IRIS+ battery rocks!

Posted by Mark Prince on November 21, 2014 at 3:07pm

I have the original Iris purchased in January 2014. Just received the Iris+ upgrade kit this week. First thing I did was charge up the Iris+ 5100mah battery and try a battery test in the old Iris before installing the upgrade kit. All of these prior and present flight times are loitering with no legs, gimbal or camera. It's bone stock except for the GPS/Compass mast I added. I land right exactly at 10.50 volts for each test.

I have tried about 6 different batteries on my old Iris in this configuration and the longest flight ever was slightly over 16 minutes with a Zippy 5000.

Looking at the Iris+ battery's size and weight I highly doubted that it really had 5100mah in it.

After the first charge the bird loitered for 19min 18sec. Charged it back up and did it again - 19min 16sec. In addition, it was the coolest battery I have ever pulled out of the Iris right after a flight. It was warm but not near as hot as normal.

Both times when I put it back on the charger it took right at 5700mah. The charger is set for 10.6 volts for 3 seconds in balance mode.

It is by far the best power to weight ratio I have found while searching for the perfect battery to use in the Iris.

Please tell me I didn't get a fluke. if their all like this I'll order 4 more:)

mp

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Replies

  • john November 29, 2014 at 10:28am

    I'd like to piggy back this, just got my IRIS + and am attempting to charge the batteries for the first time with stock batteries and charger  ( e4 3 amp 20 watt charger)  I'm brand new but I feel like its taking forever to charge (still hasnt charged over an hour). Whats a realistic amount of time for these things to charge?

    Thanks

    • 3D Robotics
      Vu Tran November 30, 2014 at 2:22am

      Thanks guys, Dax and Todd pretty much nailed it.  :)

    • Todd Harper > john November 29, 2014 at 4:30pm

      Sometime the batteries can take quite a while to charge.

      However, if you are having some concerns here are a couple of things you can do:

      With the TX (Radio controller) you can view the voltage of the battery when it is plugged into the IRIS via the display at the bottom. Hold the DWN button for a moment and it will bring up another screen where you can then view that info.  *word of caution doing it this way. Since you do not know the actual voltage of your battery at this time you really have no idea what condition the battery is in. So plugging it in without knowing has a bit of risk to it.

      Purchase one of these Battery checker then you can easily check the cells of the battery at anytime.

      Lastly, you can always upgrade to a battery charger with a display that shows in real time the status of the battery as it's charging and that all the cells are balanced when it is finished.

      Todd H.

  • Keith Fraley November 24, 2014 at 4:54am

    question, does this mean we can no longer use the batteries from the original iris on the iris+?

    • 3D Robotics
      Vu Tran > Keith Fraley November 24, 2014 at 6:01am

      Hi Keith,

      You can definitely use the original IRIS battery.  You just have to be aware the amount of power the new motors will draw.  Definitely watch your volts though. :)

    • Mark Prince > Keith Fraley November 24, 2014 at 5:28am

      Yes you can use them. They won't perform near as well as the Iris+ batteries. Just watch your voltage since they will be low in power for carrying a gimbal and camera. I wouldn't go below about 11 volts on those.

      mp

  • Stephen Douglas November 22, 2014 at 7:24am
    Mark,
    Thanks for the info. I also recently purchased the upgrade kit. Also, purchased an extra Iris+ battery as my original Iris batteries seem to have lost most of their capacity(down to 3 min flight time). So, I decided to also purchase a hitec X1 charger to try to get longer life out of the new batteries.

    I am looking for suggestions on best charge setting, storage, etc. for the Iris+ (specific to the hitec X1 if any one is also using it).

    Thanks for any suggests or resources that anyone can point me to.

    Steve
    • Mark Prince > Stephen Douglas November 22, 2014 at 1:29pm

      Stephen,

      I also use the HItec X1 MF charger. The stock settings should be good. Just set it on 3S with 5 amps for current in LIPO Balance mode. It will balance charge the cells until you have 12.6 volts total for 3 seconds and then cut off. 

      You won't get a full 5 amps out of the charger on AC power. It's a 50 watt charger on AC power and 80 watt on DC power. If you want to stay with a 1C charge and charge a little faster then hook it to your car battery and you can then get 5 amps during the charge. Ohm's law is still in effect:)

      If your not going to use the battery until the next weekend then hook it up and select Lipo storage charge. It will charge it or discharge it to about 11.45 volts for storage.

      mp

  • Christian Elsen November 21, 2014 at 3:16pm

    Yes, they are really that good. That's why I ended up with 4 of them. :-)

    Even after quite a few cycles they are still performing great. The plateau voltage stays pretty high and temperatures of the Lipo are very reasonable. 

    Personally I wouldn't discharge the Lipo beyond 5100 mAh, but that's just me. 

    I also tried the Multistar 5200 mAh Lipos from HobbyKing. They are just garbage and I actually ended up tossing them. After a few cycles the internal resistance goes up through the roof and the batteries can't keep the charge anymore.

    • Mark Prince > Christian Elsen November 21, 2014 at 3:33pm

      Christian,

      I hear ya on the discharge volume. I mainly focus on the min voltage. I just try not to go below 10.5 volts on a 3s.

      Have you installed the upgrade kit? I should be finished with it tonight and find out what the flight times are with the new battery, arms, motors and props.

      mp

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