Watch "3DR Solo prototype Maiden Flight with any lipo battery" on YouTube

[Rolando Ramos]

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[RichWest]

I watched it but you never say what mah the battery you were using...at least I never heard.... Just curious. And is this piggybacked on a stock battery in this video?

This would have been more meaningful if within your other thread....Watch "3DR Solo battery use any 4S lipo mod Part 1" on YouTube

Nice video, thanks for sharing....

 

[Rolando Ramos]

I watched it but you never say what mah the battery you were using...at least I never heard.... Just curious. And is this piggybacked on a stock battery in this video?

This would have been more meaningful if within your other thread....Watch "3DR Solo battery use any 4S lipo mod Part 1" on YouTube

Nice video, thanks for sharing....

Piggyback on a empty shell. I used the BMS inside the shell and mounted the exterior plugs only. The Lipo I used 4000 MAH. At 25C. Just experimenting. The completed project is in the works.

 

[RichWest]

Piggyback on a empty shell. I used the BMS inside the shell and mounted the exterior plugs only. The Lipo I used 4000 MAH. At 25C. Just experimenting. The completed project is in the works.

Cool! I understand that it's an experiment, still interesting to know the details as you present your results.

 

[Derriell]

@RichWest The BMS has 5200mAh limit. But it learns. So if the battery has less mAh like here with 4000mAh the BMS will learn it and report capacity accordingly. Downside is that the BMS can not distinguish between different batteries you plug in. If you fly one empty the second you plug in the same BMS will be reported empty too even tough it is not true.

Cool video

 

[Rolando Ramos]

@RichWest The BMS has 5200mAh limit. But it learns. So if the battery has less mAh like here with 4000mAh the BMS will learn it and report capacity accordingly. Downside is that the BMS can not distinguish between different batteries you plug in. If you fly one empty the second you plug in the same BMS will be reported empty too even tough it is not true.

Cool video

When in the field I could use the Tower Beta app to change the mAh capacity to match the lipo I am using. When I balance charge my lipo's I record the finish mAh and I could just enter that mAh in the Tower app and upload it to Solo. And I will not get the alarm to RTH at 20% battery life which is great. I have my eyes on the battery voltage at all times not the battery %. So far I have discovered so many ways in making improvements.

Thanks for the input and comment.

Rolando

 

[Derriell]

@Rolando Ramos That s a good way to do it! I ve never tried Tower App only Solex. What I did with mine is write a Python Script that overwrites BATT_CAPACITY parameter at every bootup. It was triggered from Solex. (I only used 9000mAh LiIon) Kelly from Solex said that he will eventually implement a feature that enables users to set parameters directly from Solex Yeah, voltage is every thing.

I imagine you set BATT_CAPACITY parameter right?

 

[Rolando Ramos]

@Rolando Ramos That s a good way to do it! I ve never tried Tower App only Solex. What I did with mine is write a Python Script that overwrites BATT_CAPACITY parameter at every bootup. It was triggered from Solex. (I only used 9000mAh LiIon) Kelly from Solex said that he will eventually implement a feature that enables users to set parameters directly from Solex Yeah, voltage is every thing.

I imagine you set BATT_CAPACITY parameter right?

Yes, that is correct. Watch how high you set the mAh. Because I used a 10k mAh at 10c lipo battery Friday night and uploaded 10k mAh into mission planner and ran a test flight and at 14.20v 15 mins into the flight the battery % showed 76% left. The reason I didn't get longer flight's time was I was pulling 21-22 amps in loiter mode, plus the battery weight was double the weight of the Solo lipo. Great news on the Solex app mod.

Thanks

 

[Derriell]

@Rolando Ramos The problem when using the stock BMS is that if you use more than 5200mAh although you changed the parameter BATT_CAPACITY the percentage will be stuck after you discharged 5200mAh. So in 10000mAh case it will stay at 10000-5200/100 = 48%. Then you have to watch voltage.

 

[RichWest]

@RichWest The BMS has 5200mAh limit. But it learns. So if the battery has less mAh like here with 4000mAh the BMS will learn it and report capacity accordingly. Downside is that the BMS can not distinguish between different batteries you plug in. If you fly one empty the second you plug in the same BMS will be reported empty too even tough it is not true.

Cool video

I've been following both you and Roland's threads on batteries. Obviously it's of interest to all for your findings. I'm a pot stirrer if only to create a meaningful discussion... Seems I succeeded....great exchange of info between you two.

Personally I'd be happy with 5200mAH, trade off being maneuverability over flight time. The stock battery, when new in 2015, was providing 16-18 minutes of flight time with gimbal....down to 20%.

 

[Rolando Ramos]

@Rolando Ramos The problem when using the stock BMS is that if you use more than 5200mAh although you changed the parameter BATT_CAPACITY the percentage will be stuck after you discharged 5200mAh. So in 10000mAh case it will stay at 10000-5200/100 = 48%. Then you have to watch voltage.

What I want to do is reflash the eprom chip in the Solo BMS using the adrino software. Or find another method that will work to monitor voltage from the balance plug of the battery using another electronic circuit that will work like the Solo BMS that I could reprogram.

 

[Derriell]

@Rolando Ramos That would be great. @looninho is at it as well.

 

[Ed.it.Ed]

Great work fellas! Thanks for sharing

 

[looninho]

Good work! Thank for sharing.

I can't see how you connect your custom battery. Do you think about power Solo in parallel with a custom battery?

 

[Kiraniv Group]

What I want to do is reflash the eprom chip in the Solo BMS using the adrino software. Or find another method that will work to monitor voltage from the balance plug of the battery using another electronic circuit that will work like the Solo BMS that I could reprogram.

Deare @Rolando Ramos Did you manage to reflash BMS? Do you have the characteristics of it? The name of the cipher chip. and what pametra you asked?

 

[Rolando Ramos]

Deare @Rolando Ramos Did you manage to reflash BMS? Do you have the characteristics of it? The name of the cipher chip. and what pametra you asked?

Kiraniv, I was not able to re-flash or reprogramming the BMS due to manufacture making it impossible to do this But, I was able to reset the memory of the BMS to 99% easy enough leaving the battery unplug from the BMS for about 1 min causing a lost of stored memory from BMS. Once you do this you will have a 99% charge reading on the LED on the Solo battery this will only be after you charge your Lipo's on a balance charger. Not the Solo charger.