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Now I am really POed

Called Yuneec today.
They are sending me a new ST-16 battery.
They further verified that the ST-16 uses a Lithium Ion battery, but that you can use a LiPo charger on it.
The battery in the wizard is a LiPo.
 
I would think a device like a tablet would always use a Lithium Ion battery. Lipos are not designed to hold a charge for any length of time like that would require. Slowly depleting. Different application.

Lipos are designed for charge before you use, hold a lot, then let it all out in a short amount of time. i:)i

I will have a battery pack that I can plug into the ST16 when in use if need be.

Bob why the worry, just be good at catching it i:)i
Kidding aside that would be scary. Glad you got it under control man.
 
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Right now the chargers are not the issue. The H battery uses a propriety connector so there is no easy way to connect a 3rd party charger unless you take a Yuneec charger apart for the connector.

I am sure there will be adapters soon. Then you can use those types to charge it.



Alrighty then ... Thanks for the info.




...
 
Called Yuneec today.
They are sending me a new ST-16 battery.
They further verified that the ST-16 uses a Lithium Ion battery, but that you can use a LiPo charger on it.
The battery in the wizard is a LiPo.
Did they have you send the old one in, to see what was wrong with it?
 
Many have already modded the Yuneec charger to accept a standard charger. It's very simple and leaves the stock charger intact.

XGopXyP.png
 
Lipo would not make a good battery for that kind of device. If you leave it on and run the battery down it will kill it. Also there are no balance leads so it has to be Li-Ion. All the controllers I know of use Li-Ion. All your cell phones, tablets, laptops use Li_On, Most devices have a low voltage cut off to protect the battery.

This is an article about charging Li-Ion
Li-ion battery charging
 
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Might be something to carry one of those usb charging batteries the kind used for charging phones, having one spare just might get you out of a hole.
 
Called them today, Very fast response.
Sent ME and Email asking to verify purchase and serial numbers.
They said they (Yuneec) are going to send a replacement battery.
Will let you know.
 
Lipo would not make a good battery for that kind of device. If you leave it on and run the battery down it will kill it. Also there are no balance leads so it has to be Li-Ion. All the controllers I know of use Li-Ion. All your cell phones, tablets, laptops use Li_On, Most devices have a low voltage cut off to protect the battery.
This is an article about charging Li-Ion
Li-ion battery charging
Hey TyphoonC, it's only a 1cell, 3.7V battery. A one cell battery has no balance leads because there's nothing to balance! I have a drawer full of old 600mAH, 3.7V lipos that I used to run in my Hubsan X4...they are Lipos.:)

Anyway, I agree with your remarks that the battery should be Li-Ion and not LiPo, but I got confused because the sticker on the back is using LiPo terminology to describe the battery characteristics. More of the usual inconsistencies from Yuneec!
 
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In my Email to Yuneec, I asked them to verify that it is indeed a Lithium Ion.
On the phone the guy I spoke to said it was. I too agree it would not be good to use a LiPo in the controller.
I think it actually is a Lithium Ion, left it charging over night, so far it has gone down to 61% in pad mode and NOT shut off. I may not have gotten a good charge in it to start with even though it indicated fully charged???
I think the algorithm they used for the controller battery may be off. Running 1 hr 41 minutes on battery now and down to 60% . we shall see. may have just been it was never fully charged although it said it was.
 
Called Yuneec today.
They are sending me a new ST-16 battery.
They further verified that the ST-16 uses a Lithium Ion battery, but that you can use a LiPo charger on it.
The battery in the wizard is a LiPo.

Dang I didn't know the wizard battery was a lipo. I fully charged it when I got my H but have not used it yet. That was a week ago. Should I turn the wizard on to drain it down if I'm not gonna use it for a couple more days?
 
