LiHV vs. LiPo

[Ty Pilot]

The other day I was speaking with another Plus owner and we were contemplating which direction we would go in terms of battery replacement. My Plus is coming up on a year old in a couple months and I have seen a steady decline in their capacity; they can still fly around 14 minutes but I have been reading reviews and discussions about the pluses and minuses of LiHV and I am seeing that while they have a lot of potential early in their life cycle, they do not hold up over time as good as a LiPo.

I know many are using the 480 batteries in their Plus, but I have to date, not as I have three Plus batteries and they are working but I can see a time when I will need to replace them. So today, I took my 26 month old Ultrax battery that will fly my 480 for approximately 14 minutes, gave it a charge and slapped it into the Plus for a test. Now since the ST-16S readout is in 'percentage', I expected to see it start out somewhere in the low to mid 90's - especially since this is an old worn out battery but; it was at 100% initially - and for a fleeting 11 seconds.

The test flight was in mild winds, 85 degrees F, and with light humidity and was simply at hover for the duration. I decided to push it all the way down to the second battery warning - I got 12.5 minutes. Hmmm. ? After a cooling off period, I slapped it on the charger to take it to storage mode as I felt this test had pretty much sealed the deal that I was going to replace my current batteries with those designed specifically for the Plus. As I was walking out of the garage, about 15 seconds after starting the storage process, the charger called out the 'Finished' jingle. . . . . . the low battery warning on the Plus is not the same by a long shots as that of the Typhoon H. Indeed I then flew a Plus battery all the way down to the second warning (in the Plus also), let it cool and then put it on the charger an you guessed it - 15.2 volts - there abouts.

So the obvious says that I can time the duration between seeing 14.8 volts on the ST-16 (Typhoon H) which will normally rebound to 15.2 - and when the readout is at 14.4 volts to get an estimate of how far past the first warning one can fly his Plus with a 480 battery. . . . .

Or I could just ask those of you who do fly 480 batteries in your Plus; how long you do fly past the warnings?

The only thing that would bother me is upon the third warning, the Plus will begin to climb to RTH altitude - and I know I can disable that by flicking the flight mode switch to Sport and back to angle or visa versa but; that seems like a lot of hassle every thirty seconds.

So as it stands now, I guess I would just like to know what a brand new 480 battery like an Ultrax can do in a Plus in terms of duration. If I can get sixteen minutes (or there abouts) before the second warning, and be at a price point very near a three to one ratio well; my mind is made up. I think.

What say ye Plus and 520 flyers? ?

 

[DCH]

Good subject! I have been using H480 batteries in my Plus since day one. I have 4 H480 batteries and 2 Plus batteries I use in a rotation. My flight times are very much like you experienced. However I never bother to fly past the first warning if I can help it, second warning usually happens as I'm ready to touch down. On one occasion I received the 2nd warning on my way in and as soon as I flipped the landing gear switch, the voltage drop triggered a RTH. Mode switch stops it but it's similar to getting a 120v shock, doesn't hurt, but always scares the H3ll out me!

My thinking is this. With both batteries to choose from I have flight time options. Most of the time for me, 2~3 minutes isn't anything to worry about. In fact I could remove the RS modal and get that time back. If I know I will be pushing my flight time on a particular occasion, I will use a Plus battery to ensure the longest flight possible. Most of the time, I can work with the reduced flight time of the H480. However I'm not making money with mine, so your needs may vary.

Price per pound comes into play also. Given the cost per minute, the H480 is a better deal than the Plus battery, so you could bank more flight time for less money with more batteries. It seems like a good trade off if a slightly shorter duty cycle is acceptable in your working conditions.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Can you use the orange 520 battery in the H+? They’ve got 7300mAh.....same price as the H+ battery.

Amazon has the UltraX batteries again for $72.19.

I’ve got (4) LiHV Plus batteries and (4) batteries for the 480. I’ve only used the 480 batts in my + a couple times. If I recall correctly I landed at 18% and they rebounded to 30%.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Yeah any of the 520 replacements will work on the Plus, at one time those Ultrax batteries were 52 bucks - what a deal and even at 72 thats just a little more than the cost of a single Plus battery - but for three. Mine (Ultrax) has lasted and given good service and I am thinking that is the route I will take when the time comes.

 

[Steve Carr]

Ultrax batteries are no longer made for the H. I emailed genstattu.com and they have confirmed this.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Ahh.....the listing says “Backordered due 4/7”.....vendor is Gensace&Tattu.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Ultrax batteries are no longer made for the H. I emailed genstattu.com and they have confirmed this.

Well that changes things. So they are discontinued and not just awaiting a new production run? I guess the ones that are still available are leftover old stock and probably nearing the end of their useful time.

 

[Mickeyboo]

I will be flying 4 Plus Batteries and 6 Utrax batteries tomorrow I'll give you some times....
I've also been disappointed in the durability of the Plus batteries ...I use them interchangeably and it seems I get about a minute or two more flight time with Plus...as an aside I've still got 12 H batteries so I use those for calibration and to gather satellites...they seemed to give me 3 or 4 fewer minutes when used for actual flying.

