Flight Cost

[Hughie]

Having seen a number of posts stating battery problems I was interested in how much the ongoing costs were to run a Phantom.

How many flights do you all get from a battery on average ?

I see 20 - 30 flights stated quite a lot, if we assume 17 minute flights and around £100 per battery in the UK ($156) that looks to me like

(25 * 17) / 60 = £7 ($11) per hour of flight just in batteries.

I think DJI have done a great commercial job adding intelligence into the batteries. It really locks its customers in. I think this stinks.

I would be interested to hear other views on whether you think the running costs are excessive or not, and if there are other significant things I have missed.

 

[dmagnus]

I would think that, properly maintained, you should be able to get hundreds of flights on a battery. The "Smart" battery gives you the freedom to fly without worrying about how much battery you have left - it will tell you. Sure, you could use a timer on your transmitter, but that doesn't even come close to the monitoring and display of your battery condition while in flight - been there, done that. I think you are bringing up a "problem" that doesn't exist. Remember, this is a forum where you are more likely to hear the bad stuff than the hundreds (dare I say thousands?) of happy owners. Like me.

 

[PhantomFanatic]

I've only had a few flights, so far, but from an electronic perspective, this type of battery should be good for hundreds of charge cycles. If it was 20, or less, it would be even more outpriced!

Hence, I agree with dmagnus.

 

[SteveMann]

I would think that, properly maintained, you should be able to get hundreds of flights on a battery. The "Smart" battery gives you the freedom to fly without worrying about how much battery you have left - it will tell you. Sure, you could use a timer on your transmitter, but that doesn't even come close to the monitoring and display of your battery condition while in flight - been there, done that. I think you are bringing up a "problem" that doesn't exist. Remember, this is a forum where you are more likely to hear the bad stuff than the hundreds (dare I say thousands?) of happy owners. Like me.

Having built and flown DIY drones from 3DR, I learned a lot about batteries, their care, testing and charging. I learned a lot about ESC's, controllers, motors and programmed flight. In fact, the most important thing I learned after a couple of thousand dollars in kits, replacement parts (lots of them) modding, then more mods, more rebuilding, etc, is that I just wanted to fly and take video. Every time I took my 3DR drone out for a flight, I felt more like a test pilot than a recreational pilot. It took me over an hour to balance charge the batteries and preflight all of the exposed connectors.

The Phantom lets me just fly. If I keep at least one battery charged, I can fly with minutes notice and preflight. I do not regret spending all that money and time building and flying my Hex because it was really educational. But, when I decided to add a gimbal and GCU to control it, I was looking at another $1,000, a few weeks of fabricating a mount, and them more test flights. So, I bought the Phantom 2 with the Zen 3DhD gimbal and a Hero 4.

And all those 3s and 2s batteries I bought over time will be used to power my ground-based gear.

 

[PhantoMax]

Having seen a number of posts stating battery problems I was interested in how much the ongoing costs were to run a Phantom.

How many flights do you all get from a battery on average ?

I see 20 - 30 flights stated quite a lot, if we assume 17 minute flights and around £100 per battery in the UK ($156) that looks to me like

(25 * 17) / 60 = £7 ($11) per hour of flight just in batteries.

I think DJI have done a great commercial job adding intelligence into the batteries. It really locks its customers in. I think this stinks.

I would be interested to hear other views on whether you think the running costs are excessive or not, and if there are other significant things I have missed.

Hi,

I was thinking exactly the same thing, today, while stepping into the RC shop to complain about the four batteries I have for the P2.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Hope the Italian DJI importer pushes with DJI to solve this ******* problem...

 

[noiseboy72]

I think at least some of the reported issues with short battery life is down to the owner's flying techniques and how they re-charge them.

Fly gently, no rapid full stick movements. This will lower the peak instantaneous current requirement and improve the battery life.
Never drop or roughly handle a battery. Chucking them around can cause serious internal damage.
Only charge when cool. Hot batteries do not like being re-charged and this dramatically reduces battery life.

I am still on my original battery - May 2014. This has over 100 flights and still gives me 15 minutes of flying. That's with a loaded up P2, with gimbal, 600mW VTX etc.

 

[aartsf]

I would think that, properly maintained, you should be able to get hundreds of flights on a battery. The "Smart" battery gives you the freedom to fly without worrying about how much battery you have left - it will tell you. Sure, you could use a timer on your transmitter, but that doesn't even come close to the monitoring and display of your battery condition while in flight - been there, done that. I think you are bringing up a "problem" that doesn't exist. Remember, this is a forum where you are more likely to hear the bad stuff than the hundreds (dare I say thousands?) of happy owners. Like me.

+1

+2