My results back that up as well, on my 4S 3kg 550 I usually draw about 25A at hover and I don't think I've seen it go above 40A except on one very aggressive climb (and it didn't go above 45A even then).
550 Pilot's lounge
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I've also decided to turn off my voltage limit in my Wookong-M. I fly with telemetry to my radio and I just about always have my OSD showing. Every time I have let my limit tell me my pack was low its given me a false reading, even using a volt meter and setting it super low. this is why I got this $44 pack in the first place for testing. I didnt care if I killed it, but it showed me that these are drawing WAY less current than any of my cars ever did.
I flew one pack for 22 minutes in just a hover and it was crazy low, yes BUT not lower than 3.22V a cell. Some say you can go as low as 3 a cell, but I never would as a choice. I reduced my flight time to 17 and had my cells at 3.6+ and was much closer to my "safe" zone so my timer on the DX8 is set to buzz me at 15 minutes. I know I can get back in plenty of time. I am still putting only about 80% back in or just over.
At $44 a pack I have now ordered 8 of them. (Sorry US buys if they sell out, lol) I can cycle through all of these once I get the last 4 tomorrow and use one pack a flight. The price makes it super easy for me not to feel bad about pushing the hell out of them too. With 8 packs at 15 minutes a flight I cant see me using one pack more than twice in a single day.
I flew one pack for 22 minutes in just a hover and it was crazy low, yes BUT not lower than 3.22V a cell. Some say you can go as low as 3 a cell, but I never would as a choice. I reduced my flight time to 17 and had my cells at 3.6+ and was much closer to my "safe" zone so my timer on the DX8 is set to buzz me at 15 minutes. I know I can get back in plenty of time. I am still putting only about 80% back in or just over.
At $44 a pack I have now ordered 8 of them. (Sorry US buys if they sell out, lol) I can cycle through all of these once I get the last 4 tomorrow and use one pack a flight. The price makes it super easy for me not to feel bad about pushing the hell out of them too. With 8 packs at 15 minutes a flight I cant see me using one pack more than twice in a single day.
Acill, what brand telemetry, and where do you have the voltage sensor wired in? Do you see much variation between what it reports and what the WKM (iOSD) shows, either when flying or on the ground?
Yea-the weight and the price are definitely attractive. But-I'd be curious to know just how accurate the weight really is. As you know-they've misstated weights before.
10C should be enough for me, I think?
And-why would they put an XT90 plug on a 10C battery? That doesn't make sense. I need XT-60...oh well, at least I have the fancy Solder Jig now to take care of that connector
Bullets coming soon
10C should be enough for me, I think?
And-why would they put an XT90 plug on a 10C battery? That doesn't make sense. I need XT-60...oh well, at least I have the fancy Solder Jig now to take care of that connector
Bullets coming soon
OI Photography said:
I have the spektrum one. Its wired directly into my bottom plate where my battery leads are. Works great, but I wouldnt trust it alone. It is close to being the same as the WKM shows through the IOSD. Usually just a small 10th of a volt off. On 3s I land at 10.4v under load and usually I see the spektrum report just that and the WKM showing my 10.3 but shoots up as soon as I land.
havasuphoto said:Yea-the weight and the price are definitely attractive. But-I'd be curious to know just how accurate the weight really is. As you know-they've misstated weights before.
10C should be enough for me, I think?
And-why would they put an XT90 plug on a 10C battery? That doesn't make sense. I need XT-60...oh well, at least I have the fancy Solder Jig now to take care of that connector
Bullets coming soon
Once I removed the XT60 and shortened the leads a bit the weight was 497g. I think the weight is as listed. I have Deans on all my packs.
Everything I own is on XT60-and I have a lot of batteries. Even the charger is XT60. I understand the 60amp limit, buy why put a 90 amp connector on a 10C battery-that doesn't make sense.Acill said:havasuphoto said:Yea-the weight and the price are definitely attractive. But-I'd be curious to know just how accurate the weight really is. As you know-they've misstated weights before.
10C should be enough for me, I think?
And-why would they put an XT90 plug on a 10C battery? That doesn't make sense. I need XT-60...oh well, at least I have the fancy Solder Jig now to take care of that connector
Bullets coming soon
Once I removed the XT60 and shortened the leads a bit the weight was 497g. I think the weight is as listed. I have Deans on all my packs.
I think a lot of the users in Europe and Asia use the XT90 plugs. My WKM even came with one new attached to it.
