The next chapter in the tricopter saga starts now! We are proud to present the Tricopter LR!
This copter is all about long range and long flight time. The frame is super light at 112 grams. It swings 8″ propellers to get high efficiency and QUIET flights. It’s easily transported as the front arms can be folded back (no tools needed!).
Despite being compact it has a lot of room for electronics and FPV equipment inside of the frame. The tricopter LR uses the standard 30.5mm hole mounting pattern used by most flight controllers which offer flexibility.
We went to great lengths to make sure that no props are visible in the image (when using the recommended setup). This was no small feat on a copter swinging 8″ propellers on such a compact frame.
The 6S battery trend on mini quads has lead manufacturers to make lower kV motors in the same small form factor. The Tricopter LR is designed to take full advantage of this, using 3S (for long flight time) or 4S (for bonkers flying). The recommended 1600kV 2207 motors weigh less than half of the motors previously used on the Tricopter V4, yet they are more efficient. That is weight saved that can go towards battery capacity, which together with the higher efficiency of the motors, low weight and low drag frame equal a lot of flight time. We have put together a super efficient electronics pack for the Tricopter LR that, with the right battery and a light build, makes it possible to achieve over an hour of hovering flight time!
We are really happy with how this copter turned out. It’s easy to travel with, yet offer very long flight times previously only possible with much larger rigs. It’s fantastic for cruising far and high which lets you really take in the landscape and explore.
The Tricopter LR is now available for purchase in the RCExplorer store. Build- and flight videos are coming soon.
Wow! Just wow!
Beautiful tri – planned to modify my v3 into a long range setup but am now quite tempted by the new tricopter 😉 Hope it will trigger some new development on triflight, though. Would actually be great to get this option “officially” into betaflight…
Any chance being able to try this out before release?
Forgot to ask, what transmitter and antenna is that in the picture?
It’s the TBS crossfire and the antenna is just the floppy dipole heatshrinked to a wide zip-tie 🙂
The VTx though? Looks like a 400mW 1.3GHz vtx and a Mad Mushroom antenna (or similar). I’m still trying to find a way to mount the 1.3. VTx and GPS *and* GoPro on the top plate.
Please let us know when to expect a video!
Looking at the pictures did you have to extend the power wires from the pdb to the escs?
No, the stock length will work well. I’ll show it in the build video I’m working on now.
Yeah you could probably even cut some length off the ESC leads if you mount it the way David did in the pictures. There’s plenty of slack.
Cool!
A bit off-topic, but what backpack are you using?
It’s a lowpro of some kind. I got it used for less than 30 usd. Have used it for a couple of years and it has served me well 🙂
1 hour of hovering that’s just crazy.
ps to David:
Why can’t you use “BeefStew” as a computer password?
ans: It’s not Stroganoff.
OMG that one was amazing 😀
Can this be used on betaflight? So that you can use gps rescue. Would like to build one but gps rescue is a must for me.
Yes, but you will not have the added servo improvements. It will still fly ok, but the tail will not be as locked in.
David what mah lipo did you use for 1 hr flight time? What did it weigh?
Can we get some shots of it next to the Tricopter V4 and MiniTricopter? 🙂
I’m noticing a lot of vibration noise/resonance in the Tricopter LR. Both mine and a flying buddy’s have this…heard it on another FPV video I saw too. I’m not a design engineer, but my TLAR experience tells me the arms are pretty thin, width-wise, for their length. I think this is allowing some resonance into the frame. A little resonance audible noise isn’t to bad, but it’s also in the video feed/recording which effects it’s usefulness of a video platform.
Before asked, yes. I’ve balance the props…are rechecked balance. I’m using the Emax 2207 1600kv motors, 3S LiPo, BLHeli-32 ESCs on DShot 600. I’ve tried 8×4.5 MR props and 8×5 props (both HQ props). I used to have some 7″ or 8″ tri-blade props. I’ll try those next if I can find them in by box-o-props-n-stuff.
Hey! Have you managed to get rid of that resonance?
Very awesome ufa