I had a fully charged battery, checked with my multimeter at 16.68v, put in the H and the ST16 read 16.5v. I flew for a medium flight and ST16 gave reading of 15v and I removed battery and tested at 15.23v. Just thought I'd throw out for those smarter about capacity than me. With the wind I have I don't want to fly it even to the point of getting the first battery warning.
Battery voltage reading results
- Thread starter HarveyC
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Thanks my friend, does anyone know what voltage you will see at first battery warning? Am I missing something Liz said?
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Lol, just saw what I assume is your video on YT, I left a comment but is this color graded at all?
I had posted that here last night on my lengthy thread on "some experiences". Video was shot in default with no adjustments other than removing small portions to shorten it. And, truth be told, on the maiden flight with this unit I had forgot to raise the landing gear and got that in the video when I was preparing to turn around.
Harvey, do you find it seems to take for ever to turn the H around, even in Rabbit Mode? or is it meI had posted that here last night on my lengthy thread on "some experiences". Video was shot in default with no adjustments other than removing small portions to shorten it. And, truth be told, on the maiden flight with this unit I had forgot to raise the landing gear and got that in the video when I was preparing to turn around.
When a battery is under load it will show a voltage lower than when it is at rest. By the time you take it from the H and measure it with your multimeter it would have gained some voltage. an increase of .23V is not uncommon. Your multimeter could be off by that much also. You would have to have the meter connected to the battery at the same time the ST16 is reading it to make any judgment.
The question is, at what voltage will it quit, if it does. Or will it run the battery down bellow 12V which will damage the battery. I am assuming the rth will activate at some voltage but if not enough battery to make it home does it land at some voltage value. If I had mine I would definitely be doing these tests.
Thanks, Charlie, wasn't really making any judgement, just trying to get more data points to understand what is happening with the battery.
Okay, I have another flight down and this time hovered until I got a low battery warning. Simon had reported in his video that he got a low voltage reading and then he checked his voltage and it said 14.6v but that was after he had shut off the motors. I got the warning at 14.3 v and then, after shutting down the motors, the reading was at 14.6v. Now, a few minutes later, my multimeter shows 14.73v (not certain how accurate it is). So now you know, you can "probably" plan to fly until your voltage reading on the controller drops to 14.3v before getting the warning. I forget exactly what the rest of the warning message said, but something like elevation was restricted to 60', etc.
Okay, I have another flight down and this time hovered until I got a low battery warning. Simon had reported in his video that he got a low voltage reading and then he checked his voltage and it said 14.6v but that was after he had shut off the motors. I got the warning at 14.3 v and then, after shutting down the motors, the reading was at 14.6v. Now, a few minutes later, my multimeter shows 14.73v (not certain how accurate it is). So now you know, you can "probably" plan to fly until your voltage reading on the controller drops to 14.3v before getting the warning. I forget exactly what the rest of the warning message said, but something like elevation was restricted to 60', etc.
So at what voltage on the controller does RTH activate. I would let it hover away from home and wait to see at what voltage it activates RTH. This will give you an indication of how much battery you will have left so that you will know how far you can be. Draining the battery bellow 3.5V per cell is not advisable, and down to 3V is definitely not good. However, will it even fly with that low a voltage. My Arducopters will fly down to 13V but I program them to boogie home 14.2V. If it is going to be used at great distance from home then I set them to 14.7V. A customer lost a $5000.00 hexa flying over a river in Africa when the battery went low and the failsafe was set to land and not RTH.
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I'll let someone else test that, I already had one crash too many. I noticed it seemed to be hovering less precisely as I was letting the battery discharge and, with the wind blowing I was anxious to land it with the first warning.
PatR
Premium Pilot
Where do you get your Lipo's? Every one I've ever seen has a cell voltage maxing out at 4.22v fully charged.
PatR
Premium Pilot
Gotcha You had me worried there for a moment, thinking I was getting the short end of the stick with all my batteries
You had me worried there for a moment, thinking I was getting the short end of the stick with all my batteries
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