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When in doubt, count the amps. A 66A max continuous output would warrant an xt90, even if you're unlikely to draw that in a given application. I know a lot of people who will still use an xt60 for that (it's official rating is "60+A") but it's up to you. Personally I think most can just use an xt60 but I wouldn't mind the extra assurance of an incompatible connector to prevent plugging it into a 3s component.
@havasu: I've been trying to get a vid of the way I use that jig but I'm having trouble with my camera that I'm still diagnosing. So I grabbed some photos for now...it's pretty simple so these should get you by.
1. Make sure the wire is fully and evenly tinned like in this pic. With power cables it's more important that the solder penetrates and binds with as many individual strands as possible:
2. Place the connector in the spot you see this one in for the male bullets, and the one to the left of it for the female:
3. When you insert the tinned end of the cable in to the connector, hold it in place with one hand then bring the claw on it to hold it in place. You want the wire all the way in the connector touching the bottom inside, and centered in the middle of the connector:
4. The tip of your hot iron should fit in the tiny hole on the side of the connector and just touch the exposed wire inside. Let the iron sit there for a few seconds, until you can feed the solder lead in to the connector around the edges of the wire's insulation. just feed a little bit in there then feed a little bit more on the opposite side. Leave the iron touching the wire during this and the solder should melt down in to the cup of the connector and fill it up a little bit...but you'll have to wait till it's all hot enough. If it is, the solder will flow and fill evenly, and once the cup is about 1/2 to 2/3 full with evenly liquid solder you can then pull the tip away. Give it a few minutes to cool, and it should look like this:
As you can see my wire is a little off-center in the connector but that's not a big deal, and once you do one or two like this you'll find it easy to get them even and neat.
I hope this helps a bit, let me know if you need some more input
1. Make sure the wire is fully and evenly tinned like in this pic. With power cables it's more important that the solder penetrates and binds with as many individual strands as possible:
2. Place the connector in the spot you see this one in for the male bullets, and the one to the left of it for the female:
3. When you insert the tinned end of the cable in to the connector, hold it in place with one hand then bring the claw on it to hold it in place. You want the wire all the way in the connector touching the bottom inside, and centered in the middle of the connector:
4. The tip of your hot iron should fit in the tiny hole on the side of the connector and just touch the exposed wire inside. Let the iron sit there for a few seconds, until you can feed the solder lead in to the connector around the edges of the wire's insulation. just feed a little bit in there then feed a little bit more on the opposite side. Leave the iron touching the wire during this and the solder should melt down in to the cup of the connector and fill it up a little bit...but you'll have to wait till it's all hot enough. If it is, the solder will flow and fill evenly, and once the cup is about 1/2 to 2/3 full with evenly liquid solder you can then pull the tip away. Give it a few minutes to cool, and it should look like this:
As you can see my wire is a little off-center in the connector but that's not a big deal, and once you do one or two like this you'll find it easy to get them even and neat.
I hope this helps a bit, let me know if you need some more input
Thanks-that helps a lot. I would have never thought to tin the wire first. My idea was just to hold the wire into the bullet with the claw and feed solder in with my tip in one of the holes.
Now I have about 18 or so to do....I'll probably practice a few times on some "blanks" that I don't need, just so I can get the amount of heat right, and the same with the solder.
Now I have about 18 or so to do....I'll probably practice a few times on some "blanks" that I don't need, just so I can get the amount of heat right, and the same with the solder.
I have a question about my Transmitter for my F550...
Right now I'm using a Futaba T8J... I have run out of channels to add switching LED's on my 550. Until I get a more advanced Transmitter, I was thinking of connection my Cooper UAV LED's to the throttle channel so they would turn on as I reach 50% throttle and they will stay on until I hover to land.
I bench tested the idea and it works. However, would there be any interference or any kind of issue problem having them work as the throttle goes up?
The transmitter only has 2 free channels I can use... One is for my gimbal, and the other is for my retracts. So I have run out of places to add things like LED lights, and/or a 3 axis gimbal control switch if I ever want to add one.
I am in the market for another Transmitter, but for now, is it a wise idea to combine the two channels mentioned above?
PS: I am using the S bus port set up with the NAZA v2...
Right now I'm using a Futaba T8J... I have run out of channels to add switching LED's on my 550. Until I get a more advanced Transmitter, I was thinking of connection my Cooper UAV LED's to the throttle channel so they would turn on as I reach 50% throttle and they will stay on until I hover to land.
I bench tested the idea and it works. However, would there be any interference or any kind of issue problem having them work as the throttle goes up?
The transmitter only has 2 free channels I can use... One is for my gimbal, and the other is for my retracts. So I have run out of places to add things like LED lights, and/or a 3 axis gimbal control switch if I ever want to add one.
