s would decrease when using the tri-propeller set with the Mavic 2 Pro. You can visually see the RPM decrease on the controller, that’s proof they do help with longer flight times and lower noise. But the overheating of motors, that’s a disaster waiting to happen.
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rangerb3
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Yes, not good for the motors or wiring to the motors! 3 blades props do decrease noise levels and produce enough thrust that usually each blade is manufactured an inch or so shorter...
Good info to keep in mind!
I just shake my head when people try these aftermarket solutions for the props. DJI and Autel spent thousands of hours of simulation time, many 10's of thousands of dollars in development costs, and had scientists with doctorates in aerodynamics develop the props for their aircraft. There is no way some aftermarket OEM retailer is going to come up with a better design. The drone makers squeeze every single second of efficiency that they can out of the propulsion system, batteries, and aerodynamics of their aircraft; changing any one of those has nowhere to go but down.
Additionally, the props of a drone are the most dangerous part of it when the drone is in motion; no way am I going to risk losing the drone or worse injuring a person or destroying expensive property over something like that. I have watched plenty of forum posts over the years as people tried different aftermarket prop solutions with carbon fiber being the most popular. Those same people would then blame the drone for the next flyaway, or ended up slicing their fingers or property to bits when the much more rigid props cut through where plastic would not have caused as much damage, or the intense vibrations due to shoddy construction, overheating motors, shell stress fractures, etc. etc.
So long story short I am a big proponent of simply leaving certain things alone like props. I feel the same way about aftermarket batteries. I've seen plenty of photographers and videographers buy a $10K+ camera then buy cheap aftermarket batteries for it. Yes the OEM vendors charge markup but part of that comes with peace of mind knowing the batteries aren't going to burn your house down while they are charging, or fry your $10K investment to save a few $$.
Additionally, the props of a drone are the most dangerous part of it when the drone is in motion; no way am I going to risk losing the drone or worse injuring a person or destroying expensive property over something like that. I have watched plenty of forum posts over the years as people tried different aftermarket prop solutions with carbon fiber being the most popular. Those same people would then blame the drone for the next flyaway, or ended up slicing their fingers or property to bits when the much more rigid props cut through where plastic would not have caused as much damage, or the intense vibrations due to shoddy construction, overheating motors, shell stress fractures, etc. etc.
So long story short I am a big proponent of simply leaving certain things alone like props. I feel the same way about aftermarket batteries. I've seen plenty of photographers and videographers buy a $10K+ camera then buy cheap aftermarket batteries for it. Yes the OEM vendors charge markup but part of that comes with peace of mind knowing the batteries aren't going to burn your house down while they are charging, or fry your $10K investment to save a few $$.
thanks, I think you make a very good case for why "right to repair" should be squashed and consumers should be forced to deal ONLY with the manufacturer because there is nothing better out there, there cannot be nothing better out there, and we certainly can't have any changes to the current design....for safety reasons. /s /s /s
Keep in mind that my opinion on this matter (and its just my opinion) is very narrowly scoped to the propellers and the battery. Also, right to repair is a completely different topic than the one at hand which is replacing a perfectly working OEM part with an aftermarket one for the purposes of attempting to improve some aspect of the drone's flight characteristics. But yes, you are absolutely right, when it comes to the propellers and the batteries for these drones I do believe there is nothing better out there.
The sheer investment it would take to make something better, combined with the low chance of generating enough sales volume from the sale of said improvement that it would justify the cost for an aftermarket vendor make it highly unlikely that any aftermarket vendor will actually come up with a better design let alone test it properly or be able to price it low enough that people will actually buy it.
What is far more likely is that these aftermarket vendors instead will take what was already created by the vendor, deconstruct it, copy it, make a cheaper version of it, alter it in some way to prevent getting sued for patent infringement, then repackage it and try to sell it without having done any of the research, design work, or analysis needed to ensure their new version of the product is safe, doesn't negatively impact some other component of the drone platform, and will last as long as the original product.
When this happens with batteries you are risking a fire in your house, car, or on a plane if you are traveling. When this happens with the props you are risking property damage, physical damage, liability, loss of the drone, etc. Just because the drone still gets off of the ground after making one of these mods doesn't mean it is as safe, predictable, or reliable as it was before the mod was made.
All of this is not to say I am against DIY either. I have been building RC helicopters and other flying contraptions for over 20 years; but would I trust any of them at a crowded event with powerlines crisscrossing the sky and surrounded by buildings with a narrow corridor where I can legally fly under Part 107? No way. Just like there's no way I would trust an Autel or DJI drone with aftermarket propellers or batteries in that situation either. Over an open field or open ocean with no one around for miles...sure why not; but many people do not make that distinction and still think their drone is perfectly fine just because it still flies.
couple of quick questions about props and batteries: do you believe autel should disable, cripple, or throttle back their drone when it detects anything other than genuine autel-approved props and batteries? for safety reasons.....
IHMO, I would even trust 3rd party batteries, with an established reputation for paying attention to QC. UltraX made some fine aftermarket batteries for the Yuneec TH.
However in the case of props... since it is the critical part that allows you, to tell Newton and his laws on gravity to take a flying leap (and then show him how it's done)... I'll stick with only OEM props for now.
However in the case of props... since it is the critical part that allows you, to tell Newton and his laws on gravity to take a flying leap (and then show him how it's done)... I'll stick with only OEM props for now.
at this point, I am not aware of any alternatives for the autel so I will stick to the originals as well. unlike for the dji where I have master airscrew props that are nicely colored and quieter and more efficient than the original. they has a long history with some ups and downs but I agree we should all be able to make personal (rational) choices. as a result, I cannot agree to sanction the use of aftermarket props....for any reason.
I think that one is pretty hard to answer. I hate government and corporate overreach as much as the next person but I also know that the actions of a few affect the many and that there are many people out there that completely ignore any semblance of safe behavior. As far as your question goes....I don't think any drone vendor can detect aftermarket props, they can detect if something is wrong with the flight characteristics but I've never heard of a drone detecting aftermarket props. Batteries are a different story and there are plenty of reports of aftermarket batteries not working in devices and not just drones either....laptops, phones, cameras, etc. all tend to have feedback circuitry which tries to detect counterfeits.
On the one hand I think people should be able to make their own decisions about what they do with the equipment that they own; but on the other I've seen so much unsafe behavior that puts other people at risk that I fully understand why things are so ridiculously overregulated these days. So my question to you is how would you feel if you were outdoors enjoying an event and a drone comes crashing down and puts you in the hospital? Or if you lived in an apartment and your neighbor charged some aftermarket batteries that burned the whole complex down? Would you feel differently then about what people should or shouldn't be allowed to do with the things they purchased?
I see both sides so to me there is no easy answer. The biggest problem is that all of these regulations and restrictions typically only impact the users that were going to operate their equipment in a safe manner anyway. For the rest they can get around every restriction in the book simply by building their own drones.
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