Hello, new owner. Anyone want to use aftermarket batteries?

[Drfeldtgood]

Hello all,
I'm a fairly recent owner of a Breeze and I've spent more time taking it apart than actually flying. I wanted to share my recent success in using a hobby grade 3S 1300 mAh (very cheap from HobbyKing.com). I had 3 of those batteries from my Parrot AR 2.0 and wanted to use them in the Breeze. I have attached some photo's but haven't done a formal how-to (I probably should of thought of that when I was doing it). It wasn't very hard to complete the project and the most difficult issue was encasing the power wires in foil to prevent interference to the internal compass (that's the foil pipe on the inside). Don't be afraid to tear into this little drone. She is easy to take apart and everything is easy to put back together. I'm hoping to put in a 3S 1800 mAh battery but am worried it may be too heavy.

 

[Steve Carr]

Have you flown it with those batteries yet???

 

[DoomMeister]

The larger battery should be fine. Look at these Music on Breeze and GoPro 6 on Breeze.

 

[DoomMeister]

Drfeldtgood,

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[RickJKelley]

It's looking good Drfeldtgood! I hope to read more on your findings. I too am experimenting with adding other items to my Breeze 4K so far I have been succesful, and now seeking to add more juice to it's caboose for hauling my created toys. Keep updating us with your findings!

 

[Scott_in_Colorado]

I'll mention this as the Breeze is very cheap now ($150) so many may not know when playing with batteries other than the OEM ones ($21). If you plan to make battery changes you MUST use a balancing charger - MUST. DO NOT charge thru the 2 power wires. This, or course, means you must buy a new charger. I have not looked lately but $50 would not be on the high end chargers for that purpose. The Breeze charger is a balancing charger. You also want to charge at about 1C (this means if you have a 1350mah battery, you want to charge at 1.3A or less) - yes, you can charge faster than this, but you need to know what you are doing. A 1C rate is a rough rule of thumb.

 

[nikono]

I bought some aftermarket batteries (GiFipower 1300mAh). They're slightly larger to be pushed tightly into the battery slot of the Breeze, but they were OK, comparable to Yuneec battery at less than half price..
GiFiPower also made the 1700mAh batteries which promised 3 more minutes of flying time. I saw some buyer's review giving the 1700mAh 100 rating. I ordered one to try it out. It's being shipped ...

 

[biltno]

Anyone heard of these batteries soon to be sold?
Lithium-Metal Battery for Drones Coming to Market

 

[RickJKelley]

I also bought the GiFipower 1300mAh batteries and they work fine. You can use the Yuneec charger if you seat them into the charging slot tightly, otherwise you will see a blinking blue light, same as if the charger thinks you have drained the battery to low or its unbalanced. Right now the walmart store nearby me is selling the originals for $21.00 USD. I wanted to experiment to find a battery that will give a longer flight, so I too am seeking to find one.

 

[nikono]

Testing the 1700mAh GiFi battery from full charge:
Upon taking off to hover at 4ft high, 100% dropped to 87%.
From then on, hovering at 20 ft in 80degreeF temperature, 5mph wind, got 9 minutes of hovering to 20% battery level from 87%.
From 20% down to 15% in 40 seconds (!) then landing was activated.
Battery level was seen dropping fast in the beginning and in the end.

 

[DoomMeister]

I’m assuming you just got the new 1700 mAh battery. I would suggest hovering flights for the first ten cycles of charge/discharge. After that see if the flight time starts getting a little better especially the first couple of minutes. That was quite a drop right after takeoff, it would also help to only run it down to the first warning until it’s broke in.

 

[Scott_in_Colorado]

Niko, do you have some conclusion to this?

"Testing the 1700mAh GiFi battery from full charge: Upon taking off to hover at 4ft high, 100% dropped to 87%.
From then on, hovering at 20ft in 80degreeF temperature, 5mph wind, got 9 minutes of hovering to 20% battery level from 87%.
From 20% down to 15% in 40 seconds (!) then landing was activated. Battery level was seen dropping fast in the beginning and in the end."

Is the above what you were expecting? If not, why not? If so, are you happy with the battery and performance?

 

[nikono]

I will do the same test with GiFi 1300mAh and Yuneec OEM batteries tomorrow. At the moment, I think 1700mAh GiFi gives no extra flight time.

 

[nikono]

Tested Yuneec OEM battery, GiFi 1300mAh, GiFi 1700mAh.
All three batteries behaved the same way. 100% to ~90% upon taking off to hover. And then
All three batteries provided 9+ minutes from ~90% to 20%.
All three batteries' levels dropped fast from 20% to 15% to 10% to 5% ...
The 1700mAh label didn't make it any better.
For curiosity, I weighed the batteries.
Yuneec OEM battery: ~100g
GiFi 1300mAh: ~110g
GiFi 1700mAh: ~111g

 

[Scott_in_Colorado]

Good test results. What I can tell you from experience and other testing I have done is that battery longevity becomes the question that you won’t be able to answer for a while. The differences in battery internal specs ‘matter’. Mainly how well the cells are matched to each other before assembly. More specifically the internal resistance of each cell to the other cells. This MATTERS and initially shows itself with longer balance times and shorter than expected flight times - as you see. There is more detail here but the point to know is that all batteries are NOT created equal - as you have seen.