I am in the market for another Transmitter, but for now, is it a wise idea to combine the two channels mentioned above?
PS: I am using the S bus port set up with the NAZA v2...
PJA said:
Since you're using S-bus, I assume you mean you've hooked up the lights to the T channel output pins on the Futaba Rx? If so that should be fine, as long as the lights are designed to run off 5v pins...are they ones that have a 3-pin servo connection and a switch in-line controlled by the signal pin?
You might want to consider connecting them to the output for channel 7 (flight mode switch) so they're on any time you're in GPS mode, and maybe ATTI too depending on the exact cutoff point of the light's switch. Seems like having them connected to the throttle if they have a cutoff point of 0 (center stick) would cause them to flash on and off as the output from your left stick flickered above and below that value. Or anytime you let the spring center the throttle stick they might go out for a second as the stick passes the 0 point a small bit and then bounces back again. I'm just guessing though.
I'm about to cash out for the night, I'll be back in the morning to sell you on a Taranis
I havent ever put LED lights on my 550. I've thought of doing it, but now that I am on 4s its a challenge to get things powered and not add more junk to my battery lines.
How fun is it using LED lights? I have a DX8 and could use a spare chan, but I have my setup taking most now with mixing enabled for my failsafe to work in any flight mode. I'd love to see some pictures or videos of an F550 with full lights!
How fun is it using LED lights? I have a DX8 and could use a spare chan, but I have my setup taking most now with mixing enabled for my failsafe to work in any flight mode. I'd love to see some pictures or videos of an F550 with full lights!
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LEDs are really fun for DIYers. Depending on how crazy/christmasy you get, it can be very helpful to have a switch to change between high visibility (bright/strobing) to lower contrast for nighttime flying (blackout, low intensity so it doesn't show up in FPV/video). A tx switch obviously works for real-time adjustment, but you can also have common modes set on a switch on the LED controller, and just set it to what you want prior to flight.
I'm only working with 7 channels right now, so I don't have the tx switch setup. But I do have it set to change modes if I "hotwire" a GPIO (rub a couple of exposed wires together)....it's ghetto but it works for now.
I'm only working with 7 channels right now, so I don't have the tx switch setup. But I do have it set to change modes if I "hotwire" a GPIO (rub a couple of exposed wires together)....it's ghetto but it works for now.
Yes sir, you are correct...OI Photography said:
I have done that too, but at the same time I assigned the LED's to another switch and when I turn the LED's on my 550 seems to lose it's connection to the TX.
Yeah, I thought of that... Passing center throttle either way can turn them on or off in flight... That would look stupid...
Any info or a link would be appreciated... I'm up for looking into other TX's...I'm about to cash out for the night, I'll be back in the morning to sell you on a Taranis
Acill said:
OI Photography has a 4S system and has them on his 550... Somewhere early in this thread you can find a video of his rig in flight with his LED's on... Try this link at the bottom of the page: http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=8079&start=310
How is that "Y" config working out for you? It looks really cool and I was thinking of attempting it. Any more stable? I would imagine you can get some great shots with no props in the way like that.
I think I have a bad battery
Got up extra early this morning(5:30am), in the hopes of having a calm wind day to fly my F800 with the new 12X4.5 props. Nope!!!
Steady 10mph with gust to 15mph....great. But, decided fly anyways-I've flown this aircraft in these kind of winds before.
Sooooo, I put in Battery #1(this is the battery that has shown a cell gap of 0.100 or higher on Cell #1 before, after discharge).
This time(no heat shrink on the shafts), there were no vibrations, and the aircraft flew relatively smoothly. However, I'm still chasing my P/R gains. I have a knob on the remote to adjust them. Stupid me!! Don't try to adjust your gains in the winds-you're just chasing Unicorns. To compare how wobbly by F800 was-I flew the P2 afterwards, and it was just as bad...
I got it so it was fairly stable, and mostly just hovered, with 2 runs out to about 100 meters and back. Now here's where it gets interesting;
I had set my 1st level low voltage to 14.1. And, as I'm approaching 14 minutes of flight time(yea-gained 1 minute), I looked at the iOSD voltage display and it showed 14.3...time to start landing. So, I'm about 15 feet up, and I move over my "pad" and start descending-I notice the LED is flashing red-indicating 14.1 volts-already!!! WTH?? Normally-I have about a minute at least, between 14.3 to 14.1.
Just as I'm adding power to come into a ground effect hover(remember, this is all within about 20 seconds or so), I look at the monitor, and it shows 13.8 volts!!! WTH, over!! So-I landed without issue.
