Hi,
I managed to destroy a lipo when testing an ardupilot. I didn't notice the ESC had powered down because the LIPO voltage had dropped too low, The ardupilot susequently drained the lipo.
I was surprised that the ESC could power down but still provide power to the ardupilot via the throttle cable.
Is is possible to add some form of power conservation when the battery voltage drops too low. For example the xbee pro telemetry which uses 250ma to transmit could stop transmitting?
The gps could go into sleep mode?
I realise that disabling these items might not be considered viable for a UAV but based on the fact that an airbourne UAV must always remain in sight these things are not mission critical and not worth the cost of a lipo?
I know that the telemetry provides lipo voltage along with an alarm. Maybe I just need to be more careful and also to hook up the ardustation voltage alarm but this does seem like something that can happen quite easily. What if we forget to switch off the power after a flight, easily done, the ESC will power down but not the ardupilot?
Any thoughts?
Tim
Replies
I was at ~3V on a 3S 2200 mAh battery...
Charge it in NiCd mode until it hits about 10V, and then switch to lipo mode.
Worked for me! Battery has been in good shape for about a month so far.
BTW, even you ESC just by itself with eventually drain a LiPo. It, too, has a microprocessor running, along with other circuitry. If you leave it connected to a battery, it will kill it in a day or two.
Make yourself a poka-yoke. Splice a different batt. connector onto your aircraft and connect the batt. via a short custom cable. Now epoxy the custom cable to your car key (adapt as necessary) and you will never leave the field without disconnecting your batt. again. Simples :P