Inexpensive Aliexpress short range drone with 200gr payload?

[trastikata]

Hello all,

I was browsing through Aliexpress looking for an inexpensive drone with about 200gr payload capacity but there's nowhere information about the payload. I simply need to lift some senors to about 100 meters above ground and run tests, thus no video is required.

Maybe someone with experience can recommend low-cost models?   

Thanks

[JonW]

Not sure how much you want to spend.  Most are pretty expensive.  What about a load of helium ballons and some fishing line. 

[trastikata]

I am looking for something under 100$ - really basic model with no video.

I was considering a balloon but it won't be less expensive, especially for multiple tests, besides it is very inconvenient. 

[JonW]

AI Response

Low-cost drones under $50 typically have very limited lifting capacity. Most can only carry about 10-30 grams (0.3-1 oz) of additional payload beyond their own weight.
For context:

These budget drones are primarily designed for basic flight and perhaps very simple photography
Their motors and battery systems are optimized for lightweight operation
Many have flight times of only 5-10 minutes without any additional weight
Adding even small payloads can significantly reduce flight time and stability

Some specific capabilities of sub-$50 drones:

Mini/nano drones may only lift 5-15 grams
Slightly larger toy drones might manage 20-30 grams
The absolute maximum for most budget models is around 50 grams, but this would severely impact performance

If you need meaningful lifting capacity, you'd generally need to look at drones in the $150+ range, which can carry payloads of 100+ grams, or professional drones ($500+) that can lift several pounds.
Is there a specific task you're hoping to accomplish with a budget drone?

[JonW]

Here is one that says 800g, seems a bit too good. HERE

Double your budget, though.  You can always sell it afterwards to recove some expense

[trastikata]

What is annoying is that most of the drone cost goes for the HD camera and video transmitter which I actually don't need and will remove to gain lift off capacity.

[trastikata]

I think THIS ONE might do the job if I remove the camera and change the battery with 1/3 the capacity.

[JonW]

Maybe register on a drone forum and ask the question?

[JonW]

worth a go at that price, am sure you could remove quite a bit of the outer casing, camera etc. 

[trastikata]

worth a go at that price, am sure you could remove quite a bit of the outer casing, camera etc. 

Indeed, I'll give it a try.

[RGV250]

Hi,
Can't look at the moment but why not search for quadcopter rather than drone as I would expect all drones to have

Bob

[david]

worth a go at that price, am sure you could remove quite a bit of the outer casing, camera etc. 

Just take care as most of these drones have no frame as such and rely on the strength of the exo-skeleton body. Also the electronics may be highly integrated and shut down if it detects anything missing, including the proprietary batteries they often have. (bit like Apple)
The "Smart Lithium Battery" could be a 2 cell Lithium polymer pack or more likely a 2 cell 18650 size Lithium Ion pack (vaping batteries).  That would be about 105gms so a 200gm payload is a fairly hefty increase.  Hard to know what "Smart" means - could be coulomb counting, internal BMS or something to detect the genuine battery is being used.   
 Sadly with drones the power required is proportional to Mass^1.5 and linear projections could come unstuck.
No tall tower blocks around?

Cheers,
David

[Fanie]

David you cheapskate 
One of the Russians already bult a drone with which he flew to near the previous soccer thing they had there.  And you worry about 200g ?
Take the sensors up there yourself.  You can even make money off'n YT if your facial expression at 100m up goes viral. Most everybody else seems to have been to the moon, 100m should be nothing for you guys down under, especially since you have it downhill already, gravity works in your favour !

[Fanie]

Have a look at what Banggood has.  Some time ago they had lots of drone components of various sizes and even 700mm blades that fitted a very low KV and powerful motors.  They seem to have become a bit expensive on some items, but you  should get an idea.
Temu also have lots of drones and their prices are usually low.

[david]

Cheap?  I can go cheaper than that!   I've made a couple of drones from loose parts - motors, ESCs, flight controller and separate camera.  That's about when I found GRP frames are far too heavy for a good drone and that glued spruce gave excellent results (WW1 airframe materials).  Fixed wing is much cheaper - only one motor, ESC, prop and about 1/3rd the power to stay up there. About 30km flight with 15W.H of battery energy.
I do hope trastikata keeps us posted......

[trastikata]

Thank you all for the responses, I've ordered the one I previously mentioned, hope I'll be able to strip most of the weight.

The board I plan to build and I want to lift is DIY air quality station with some sensors on it, basically whatever I was able to find on Ebay/Aliexpress  .

Pressure,Temperature,Humidity,CO2,CO,Alcohols,O2,O3,H2S,H,Methane,LPG,Natural Gas,Ammonia,Benzene,Toluene,Acetone,Formaldehyde,NO2,Fine particles.

It's a hobby project, the purpose is to measure the air quality at different altitudes above ground.
 

[david]

Do keep us posted on the project and especially the strip-down.  I'm putting my money on less than 50gms total weight loss.
Keep in mind that pushing the weight up with a payload also pushes you closer to the throttle limit.  usually about 80% of the throttle power is given to user adjustment with about 20% left for the flight controller PID loops to be able to control for gusts and movements.  On a "fat" model you may hover ok but PID overhead could be less than 5% leaving insufficient control headroom to correct things.
Pressure change with altitude should be fairly predictable at about 12mBar for 100m.  Make sure you provide some lagging to the pressure sensor so that it's not reading direct prop wash which may give higher than expected readings.  Protect any electronics with some sort of covering from sunlight as chipscale packages can be quite sensitive to direct sunlight that causes leakage currents to greatly increase.  Have fun.

Cheers,
David

[Fanie]

the purpose is to measure the air quality at different altitudes above ground

How about simply get your air samples off a high building ?
The One is one just to name one  Not scared of heights, are you ?

Don't you have any mountains or hilltops high enough ?

Another alternative could be to fire a rocket up and have it float down with a parachute while doing the measurement you want.  You can even use compressed air to shoot your concoction up high enough.  My one friend made himself an air cannon using his scuba tanks, reaches hundreds of meters.  There are some YT video's on this as well.

Fly a kite 100m up and take the measurements.  Usually 30m and up are a lot more wind than at ground level.  At the risk of doing time travel like Marty McFly and Doc Brown in Back to the Future you can use a wire instead of fishing line to power your equipment. If you by any chance do make it, bring back some popular trends so we can make money with it.

Maybe take the drone and the kite.  What I have learned from experience is that when you go fishing, the wind will blow, and how.  If you go sailing the wind will die down, the term dead in the water comes to mind.  Always like that. 
The solution of course is to go fishing on a sailboat.  Be like take the wife and the girlfriend out and they don't mind 

[John Lawton]

The solution of course is to go fishing on a sailboat.  Be like take the wife and the girlfriend out and they don't mind 

I see you like to live dangerously

John

[Fanie]

Oh no, not in that sense, I have enough trouble with the one (sounds like "The One" in Canada).
If I really want trouble I'll buy me an Alfa !
Or a Land Rover.  I hear you can now buy new broken spares for them off the shelf, and they don't come with an oil filler cap any more, you pour the oil on top and it leaks in by itself.
You sometimes hear of someone made it from Cape Town to Cairo in a Land Rover.  That is because there are spares for them all along the way beside the road.