HPlus battery life

bevangg · Jul 16, 2019

I did some hover testing in manual mode today in light winds (2.1m/s) and warm (24C). I got 12 minutes per battery. Seems way too low.
I use a SkyRC D100 balance charger and never go under 30% in flight.

Steve Carr · Jul 16, 2019

bevangg said:
I did some hover testing in manual mode today in light winds (2.1m/s) and warm (24C). I got 12 minutes per battery. Seems way too low.
I use a SkyRC D100 balance charger and never go under 30% in flight.

That does sound low. What is the battery voltage after a charge?
Have you checked the IR of the batteries?

bevangg · Jul 16, 2019

Steve Carr said:
That does sound low. What is the battery voltage after a charge?
Have you checked the IR of the batteries?

Steve, thanks for the response.
Battery voltage after charge is 17.4 and 4.35 per cell. IR is between 2 and 5 milliohms. 5200 mAh charge rate.
I am using the two original batteries and also bought a 520 battery when I realised that I would be lucky to have enough flight time to do my PFCO. I bought the 520 battery on the cheap from Ebay but it has exactly the same characteristics.
I keep a battery log on an Access database and analyse the date on powerbi, but all that tells me something is not right if Yuneec are claiming up to 25 minutes. Perhaps that is indoors with the camera not attached

JackMTaco · Jul 16, 2019

I get 18 to 21 minutes of flight on my batteries (1 is 2 months, the other is 3 weeks old). Even my oldest (8+ months) previous batteries that were swelling still rain for 19 minutes each. Something sounds off about your batteries or your flying.

bevangg · Jul 17, 2019

JackMTaco said:
I get 18 to 21 minutes of flight on my batteries (1 is 2 months, the other is 3 weeks old). Even my oldest (8+ months) previous batteries that were swelling still rain for 19 minutes each. Something sounds off about your batteries or your flying.

The batteries seem to charge ok, see attached log. I get 12 minutes hovering in a light breeze, that goes down to 6 minutes in sport mode.
I also have a problem with the realsense that I posted here so I am wondering if that is the cause

PatR · Jul 17, 2019

Have you checked flight time with RealSense turned off? Have you checked flight time with RealSense removed?

You can of course fly with RealSense engaged all the time but that places a higher current demand on the battery, running it down sooner.

bevangg · Jul 17, 2019

PatR said:
Have you checked flight time with RealSense turned off? Have you checked flight time with RealSense removed?

You can of course fly with RealSense engaged all the time but that places a higher current demand on the battery, running it down sooner.

It is unusable with realsense on, just stops randomly so only tried it twice. I do not want to remove the module as it may void the guarantee. I have tried to report it to Yuneec UK and they are not replying so may have to get Amazon to replace or refund.

terrence davidson · Jul 17, 2019

have you tried just unplugging cable to the realsense module at the module side.

bevangg · Jul 17, 2019

terrence davidson said:
have you tried just unplugging cable to the realsense module at the module side.

Hi Terrence
Thanks for the suggestion.
No, as I previously said I do not want to do anything that might void the guarantee, if Yuneec UK customer services advised me to try it I would but they are completely ignoring me!
I have my PFCO FOA next week so I might have no choice but to try your suggestion, otherwise I will not have enough juice for the test.
Cheers

Ty Pilot · Jul 17, 2019

bevangg said:
. . . . .I am using the two original batteries and also bought a 520 battery when I realised that I would be lucky to have enough flight time to do my PFCO. I bought the 520 battery on the cheap from Ebay but it has exactly the same characteristics.

The LiHVs of the Plus should easily give roughly 18 minutes or more when new, and after 60 to 75 cycles that number will begin to decrease to around 15 or 16 minutes and by the time a battery has 100 cycles it will be down to around 14 minutes. These times are what I have found on my Plus over the last year while flying in average to moderate conditions.

I noticed you said that you got a 520 battery off of Ebay and it has the same characteristics as the two stock Plus batteries and while the chance of having two bad batteries in one Plus kit may seem a bit of a stretch; the chance of that and having a bad 520 battery makes me think your issue may be your charger.

bevangg · Jul 17, 2019

Ty Pilot said:
The LiHVs of the Plus should easily give roughly 18 minutes or more when new, and after 60 to 75 cycles that number will begin to decrease to around 15 or 16 minutes and by the time a battery has 100 cycles it will be down to around 14 minutes. These times are what I have found on my Plus over the last year while flying in average to moderate conditions.

I noticed you said that you got a 520 battery off of Ebay and it has the same characteristics as the two stock Plus batteries and while the chance of having two bad batteries in one Plus kit may seem a bit of a stretch; the chance of that and having a bad 520 battery makes me think your issue may be your charger.

