I'm pretty sure the answer will be no from what I've read in other log battery posts but here's the question. Where the Yuneec drones have onboard GPS and know their takeoff location, is distance from that location taken into consideration when the low battery alarm is triggered or is it just a set voltage and that's it. Thinking that if you are 3 minutes away from the take off point but the low battery warning means you only have 2 minutes of flight time left (just using this as an example), it's not going to end well. Or will the low battery trigger voltage be higher to be able to make it back to the take off point. Thanks.
Low battery and distance
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CraigCam
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Your assumptions are correct. It’s part of the lack of a “smart” battery that those other guys rely on which allows for all the cavalier rule breaking that’s causing our hobby negative attention. The TH is very much a pilot needs to be on top of it camera platform and it’s not meant for long range roaring around like a frustrated fighter pilot. It’s more of a creative cinema and photo platform that works best within good lines of sight and does require some mission planning when looking for full battery time. Plus voltage discharge rate relative to flight time is a constant variable based on flight conditions like wind and temperature. Best rule of thumb is get your mission done before you drop below 15v if you can and save that last bit for safe return. Also don’t push into low voltage warnings if you want good life and many cycles from your batteries.
I just Flew my H the other day. I was testing the same thing @Wingman8209 is talking about. I put it into low voltage at a low altitude and waited for it to do anything. I thought it was gonna go into RTH automatically, but it didn't.
It got to a point where it had all it's light flashing, the remote was vibrating like a paint shaker and beeping. The voltages was counting down like seconds, and was losing altitude. Finally it just dropped out of the sky at 3ft, and went haywire in a crash landing. It did give me all kinds of warning, but I didn't give them any attention.
I've only ran the battery low once before this, and it did RTH for me. I can't remember if It landed to or if it just got close and hovered. I always close my ops at around 14.5 and will land around 14.2 or higher. Just because I don't fly very far and would like to get the most out of my battery.
It got to a point where it had all it's light flashing, the remote was vibrating like a paint shaker and beeping. The voltages was counting down like seconds, and was losing altitude. Finally it just dropped out of the sky at 3ft, and went haywire in a crash landing. It did give me all kinds of warning, but I didn't give them any attention.
I've only ran the battery low once before this, and it did RTH for me. I can't remember if It landed to or if it just got close and hovered. I always close my ops at around 14.5 and will land around 14.2 or higher. Just because I don't fly very far and would like to get the most out of my battery.
LoL... I find your comment, hilarious. DJI introduced the smart battery feature, and it is a **** good feature. DJI has revolutionized the industry and Yuneec is playing at up. Yuneec can change the industry, but are selfishly not sharing their codes to 3d party app makers. But @Tuna change all of that, and the H plus pilots are waiting for his update, whenever that may be.
1) It minimizes battery damage.
2) It’s not about breaking rules. That’s subjective.
3) It is about battery care.
4) With a flight battery life line indicator, pilots can see how much time from the start of the mission and able to visually calculate, without guesstimating battery life.
5) Outside the realm of a hobbyist, there is the commercial drone industry, and small features such as a battery lifeline indicator comes in very handy, because time is money, and every commission work at times, has to be done in one mission.
CraigCam
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Agreed but we are not purchasing a commercial product. My Autel has a smart battery but I still fly the same way which is about subject, frame, and focus so my point about flyboy behavior is about thrills vs creative. The marketing of some is about pushing the envelope while others focus on a particular like mapping or inspection. Myself, I fly for the moment of capture that’s very allusive given the complexity of digital video/photography relative to earth and sky and foreground and background.
Yuneec, unfortunately has been a bit of a confused second cousin but that doesn’t mean it’s not valid while we all find a way to make it work for us here. The whole competitiveness is pointless. You work with the tools you have and if they get the job done, in the end it doesn’t matter what drone it was accomplished with. The best camera is the one you have with you and that’s true with this drone biz as well. [emoji4]
Yuneec, unfortunately has been a bit of a confused second cousin but that doesn’t mean it’s not valid while we all find a way to make it work for us here. The whole competitiveness is pointless. You work with the tools you have and if they get the job done, in the end it doesn’t matter what drone it was accomplished with. The best camera is the one you have with you and that’s true with this drone biz as well. [emoji4]
FlushVision
Premium Pilot
The general consensus among experienced H fliers is that to maintain a good overall lifespan of a battery and to minimize the risk of a crash is never to see a first low voltage level warning come up on the ST16. The first warning activates at 14.3v. The consensus, then, it to be on the ground with everything witched off before you ever see the warning and the best way to ensure that is to be on the ground by 14.5v...not coming in to land at 14.5v, but be on the ground.
If you see the low battery level warning too often you are unlikely to get a good lifetime out of your batteries and you are at high risk of having a needless crash.
Many people can and do use the H for commercial work. Like you said, you use the tools that you have. And the H performs admirably in this respect. You just have to respect its limitations, actually learn to fly the thing and look at and understand the telemetry. As has already been said, get it back and on the ground by 14.5v and all will be well and your batteries will last longer....
Battery care is a whole topic unto it's self but very basically speaking, the quickest way to kill a rechargeable battery is to over stress it. That happens either by exceeding the batteries discharge rate (pulling power out faster than the battery is designed to give it), over charging, or over discharging. When you run a battery down to where it just quits, you've shortened it's life.
