Sudden Battery Drain

JonW · Oct 31, 2015

J R said:
I haven't experienced any battery issues at this point with the Solo. Most likely because I'm landed by 30%. I'm trying to take it easy on my three new batteries and I'm still in the testing phase with this bird.

However, I have not seen these things with either of my "white" birds. I've got eight batteries between those two birds and fortunately haven't had any battery issues "yet". I also don't see the more rapid depletion described here when the batteries get to the lower spectrum. Maybe a little but not very much. I will condition my statement with two things though, I always try to get my birds on the ground with about 30% and I rarely use the RTH function, I'm not sure I ever have except for testing purposes.

All that being said, I do think the battery time for the Solo is quite a bit lower than what I expected. I can get a good 18 minutes on my P3 and still land with 30%. I'm not sure I've been able to get 12 on the Solo. I'm not trying to start a Solo/Phantom ruckus, I'm just sharing my experience. I'm a proud Solo owner and supporter. Any comparisons that I provide are simply to help make the Solo a better machine.

Jerry

Same here. I get 18 mins on my Phantom 3 standard and pro. On Solo I got less than 12 minutes launching and just hovering at 12 feet. If flying aggressively, less than 8 minutes. The Solo flight time definitely sucks

Raybro · Oct 31, 2015

Maddog said:
Jerry, not trying to start a ruckus either, but how do you like your Phantom? Would it be a good backup to the Solo?

Are you starting to waiver?...

I know what Jerry would say about the Phantom....not trying to put words in his mouth. My opinion....it's a different can of worms.

Raybro · Oct 31, 2015

Maddog said:
Would something like that show up in the logs? I really don't know. I can download them but I can't open them in MP.

How do your motors feel if the spin the props? Is the GoPro charged up when you start up the Solo?
I'm not doubting what you are saying but I know with mine at around 15 minutes I am hitting around 30% remaining, maybe a little less. It seems like it starts draining faster one I get around that point.

You could run your logs through Mission Planner and look at the reported figures on the motors.

J R · Oct 31, 2015

Raybro said:
I know with mine at around 15 minutes I am hitting around 30% remaining, maybe a little less.

Must be that Texas air, the fancy antenna and your superior flying skills!

I'm leaving with everything completely charged up and I don't think I'm getting anywhere near 15 minutes with 30% battery left in this South Dakota air! I'll test it next time I get a chance. I've got three batteries charging, just waiting on a break in the weather.

Jerry

Raybro · Oct 31, 2015

J R said:
Must be that Texas air, the fancy antenna and your superior flying skills! I'm leaving with everything completely charged up and I don't think I'm getting anywhere near 15 minutes with 30% battery left in this South Dakota air! I'll test it next time I get a chance. I've got three battery issues charges, just waiting on a break in the weather.

Jerry

Well....maybe 12 minutes. Actually haven't paid much attention but when I am taking video I usually have 12 to 14 minutes of that when I start editing and I normally land with about 28 to 30% battery.
And....I am pretty conservative...no speed demon like you..

Del · Oct 31, 2015

Maddog said:
Would something like that show up in the logs? I really don't know. I can download them but I can't open them in MP.

I don't really know either.. I having really got any experience in the Solo Log file department yet...so I wouldint know How to find it?
Maybe somebody with more experience reading solo log files can shine some light..

JonW · Oct 31, 2015

J R said:
Must be that Texas air, the fancy antenna and your superior flying skills! I'm leaving with everything completely charged up and I don't think I'm getting anywhere near 15 minutes with 30% battery left in this South Dakota air! I'll test it next time I get a chance. I've got three battery issues charges, just waiting on a break in the weather.

Jerry

They say everything is bigger in Texas. That includes flight times

All joking aside I'm sure their's some truth to your Texas air statement. I guess flight times should be better in thick humid sea level air. I'm at 6000 feet. What are you in SD Jerry? 2000? So I would expect to get less time than at sea level. But not 1/2.

Raybro · Oct 31, 2015

J R said:
Must be that Texas air, the fancy antenna and your superior flying skills! I'm leaving with everything completely charged up and I don't think I'm getting anywhere near 15 minutes with 30% battery left in this South Dakota air! I'll test it next time I get a chance. I've got three battery issues charges, just waiting on a break in the weather.

Jerry

Just watched this video. At over 10 minutes of flight your battery was at 40%. The last battery call out at the end was 30% at almost 13 minutes.

Maddog · Oct 31, 2015

Raybro said:
Are you starting to waiver?...
I know what Jerry would say about the Phantom....not trying to put words in his mouth. My opinion....it's a different can of worms.

I totally understand- just frustrated right now.

Maddog · Oct 31, 2015

Raybro said:
How do your motors feel if the spin the props? Is the GoPro charged up when you start up the Solo?
I'm not doubting what you are saying but I know with mine at around 15 minutes I am hitting around 30% remaining, maybe a little less. It seems like it starts draining faster one I get around that point.

You could run your logs through Mission Planner and look at the reported figures on the motors.

The motors all feel the same- some resistance (not free spinning) but appropriate.

GoPro fully charged at start as are Solo batteries.

I can find my logs with MP but it won't play them. They look like everybody else's except instead of the underscore between the numbers mine have dashes. I tried replacing them with the underscore symbol but no joy. Would really like to resolve that problem.

I would post a pic but I keep getting an error message that I am over the 50 MB limit for posting!? Jacob has been trying to fix it for me but so far no luck.

Raybro · Oct 31, 2015

Maddog said:
I totally understand- just frustrated right now.

Actually, the P3 Standard would be a good cheap backup quad.

Raybro · Oct 31, 2015

Maddog said:
The motors all feel the same- some resistance (not free spinning) but appropriate.

GoPro fully charged at start as are Solo batteries.

I can find my logs with MP but it won't play them. They look like everybody else's except instead of the underscore between the numbers mine have dashes. I tried replacing them with the underscore symbol but no joy. Would really like to resolve that problem.

I would post a pic but I keep getting an error message that I am over the 50 MB limit for posting!? Jacob has been trying to fix it for me but so far no luck.

Are you getting them from your tablet?

Maddog · Oct 31, 2015

Raybro said:
Are you getting them from your tablet?
View attachment 1729

Um- it's been awhile.. thinking..
I think from the controller as I did it wirelessly. Does it matter?
Mine look like yours but there is a dash between the numbers where you have an underscore.
Should they be on the tablet?

Maddog · Oct 31, 2015

I plugged my iPad into my desktop PC but I don't see any way to get the logs, if they are there.

Raybro · Oct 31, 2015

Maddog said:
Um- it's been awhile.. thinking..
I think from the controller as I did it wirelessly. Does it matter?
Mine look like yours but there is a dash between the numbers where you have an underscore.
Should they be on the tablet?

Yes. Look at the ones on the tablet.

Maddog · Oct 31, 2015

Raybro said:
Yes. Look at the ones on the tablet.

How do you find them? I did the "email them to myself" thing and the logs ended in "gz". I deleted that from the end and it appears MP can load them. It shows they are playing but I don't see anything. Don't know how to view them at this point.

Raybro · Oct 31, 2015

You have to hook the tablet up to your PC with the USB charging cable then use file explorer to find them. If you haven't reset your tablet, it should have every flight in there.