Are there any plans to offer a larger variant 6/8kwh pack to extend battery life, or a way to mount a second pack to the unit to run in parallel?
Only thing keeping me from locking this in is the flight time, so I’m watching the news waiting for some battery density breakthrough!
You must be a bad ass. I can barely tolerate what it weighs with one big battery, but I’m getting old, so…
I am slowly accumulating parts and a design for a 1.5 KW “Extension Pack” that could be mounted under the seat area and extend flight time of the main or feather battery by 15 or so minutes.
It would bridge the gap between the 1/2 hr battery and the full size battery.
Essentially it would give you an option of a 6S pack (stock feather bat), 9S pack (Stock feather pack + ex-pack) , 11S pack ( stock 1hr pack) or 14S ( stock 1 hr pack + ex-pack )
The cost would be around 450-500$.
Does this sound like something that would address your needs?
Though not something I’d be looking for (I’m aiming for 2hrs+) I could very well see that being a popular add-on item for those looking to fine-tine their flight time.
Getting a bigger battery isn’t the problem. It’s the weight. Adding a bigger battery or a second hour battery will add 45 pounds making it 120 ish pounds… way too heavy…
Just curious, have you flown a paramotor before? Do you already own a gas motor?
I’d need some knee braces and a back brace to fly that. Double one hour battery, probably wouldn’t be able to get up off my knees!
the interests are very different. I’ve started flying again myself and training cycling and strength training again. with my setup from 2019 that i have changed (prop and diameter cage) I would like to do 90 minutes with pure powered flight. for everyday use, an average of 40 minutes is enough for me and my friends. even the petrol colleagues usually don’t fly anymore. There are of course always professionells . on sunday a colleague who i know personally flew from italy over the complöette alps to austria ( his hometown ) non-stop 6 hours with petrol ppg. unbelievable. but there are very few in the world who usually fly longer than 1.5 hours ppg.
I have not yet flown or owned one. I have been paragliding though and loved it.
I have mostly electric vehicles (car/ewheel/longboard) and love the low maintenance/simplicity of the systems, so am really only considering electric for the paramotor.
Since the range is really the only downside, just seeing what options may be possible to increase it.
Most people on this forum would agree you should take lessons before deciding on equipment. After a few flights you might realize that one hour is plenty. Some people use gas for the occasions they want a longer flight and electric for everything else. I definitely prefer electric for all the reasons you mentioned.
Another option is a trike to handle the extra weight of another battery.
An hour flight time really is more than enough for most flights, I’m usually about 30 minutes and done. and adding another battery would make launching difficult as is its already very heavy.
The SP140 was my first paramotor. I had similar concerns regarding range and life expectancy. While I only have about 20flights on it. Looking at my flight log, most flights have been around 20-25minutes. with a max flight time of 35minutes.
I am thinking of buying a petrol motor just for group cross country flights. Their flights are generally about 60-80 minutes. That takes me out of the group flights which sucks, although there has only been 2 organized all year. Most are just flying around for 45 minutes with each other.
As a learning to fly machine, 100% get it. all I hear with the group is problems with ‘reliable’ motors. I just plug in and go.
Hope this helps
For multiple batteries, you would need a trike, I’ve seen people hook up to batteries on a trike for two hours flight
just came across this: Snow Joe + Sun Joe iON100V-5AMP 100V Lithium-iON Battery
would give you ~10% more flight-time. no idea specs or how well it could integrate
Then how do you know it will give you 10% more flight time?
I’m not saying you are wrong or right. I’m just interested in what math you did to come up with the 10%.
I did some back of the napkin math, and with that extra pack it would provide 10% mroe capacity, but likley not provide extra 10% flight time. Let me explain:
The 1hr pack uses 11P 4200ma cells, total of 46200 mah in the pack.
This pack is “quoted” as 5000mah. So you could essentially treat it like a total 51200 mah pack when added to the 1hr battery
So theoretically with the extra pack you have 1.108, or 10.8% more battery capacity.
Or 6 minutes considering the 1hr flight time standard claim.
The challenge will be matching the current draw of this pack and the main battery, they may or may not scale correctly. The SP140 could easily overload this batter and cause it to shut down.
Beyond that, it weighs 7.5 lb, which is quite a lot, most of it being dead weight like an extra BMS, non optimized case design, and extra USB-c ports and internal voltage regulator.
The additional 7.5 lb will reduce your flight time by a little, I would guess that adding one of these would result in maybe 3-5 minutes extra flight time which just seems not worth it.
Reviving this thread…
My instructor had been pushing me to buy a paramotor before restarting lessons, I had soloed once at the end of 2021 and have been meaning to get back into it, the one thing I worry about is how well the larger battery would handle training. You say 100% get it for training, I’m worried about driving 90 minutes to a lesson and running out of battery before we are done with lessons, especially since a lesson might have multiple launches which would take a bigger bite out of the battery… but its hard to justify a second battery when you’ve only ever flown once and have no idea how much you will use it.
That said, my instructor had to keep adjusting his motors at the last couple lessons, and that doesn’t give me confidence in a gas motor and I know I don’t want to become a two stroke mechanic…
Congrats on getting to your solo!
Not sure how your training is set up and how long the sessions are but like you said most of the training is takeoffs and landings and time on the ground so taking off and climbing up will be the primary drain. While batteries seem like they can be costly, I look at it as prepaying for any maintenance and fuel that you would have for a gasoline motor. Essentially once you go electric you don’t have to spend any more money, no gasoline and oil to mix and buy, no exhaust to replace, no carburetor to tune, no starter to fail, etc.
Having one 4kw battery will get you pretty far in your training and flying but having a second one will certainly cover you. It’s pretty easy to swap out once one gets drained too.
My 2 cents but hope it helps
I bought two batteries with mine. Glad I did. I like flying all day if possible.
Two batteries would be nice but it still limits you to flying no farther than 15 minutes max away from your LZ.