RC helicopters are not just toys built just for the sake of fulfilling personal hobbies. They can also pack a lot of power and utility if they are tweaked and controlled efficiently. To utilize them properly is best left up to the hands of improvisation. Now, for those wondering, how much weight can an RC helicopter lift?
The most powerful of RC helicopters can carry around 10 to 25 lbs. excluding their own weight. But these are extreme scenarios and you might have to do some personal tweaking to your RC helicopter for achieving this sort of power.
Nonetheless, the amount of weight that any kind of RC may be able to lift is not always the same. There are different kinds of RC helicopters available and each varies in strength, structure and various other factors. Hence, there will always be exceptions and deciding factors involved at a larger scale which I’ll be discussing further down in this article.
Factors that Decide an RC Helicopter’s Weight Lifting Capacity
RC helicopters are not dedicated to the purpose of weight lifting. Trying any stunts that include weight lifting will almost all the time drain the battery to bits at a faster rate and might cause damage to several parts of your RC Heli. Even still, RC helicopters are durable enough to carry weight through slight tweaks in settings and external modifications.
Here are a few important deciding factors that must be met for any RC helicopter to be able to lift weights.
Blade Size and Type
The most important factor among all the parts of an RC Helicopter is its type and size of the blades. The size of the blades your RC helicopter has will be very crucial in deciding how much weight it may be able to lift. Even a slight change in blade size can alter your RC’s potential to lift weight.
Blade sizes are usually determined from the holes in the bolt to the edge of the blade. They are measured in millimeters and blade types can usually come in three types. Any slight variation in both of these factors can cause an immense loss in drag that the air might impose on the RC helicopter and give it a much stronger lift and better control when lifting weights.
Symmetrical blade types with a size of 315 mm can barely lift above 2.2 lbs. of weight. Semi symmetric blades with a size of 550 mm can lift under 10 lbs. with ease. However, 810 mm of Flat bottom blades can offer a weight lifting capacity of about 25 lbs.!
Weight and size
Both the Internal weight of your helicopter and the external weight you are about to make your RC lift need to be considered carefully.
Usually, bigger sized RC Helis are heavier and hence will need to do extra hassle to lift any external weights. A T-rex 700E or 600 ESP will be able to lift any weight under 25 lbs with ease.
If the internal weight of the helicopter’s components is heavy by default, then you might try using an RC class that packs a much stronger and efficient engine.
Keep the safe weight lifting capacity in mind and adjust the rotors, settings, and blade sizes adequate to be able to lift any external weights you may be adding. Usually bigger and heavier RC helicopters need bigger sized blades to support their lifting and control.
Read my post: Are Bigger RC Helicopters Harder To Fly?
Battery and fuel
For Electric RC helicopters, weight lifting will in general cost your battery to drain faster than you would normally expect, and hence you will be expected to use a stronger battery for both your RC chopper and your remote to maximize efficiency when lifting.
Use stronger helicopters if you’re planning to use an internal combustion RC as they will drain their fuel just as fast. However, adding more fuel or using a bigger tank will increase the internal weight of your chopper making it harder for you to control when lifting additional external weight.
How Can I Make My RC helicopter Lift Weight?
Usually only bigger and more powerful RC Helicopters will come with an adjustable landing slide or come with attachment options for weight lifting. These parts must be held strongly with your RC chopper and by no means be susceptible to breaking apart as that may be extremely dangerous.
You can always make a DIY mass hanger where you can attach cameras, ropes, leashes, or tape certain objects directly. Though this may cause you to make several trials and errors, you will however, eventually get it right as long as you are using the right tools and materials with basic craft skills to make a functional compartment to support external weights.
You will require a rope, chain, or leash that is appropriate depending on the type of weight you are trying to lift. For Indoor helicopters, a strong string or thread will be able to manage small weighted objects like a pencil, toilet roll, etc.
Heavier and stronger chopper lifting weights at higher altitudes will require resilient elastic ropes or leashes that will not break easily under heavy stress as too much elasticity within the rope such as usage of bungee rope can make maneuvering much more difficult.
To increase the weight lifting capacity of your RC Helicopter, try reducing its internal weight and reduce any additional parts that are not needed. Sometimes, the most efficient way of doing so is to remove the entire outside hull and just keep the skeleton and engines intact.
Frequently Asked Questions about RC Helicopters and Weight Lifting.
What is the largest weight a single RC Helicopter could lift so far?
Answer: A German-led group called HeliGraphix was able to make a 700 sized Gaui X7 RC helicopter single-handedly lift 66lbs or 30 kgs of weight. This is the world record for most weight carried by an RC helicopter.
Can RC Helicopters lift an actual person?
Answer: Yes! In 2014, HeliGraphix’s project HULC (Heavy Ultra Lifter Crane) reached a new milestone by lifting an actual person with the help of two 700 sized Gaui X7 RC choppers. The total weight of everything including the person, the choppers, and cameras was 124 pounds!
Q.3.) Can my RC Helicopter mount a wireless video camera?
Answer: Yes, they can mount wireless cameras but to get optimum results out of their performance, always use bigger and stronger RC helicopters in less windy environments. Remove the camera casing to increase durability and have better control while handling.
Can my RC Helicopter break if I lift an excessive amount of weight?
Answer: Yes, as RC helicopters were not specifically designed to be able to handle excess additional stress within their components. A lot more tweaking and modifications are to be made to make them efficient enough to carry weight without breaking.
Conclusion
All things considered, that pretty much sums up all that there is to know about how much weight can an RC helicopter lift. Just keep in mind that not all sorts of RC helicopters will be able to lift anything and everything with ease. Even the strongest ones will struggle if it’s not carefully managed and controlled.
By all means, even though it isn’t recommended to lift weights with your RC helicopters, as long as you’re careful and meet the mandatory requirements. Weight lifting can be a pretty interesting and exciting sight if done right. Hence, I leave the rest up to you for improvisation. All the best, and thanks for staying till the end.