 

[Locksley]

Hi.

I've just purchased another GIFI 1700mAh Breeze battery, and I'm now awaiting delivery.
Honestly, I picked this one not because I have much faith in the extended flight time, but because it was a flash offer and for a while it was even a bit cheaper than both the regular Yuneec OEM 1150mAh battery and the other GiFi 1300 mAh option.

Once I receive it I will make a few 'smooth' charge and discharge cycles, and will post my findings about endurance and reliability.

Regards

J

 

[Scott_in_Colorado]

How much was the battery? Flash offers are very tempting at times and if Walmart is not selling for $21 any longer (they are out of stock?) then lower cost solutions will be tempting.

You may have noticed LiPo cells have C ratings. I flew (on airplanes) a 5000mah (5A) 25C battery and while the battery held up ‘ok’ I changed to a 4500mah at 35C and it’s much better. What you need to know here is the larger C rating the larger physical size the battery and heavier the battery will be. The advantage; the higher the C rating the more discharge current you get = more power from the battery.

So, other that IR differences in cells, if the 1700mah battery is a lower C rating than the OEM battery (and given it fits in the same physical space in the Breeze it more than likely is a lower C rating) the overall performance may not be as good.

If you expect similar performance as the OEM cells that expectation will be close. For a good price it may be worth buying but in general the number of flights you get before the battery has issues will be less than the OEM battery.

To be clear, I’m not trying to talk anyone out of buying alternative cells, just pointing out possible differences that will affect flight times and longevity.

Good luck.

 

[Locksley]

How much was the battery? Flash offers are very tempting at times and if Walmart is not selling for $21 any longer (they are out of stock?) then lower cost solutions will be tempting.

You may have noticed LiPo cells have C ratings. I flew (on airplanes) a 5000mah (5A) 25C battery and while the battery held up ‘ok’ I changed to a 4500mah at 35C and it’s much better. What you need to know here is the larger C rating the larger physical size the battery and heavier the battery will be. The advantage; the higher the C rating the more discharge current you get = more power from the battery.

So, other that IR differences in cells, if the 1700mah battery is a lower C rating than the OEM battery (and given it fits in the same physical space in the Breeze it more than likely is a lower C rating) the overall performance may not be as good.

If you expect similar performance as the OEM cells that expectation will be close. For a good price it may be worth buying but in general the number of flights you get before the battery has issues will be less than the OEM battery.

To be clear, I’m not trying to talk anyone out of buying alternative cells, just pointing out possible differences that will affect flight times and longevity.

Good luck.

GiFi 1700mAh Battery was 22 Euro P&P included. Here in Europe (Spain at least) it's hard to find any Yuneec original OEM batteries for less than 30 Euro, and, for reference, Amazon is selling them here for 42 Euro.

Unfortunately, I've been unable to find neither the C rating of the original battery, nor the C rating of the GiFi Power aftermarket batteries.
This is the closest I've found:
Yuneec Breeze Discussion Thread - Page 16 - RC Groups
Here one user claims that original Yuneec batteries are all of mediocre quality, with C ratings equal or below 10 (which is indeed abysmal for LiPo bateries). Take it with a grain of salt though.

 

[Scott_in_Colorado]

Locksley, you are doing what we’d all do in your shoes, find a source for batteries that works for you. Point is, you enjoy your Breeze as it’s a capable drone you can have fun with.

Perhaps it’s above but how are you charging your batteries? Thru the balance port I hope. If another charger, other than the Breeze charger, how many amps are you charging at?

Do you fly with others that have drones? (Or by yourself) - just wondering if many in Spain have drones? I don’t see many here in Colorado but I have seen 3 of the FPV type racing around now and then.

 

[Locksley]

Locksley, you are doing what we’d all do in your shoes, find a source for batteries that works for you. Point is, you enjoy your Breeze as it’s a capable drone you can have fun with.

Perhaps it’s above but how are you charging your batteries? Thru the balance port I hope. If another charger, other than the Breeze charger, how many amps are you charging at?

Do you fly with others that have drones? (Or by yourself) - just wondering if many in Spain have drones? I don’t see many here in Colorado but I have seen 3 of the FPV type racing around now and then.

Hello Scott.

I'm using the Yuneec stock charger, yes. This is my first "serious" drone, after a couple of "toy" RC helicopters, so I don't have any previous RC equipment like balancing LiPo chargers.

I fly alone, and this is my only drone for now. I live in a pretty small town in the outskirts of a big city, so chances of finding more drone owners around are... slim at best
Yet Spain seems to have an emerging community of recreative drone owners, (there are quite a few associations and drone clubs, but most if not all based on big capital cities) so not all hope is lost

Regards

Jorge