Their is no denying that Spray drones are becoming more popular, and with greater popularity creates more attention on which company has the best design and biggest capacity!
From my perspective, going from a 16 litre machine with a maximum 6 metre spray width to a 40 litre and 11 metre spray width was definately a big jump! but doe’s it really make a huge difference?
The short answer is Absolutely YES! but there are a few caveats.
Spray Drones have to do alot of heavy lifting especially spot spraying in complex terrain. The spray drone often has to travel considerable distances when applying product to the weed as it’s inaccessible by foot or vehicle.
Carrying an extra 20 kgs of liquid can consume alot of battery and once the machine has flown to the start point the battery capacity may be too low to start the treatment. This is where adjusting the spray drones payload size is a great way to boast efficiency by increasing the flight time.
By simply performing more half loads, the drone will be able to apply more consistant loads without having to force land in the middle of nowhere because of a flat battery.
The trick is to go out with as much liquid that is practicable and return to home with an empty payload tank with enough battery to safely land. In addition to this balancing act, try to keep the battery levels above 40% to help preserve battery health and reduce charge time between loads.
The closer the treatment area is to the land and fill point (home point) the bigger loads you can do, because the travel distance is shorter.
This issue can also be rectified by breaking the job up into sections by doing multiple setups, in different locations throughout the site. However the more setups, the longer the job will take.
A broad acre situation with open, flat Paddock is where spray drones are most efficient. This is because they do not have to climb hills and arent spot spraying random areas.
The ability to spray 1 hectare per 40 litre tank is a game changer! as it reduces the amount of refills and battery swaps. However the full payload is not always practical because of the logitics of the site.
The fact that the T40 has at least a 7metre spray width is also a key to its efficiency, where it can cover much more area per run and battery.
So the answer is yes, but it depends on the situation and a half load of 20 litres is a whole lot better than a full load at 16 litres.
