Battery Life

Robert Ritzenthaler · Feb 4, 2016

Flew my 3dr solo today with outside temperatures at 23˚F (-5˚C). Used two batteries, each battery only lasted 10 minutes. Don't think I want to fly in weather that cold again. During the second battery the gimbal was sagging a little but then corrected itself. Wondering if it was because I did not calibrate or because of the cold. I get everything recharged and then retest the gimbal on a warmer day.

SteveReno · Feb 4, 2016

My guess would be an avg. 18-21 min. with normal temps. & about 10-12 % less on a really cold day.
Your not getting anywhere close to avg.

Hope this helps

PdxSteve · Feb 4, 2016

My avg (have 5 batteries) is 14-15 minutes of flight time WITH gimbal/GoPro. That's with landing with 15-20% battery left. Just because it says 20% though doesn't mean that last 20% will last nearly as long as the first 20%. It's a curved scale, not linear.

Arron Hage · Feb 4, 2016

That's consistent with what I was getting, I was averaging 10minutes per battery while shooting in -5 deg temperatures in Big Bear a few weeks ago, I was using a lot of smart shots which sucks more power to..I think I got 8-9mins while doing some long duration, Orbits.

Arron

RichWest · Feb 4, 2016

Curious, if we know the cold will shorten battery life, would insulating the battery compartment be of benefit? Has anyone tried?

I could imagine a 2-4mm foam sheet with PSA adhered to the under carriage of the battery tray. If that helped, then why not do the same on the top cover of the battery. Would it be a weight trade-off?

Based on your results and assuming insulation could solve, improvement could be in the 4-6min range at a minimum. Worth the effort, who knows?

Too hot down here to care either way...

CanadianSolo · Feb 5, 2016

This topic has already been discussed. I will re-iterate it again though... Warranty is VOID when flying out of SOLOS spec sheets of 0c - +45c Be Aware of this. If you crash (Like I did) and send it the logs and video, if they see snow in the video they will look at the temp. I was flying in -8. They told me motor pod 3 had a failure and was NOT covered due to exceeding normal operating temps. That being said I pulled my own logs and found that it was a compass error, and that I didn't Pre-Cal my compass before flight. ( I was flying away from my normal flying location).

As well good tips were made. When flying in the cold. Remove your battery. let the copter sit in the cold for at least 15 minutes to chill out. The pixhax2 barometer needs to adjust as its used to sense elevation. If you bring it out to fast from warm to cold, it may not calibrate properly upon power up!

I still get 17 minutes in the cold. And when you start pulling current from the battery it warms up itself. No need for battery blankets.

Fly safe guys,
peace!

RichWest · Feb 5, 2016

CanadianSolo said:
This topic has already been discussed. I will re-iterate it again though...

Wow, I feel like I need to go stand in a corner somewhere...

CanadianSolo · Feb 5, 2016

RichWest said:
Wow, I feel like I need to go stand in a corner somewhere...

HAHA... I have been cought on this forum too...I usually try and search the forum first before I post a new thread. haha. Dont take it the wrong way @RichWest !

Only happy days!

Robert Ritzenthaler · Feb 6, 2016

Arron Hage said:
That's consistent with what I was getting, I was averaging 10minutes per battery while shooting in -5 deg temperatures in Big Bear a few weeks ago, I was using a lot of smart shots which sucks more power to..I think I got 8-9mins while doing some long duration, Orbits.

Arron

Yes I was using smart shots at this time.

erikgraham · Feb 6, 2016

CanadianSolo said:
This topic has already been discussed. I will re-iterate it again though... Warranty is VOID when flying out of SOLOS spec sheets of 0c - +45c Be Aware of this. If you crash (Like I did) and send it the logs and video, if they see snow in the video they will look at the temp. I was flying in -8. They told me motor pod 3 had a failure and was NOT covered due to exceeding normal operating temps. That being said I pulled my own logs and found that it was a compass error, and that I didn't Pre-Cal my compass before flight. ( I was flying away from my normal flying location).

As well good tips were made. When flying in the cold. Remove your battery. let the copter sit in the cold for at least 15 minutes to chill out. The pixhax2 barometer needs to adjust as its used to sense elevation. If you bring it out to fast from warm to cold, it may not calibrate properly upon power up!

I still get 17 minutes in the cold. And when you start pulling current from the battery it warms up itself. No need for battery blankets.

Fly safe guys,
peace!

The only thing you left out is keeping your batteries warm right up to the moment you plop them in. Keep them in a warm car, or in a bag surrounded by hand warmers. As you said, once your flying they will keep themselves warm.

snmpsniffer · Jan 22, 2017

So, I ordered 2 batteries from Amazon just before Christmas. I have only managed to get about 10-13 minutes per battery on the 3 times I have flown. I am just learning so I haven't been doing any smart shots or anything fancy. Yesterday to check I took the solo out and just let it hover. same results. 13 minutes for each battery. Is this normal? On another note, my camera kept going out as in stopped feeding video back to the basestation. I was about 40' away. It did this for 3 flights. Thoughts?

SARDG · Jan 22, 2017

snmpsniffer said:
So, I ordered 2 batteries from Amazon just before Christmas. I have only managed to get about 10-13 minutes per battery on the 3 times I have flown..

...and what percentage is your battery down to when you believe you have to stop flying... 5%, 10%, 25%?

snmpsniffer · Jan 22, 2017

SARDG said:
...and what percentage is your battery down to when you believe you have to stop flying... 5%, 10%, 25%?

>10% I let it launch, hover then land on its own. I started a stopwatch once it launched. Once it go to 25% is didn't take for it to freakout and decide it was time to land. 25% to landing seemed to go bye the quickest. IDK....

SARDG · Jan 22, 2017

Are your bats fully charged before flight? (8 LEDs) Were the batteries used in cold conditions and not kept warm prior to flight?

If those conditions are okay, take Solo for a real flight. Hovering is not the most efficient flight condition.

snmpsniffer · Jan 22, 2017

SARDG said:
Are your bats fully charged before flight? (8 LEDs) Were the batteries used in cold conditions and not kept warm prior to flight?

If those conditions are okay, take Solo for a real flight. Hovering is not the most efficient flight condition.

60-65º F @ flight time. 70º fully charged inside.