Had my ST-16 Fully charged.
Flew 2 batteries 1 down to first battery low warning, the other only about 10 minutes.
Brought everything home, charged up the first battery, went out to take some sunset video.
Flew around a bit and had the H hovering at about 25 feet right above me, and the battery in the ST-16 dies.
NO WARNING WHAT SO EVER just like you had removed the battery.
The H just sits there, blinking away in angle mode, no control input what so ever. I was hoping RTH would kick in and it would auto land, but NO. It does change the tail Light to RED (RTH) after time. The H just hovers away while panic sets in. Quick run in the house grab the car keys, plug the ST-16 into the USB charger in my car. After an eternity it turns back on (H is still @25' ) I get control reestablished and land the H. I was so lucky. Yuneec will be getting a phone call from me tomorrow.
1) Why NO low battery warning from the ST-16 battery? (display showed 1 bar down from full)
2) Why did the RTH function not kick in? The tail light did turn to RED.
3) When plugging the ST-16 into the Yuneec charger why does it show the battery still at 50% ?

I am not sure when the H went from Angle to RTH (according to the tail light) but it never did land. It never flew up to the 33' mark, or make any other attempt to change position. The H was less that 20 feet from my take off position.

I hope this is a one off problem, but until I receive some answers, keep an eye on your ST-16 battery.
I could have been 400' up and 1000' down range when this happened.
Sounds like I had better wait on getting the H. Too Many Bugs in it. sounds more complicated than the Q500
 
Droner,
I love my H, I am not to overly disappointed in some of the issues. It does very well as an aerial platform for taking pictures. The problem with my ST-16 has been sorted out by me.
Left it to charge overnight and it has been performing as advertised. I think the problem is in the ST-16 charge circuit, just because it says that it is fully charged it may not be. I thought it had a LiPo battery in it, so I was very careful to disconnect it soon as it indicated full. Turns out that it is not charged to full capacity, it has a Lithium Ion battery. Since then I wait till it says full then give it one more hour. I can fly 3 batteries worth and the ST-16 still shows 80%, before it would be 50% or less.
I have found the H to be very stable and quiet in flight, even my neighbors comment on how quiet it is. I do not own any other drones other than my V686, so it is hard for me to compare to anything else.
Did Yuneec kinda rush it out the door. Yeah I think so.
Could the users manual have been better, oh **** yes.
Should there have been a firmware update by now to address some of the shortcomings people have listed I think so. (it would have given a real positive response that Yuneec is committed to a good product)
Did some new pilots have issues YES, so did some very experienced ones.
But in the end, I am very please with what I spent my hard earned money on.
I still smile ear to ear when I fly it. It is NOT a speed demon, it was NOT meant to be.
It is a very graceful, extremely stable platform for taking pictures. (Soon as they fix the focus issue). I have been flying at night a lot lately to get use to it in the dark. July 4th is coming and I intend to get some great fireworks video.
And to top it all off I have met some really knowledgeable people on this forum, we have helped each other understand things and found tips and workarounds to make the H even more enjoyable.
**** If I had the money I would buy another one.

Ok off my soap box
 
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Hey you know I just went back and read the small print on the label. I think you're right in that it is a LiPo.

Wait a sec! If you read the fine print again, it says to use a Lithium Polymer charger only. I have a Hitec X5 AC/DC charger that will charge almost all types of batteries and it will charge a Li-ion (LiLo) battery as well as LiPo batteries. Here are two photos, one of the label on the ST16 battery, and another of the page in my charger's manual.
Since I see only one connector on the ST16's battery, I am assuming it's a one cell battery and therefore doesn't use a balance connection. I hope this helps clarify the differences.
 

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You can charge the ST16 using nearly any USB charger with a mini USB connector. I have charged the ST16 many times just by connecting it to my computer.
 
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I picked up a tip (not sure if it was here somewhere) that having a USB power block is a good back up for the ST16. The Rev 16750mAh from Amazon was suggested as it less than a new battery and handy for other jobs such as charging Flytron self powered strobe lights.
 
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