Controller battery life (not yet) quantified

[pault]

Last night I got the audible warning that the batteries in the controller needed replacing. As I have been keeping a flying log I can confirm that I got 140 minutes of flight time from a set of Duracell plus. The alarm was triggered on a voltage of 1.4

Edit: 1.4v per cell !

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

Re: Controller battery life quantified

I have been wondering how long a set of such batteries would last so I reckon I have just one or two flights left in my first set of these batteries. Useful post thanks.

 

[gunslinger]

Re: Controller battery life quantified

Last night I got the audible warning that the batteries in the controller needed replacing. As I have been keeping a flying log I can confirm that I got 140 minutes of flight time from a set of Duracell plus. The alarm was triggered on a voltage of 1.4

Edit: 1.4v per cell !

Funny... I was wondering about that just last night. Thanks...

-slinger

 

[Old Gazer]

Re: Controller battery life quantified

1.4 per cell? Something doesn't sound right . 1.5 is full charge. They usually work down to about 1.0. Are you sure you didn't have a loose battery contact on one of the batteries? 140 minutes is only about 7 flights.


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[pault]

1.4 per cell? Something doesn't sound right . 1.5 is full charge. They usually work down to about 1.0. Are you sure you didn't have a loose battery contact on one of the batteries? 140 minutes is only about 7 flights.
.....

Umm, I assumed it was low battery alarm - the controller emitted a series of buzzes. In my case the 140 minutes represented 9 flights.
I agree, it appears something weird is going is going on. I only checked one battery as I assumed they would be wired in series but I have now checked all the batteries again and they have 'bounced' back to 1.4v so the alarm must have been something else. At the time it went off I had the controller, range extender and the PV2 powered up on the kitchen table as I was transferring pictures from the SD card to my phone. Maybe it was warning me not to takeoff in the kitchen

I have replaced the batteries and just come home from a successful flight without further alarms.

Edit: Maybe other conditions can trigger an alarm. At the time, as I said, I was transferring video and one of the files was large so took >5 mins so perhaps it was an inactivity alarm as I had not touched the controller - it would make sense to have an alarm to warn you if you accidentally turned on the controller.

In the meantime, I have edited the title of this thread.

 

[Old Gazer]

Re: Controller battery life quantified

Ha ha, don,t fly in the kitchen.
I was thinking the green light on the TX is supposed to turn yellow or red when the batteries get low, I may be wrong.

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[pault]

Re: Controller battery life quantified

Ha ha, don,t fly in the kitchen.
I was thinking the green light on the TX is supposed to turn yellow or red when the batteries get low, I may be wrong.
.....

Yes, maybe. See my edited post above. I now think it was probably inactivity.

 

[Studiowise]

Re: Controller battery life quantified

Ha ha, don,t fly in the kitchen.
I was thinking the green light on the TX is supposed to turn yellow or red when the batteries get low, I may be wrong.
.....

Yes, maybe. See my edited post above. I now think it was probably inactivity.

It surprised me the other day by beeping away while I was messing about with something else. I did the CSC on and off again and it kept quiet again. Checked batteries and they were all fine so definitely down to an inactivity warning.

 

[Old Gazer]

That's good to know. I would not have known that.

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[pault]

DJI might get a lot of flak for their customer care but I have to say that they have put a lot of thought into the PV2.

 

[AnselA]

Are you using TX in EC or FCC compliance mode? FCC takes 5 times more power.

 

[Old Gazer]

DJI might get a lot of flak for their customer care but I have to say that they have put a lot of thought into the PV2.

Yes they have. It seems to have warnings for just about everything.

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[Old Gazer]

Delete

 

[OI Photography]

I've had the controller beep at me like that on several occasions from being left unattended while on, I'm pretty confident it's an intentional reminder.

 

[ChesterT]

Re: Controller battery life quantified

"Old Gazer"]1.4 per cell? Something doesn't sound right . 1.5 is full charge. They usually work down to about 1.0. Are you sure you didn't have a loose battery contact on one of the batteries? 140 minutes is only about 7 flights.

I agree with Old Gazer! I am troubleshooting an error with the 'radar function' not giving correct 'current heading' information and one of my steps is checking the RC battery voltage. I have been getting intermittent battery warning beeps from my RC, but no red flashing LED on the RC. Open circuit AA fresh battery voltage is 1.600 vdc +/- and my RC batteries open circuit voltage measured 1.338 vdc (x4 = 5.35 vdc), which should NOT have generated the battery warning beeps. According to the P2V manual, battery warning is issued at 4.0-4.3 vdc, or 1.00 to 1.08 vdc per cell.

1.4vdc per cell would be 5.6 vdc total and according to the manual, we should not be getting the battery warning signal!

I presently have 27 flights on my RC batteries, or about 540 minutes.

ChesterT

 

[Old Gazer]

Wow, 27 flights and the batteries are just at 1.338. You should be able to double the number of flights before changing batteries. That's good to know information. I have been using two sets of Duracell rechargeables and switching out every 6 or 7 flights.

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[BenDronePilot]

Last night I got the audible warning that the batteries in the controller needed replacing. As I have been keeping a flying log I can confirm that I got 140 minutes of flight time from a set of Duracell plus. The alarm was triggered on a voltage of 1.4

Edit: 1.4v per cell !

That doesn't sound right to me "1.4v per cell". Regular AA batteries start at 1.5v and rechargable AA at 1.2v. I've logged over half a dozen flights which comes to 120 minutes on a set of my eneloop AA 2500mah rechargables with out getting anywhere near low power levels.

I read your next post where you said you had your controller unattended while transferring files. I can confirm 100% the beeps you heard where an INACTIVITY Warning, not low power. Simply cycle the power on the controller when that happens.

In fact you don't need to have your controller on at all other than the wifi repeater when doing things like file transfers from your camera, (assuming your phantom is on the ground)

 

[AnselA]

There are batteries and batteries. See e.g.

http://www.batteryshowdown.com/

 

[LeoS]

In fact you don't need to have your controller on at all other than the wifi repeater when doing things like file transfers from your camera, (assuming your phantom is on the ground)

+ with the propellers OFF.

 

[gunslinger]

In fact you don't need to have your controller on at all other than the wifi repeater when doing things like file transfers from your camera, (assuming your phantom is on the ground)

+ with the propellers OFF.

Ummm Honey? What's that hole in the ceiling??? :shock: :shock: :shock: