Longer Lasting Battery Help!

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I have a budget of $100 and I'm currently deciding between two options:

OPTION 1: Buy as many stock batteries as possible(which is 4 I believe, with $100)
OPTION 2: Spend a little more money on a higher capacity battery.

My question is, which higher capacity battery should I get? Which option is better?
 
Using a higher capacity battery means obtaining a larger battery. First I'd do some research on making sure the higher capacity and larger battery will fit in the battery compartment. Unless you mean to mount the battery on the outside somehow.
 
I've had great luck with the Turnigy multistar 4000mAh battery from hobby king. I bought two of them which cost about $56.00.

I am now get a consistent 19-20 minutes per flight from each battery. I purchased a battery alarm which has been helpful.

The battery does require a minor modification to the door. It will take you about 5 minutes.
 
hi bryantheasian I bought the overlander 2900mah it fits inside just but I did notice the phantom pulling forward with
the bigger battery in so be careful people have sayed the original phantom battery only gives you 6 minutes flight I have
had 11 minutes with it am not to sure how that happened :s lol
 
galencg10 said:
I've had great luck with the Turnigy multistar 4000mAh battery from hobby king. I bought two of them which cost about $56.00.

I am now get a consistent 19-20 minutes per flight from each battery. I purchased a battery alarm which has been helpful.

The battery does require a minor modification to the door. It will take you about 5 minutes.

Yeah I was actually looking into that! Someone suggested turning off the voltage protection when using that battery, what do you make of that? And what modification are you talking about exactly?
 
BryanTheAsian said:
Yeah I was actually looking into that! Someone suggested turning off the voltage protection when using that battery, what do you make of that?

The Multistar batteries have a lower C-rating than most other multirotor batteries, and as a result you'll need to run them to a lower voltage than usual to get the full usable capacity out of them. The default auto-land voltage in your FC40 is 10.6v. but with the Multistars you can lower that to 10.5v or even 10.4v. If you leave the default auto-land voltage in place while using those you won't get all the flight time they can safely give.
 
OI Photography said:
BryanTheAsian said:
Yeah I was actually looking into that! Someone suggested turning off the voltage protection when using that battery, what do you make of that?

The Multistar batteries have a lower C-rating than most other multirotor batteries, and as a result you'll need to run them to a lower voltage than usual to get the full usable capacity out of them. The default auto-land voltage in your FC40 is 10.6v. but with the Multistars you can lower that to 10.5v or even 10.4v. If you leave the default auto-land voltage in place while using those you won't get all the flight time they can safely give.

Ah gotcha. Thanks for the reply. By the way, I never understood the low battery "auto landing," does it land wherever it's at or does it return to it's home position? Like, say for instance I was flying over a lake when the battery gets low, does it land in the water?
 
BryanTheAsian said:
say for instance I was flying over a lake when the battery gets low, does it land in the water?

Yep :)

With an FC40 (or P1), the Phantom will initiate auto-land whenever it hits the voltage listed as your "2nd-level loaded" value in the NAZA assistant. The "1st-level loaded" value is the voltage at which the LED starts blinking yellow to let you know it's about time to get home.
 
Here's the mod I made. Very simple, but works great. Everything was done with a dremel tool.

First take off lower lip of door opening on the body of the quad. I took off maybe 2mm. Then cut out small opening on left side of opening.
dooropening.jpg


Next cut out small opening on left side of door itself.
door.jpg


This is how I insert the battery.
insertingbat.jpg


Finally I run balance wires out through door opening and connect to voltage monitor. Everything fits fine with no problems.
withbattery.jpg
 
I am using 2 2200 batteries on outside trays on the left and right side of the unit, I added a y connector to the stock one and cut a little hole on the side of the battery door to let the y connectors be outside the unit. I added the battery warning light and my fc40 flies good and hovers well although i must add up throttle to hover at low battery time. My flight time is now about 15-16 minutes as opposed to 8 minutes for the stock single battery. I still can use the single battery by unplugging the y connector and putting the single battery in the unit as before. I am wondering how it will fly with 2 2800 batteries. Maybe the weight may affect the flight. we will see. I have prop guards and very cool lite weight removable 4 way landing skid mods i invented to make sure the unit never tips over when landing. I may try the unit without the prop guards and skids to see how much the affect is on my flight time.
 
OI Photography said:
...at which the LED starts blinking yellow to let you know it's about time to get home.

Mine blinks red when the battery is low, I believe. I think yellow means tx signal lost? I could be wrong.

galencg10 said:
Finally I run balance wires out through door opening and connect to voltage monitor. Everything fits fine with no problems.