In voltage was 16.77 Volts@99%. OUT voltage was; 14.49 volts(after about 3 minutes of rest), And here's the problem-the cell gaps were;
1-3.540
2-3.641
3-3.654
4-3.670
Cell gap was 0.130!!! Anyone see a problem with this?
I don't know the Mah used yet-will fill this spot in later.......(to be edited)
I did not fly Battery #2, because the wind was just too strong.
I've already contacted the Dealer to see what their policy is-I've never had a LiPO do this.
Engine and ESC temps were all fine....
One more thing......I need some help figuring out IF this is an issue; my GPS mast is mounted at the 0 X, and Y, position. But, it's entered as -13CM in the Z axis. I measure from the center of the Naza box, to the center of the puck, and come up with 5 1/2", or 13.9CM...SO, should I change my -Z axis from 13CM to 14CM? Would this cause me to have stability issues??
Having a hell of a time getting the gains right.....I get so close, but then a gust of wind will come along and just mess everything up. Currently, P/R are around between 180 to 200, Basic Attitude is 225, Attitude P/R 100, and yaw is 300(seems high to me-gonna work on that later).
EDIT; My video issue......I powered up the aircraft and put on the goggles-engines not running, and it was crappy w/interference. It didn't change when I started the engines. So-I don't know where the noise is coming from now...I'm all confused. Going to push the channel select button on the remote and just run through the channels one more time to make sure I'm not 1 off....but after that-I got nothing. If the FPV filter doesn't solve this issue-I don't know what else to do.
Got up extra early this morning(5:30am), in the hopes of having a calm wind day to fly my F800 with the new 12X4.5 props. Nope!!!
Steady 10mph with gust to 15mph....great. But, decided fly anyways-I've flown this aircraft in these kind of winds before.
Sooooo, I put in Battery #1(this is the battery that has shown a cell gap of 0.100 or higher on Cell #1 before, after discharge).
This time(no heat shrink on the shafts), there were no vibrations, and the aircraft flew relatively smoothly. However, I'm still chasing my P/R gains. I have a knob on the remote to adjust them. Stupid me!! Don't try to adjust your gains in the winds-you're just chasing Unicorns. To compare how wobbly by F800 was-I flew the P2 afterwards, and it was just as bad...
I got it so it was fairly stable, and mostly just hovered, with 2 runs out to about 100 meters and back. Now here's where it gets interesting;
I had set my 1st level low voltage to 14.1. And, as I'm approaching 14 minutes of flight time(yea-gained 1 minute), I looked at the iOSD voltage display and it showed 14.3...time to start landing. So, I'm about 15 feet up, and I move over my "pad" and start descending-I notice the LED is flashing red-indicating 14.1 volts-already!!! WTH?? Normally-I have about a minute at least, between 14.3 to 14.1.
Just as I'm adding power to come into a ground effect hover(remember, this is all within about 20 seconds or so), I look at the monitor, and it shows 13.8 volts!!! WTH, over!! So-I landed without issue.
In voltage was 16.77 Volts@99%. OUT voltage was; 14.49 volts(after about 3 minutes of rest), And here's the problem-the cell gaps were;
1-3.540
2-3.641
3-3.654
4-3.670
Cell gap was 0.130!!! Anyone see a problem with this?
I don't know the Mah used yet-will fill this spot in later.......(to be edited)
I did not fly Battery #2, because the wind was just too strong.
I've already contacted the Dealer to see what their policy is-I've never had a LiPO do this.
Engine and ESC temps were all fine....
One more thing......I need some help figuring out IF this is an issue; my GPS mast is mounted at the 0 X, and Y, position. But, it's entered as -13CM in the Z axis. I measure from the center of the Naza box, to the center of the puck, and come up with 5 1/2", or 13.9CM...SO, should I change my -Z axis from 13CM to 14CM? Would this cause me to have stability issues??
Having a hell of a time getting the gains right.....I get so close, but then a gust of wind will come along and just mess everything up. Currently, P/R are around between 180 to 200, Basic Attitude is 225, Attitude P/R 100, and yaw is 300(seems high to me-gonna work on that later).
EDIT; My video issue......I powered up the aircraft and put on the goggles-engines not running, and it was crappy w/interference. It didn't change when I started the engines. So-I don't know where the noise is coming from now...I'm all confused. Going to push the channel select button on the remote and just run through the channels one more time to make sure I'm not 1 off....but after that-I got nothing. If the FPV filter doesn't solve this issue-I don't know what else to do.