 

[Phaedrus]

The main difference between LiPo and LiHV is the full charge voltage, 4.2 versus 4.35 volts per cell. The minimum voltage is the same. Storage voltage is essentially the same.

The H packs will give slightly less time and a touch less "oomph" due to the slightly lower voltage.

 

[Prince R Harden]

Good subject! I have been using H480 batteries in my Plus since day one. I have 4 H480 batteries and 2 Plus batteries I use in a rotation. My flight times are very much like you experienced. However I never bother to fly past the first warning if I can help it, second warning usually happens as I'm ready to touch down. On one occasion I received the 2nd warning on my way in and as soon as I flipped the landing gear switch, the voltage drop triggered a RTH. Mode switch stops it but it's similar to getting a 120v shock, doesn't hurt, but always scares the H3ll out me!

My thinking is this. With both batteries to choose from I have flight time options. Most of the time for me, 2~3 minutes isn't anything to worry about. In fact I could remove the RS modal and get that time back. If I know I will be pushing my flight time on a particular occasion, I will use a Plus battery to ensure the longest flight possible. Most of the time, I can work with the reduced flight time of the H480. However I'm not making money with mine, so your needs may vary.

Price per pound comes into play also. Given the cost per minute, the H480 is a better deal than the Plus battery, so you could bank more flight time for less money with more batteries. It seems like a good trade off if a slightly shorter duty cycle is acceptable in your working conditions.

I've been hearing a lot about discharging a battery. Can somebody tell me how do you discharge the battery for the typhoon H.

 

[Chewman]

I've been hearing a lot about discharging a battery. Can somebody tell me how do you discharge the battery for the typhoon H.

do you have an aftermarket charger...if you do, does it have a 'storage' setting

 

[Prince R Harden]

Yeah any of the 520 replacements will work on the Plus, at one time those Ultrax batteries were 52 bucks - what a deal and even at 72 thats just a little more than the cost of a single Plus battery - but for three. Mine (Ultrax) has lasted and given good service and I am thinking that is the route I will take when the time comes.

Just curious as anyone tried in the Gifi Power 8050mAh 4s/14.8V LITHUM POLYMER BATTERY.


It seems to be a good battery I tested it in a 15 mph wind drift. I've taken it 250 feet in the air.


And then help the wind for 27.5 minutes. Tried you might like it even do that much with the wind blowing I can imagine what it would do if the wind wasn't blowing.

 

[Chewman]

Just curious as anyone tried in the Gifi Power 8050mAh 4s/14.8V LITHUM POLYMER BATTERY.


It seems to be a good battery I tested it in a 15 mph wind drift. I've taken it 250 feet in the air.


And then help the wind for 27.5 minutes. Tried you might like it even do that much with the wind blowing I can imagine what it would do if the wind wasn't blowing.

27.5 minutes?

 

[TurboDad81]

@Ty Pilot just out of curiosity, how many cycles do you have on those H Plus batteries? I don't know why, but I religiously put mine at storage voltage after I fly. When I charge to full, I balance charge every time.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Around 90 cycles each for batteries one and two and around fifty for number three which; is still giving around 16 minute flights. I also am a stickler for flying/discharging a fully charged battery within 24 hours and then using an aftermarket charger to put them into storage as well as using the balance charge function of a Hitec X2 AC Plus.

 

[Phaedrus]

A point worth making here is that LiPo/LiHV cells have an optimal max discharge point of 80% used/20% remaining. Going below that leads to faster cell degradation and ultimately leads to premature pack failure. Basically 3.73 volts should be your minimum per cell (14.91 volts).

You can go below that, but you are killing your packs doing so. On my H+ I generally land around 30% remaining.

 

[TurboDad81]

I'll admit, I have let mine sit charged for a few days, trying to wait out the rain. Ended up discharging a couple times (which takes all freaking day). I'm still getting up to 24 minutes of flight, depending on wind. I don't really use sport mode, and most of my flights are pretty contained to a couple acres or so. I definitely keep an eye on the percentage and try to land around 30%.

 

[Phaedrus]

A few days is not going to hurt anything. More than a week or so is going to be an issue.

 

[Prince R Harden]

@Ty Pilot just out of curiosity, how many cycles do you have on those H Plus batteries? I don't know why, but I religiously put mine at storage voltage after I fly. When I charge to full, I balance charge every time.

well after flying for three months and figured out everything on these batteries. I decided to run the battery down and how I do that was the battery start going low in the air. I decided to bring it close to me and let it automatically lent itself. then I take it and charge it up to 65% that way if I don't fly for a while it would hold itself . sometimes I don't fly all the time that is the reason I keep it at 50 to 60% . so when I am ready to fly again I can fully charge it and it will hold at least a day if I don't fly the same day . and I found by doing this it holds up better. I hear different things about different ways of doing the same as this is my way. and it works for me .

 

[Prince R Harden]

I'll admit, I have let mine sit charged for a few days, trying to wait out the rain. Ended up discharging a couple times (which takes all freaking day). I'm still getting up to 24 minutes of flight, depending on wind. I don't really use sport mode, and most of my flights are pretty contained to a couple acres or so. I definitely keep an eye on the percentage and try to land around 30%.

oh by the way The 85th the battery works fine is stronger than the regular battery that comes with the typhoon.