Solo Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW)

JoelNewman · Aug 12, 2016

I've just gone through the process of putting my Solos onto my CASA Operators Certificate and insurance policies, and as part of that I had to state the Maximum Take-Off Weight of the aircraft.

I did a bit of research to find out what the official 3DR number is, but the best I could find was vague payload weights. Six different ones! Here's the list I gathered:

400g 3DR Tech Support "The payload the SOLO can pickup will be 400g when the gimbal and GoPro are mounted it can carry about 120g more." (which doesn't add up anyway)

420g Solo Specs: Just the facts — 3DR News

450g 3DR Solo User Manual v9_02_25_16.pdf section 1.4

500g 3DR Solo User Manual v9_02_25_16.pdf section 11.1

700g Accessory Bay | 3DR Solo Development Guide "Maximum payload of the system is 700g, the 3DR Gimbal + GoPro weigh approximately 390g, leaving 310g for accessories that are meant to be used with the 3DR Gimbal."

800g Solo Specs | 3DR - Drone & UAV Technology

For those of you using their Solos commercially, what MTOW value did you use?

I want to maximise the MTOW so it gives me more flexibility in payloads, but I need to be able to refer back to an official number in case something goes wrong and and questions are asked about how heavy it was.

Any ideas?

RichWest · Aug 12, 2016

This may be an interesting thread to read, Added 2nd 5200mah battery in parallel, gained a whopping 3.5 minutes

Being able to lift 800g is one thing, flying with it is another...it's a subjective opinion for what is correct. Weight is a factor on flight times as well as flight stability, having read the above linked thread, I think you'll find your answer.

JoelNewman · Aug 13, 2016

I'm not fussed about how it flies, or how long it flies with the maximum payload. The 'heavier' applications I have in mind will only involve a few minutes flying anyway.

I guess the ideal outcome would be enough of us asking 3DR for clarity on the situation, and them coming out with an official number that we can refer to.

At the moment it could be argued that if your payload is more than 450g (as stated in the user manual) and you have an incident, your insurance company have grounds to not payout. This could be an issue for people using 3rd party mapping cameras, or indeed the new SiteScan camera, which I doubt will come in under 450g.

soloist · Aug 13, 2016

I'd like to add a strobe which will be less than 90g with battery, case, strobe and Velcro.

Judging from this discussion adding 90g to the existing camera and gimbal weight shouldn't be an issue?

RichWest · Aug 13, 2016

I see what you're saying, the info is all over the place....when you dig into finding an answer from the various 3DR documentation. In an official sense, the manual would be the record document. The official website specs read 800g payload. And then Tech Support states otherwise.....gee's

Others here used the 2.22kg MTOM when they were filling out their registration forms for Solo in a commercial application. Where they arrived at that number I have no clue. Which again does not add up with the Solo Specs - "Just the Facts" article.

Seems I've been of no help to your request for answers, sorry.

JoelNewman · Aug 14, 2016

soloist said:
I'd like to add a strobe which will be less than 90g with battery, case, strobe and Velcro.

Judging from this discussion adding 90g to the existing camera and gimbal weight shouldn't be an issue?

It'll definitely carry that, and it would be compliant with all of the weights provided by 3DR, except the 400g figure. But that's only potentially an issue if you're commercial.

(FYI without sending my own thread OT, there are much lighter strobes on the market ie STROBON Standalone - Flytron - I have three of them on their way from the UK at the moment)

JoelNewman · Aug 14, 2016

RichWest said:
Others here used the 2.22kg MTOM when they were filling out their registration forms for Solo in a commercial application.

Interesting, thanks for the link. I wonder where they got that from.
It looks like the Brits have to provide a lot of information - CASA in Australia just wants Manufacturer, Model, MTOW and a unique identifier.

franknitty69 · Aug 15, 2016

Joel, the 700g spec came from the engineers. the other specs from marketing. i have always gone with the engineers spec and solo can easily lift more than 700g at the expense of flight time can flight characteristic.

for purposes of CASA any listed manufacturer spec will work so even though they are different in different places it doesn't matter which one you use.

when applying for my 333 i used 700g for the specs for the aircraft.

soloist · Aug 15, 2016

JoelNewman said:
It'll definitely carry that, and it would be compliant with all of the weights provided by 3DR, except the 400g figure. But that's only potentially an issue if you're commercial.

(FYI without sending my own thread OT, there are much lighter strobes on the market ie STROBON Standalone - Flytron - I have three of them on their way from the UK at the moment)

The weight is due to the battery and case. The strobe itself is only 10g. and it's on sale. I guess a converter would be the way to go.

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