Where did you get that voltage monitor!!! Looks pretty rad...

larryleibo said:
My flight time is now about 15-16 minutes as opposed to 8 minutes for the stock single battery.

Yeah I'm not a fan of the double-battery setups, the weight's going to put more stress on the motors if I'm not mistaken. I already have a camera on it. I'm curious as to how the Phantom 2 models run for 25 minutes, I know it has to do with their 5200mah batteries but surely they make some for the FC40/P1?

I'm just looking to extend flight time. Maybe I should just buy carbon fiber blades and purchase T-motors. And I'm sure disabling the GPS will dramatically increase flight times, although I'm scared to fly without it.
 
larryleibo said:
I am using 2 2200 batteries on outside trays on the left and right side of the unit, I added a y connector to the stock one and cut a little hole on the side of the battery door to let the y connectors be outside the unit. I added the battery warning light and my fc40 flies good and hovers well although i must add up throttle to hover at low battery time. My flight time is now about 15-16 minutes as opposed to 8 minutes for the stock single battery. I still can use the single battery by unplugging the y connector and putting the single battery in the unit as before. I am wondering how it will fly with 2 2800 batteries. Maybe the weight may affect the flight. we will see. I have prop guards and very cool lite weight removable 4 way landing skid mods i invented to make sure the unit never tips over when landing. I may try the unit without the prop guards and skids to see how much the affect is on my flight time.

The prop guards make a big difference.
I gained 2-3 minutes when I got rid of mine.
 
about the prop guards. its like wearing a motorcycle helmet. u never know when you will need it. im in Thailand in a city environment so not real open spaces and since i am new the prop guards give me confidence for the time being, Same with the skids i installed, like training wheels on a bike. Once i have the confidence to fly bareback"
ill try with the guards off. I am looking for the bigger single battery but i need to research it more. I worked for Toyota and I know about batteries a little. We have problem of the size, weight and cost issues yet to make a smaller size battery do the same job as the bigger ones yet. I am thinking about putting 2 x 2800 on the trays to see if the extra power overwrites the extra weight. Stay tuned
 
larryleibo said:
about the prop guards. its like wearing a motorcycle helmet. u never know when you will need it. im in Thailand in a city environment so not real open spaces and since i am new the prop guards give me confidence for the time being, Same with the skids i installed, like training wheels on a bike. Once i have the confidence to fly bareback"
ill try with the guards off. I am looking for the bigger single battery but i need to research it more. I worked for Toyota and I know about batteries a little. We have problem of the size, weight and cost issues yet to make a smaller size battery do the same job as the bigger ones yet. I am thinking about putting 2 x 2800 on the trays to see if the extra power overwrites the extra weight. Stay tuned

I also left my prop guards on when I started until I was comfortable. They saved me quite a few times. Now that I'm more familiar with the craft I dont use them. Leave them on until you feel you are ready.
As far as batteries, the 2700/2800mah batteries usually slide right in without mods and give some extra time.
If you dont mind a slight mod then the 4000mah batteries with the P2 props give between 17-20 minutes in most cases (minus prop guards of course)
There are 2 longish threads in this section about the 4000mah batteries with some great time in air tests with a lot of detailed data.

*Heres a good one:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=23774
 
I have a pair of those dual battery skid things. Used them a couple times and didn't like the feeling I got from my phantom. It felt like a huge lumbering brick. The added weight of the battery with the turbulence the batteries create because they're right in line with the prop wash didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. If somebody in the US wants to buy a pair, I'll send 'em to you for $5 plus shipping.
 
dtviewer said:
larryleibo said:
I am using 2 2200 batteries on outside trays on the left and right side of the unit, I added a y connector to the stock one and cut a little hole on the side of the battery door to let the y connectors be outside the unit. I added the battery warning light and my fc40 flies good and hovers well although i must add up throttle to hover at low battery time. My flight time is now about 15-16 minutes as opposed to 8 minutes for the stock single battery. I still can use the single battery by unplugging the y connector and putting the single battery in the unit as before. I am wondering how it will fly with 2 2800 batteries. Maybe the weight may affect the flight. we will see. I have prop guards and very cool lite weight removable 4 way landing skid mods i invented to make sure the unit never tips over when landing. I may try the unit without the prop guards and skids to see how much the affect is on my flight time.

The prop guards make a big difference.
I gained 2-3 minutes when I got rid of mine.


I did this as well. Mine will only be used for riskier flying areas. Gained about 5 mph in ATTI mode as well with them off.

I just tried my Pulse 2200 batteries aswell and loved the performance. 11 minutes and 22 seconds of flying before the first red blinking.
 

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