Battery life and why you crash...
- Thread starter CraigCam
- Start date
PatR
Premium Pilot
Moving forward at a slow speed will get you longer flight times than hovering due to translational lift.
Seems kind of pointless to me. Not sure why you would want to do that, when you have the battery voltage displayed on your radio.
the battery voltage will give the total of 4 cells, I spoke to some instructors and they say they connect a cell voltage alarm that will go off at a preset voltage of single cells rather than a total?
Correct in the fact that the ST-16 gives a total battery voltage. The battery is a 4s, which means that there are 4 cells in the battery.
To my knowledge, all cell voltage alarms do not monitor each cell, but they sound out an alarm when the cell voltage gets down to around 3.7v (depending on the brand).
3.7v X 4 is 14.8v. Wouldn't it be better to just monitor your battery read-out on the ST-16 and make sure you land prior to that level, rather than rely on something additional like a cell voltage alarm?
To my knowledge, all cell voltage alarms do not monitor each cell, but they sound out an alarm when the cell voltage gets down to around 3.7v (depending on the brand).
3.7v X 4 is 14.8v. Wouldn't it be better to just monitor your battery read-out on the ST-16 and make sure you land prior to that level, rather than rely on something additional like a cell voltage alarm?
that is where I am not sure, if the voltage alarm will divide total V by 4 in an 4s lipo the alarm would not make that much sense. It would make sense I thought if the cell alarm actual measures and reports the lowest voltage cell. Then again not sure if that is a useful extra safety measure. The guys were saying that a pro drone dropped and almost injured a skier a while back and the reason for the drop was that one of the cells went down faster in voltage. Not sure if a buzzer would have given notice of this and they could have landed in time
Voltage alarms aren't really necessary in this situation. Best to use the display on the ST-16 and watch your battery levels that way.
The other thing worth looking into is a battery monitor like this one. I have a few of these and rate them very highly. I use them to check the total voltage, and individual cell voltage. If you are particular, and use them prior to flying, after your flight, prior to charging, after charging, you can monitor each of the cells in your battery and are likely to pick up any issues prior to things going bad, as you have mentioned above.
Knowing how your LiPo's work, and knowing how to look after them and charge/discharge them is a very important part of owning and operating a UAV. Look after your batteries, and they will look after you and your investment. Money spent on a good quality charger and battery monitoring is money well spent.
I am still using the original batteries that I got with my 'H' and this is after a couple of years and they are still performing very well.
The other thing worth looking into is a battery monitor like this one. I have a few of these and rate them very highly. I use them to check the total voltage, and individual cell voltage. If you are particular, and use them prior to flying, after your flight, prior to charging, after charging, you can monitor each of the cells in your battery and are likely to pick up any issues prior to things going bad, as you have mentioned above.
Knowing how your LiPo's work, and knowing how to look after them and charge/discharge them is a very important part of owning and operating a UAV. Look after your batteries, and they will look after you and your investment. Money spent on a good quality charger and battery monitoring is money well spent.
I am still using the original batteries that I got with my 'H' and this is after a couple of years and they are still performing very well.
wow ArnhemAnt, years of use and still good batteries, good to know. I will make sure I carry a battery monitor like you mentioned in the H´s backpack and another one next to my balance charger. Thanks for your advice.
FlushVision
Premium Pilot
There's no reason why a properly looked after and maintained LiPo battery won't last a couple of years. The two original batteries for my TH (I've acquired more since) are also almost two years old with no noticeable degradation in my flight times using them. Indeed, all but one of my batteries for my P2V+ which is well over 3 years old are still performing like new...the one that has gone bad just happens to be the newest one, and that was two years old before it went bad.
Similar threads
