**UPDATE** Solo Battery Mod for Dummies

For sure! I am a Maker as well. There are several cases available. Our battery mod team is tweaking one as I reply. One challenge is our battery mod doesn't shift the top cell so the stock case doesn't provide the needed clearance. Here's my last attempt. My battery mod fits under the case but it has just a few more tweaks to go. The battery is plugged in and turned on and the cover snaps over it and locks same as the OEM pack. Another member of the team is working with making minor alterations to the OEM case to hold the mod battery.

My main interest is maintaining a profile that allows me to mount my 360 cam rig which this cover does. Watch for Modified Solo Battery Covers for Dummies coming to select theatres soon!

I invite you and anyone interested to join our FB Group to stay informed as to our progress. Search for JB's 3DR Solo Owners Group. I'm a mod and will be happy to approve you!

For any not able to print a cover they will be available for sale on soloflies.com when we have a final design. As was mentioned in the tutorial Jon Brotherton (admin of our group) can provide several levels of assistance from just parts to providing a complete modded battery pack ready to fly. (My photos are prototypes of his cover design. And no they won't come in purple I'm just fooling around.)View attachment 9781View attachment 9782
I forgot to add this photo. 20181231_144719.jpeg
 
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I followed Michael's dummies guide and have made my first pack, 4 flights done and all good.

Being located in Australia, batteries of a correct size are had to get. i managed to source a 4500 MaH battery pack, followed the guide and all good.

I get 12 minutes out of the pack with my Nikon on the bird (total weight just under 2kg) which for the pack size is ok. Landing with 15% left, all alerts work fine and battery tested (mad hackers test tool) is showing the pack correct size.

Not using the original case, pack slightly too long, covered in heat-shrink and use a velcro strap to hold in the battery tray. Turned a dead pack into a useful pack for a total of $44 AU, happy with that.

Thanks again Michael and all involved in putting together this guide.

new_battery_1.jpg


new_battery_2.jpg
 
I followed Michael's dummies guide and have made my first pack, 4 flights done and all good.

Being located in Australia, batteries of a correct size are had to get. i managed to source a 4500 MaH battery pack, followed the guide and all good.

I get 12 minutes out of the pack with my Nikon on the bird (total weight just under 2kg) which for the pack size is ok. Landing with 15% left, all alerts work fine and battery tested (mad hackers test tool) is showing the pack correct size.

Not using the original case, pack slightly too long, covered in heat-shrink and use a velcro strap to hold in the battery tray. Turned a dead pack into a useful pack for a total of $44 AU, happy with that.

Thanks again Michael and all involved in putting together this guide.

new_battery_1.jpg


new_battery_2.jpg
Great job. Where did you get the purple wrap! I looked high and low for it. My Solos are dubbed Purple One, Two, and Three.

Not sure how it effects you folks down under but Tattu had agreed to run the 5200 pak I used in the tutorial. They expect it to be available in March.
 
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Great job. Where did you get the purple wrap! I looked high and low for it. My Solos are dubbed Purple One, Two, and Three.

Not sure how it effects you folks down under but Tattu had agreed to run the 5200 pak I used in the tutorial. They expect it to be available in March.

Its a blue/purple colour, photos not 100% colour correct.

I got it from work, they make up battery packs for our targets etc, not sure where they get it from, could find out for you.

It would be great to get some tattu 5200 packs, will keep an eye on things in March and see how we go, thanks for the heads up.
 
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Thanks for the great write up.

I just opened my first solo pack. In New Zealand we don't have cheap glue buster so I tried loctite super glue remover (NZ$8 from Bunnings). It says to leave it for a couple of hours, I left it for just over 3 and it opened right up (by itself). The case cracked and broke in a few places, maybe due to some parts unsticking before others. Now to have a look at what is there....
 
Excellent write up!
Thanks!
I have to laugh at this though:
While talking about discharging the cells to 3V-
"Set Motor speed to Fast. Not to worry this is 25% throttle and not sufficient to launch the Solo.
Click on START and the Solo will run the battery down."
So many mentions in multiple places of battery safety and having a face mask on.
But not a single mention that maybe you should take the props off for this discharge routine.
Nah, you'll be fine only 25% throttle it's not going to fly off the table and hit your old Lipo pack starting a fire or even possibly an explosion!
:) :)
 
Thanks, I think. Truth be told if you go with the Solex battery drain you attach props to prevent the pods from over heating. For both safety and added wear on the pods I drain using the Hobby Charger as also provided in the tutorial.

Here’s a cut and paste from the section you are referring to-

Solex Method- (Data displayed assumes Green Cube on Open Solo FW 3.5 and above)*
Attach the Battery Mod to Solo. Connect to the controller and bring up the Solex app. With props attached and the Solo in a safe location away from people and pets select Vehicles in the Menu. Choose the Solo you are connected to and at the bottom of the page is a Run Motors utility. You will see the Battery volts, individual cell volts, and temperature of the pack. Disregard the state of charge if it displays. That’s old data left in the BMS memory. If your Solo has a gimbal be sure to mount the camera or you will burn out the motors in the gimbal.

