Some may find the following helpful in estimating ST-16 useful battery life.
For background, I always turn on the ST-16 first and off last. Typically the ST-16 is turned on for only 15 seconds or so before the H is turned on. I usually spend 2 -3 minutes waiting for GPS satellites and adjusting camera still, video and histogram settings, and turning off the LED's before take off. None of that is factored into the useful life of the ST-16 battery time because I only start the timer when the motors are armed and stop the timer when the motors are disarmed. So the time the ST-16 is turned on before and after motor activity is not recorded. If you were to average today's flight time with the number of batteries you should add 2-3 minutes to the average battery time for each flight.
Today I flew pretty much continuously (motor arm to motor disarm) 8 batteries for a total armed motor time of 1:10:20 on a 77 acre property shoot. (no, that did not do the whole job, I flew 4 batteries yesterday too) For today there was never more than a 15 minute break between flights. The ST-16 started out at 100% charge and ended the day's activities at 54%. Outside temps ranged from 75F to 98F. If we were to say a safe minimum battery level for the ST-16 was 40%-45% we could assume the -16 is good for up to 9 batteries on a single charge.
For the record, I generally do not run the flight batteries below 14.5v as presented on the ST-16 with the battery under load. I never, ever run a battery below 14.4v, under load. Once the load is removed, meaning the H is on the ground and the motors have reduced to idle, the flight battery voltage always increases 0.3v. After a depleted battery has sat for awhile they increase voltage to a level >15v, generally 15.23 to 15.4v, depending on how far they were discharged. During today's activities there were a couple flights where the batteries were retired before being discharged below 14.9v under load.
For those seeing the batteries will increase voltage after they have cooled for awhile, don't get stars in your eyes. They will deplete quite rapidly if you put them in the air again without re-charging. Hope some of the above is helpful for somebody.
For background, I always turn on the ST-16 first and off last. Typically the ST-16 is turned on for only 15 seconds or so before the H is turned on. I usually spend 2 -3 minutes waiting for GPS satellites and adjusting camera still, video and histogram settings, and turning off the LED's before take off. None of that is factored into the useful life of the ST-16 battery time because I only start the timer when the motors are armed and stop the timer when the motors are disarmed. So the time the ST-16 is turned on before and after motor activity is not recorded. If you were to average today's flight time with the number of batteries you should add 2-3 minutes to the average battery time for each flight.
Today I flew pretty much continuously (motor arm to motor disarm) 8 batteries for a total armed motor time of 1:10:20 on a 77 acre property shoot. (no, that did not do the whole job, I flew 4 batteries yesterday too) For today there was never more than a 15 minute break between flights. The ST-16 started out at 100% charge and ended the day's activities at 54%. Outside temps ranged from 75F to 98F. If we were to say a safe minimum battery level for the ST-16 was 40%-45% we could assume the -16 is good for up to 9 batteries on a single charge.
For the record, I generally do not run the flight batteries below 14.5v as presented on the ST-16 with the battery under load. I never, ever run a battery below 14.4v, under load. Once the load is removed, meaning the H is on the ground and the motors have reduced to idle, the flight battery voltage always increases 0.3v. After a depleted battery has sat for awhile they increase voltage to a level >15v, generally 15.23 to 15.4v, depending on how far they were discharged. During today's activities there were a couple flights where the batteries were retired before being discharged below 14.9v under load.
For those seeing the batteries will increase voltage after they have cooled for awhile, don't get stars in your eyes. They will deplete quite rapidly if you put them in the air again without re-charging. Hope some of the above is helpful for somebody.