@Ty Pilot I think the SkyRC D100 charger is fine, very well known to me, tested and trusted after years of good service. Take one apart, it is electronic porn, seriously high quality charger. I got exactly the same results from the supplied Yuneec charger in terms of flight times so not sure the charger is not the issue. Thanks for the suggestion and the information about charge cycles. You have 100% confirmed that there is definitely a problem. 12 minutes for hover is insane for a product claiming 25.
As I have a problem with realsense and that can drain the battery (apparently) I think that is the most likely issue. But it could be anything eg something going to ground somewhere, a solder bridge, a shorted component.
I am going to try what Terrence suggested and disconnect the realsense module. But I will also try the Yuneec charger again just in case you are right

Cheers

terrence davidson · Jul 17, 2019

DO NOT remove the Real sense cable entirely out of the h plus! IT MUST be left connected to the mainboard of the h plus. DISCONNECT only from the rs module. Same goes for the h520. If you remove the entire cable from the drone you can have big issues and can lead to destruction in flight of yuneec drone.

bevangg · Jul 18, 2019

terrence davidson said:
DO NOT remove the Real sense cable entirely out of the h plus! IT MUST be left connected to the mainboard of the h plus. DISCONNECT only from the rs module. Same goes for the h520. If you remove the entire cable from the drone you can have big issues and can lead to destruction in flight of yuneec drone.

How can it make any difference which end of the cable is disconnected?

PatR · Jul 18, 2019

Agree that removing the cable and causing issues makes no sense. Unplug either end and the circuitry is interrupted, UNLESS, the board end has a bridge connection built into it. If the connectors and wires are the same at both ends the possibility of having a bridge present is somewhere between slim and none.

I would like to learn more about how removing the cable at the board could have any impact, along with any incidents where cable removal was 100% established as the problem source.

terrence davidson · Jul 18, 2019

I thought so my self when I undid the cable on my h480 on the main board. However when I attempted to fly it that's when problems arose in a big bad way. first off in the air controller flew a magnetic interference warning drone few erratically it indication led light in the back was flashing red in mid flight. when landed and shutdown and restated unit it was all clear to launch but after a few seconds on the ground rear led was flashing red and unable to spin up motors. place the cable back on the mainboard side and all was well the issues disappeared and the drone no longer malfunction. I am suspecting when the cable is pulled there is emi noise issue in a big way. The same issue arises when you pull the gimbal cable from the mainboard side as well.

bevangg · Jul 18, 2019

PatR said:
Agree that removing the cable and causing issues makes no sense. Unplug either end and the circuitry is interrupted, UNLESS, the board end has a bridge connection built into it. If the connectors and wires are the same at both ends the possibility of having a bridge present is somewhere between slim and none.

I would like to learn more about how removing the cable at the board could have any impact, along with any incidents where cable removal was 100% established as the problem source.

My thoughts exactly

bevangg · Jul 18, 2019

terrence davidson said:
I thought so my self when I undid the cable on my h480 on the main board. However when I attempted to fly it that's when problems arose in a big bad way. first off in the air controller flew a magnetic interference warning drone few erratically it indication led light in the back was flashing red in mid flight. when landed and shutdown and restated unit it was all clear to launch but after a few seconds on the ground rear led was flashing red and unable to spin up motors. place the cable back on the mainboard side and all was well the issues disappeared and the drone no longer malfunction. I am suspecting when the cable is pulled there is emi noise issue in a big way. The same issue arises when you pull the gimbal cable from the mainboard side as well.

Blimey that is odd. You would expect more EMI with the cable attached but having said that it depends on the length of the cable and circuit board traces, so that could definitely make it pick up more without the cable.

PatR · Jul 18, 2019

Interesting. As the issues after cable removal ceased after replacing the cable I’d look at that as hard evidence for reason not to remove the cable at the board side.

bevangg · Jul 18, 2019

PatR said:
Interesting. As the issues after cable removal ceased after replacing the cable I’d look at that as hard evidence for reason not to remove the cable at the board side.

Indeed, hence my theory on trace lengths, as they may be inadvertently tuned, which would go away with the cable attached

bevangg · Jul 19, 2019

Update - I disabled realsense on the st16s in the settins menu and got 18.5 minutes flying hard in serious gusts. Also noticed a buzzing noise when realsense is enabled so am guessing there is a short or wiring issue

terrence davidson said:
I thought so my self when I undid the cable on my h480 on the main board. However when I attempted to fly it that's when problems arose in a big bad way. first off in the air controller flew a magnetic interference warning drone few erratically it indication led light in the back was flashing red in mid flight. when landed and shutdown and restated unit it was all clear to launch but after a few seconds on the ground rear led was flashing red and unable to spin up motors. place the cable back on the mainboard side and all was well the issues disappeared and the drone no longer malfunction. I am suspecting when the cable is pulled there is emi noise issue in a big way. The same issue arises when you pull the gimbal cable from the mainboard side as well.