Set Motor speed to Fast. Not to worry this is 25% throttle and not sufficient to launch the Solo.

Click on START and the Solo will run the battery down to 12v or when any one of the cells hits 3.0v and cut off the motors. This can take hours depending on how much charge is in the battery. WARNING!! After motors cut off you must power down the Solo to prevent battery drain beyond 12V.

NOTE: This is a viable discharge method but adds hours to your motors which needs to be taken into consideration.
 
I use a 12volt 5watt globe for discharge, works fine and doesn't wear the motors out? i made up a cable and plug quite easily .

Rob: does the battery upgrade affect your flight performance given the added weight from you camera?
 
With the battery upgrade I am getting 15 min of flight time with my set up, master airscrew props fitted. I was getting around 10 min out of my aging old original solo batteries.
 
Hello,
I have 10 packs to mod, and began this week end with 5200mah packs from HK.
I'm just stuck after the discharge step, as none of my chargers wants to charge the pack. The led blink 1 time slowly, then blink fast, and the battery cutoff... And unfortynately, the screen of my madhacker tool died today :(

I charged back the pack to not leave it at 12.4 too long, but I have to report my next flight!

Is there a step I could have missed?
 
Hello,
I have 10 packs to mod, and began this week end with 5200mah packs from HK.
I'm just stuck after the discharge step, as none of my chargers wants to charge the pack. The led blink 1 time slowly, then blink fast, and the battery cutoff... And unfortynately, the screen of my madhacker tool died today :(

I charged back the pack to not leave it at 12.4 too long, but I have to report my next flight!

Is there a step I could have missed?
Are you using the Solo charger?
 
I think my pack has a low cell, because it did not keep the charge. After a quick charge on the main connection to put it at 14v, I plugged it back on the solo charger and it worked properly.
So... Why the BMS did not manage the discharge to balanced until 12V? I spent 50$ for a new lipo, and waste it just by following the method for discharging.
 
Last edited:
How did you discharge the battery. After connecting it to the BMS the battery needs to be discharged slowly at less than 1A down to 12V. The BMS does not maintain cell balance. Then wait 1 hour (no more no less) and charge it with the Solo charger.

Not sure about HK batteries but the Tattu batteries handle this just fine. During the 1 hour rest the voltage will come up significantly.

The single blinking light is normal.
 
**UPDATE**- I received word from Gensace Tattu that the 150 additional 4S1P 5200/35C Battery used in the BMS Calibration available at the end of May!!

I well aware that some of what these documents contain will come at odds with some folks here but can assure you that what they contain have been well tested with excellent results. I posted them yesterday in JB's Solo Owners Group and have so far gotten a good response. A tremendous amount of time, expense, and effort went into this project by several knowledgeable folks. Best viewed on a connected PC to view the several clickable links.

Best Wishes to all for a Peaceful Healthy New Year!

Updated Battery Mod for Dummies
Has anyone tried contacting an RC Battery manufacture and pitching the idea of making a replacement solo battery?
 
Has anyone tried contacting an RC Battery manufacture and pitching the idea of making a replacement solo battery?
Yes we have. It comes down to who will foot the bill for manufacturing and gamble that there will be a return on their investment.
 
Thanks for your reply. I look at all the youtube videos and see the effort to create a replacement battery. I am impressed by the people putting their heart and soul into a solution to the problem. I have three Solos. One has a bait drop, another has a LumeCube device, and another is just for fun, using QGround control for missions. Because the effort to make a compatible battery is somewhat difficult-and dangerous, what about a GoFundMe approach. Using this forum, and other Social Media to encourage an interest in this, we might find more support than we know. It could even be one of you...we could send all are BMS, or the hole battery as part of the effort...just say'n

Tom (fourprops)
 
Thanks for your reply. I look at all the youtube videos and see the effort to create a replacement battery. I am impressed by the people putting their heart and soul into a solution to the problem. I have three Solos. One has a bait drop, another has a LumeCube device, and another is just for fun, using QGround control for missions. Because the effort to make a compatible battery is somewhat difficult-and dangerous, what about a GoFundMe approach. Using this forum, and other Social Media to encourage an interest in this, we might find more support than we know. It could even be one of you...we could send all are BMS, or the hole battery as part of the effort...just say'n

Tom (fourprops)

Have any of the replacement battery projects used the newer graphene-doped lithium batteries?

Amazon.com: HRB Graphene Battery 4S 6000mAh 100C 14.8V Lipo Batteries Pack with Traxxas Plug for RC Helicopter Airplane Car Truck Boat Remote Control Traxxas Xmaxx: Toys & Games (amazon link)

The biggest benefit (besides 100C) is they seem to support far more drain/recharge cycles and charge more quickly. I'm not a battery guy, just curious! Fitting a SMBUS-compliant BMS shouldn't be too difficult....
 

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