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LiPo Battery Danger - You should read this!

Cappy,

Glad the Breeze is working out for you. The Breeze (and most others as well) use the takeoff point as the 0 altitude reference. Even if you fly below this point from an elevated takeoff position, when you do an RTH the Breeze will rise above that point to your setting for Return to Home in the Drone Settings, fly to the takeoff point and land. Just be sure there is nothing overhanging the takeoff point if you use RTH.

It’s always good to keep the mind active, even if the rest of the body limits our activity level we once enjoyed.
 
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Would be nice if we can come up with a hack to be able to charge the yuneec batteries with a good balance charger that has storage mode. I store my other lipos at 3.8v per cell.
 
I find the LiPo storage topic a interesting one. One benefit of using LiPo's is their ability to discharge large amounts of current (like 100A) instantly. This will happen at 3.6V or 4.2V. The danger of using LiPo's is overcharging - meaning charging a cell more than 4.2V - and this happens when a cell in a battery pack starts to fail and the charger is not balancing the battery properly. In this case, the battery PACK voltage is monitored, not the individual cells. For example, 3 of 4 cells (a 4 cell pack = 4 x 4.2v = 16.8V charged) perhaps get charged to 4.4V and the bad cell get charged to 16.8V - 13.2V = 3.4V, but the total pack voltage is still 16.8V; but you can see the 3 cells are overcharged - a real danger. While I will not tell you storing the LiPo's at 4.2V is correct, I have done this for many years with no issue. You can safely store at 3.6V to 4.2V per cell. You decide on a range that you believe is safe and store the batteries at that voltage per cell. For me, it's easy to just charge the battery using a good charger, and I know each cell is at 4.2V - then store them in a metal container of some sort, "just in case". Just my opinion.
 
Have you tested each cell to see what it's at when power goes down to 40% 30%20%..? This way if 30% gives you 3.8V per cell, you know you can remove the battery store it for future use.
 
Has anyone tested to see what the amp draw of the breeze is?
Has anyone actually looked inside (as in removed the battery case) to see what is being used? Are they 3 flat batteries that each a protective circuit?
I recently bought 2 with controllers from Walmart at the $150 price and then purchased 4 OEM batteries online plus one gifi pack. I'm tempted to open the gifi pack and investigate and yes I know all about lithium battery dangers. Currently own at least a couple hundred lithium batteries in the standard battery form factor such as 10440, 14500, 18650 etc. for handheld laser builds.
I found out the hard way that even being very careful removing the lithium from a cell you must pay attention to everything. I had done this quite a few times with no issues until one time I had not realized that the bottom of my shoes had made a very small wet spot on the floor which caused the lithium to ignite. Lithium is some very interesting stuff to experiment with but you better be on your A+ game every second. Dont care how great a charger you own, you should not leave lithium cells charging without being in the room.
Anyways, what I'm wondering is whether the packs are a standard format so you could combine higher capacity cells which is not something I'm endorsing. Also wondering how robust the motors are or any other part of the breeze meaning can they handle a longer flight time. No point in experimenting if the breeze itself has a component that will overheat.
How often has anyone had to replace a motor? I'm hoping to have another fully working unit by the end of the week as I bought one for $60 on ebay that I think is just the display one from a Walmart. Comes without anything such as a battery, charger or case.
I'm assuming there are no alternate/aftermarket props. I cant seem to find anything other than oem.
I did see how some people are using those fingerlights on the landing feet which is probably the sim pl least way to add some external lighting. If anyone has done something else I would be really interested.
Thanks in advance for any information:)
 
“Anyways, what I'm wondering is whether the packs are a standard format so you could combine higher capacity cells...”

They are a standard format; 3S, meaning 3 cells in series. 1150mah as I recall.

Energy is not free, and in our case the size of the 3S pack is a limiting factor. There are many 3S packs out there with different capacities and discharge ratings. The larger ones will not fit physically. I won’t go into the detail but going to a 3S 1500 20c pack, or a 1150 30c+ won’t fit well.

Save yourself a lot of time and just use the batteries that are designed for it.
 
In other words not worth messing with which is fine. The breeze is a steal at $150 with the controller anyways. I really think they are selling off inventory on it at this point and not making it anymore unless someone has bought one that has a 2018 date on it.
 
To anyone reading this, it's not worth modifying the battery in an attempt to get another minute of flying time. To measure the current the Breeze draws, you need to connect a current meter in series with the battery (+ or - side). Don't bother, the info won't be of much use. It indicated above you should be on your A+ game if you plan to mess with the batteries - well, add to this if you don't have the knowledge, don't even try. You can't solder to the battery tabs, the are welded to the battery. Adding a higher capacity battery means a different battery dimension - usually a thicker battery. Then it wont fit well in the Breeze. Also, unless you can match internal resistances of the 3 cells, the batteries will not charge correctly - soon after the change. Just enjoy the Breeze as is.
 

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