What to do with old batteries?

jabbajavva · Mar 24, 2025

I have received a solo for free from my teacher, as well as 7 batteries. He has not used it in around 3 years, and the drone works, but the batteries fail randomly, causing the drone to RTH when under high load. Most of the batteries only provide 6-8 minutes of flight time, but a couple allow for 15 minutes or more. What can I do with all of these batteries instead of just throwing them away? I am planning to get a BMSone V3 to use my own lipo batteries from other drone/ plane projects.

CharlieKeck · Mar 24, 2025

jabbajavva said:
I have received a solo for free from my teacher, as well as 7 batteries. He has not used it in around 3 years, and the drone works, but the batteries fail randomly, causing the drone to RTH when under high load. Most of the batteries only provide 6-8 minutes of flight time, but a couple allow for 15 minutes or more. What can I do with all of these batteries instead of just throwing them away? I am planning to get a BMSone V3 to use my own lipo batteries from other drone/ plane projects.

Please don't trust the "15 minute" ones, as they will quickly become the 6-8 minute version or worse.
The battery issue has affected all of us.
The old batteries are still valuable if you are an electronics hacker, as each battery contains the battery management system (BMS) that communicates with the Solo itself. That board can be mated to a new 4-cell, 5200 mAH pack and recalibrated - JB's Battery Mod. If one is not comfortable doing that, the BMSone is the way to go . An old battery is still useful for bench testing and setting up your Solo...but don't fly them.
Hang onto your old batteries for now. (JB's site has a link detailing the battery rebuild if interested.)
Best luck & Happy Flying!