This DIY solar drone just flew for 5 hours straight

DIY engineer and drone expert Luke Maximo Bell has shown off the second iteration of his battery-free solar-powered drone. For this version, however, he was forced to add a battery to the build.

For this iteration, Luke upgraded the drone just as he had revealed he would in the previous video, adding a GPS, flight automation software, and more solar panels. The drone also achieved the intended goal of surpassing the current Guinness World Record for the longest flight time with an RC quadcopter.

For this build, he initially used a slat made out of 32 tiny solar panels, 5 more than the number used in the previous iteration. He also made the arms shorter to make the drone more maneuverable.With the arms shortened, the panels were positioned above the propellers rather than in the middle. To make room, he raised them higher.

For the first flight, the drone flew purely on solar, but some problems emerged. With South Africa being a windy country, the drone had to fight the wind, causing a surge in power draw, more than the panels could handle. The solar panels being high above the main frame also caused some instability issues.

To mitigate these problems, Luke lowered the slat, following a simulation to confirm it wouldn't be an issue. He also altered the frame holding the panels together to reduce wobbling and also reduced the number of panels to 28. To fix the issue with the power drop, Luke added a battery, which acted as a UPS system, providing additional power when the panels couldn't handle the load.

The final version of the drone was able to stay airborne for 5 hours, 2 minutes, and 21.75 seconds before he landed it. For the next one, Luke will be looking to get rid of the battery with some clever engineering.