Battery down in 3, 2 , 1 ..... solo software problem ?

Ivan Riobla · Jan 30, 2018

So i took the solo for a flight the battery went down in seconds , later i put the battery to charge
i took it out for another flight and from the normal 10 / 14 minute flight time down to only 2 minutes max.
two days later i charge the battery again took the drone out and just went up about 30ft to see if the battery would do the same and yes it went % down by the second landed with 15%

after landing the drone was asking for calibration, so i did it

so now im thinking if it has to do something with the gimbal and the gopro4+b i took the camera out

and just for the hek i turned the drone on and it gave me 65% battery LOL

so i went back up 30ft but battery went down again by the second.

any ideas ? can that be a problem with solo software or the app, ( im using the normal solo app. never had no problems ) or is that just the battery i don't have a lot with drone, everything was purchased new at bestbuy, and i don't have pro air flight time..

Pedals2Paddles · Jan 30, 2018

You have a defective battery. Nothing you can fix with software or settings.

DaveB · Jan 30, 2018

I have heard that sometimes the battery sends the wrong info. this happened to a guy that was 2km away and the Bat. said 0% he was able to get it home. try flying about a foot up and see what happens. you may just need to calibrate the bat.

skyhax · Jan 30, 2018

Out of 4 batteries I had this happened to 2 of them. The Solo battery tester I got showed one had 20 cycles and the other 40, so not that great.

Ivan Riobla · Jan 30, 2018

Pedals2Paddles said:
You have a defective battery. Nothing you can fix with software or settings.

:O so contact 3dr ?

Ivan Riobla · Jan 30, 2018

DaveB said:
I have heard that sometimes the battery sends the wrong info. this happened to a guy that was 2km away and the Bat. said 0% he was able to get it home. try flying about a foot up and see what happens. you may just need to calibrate the bat.

thank you

ill try that ... cross fingers

Ivan Riobla · Jan 30, 2018

skyhax said:
Out of 4 batteries I had this happened to 2 of them. The Solo battery tester I got showed one had 20 cycles and the other 40, so not that great.

:O maaaan that is not good from 3dr

andreww · Feb 1, 2018

How long have you had your solo? Have you kept the battery stored correctly at 50% charge?

XterraGuy · Feb 1, 2018

I'm assuming you realize that LiPo batteries are unlike other types of batteries and must be cared for properly? If you, for example, typically run the battery down to a low state of charge and leave it that way until you charge it to go fly again weeks later... or if you fully charge it and leave it that way for long periods... both practices will dramatically shorten battery life. Couple that with the fact that Solo batteries were made 2.5-3 years ago. As Andrew points out, LiPos need to be stored at 50% charge.

Ivan Riobla · Feb 1, 2018

andreww said:
How long have you had your solo? Have you kept the battery stored correctly at 50% charge?

for about 10 months and yeah i did..

andreww · Feb 1, 2018

The only way to know for sure what is going on with your battery would be to buy one of the battery checkers from mad hackers.org. but that said as far as I'm aware there is no way to revive a damaged lipo battery.

Ivan Riobla · Feb 1, 2018

XterraGuy said:
I'm assuming you realize that LiPo batteries are unlike other types of batteries and must be cared for properly? If you, for example, typically run the battery down to a low state of charge and leave it that way until you charge it to go fly again weeks later... or if you fully charge it and leave it that way for long periods... both practices will dramatically shorten battery life. Couple that with the fact that Solo batteries were made 2.5-3 years ago. As Andrew points out, LiPos need to be stored at 50% charge.

yeah... funny thing i have a friend with a similar drone same type of batteries never has taking proper care of the few batteries, never had a problem. - the fact this type of batteries were made a few years back or were made with some type of errors could also make them more delicate.
3dr had future, sad to see the let the co. fade out, while dji keeps coming out with high tech drones.

XterraGuy · Feb 1, 2018

It's true that any product can have a manufacturing defect. My experience with the 7 I own has been very good. Normally I'd expect several hundred cycles if properly cared for. B&H still has them for $30 with free shipping...

XterraGuy · Feb 1, 2018

Fyi, the electronics on board these smart batteries takes care of balanced charging, on/off finctioning, tracks a lot of data (which you can access most of using one of the two battery analyzers I'm aware of... I have the one from madhacker), etc... but it has no effect on modulating the output capacity that I'm aware of. So... i believe a new battery must be in your future...