Critically low voltage warning

[Futuresstrader]

Attempted take off with 70% battery reading. 150 feet up got the critical low voltage warning and the drone auto landed. I powered drone off, turned back on and battery continued to read 70%. Took off again and hovered a safe 30 ft off the ground for several minutes without issue until battery reading dropped to 30%. Didn't take long so suspect battery was lower than indicated. I'm second owner of this 2 yr old p3p and am wondering if this is something out of the ordinary. Next flight I will be sure battery is at full charge to start. Thanks.

 

[Brockrock]

From what I’ve read, the battery percentage is based on the battery’s voltage at that moment. In fact, that is really not a reliable indication of a working battery’s available percentage unless that battery is charged to 100%. That is why you should only initiate a flight with a battery that is fully charged. A partially charged battery can suffer a voltage drop very fast and create a problem. That said, this mostly applies to batteries that have sat for some time at a given percentage. I have done a second flight with a partially charged battery as long as it was during that same day’s flight session and not had a problem.

 

[Oso]

You are one of the lucky ones. This forum has seen dozens of posts by people who launched with partially discharged batteries only to have the flight end badly. Its why we’ve noted here hundreds of times to use fully charged batteries. Now that you’ve joined up (welcome by the way!) you will see how often this happens unfortunately.

Of course, as the second owner it's hard to know how well the batteries were maintained before you took ownership. Do they show as having a high number of charge cycles?

If you are interested, click here for some tips that I often share with new P3A/P3P owners.

Cheers!

 

[Futuresstrader]

Thanks oso for your reply. I'm still learning everything I can do with the drone. I have only taken a few short nearby flights to get comfortable, and need to explore everything I can diagnostics, etc. I'll check out your link and appreciate it. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions and appreciate being here. Thanks again

 

[RodPad]

@Futuresstrader,
Welcome to the Forum!

Stay connected there are many smart people here that want to see your flight ratio be on the positive.

Flights / Crashes.

@Oso ?
His input and knowledge?
I really don't know, its at least 100 meters above me.

Oh, yes on lucky!

Rod