Lightening the Nano (+)

[Skadee]

Has anyone attempted to lighten their Nano+?

if so, wondering what method you undertook, and what the final weight may have been.

It seems that flying in the UK means the weight must be UNDER 250g, but with the required registration label with prescribed text height, my Nano+ is right at 250g.

Labeling aside, I would like to add a strobe, which weighs in at 3g, without the weight of an attachment means. Given the density of the strobe device, I would expect to have to remove a great deal of plastic from the nano to shave equivalent weight, and I’m not convinced there is enough there to sacrifice.

I don’t see many opportunities for lightening, short of boring holes in the rear landing gear, but without some spare gear to tinker with, I don’t expect that boring holes there would cut much weight, without sacrificing strength.

Boring holes in the body sides near the battery compartment would be another option, but I wouldnt know if any wiring exists in this area (although I doubt any could be present).

 

[ccadden]

Yeah, I'm not sure where you'd get 3-4g easily. I thought maybe the battery casing could be "ventilated"? That would remove non-structural weight but it's very thin so not much weight saved. The inner part of the front landing gear leg doesn't add any strength either but is again paper thin.

 

[geekdaddy]

I don't see anywhere you can shave much weight. Autel used a thin (but strong) shell -- there's just not much in there you could remove without compromising the structure AFAIK...

 

[Y7PL]

Have you managed to come up with something?

 

[Skadee]

No, I have not myself. Skeletonizing the rear legs would be the safest option, but theres not enough mass there to achieve the desired weight loss.

If I had a broken unit to tinker with, I'd be inclined to do some experimentation, but not so inclined to disassemble the good bird to cut weight.

The biggest gains would likely come from modifying the battery pack to accommodate a smaller set of cells at the cost of losing 5-10 minutes of run time, but there again, I would be moreso inclined to perform that work on a defunct battery. Should any of my packs ever bulge, I'll take that step then, but I hope that time comes none too soon.

Ideally, the Autels and DJI's would integrate a strobe of some color, just like any other aircraft (which REQUIRE anti-collision lighting), with the option to turn them on/off. I'll use a strobe in the daytime hours as well, it always helps with spotting the quad.

 

[Rouketas]

The rear legs have the anntenas inside. Don't drill anything. So what is the problem if you are 3g above limit? Who is going to test it?

 

[ADOC]

Has anyone attempted to lighten their Nano+?

if so, wondering what method you undertook, and what the final weight may have been.

It seems that flying in the UK means the weight must be UNDER 250g, but with the required registration label with prescribed text height, my Nano+ is right at 250g.

Labeling aside, I would like to add a strobe, which weighs in at 3g, without the weight of an attachment means. Given the density of the strobe device, I would expect to have to remove a great deal of plastic from the nano to shave equivalent weight, and I’m not convinced there is enough there to sacrifice.

I don’t see many opportunities for lightening, short of boring holes in the rear landing gear, but without some spare gear to tinker with, I don’t expect that boring holes there would cut much weight, without sacrificing strength.

Boring holes in the body sides near the battery compartment would be another option, but I wouldnt know if any wiring exists in this area (although I doubt any could be present).

Surely someone here can advise adding the LED Module of a strobe to the belly and powering it from the existing rear LED?