Battery Life

[MrBojangles]

Hi All
Has anyone experienced the sudden drop in flight time ...red lights and land--- as in 12mins down to less than
2mins.This has happened to me over the last few days. Batteries are 2200,s times 4 even though they
are all charged to 12.5 ish volts. I am wondering if its down to the new upgrade which I now regret.
When I check them after removal they are all about 11.5 or more.
Any input would be appreciated
How do I get back to the previous 3.14 version...not a happy Phantom Pilot

 

[rilot]

How many mAh does your charger say it's putting back in to the batteries?

 

[FangsCPO]

First i would consider how old are your batteries. Then keep in mind that the stock batteries aren't going to last forever. I too have noticed a considerable decline in my flight time but mine is because I installed the ARRIS CM2200 Gimbal....at 7 minutes I'd better be on my way back because once it goes into the first fail safe, the second fail safe come on pretty quickly and here she comes in for a landing pretty quickly. I guess we may have to see what the next upgrade has for us. :roll:

 

[MKheng]

Do you have a battery checker to check the voltage of each cell? I use the Fusion Smart Guard 2 (Google it for details or see http://www.electricwingman.com/battery-smart-guard.aspx ). That way you'll know if the battery is OK and then if its charging OK. I aways check each battery every time I use it to make sure it's fully charged.

 

[MrBojangles]

The batteries are all about 3 months old...when I bought the Phantom. The charger is the one that came in the box as supplied as is one battery. The other 3 are Turnigy 2200,s.
They all charge up to 12.6v and last between 50 seconds and 1min 53 seconds, after flight voltages are from 11.85v to 11.95v the charger as far as I can tell puts out 225mv at 3amps. I checked the toolbox values for level 1 and 2 fail safe values .. 11.55v I tried to change these but - they just turn red. By the way why does this word processor not work properly. Any help is much appreciated cos I am grounded...Thanks

 

[Glockindahaus]

Hi All
Has anyone experienced the sudden drop in flight time ...red lights and land--- as in 12mins down to less than
2mins.This has happened to me over the last few days. Batteries are 2200,s times 4 even though they
are all charged to 12.5 ish volts. I am wondering if its down to the new upgrade which I now regret.
When I check them after removal they are all about 11.5 or more.
Any input would be appreciated
How do I get back to the previous 3.14 version...not a happy Phantom Pilot

Thats interesting you say that. I have also noticed a more then 20% decrease in flight times and was attributing it to the ezOSD I installed. Ive been tracking my battery usage, flight times, power draw etc for each battery as I fly and its almost a 20% drop in flight time accross the board. Ive seen the red lights come on and after checking the battery levels they were all around 40%. Not sure if 3.16 did something or im imagining it.

 

[LJ35]

The batteries are all about 3 months old...when I bought the Phantom. The charger is the one that came in the box as supplied as is one battery. The other 3 are Turnigy 2200,s.
They all charge up to 12.6v and last between 50 seconds and 1min 53 seconds, after flight voltages are from 11.85v to 11.95v the charger as far as I can tell puts out 225mv at 3amps. I checked the toolbox values for level 1 and 2 fail safe values .. 11.55v I tried to change these but - they just turn red. By the way why does this word processor not work properly. Any help is much appreciated cos I am grounded...Thanks

Look into getting a better charger. First thing I did was grab one of these: http://www.atlantahobby.com/Store/pc/vi ... tegory=252

You can set different charge rates, discharge, half charge (for storage), and check cell balance. Well worth the investment!

 

[MrBojangles]

All comments duly noted...but I'm not convinced its the charger or the battery packs as they are all behaving the sameish.
I'm convinced the problem is in either hardware or the software. Thanks for the comments rec'd so far.

 

[FangsCPO]

I think a balanced charge would freshen up those cells and there is a way to calibrate your battery for proper voltage on a fully charged battery in the NAZA Software under the voltage tab.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

 

[MrBojangles]

The supplied charger does balance the cell after charging...However I am going to buy a new battery and charger and see what happens.
Wish me Luck

 

[Audaciter]

If your battery was actually fully discharging itself in only a couple of minutes, the heat would be incredible.

You likely would not be able to even hold it. And with Lipos being so sensitive, would be susceptible to catching fire.
Not only that, but the ESC's, and motors would have to be the ones doing the power consumption. Maybe if you were carrying
a DSLR camera, or a 2 liter bottle of soda around.

The more likely reason would be either the cells are unbalanced, or a cell is bad.

 

[edunwody]

The supplied charger does balance the cell after charging...However I am going to buy a new battery and charger and see what happens.
Wish me Luck

You can by a little 6 to 13 Dollar lipo volt tester that gives you volts of the battery and of each cell to see if your out a wack. The supplied charger will balance. Takes a bit but it will do it.

E


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MrBojangles]

New battery and charger ordered, strange how my battery problem only started after last upgrade 3.16

 

[FangsCPO]

The supplied charger is crap!! I use a Hyperion 720i AC/DC Charger. So I know exactly the status of each cell and you can get your lipos charged in under 20 minutes.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

 

[MrBojangles]

Hi Guys The general consensus seems to be a faulty battery...since the short flight times happen with all four batteries then I cant believe its a battery problem.
I am still convinced its related to the 3.16 upgrade...if a new charger and battery behave the same then that must be the proof.

Trev

 

[MKheng]

I've got 12 batteries and one now has started to play up. One cell is at least 0.2v below the other two. When I use that battery I get around a minute before the red LEDs start flashing. Time to dump the battery and get a new one I think as a new battery is cheaper that buying a new Phantom and everything that is attached to it.

 

[Audaciter]

Mr Bojangles;

The problem is NOT with the latest firmware update. You mention buying a new battery and charger. I hope
that wasn't a Phantom charger....... Blinking LED's do not make a charger good.

Hyperion makes excellent chargers, Tenergy does also. I can mention these two because I've owned them. But there
are others as well, fully capable of maintaining your battery's health, as well as charging it.


If your batteries were indeed fully discharging in a couple minutes, the heat would be enough to melt the plastic wrap
on the battery, and you would not be able to hold it. Believe me, in the '90s my sons and I modified Associated RC10
buggies, into Monster trucks, We modified them to be so fast, that a battery that used to last 25 minutes would now
last 4 minutes. They were far to hot to hold. I had to use mechanics gloves to remove them.

You are either having a problem with the batteries not being charged evenly, or there is a problem with the protection
circuit on the battery. (Most Lipo batteries have a protection circuit board, to keep from catching fire.)

[Edit] Check your battery protection levels in the Naza Assistant, and make sure they are not set too high.

 

[MrBojangles]

Well! it seems to have sorted itself out, how I don't know but the failsafe levels have reset themselves to a reasonable 11.0/0.60/10.40 maybe due to the new charger or a few trips through the toolbox software. Whoopee! flying again...thanks guys for all your comments.