Disaster!

[Ian McGill]

Too late for this one, but in the future you could try one of these if you are flying over/near water. Activates in 10 feet of water and sends up a float on a 100' kevlar line.

.

The worlds only underwater recovery device for Drones, Fishing rods and other Gear. The GetterBack depth activated underwater recovery device is now available!

www.getterback.com

 

[AH-1G]

You are right. I should have looked at voltage immediately before pulling up off the deck. But in my own defense, the voltage was 16.5 just 18 seconds before take-off while idling. I had just finished compass calibration, shutdown and restart to ensure level camera.

I had two OEM batteries that went sour on me just like you. Voltage was 16.5 at take off, then within a couple of seconds it dropped to 14.3.
Fortunately I hover and check all my controls and review my monitor before proceeding with my flight. So it's nothing suspicious about the the drone, your battery decided to go into retirement. Or should I say take a dive.

 

[PatR]

A fully charged battery will show an immediate voltage drop the moment the motors are armed. The increase in current demand from the motors causes an associated reduction in voltage. That happening is a fact of life for any device using a storage battery for the power source that is not receiving an auxiliary input charge when being depleted.

A quick drop to 15.8v or so from 16.6 is normal when the motors are armed so the operator would not have observed a voltage anomaly at motor arming. Although 16.0v is not a full charge, under normal conditions it would be acceptable for use during a flight where voltage was monitored in order to terminate the flight before battery voltage reached minimums. A lot of people, myself included, might conduct short flights that consume only a small portion of a battery’s capacity, leaving enough to conduct another short flight on the same battery later. This can be done safely if we understand how batteries work, noted the voltage under load at the end of the earlier flight, recognize the initial depicted voltage will drop at power up, and monitor voltage visually.

If a mistake was made for this flight it was in flying a cold battery but the 16.0v reading was not indicative of a battery problem. The only times I’ve seen batteries deplete this fast is after a battery had been deep discharged, damaging the battery, and with batteries having a weak or damaged cell. In batteries like I’ve just described an extremely fast discharge has been a common demonstrative behavior. Unless we track battery IR and cell balancing we would not suspect a full or nearly full charged battery to perform as this one did.

 

[Rubik]

A fully charged battery will show an immediate voltage drop the moment the motors are armed. The increase in current demand from the motors causes an associated reduction in voltage. That happening is a fact of life for any device using a storage battery for the power source that is not receiving an auxiliary input charge when being depleted.

A quick drop to 15.8v or so from 16.6 is normal when the motors are armed so the operator would not have observed a voltage anomaly at motor arming. Although 16.0v is not a full charge, under normal conditions it would be acceptable for use during a flight where voltage was monitored in order to terminate the flight before battery voltage reached minimums. A lot of people, myself included, might conduct short flights that consume only a small portion of a battery’s capacity, leaving enough to conduct another short flight on the same battery later. This can be done safely if we understand how batteries work, noted the voltage under load at the end of the earlier flight, recognize the initial depicted voltage will drop at power up, and monitor voltage visually.

If a mistake was made for this flight it was in flying a cold battery but the 16.0v reading was not indicative of a battery problem. The only times I’ve seen batteries deplete this fast is after a battery had been deep discharged, damaging the battery, and with batteries having a weak or damaged cell. In batteries like I’ve just described an extremely fast discharge has been a common demonstrative behavior. Unless we track battery IR and cell balancing we would not suspect a full or nearly full charged battery to perform as this one did.

Thanks, Pat. I've been pretty careful to put the flight batteries at storage level when not in use. My EV-Peak DY3 charger makes that easy. I also observe that the cell voltage is uniform each time I insert the batteries into the charger. Perhaps batteries are like people. As we get older, the cold weather is harder on our bodies.
I'm working on a video to commemorate the wonderful flights I've had with this drone.

 

[Mrgs1]

A fully charged battery will show an immediate voltage drop the moment the motors are armed. The increase in current demand from the motors causes an associated reduction in voltage. That happening is a fact of life for any device using a storage battery for the power source that is not receiving an auxiliary input charge when being depleted.

A quick drop to 15.8v or so from 16.6 is normal when the motors are armed so the operator would not have observed a voltage anomaly at motor arming. Although 16.0v is not a full charge, under normal conditions it would be acceptable for use during a flight where voltage was monitored in order to terminate the flight before battery voltage reached minimums. A lot of people, myself included, might conduct short flights that consume only a small portion of a battery’s capacity, leaving enough to conduct another short flight on the same battery later. This can be done safely if we understand how batteries work, noted the voltage under load at the end of the earlier flight, recognize the initial depicted voltage will drop at power up, and monitor voltage visually.

