Solo battery suddenly showing 1% battery life on a freshly charged battery.

Contestedmilk · Apr 9, 2016

Frequently when flying my solo I get a message saying battery at 1 % or sometimes 10%. This happens way too soon into a flight on a fresh battery. Is anyone else having this issue? Anyone know how to remedy this?

RolandS888 · Apr 9, 2016

How many leds are showing on the back of the battery?

Pedals2Paddles · Apr 9, 2016

I assume the solo isn't falling out of the sky when it suddenly jumps down to 1%?

Contestedmilk · Apr 10, 2016

The leds are all lit up. And no, I have juice so it stays in the sky but it is still giving me the warning and has occasionally forced me to land due to low battery, even though it has plenty.

RolandS888 · Apr 10, 2016

Try cleaning the top blade on the battery contacts in the battery bay, thats where battery data is communicated.

RichWest · Apr 11, 2016

Could also be the data wires off the terminal connector are damaged. They're fairly small and have been known to get damaged or pinched when removing or replacing the battery tray...

PdxSteve · Apr 11, 2016

Do you have more than one battery? Does it do this on all of them?

Contestedmilk · Apr 20, 2016

all of them , i have 4

PdxSteve · Apr 20, 2016

Then the problem is in Solo. Did you check that top connector and it's wires in the battery bay? Contact support?

Pedals2Paddles · Apr 20, 2016

I wonder if this erroneous 1% or 10% reading is the solo's response when not getting any data at all from the smart battery? I don't see how the reported battery data could be altered by a wiring or connection problem. Data is either there or it's not. So I'm thinking the false values are a result poor error handling in the battery monitoring. If it's not getting a reading at all from the smart battery due to a wire/connection problem, it has to do something. That something seems to be "display bs"

Jubalr · Apr 20, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
I wonder if this erroneous 1% or 10% reading is the solo's response when not getting any data at all from the smart battery? I don't see how the reported battery data could be altered by a wiring or connection problem. Data is either there or it's not. So I'm thinking the false values are a result poor error handling in the battery monitoring. If it's not getting a reading at all from the smart battery due to a wire/connection problem, it has to do something. That something seems to be "display bs"

I agree that it has to be in the battery. I bought 2 batteries during the promo a little while ago and one of the batteries is giving odd information. As I'm flying, the display and audio will often alternate between actual bat % remaining and 100%, then it will alternate to 0%. But never effects flight. But the interesting thing is that I checked a Tlog from that battery and a few times when it would peak to 100% from 80%, it would show 0 draw on current. Pretty strange. I contacted 3DR and they have offered to replace the battery for me, no questions asked. (some of that horrible customer service a few complain about

). I sent them an email on Sunday. On Monday they asked for a piece of info and offered the replacement.

Pedals2Paddles · Apr 20, 2016

I'm having a hard time believing all 4 of his batteries are having the same fault. The fault has to be in the Solo. I'm just having a hard time picturing how a fault in the SMBUS wire or connector can cause it to show 1% or 10%. I would think it would show the actual reported % or simply nothing.

Jubalr · Apr 20, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
I'm having a hard time believing all 4 of his batteries are having the same fault. The fault has to be in the Solo. I'm just having a hard time picturing how a fault in the SMBUS wire or connector can cause it to show 1% or 10%. I would think it would show the actual reported % or simply nothing.

You're right. I was typing and thinking of a different issue. But at least on mine there is a battery issue that will show similar issues. Unless there was a bad batch and his 4 came from the same as mine..

PdxSteve · Apr 20, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
I'm having a hard time believing all 4 of his batteries are having the same fault. The fault has to be in the Solo. I'm just having a hard time picturing how a fault in the SMBUS wire or connector can cause it to show 1% or 10%. I would think it would show the actual reported % or simply nothing.

When you try to query the battery and it's not connected, or there is an intermittent connection, the data gets returned as -1. Solo might be converting that to ABS(-1) since it's not possible to have negative numbers as far as the battery. That's my only guess here.

RichWest · Apr 20, 2016

Here's a thread from Sept., seems to cover any and all remedies related to the battery reading incorrectly. Hope it helps!

Fully charged battery reads 0 Volts on app.

Contestedmilk · Apr 23, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
I wonder if this erroneous 1% or 10% reading is the solo's response when not getting any data at all from the smart battery? I don't see how the reported battery data could be altered by a wiring or connection problem. Data is either there or it's not. So I'm thinking the false values are a result poor error handling in the battery monitoring. If it's not getting a reading at all from the smart battery due to a wire/connection problem, it has to do something. That something seems to be "display bs"

interesting thought. you may be right

Contestedmilk · Apr 23, 2016

PdxSteve said:
Then the problem is in Solo. Did you check that top connector and it's wires in the battery bay? Contact support?

putting in an inquiry now

Razaqui · Aug 21, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
I'm having a hard time believing all 4 of his batteries are having the same fault. The fault has to be in the Solo. I'm just having a hard time picturing how a fault in the SMBUS wire or connector can cause it to show 1% or 10%. I would think it would show the actual reported % or simply nothing.

Hi!
Iam having a battery problem, it shows 0% in the display but those are fully charged, the problem started when a motor pod get damaged, so I change it but still the display the same, I can’t fly, did you solve it?

USMC86 · Aug 21, 2017

Do you know anyone else nearby with a Solo? Maybe try your batteries in a different unit first-?

Razaqui · Aug 21, 2017

I have two batteries but both display 0%, all started when a motor get damaged but I changed it for a new one but still 0% shows in the app and can’t fly or test the new motor