Do you suffer from lack of endurance?

[wings]

Well yesterday I had my 100th flt in the H Pro. As I have been tracking my battery performance since day 1 it seems that, under light to moderate conditions with the
video recorder on, I get at best about 12:22. Start voltage is 16.6 and I am on the ground at 14.5. I store my batteries at storage level, 15.0, and charge them up the day before
a flight. Is this about normal for the H? I use mainly Yuneec batteries with a couple of Gify Power and a couple of Power Extra. So, on average is 12 + min under normal
conditions about what we should expect to see? Thanks.

 

[AeroJ]

Wow - you run your batteries down to 12.5v ?!!! No wonder they don't work for very long now !!! You should be bringing back the craft at 15.0 and landing at no lower than 14.7 if you want to preserve the life of the battery pack. By running it down so dangerously low every time the chances are you have massively reduced the working lifetime of that battery.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

I suspect a typo if nothing else... 1st warning is at 14.3V — 2nd warning is at 14.1V — Autoland engages 30 seconds after second warning at 14.1V... I do not think it is possible to physically be in the air at 12.5V.

 

[wings]

Yes. Memory going too. On the ground at 14.5

 

[Photo]

Wow - you run your batteries down to 12.5v ?!!! No wonder they don't work for very long now !!! You should be bringing back the craft at 15.0 and landing at no lower than 14.7 if you want to preserve the life of the battery pack. By running it down so dangerously low every time the chances are you have massively reduced the working lifetime of that battery.

Wings wrote he is on the ground at 14.5 NOT 12.5.

 

[AeroJ]

Wings wrote he is on the ground at 14.5 NOT 12.5.

Not originally he didn't

 

[FlushVision]

Well yesterday I had my 100th flt in the H Pro. As I have been tracking my battery performance since day 1 it seems that, under light to moderate conditions with the
video recorder on, I get at best about 12:22. Start voltage is 16.6 and I am on the ground at 14.5. I store my batteries at storage level, 15.0, and charge them up the day before
a flight. Is this about normal for the H? I use mainly Yuneec batteries with a couple of Gify Power and a couple of Power Extra. So, on average is 12 + min under normal
conditions about what we should expect to see? Thanks.

Fairly typical to get around 12.5 minutes when landing at 14.5v...maybe 13 minutes on a good day.

On the very rare occasions (only twice) I've flown it down to first warning at 14.3v I was seeing up to 19 minutes but now, like you, I aim to be on the ground at 14.5v and I usually expect to get 12.5 to 13 minutes in the air.

 

[BobW55]

It is very hard to gauge flight times. There are so many variables. Wind, Temp, Flying styles.
But I do think you could do a bit better that 12 minutes.
For me, 14.5 is my "be overhead for landing" I may hover for another minute or two, but I am being very easy on the throttle at that point.

 

[PatR]

12 - 14 minutes is a fair average, especially for those that spend some time setting up their cameras on the ground instead of in the air. Our batteries also have a natural aging process, which causes a progressive reduction in flight time regardless of how well we care for them.

Those that take better care of their batteries experience better flight times over a longer battery life cycle. They haven’t come up with a little blue pill for our batteries yet.

 

[CraigCam]

On the TH480 with OEM batteries, the safe filming window is under 15 minutes unless you’ve got fresher higher mAH batteries from my experience. The GiFi 8050 batteries give me back a 15 minute window (3 five minute clips) on most days. From my experience with many quads and battery types the flight window always decreases with battery use and losing time is unfortunately the nature of the LiPo. I’m curious as how the LiHv upgrade on the plus behaves but so far, they seem more reliable. Drones without any LVC warnings that fly to power loss like most toy grade quads eat batteries for lunch. I’ve got dozens of single cell batteries that don’t work anymore even though they charge normally. My Nano QX2 batteries have all dropped to about half flight time.

 

[rdonson]

What battery charger are you using? I’m hoping it’s one that will charge/discharge to storage level n

FWIW 12 min is a good flight for me.

 

[CraigCam]

I have the HiTEC X2 and a Venom ProDuo. One for base and one travels. The Venom fits perfectly in the Harbor freight plastic ammo box. I buy my leads from a Carolina Dronz for the H batteries.

 

[wings]

I have about 8 batteries and only about 2 of them get 12.5 minutes. All are much less than a year old. Maybe the average age is abou 5 months. I just bought a new Gify Power 7000 mAh battery that, after proper charging and a test flight only provided, on the same day that my older battery provided 12.5 min, about 11:20. Same day same flight conditions. Go figure. I know that battery use and flight time varies all over the place but I was hoping for some kind of consensus at to what others are seeing. 12.5 minutes seems to be the number. On another note I look forward to the day when technology
can help produce stronger batteries for this hobby. Thanks for the comments.

 

[Jhen19]

On my battery that only has about 10 flights to its credit, I'm clocking around 16min, running it pretty mellow.

If I'm really lead footing it, I lose a solid 3-4mins. This is with it at around 350ft altitude, horsing around, flying consistently around 10-12mph g/s

 

[FlushVision]

I just bought a new Gify Power 7000 mAh battery that, after proper charging and a test flight only provided, on the same day that my older battery provided 12.5 min, about 11:20. Same day same flight conditions. Go figure.

There is an argument that a new battery may increase your flight time by a minute or so once it has a few cycles under it's belt...a sort of bedding in. I wouldn't be surprised if that same battery gave you an extra minute or two, ten cycles in.

 

[wings]

There is an argument that a new battery may increase your flight time by a minute or so once it has a few cycles under it's belt...a sort of bedding in. I wouldn't be surprised if that same battery gave you an extra minute or two, ten cycles in.

I think I remember reading something about that.

 

[PatR]

Depends on how the new battery was treated for the first 10 or so flights. If it was flown in a non aggressive manner by not using full throttle and landed well before minimum voltage levels with the intent of keeping the battery cool and not stressed they can deliver a little more flight time after the break in. They also need to be charged at a lower rate for the first few cycles to assist the break in. The concept isn’t as much about extra flight time as it is as a means to extend battery life cycle.

The mild break in process is something employed more by people that fly heavy lifters as their batteries are quite large in capacity and very expensive. When your batteries cost $450.00 and up you want them to have the longest service life possible, especially when two or more are used for each flight. For them maximizing flight time is not as important as consistency and use cycles.

If new batteries are flown aggressively, allowed to heat up during the initial flight and charging process, or deep discharged they will end up the same as any other battery and deliver average flight time.