If a mistake was made for this flight it was in flying a cold battery but the 16.0v reading was not indicative of a battery problem. The only times I’ve seen batteries deplete this fast is after a battery had been deep discharged, damaging the battery, and with batteries having a weak or damaged cell. In batteries like I’ve just described an extremely fast discharge has been a common demonstrative behavior. Unless we track battery IR and cell balancing we would not suspect a full or nearly full charged battery to perform as this one did.

Can't say I've seen a significant voltage drop on arming, the big drop comes with lift off the faster or aggressively you take off more voltage drops. Hovering a while the battery does recover a little, I do find gentle inputs do help with battery flight duration, 16.0 volts at take off is personal choice which people do, some will not consider it since as I said the flight times are short enough as it is, the amount of problems people have encountered , there fault or not, will probably mean some will fly and constantly check there voltage etc.

 

[Mrgs1]

Thanks, Pat. I've been pretty careful to put the flight batteries at storage level when not in use. My EV-Peak DY3 charger makes that easy. I also observe that the cell voltage is uniform each time I insert the batteries into the charger. Perhaps batteries are like people. As we get older, the cold weather is harder on our bodies.
I'm working on a video to commemorate the wonderful flights I've had with this drone.

It can vary a little bit, the DY3 soon balances every cell quickly I find, a good charger for the price.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

I have had batteries act like this, and the common attribute among them was having 1 cell at a IR level significantly higher than the other cells... so when that one cell rapidly depletes, you see a corresponding instant voltage drop.

I used the DY3 too, but not until I acquired a Hitec charger which could easily read the IR levels to monitor my battery health, did I understand the relationship between the two.

 

[Mrgs1]

I have had batteries act like this, and the common attribute among them was having 1 cell at a IR level significantly higher than the other cells... so when that one cell rapidly depletes, you see a corresponding instant voltage drop.

I used the DY3 too, but not until I acquired a Hitec charger which could easily read the IR levels to monitor my battery health, did I understand the relationship between the two.

And a decent set of leads,some of those cheapo ones can give some weird readings.

 

[Rubik]

I have had batteries act like this, and the common attribute among them was having 1 cell at a IR level significantly higher than the other cells... so when that one cell rapidly depletes, you see a corresponding instant voltage drop.

I used the DY3 too, but not until I acquired a Hitec charger which could easily read the IR levels to monitor my battery health, did I understand the relationship between the two.

I see. High internal resistance would make the battery appear to be out of juice, even though it was charged to the correct voltage. So, which Hitec charger would you recommend? What cable is required to fit the TH batteries?

 

[Mrgs1]

A battery with low internal resistance delivers high current on demand. High resistance causes the battery to heat up and the voltage to drop. Temperature also effects the resistance, heat lowers it and cold raises it. Warming the battery will momentarily lower the internal resistance to provide maybe a little extra runtime.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

I see. High internal resistance would make the battery appear to be out of juice, even though it was charged to the correct voltage. So, which Hitec charger would you recommend? What cable is required to fit the TH batteries?

As @Mrgs1 eloquently stated, the cell is fully charged, but the high IR increases heat which results in a rapid voltage drop from that cell... because much of the energy from that cell is being dissipated in heat generation, in lieu of voltage output.

This is the current model equivalent of the charger I have:

Hitec X2 Plus Black Edition

Typhoon H Battery cables (the X2 can use 2 simultaneously)

Typhoon H Battery Cables

If you end up replacing, with the H+ (or H3) you will need different cables.

 

[Mrgs1]

Those cables are expensive compared to the cheapies, but worth it.

 

[FlushVision]

As @Mrgs1 eloquently stated, the cell is fully charged, but the high IR increases heat which results in a rapid voltage drop from that cell... because much of the energy from that cell is being dissipated in heat generation, in lieu of voltage output.

This is the current model equivalent of the charger I have:

Hitec X2 Plus Black Edition

Typhoon H Battery cables (the X2 can use 2 simultaneously)

Typhoon H Battery Cables

If you end up replacing, with the H+ (or H3) you will need different cables.

I like the look and specs of that Hitec X Black and having seen it I'm thinking of getting one. However, that link takes me to an American web site. I've just done an interweb search and all the links there seem to take me to other American web sites too so, on the face of it, I can't immediately see that I can get one in England...maybe I'm not looking hard enough?

Does anyone know where I can get one in the U.K.?

I already have a third party charger but it is now getting long in the tooth and I have a suspicion that my IR tester may be giving me false readings, so this charger is appealing to me.

 

[Mrgs1]

I like the look and specs of that Hitec X Black and having seen it I'm thinking of getting one. However, that link takes me to an American web site. I've just done an interweb search and all the links there seem to take me to other American web sites too so, on the face of it, I can't immediately see that I can get one in England...maybe I'm not looking hard enough?

Does anyone know where I can get one in the U.K.?

I already have a third party charger but it is now getting long in the tooth and I have a suspicion that my IR tester may be giving me false readings, so this charger is appealing to me.

I have the SKY RC Q 200 and 100 chargers, does everything i need, not seen too much of the Hitec models here. They pretty much look all the same

Q200 Charger - SkyRC

 

[PatR]

Try looking at the tower hobbies website. They shipped to Iraq so they might ship to the U.K. as well. Www.towerhobbies.com

 

[Mrgs1]

Is there really that much difference, they both look like the A10 charger? Tower will ship to UK.

 

[brianpk]

It finally happened. After 3-1/2 years of faithful service, my TH is now at the bottom of the Columbia River. My buddy took me out in his inboard power boat with the drone. The plan was to do "Follow Me" while we motored about. First time I've tried this. Installed freshly charged battery. Did the compass calibration, and launched the TH from the front deck, as far away from the engine block as possible. Got GPS and camera, lift off, stable hover. One landing gear refused to retract...second try, it worked (old problem). "Battery low, land immediately!" What!? I just took off. OK, maneuvered back towards me on the boat. "Battery low, land immediately!" OK! At that point, I lost control as the drone automatically descended (into the water). My buddy fired up the boat to maneuver the 10 feet or so to the drone. The rotors were kicking up spray as it hit the water. I reached down to pick it out of the water just in time to see the motors stop and the drone descend like a rock away from me. No hope; very deep water. Total flight time, maybe 30 seconds.
So, what happened?
1. I failed to warm the batteries before use. They had spent the night in the frosty cold car. I've had cold battery issues before and it shortened my flight time, but nothing like this.
2. If I had checked the drone battery voltage immediately after take-off, I might have noticed how rapidly it dropped and "landed" safely.
3. The Ultrex battery in use was a little over 2 years old.
I'm just sharing my experience for the benefit of others. Now I have to decide what to replace it with. The new Skydio 2 is interesting. I would miss the integrated controller screen, the 360-deg camera gimbal, retractable landing gear and 6-rotor stability. Hmm....

I had a very similar thing last winter, but thankfully mine landed on waste land. My first battery lasted about ten minutes before the first warning, so the cold was a factor, but the second lasted just three minutes before landing itself. After a couple of further test flights in the following days it became obvious that the battery was faulty beyond just being cold, so I binned it. It made me very wary of battery life and I now keep a paranoid eye on the voltage, but I remain worried it could happen again.

 

[Kingsley Opoku]

The worse thing is it had to happen over water, if on land you'd have a sporting chance to repair. Shame.

Sorry for your Lost. As the patrons on this forum said, it was the charged battery stored in a frosty car before using. Had the same issue with my original Yuneec battery before. when I put it up air just like you said, it went into land immediately mode. I landed it safely since it was 15 feet in front of me. I kinda attribute that to me fully charging my batteries and storing it for a month or so before flying again. It was my lack of Knowledge then. I came to the forum and found a tread talking about charging and storing batteries and found out that, fully charged battery and storing it before use damages the battery. I didn't have the storing charger then, until I bought one. I got rid of the two original batteries and bought the 8050 mah gifi batteries. Since then I charge the battery into storage mode before I store it away. To tell you the truth, I am always on the edge when flying my Typhoon H 480 pro with intel real sense. With all the stories of fly away and crashes with Yuneec, I am more confident in my Autel Evo than my Yuneec. And with my SKydio 2 on it way, I couldn't ask for more piece of mind when flying a drone.

 

[PatR]

Is there really that much difference, they both look like the A10 charger? Tower will ship to UK.

No difference at all. The A2 is either a clone of the Hitec charger or made by Hitec and re-branded. The only real difference is in the documentation. Hitec’s is much, much better.

 

[Pablo de la Fuente]

I feel your loss, I bought a typhoon h with real sense and sold my faithful Q500 with which I had very good moments. I am always afraid of a battery failure, in fact before taking the risk with the TH, I will buy a new game to reduce risks. Good luck in your decision, I really will always like it.