Solo smart battery % at end of flight

Posted by RPM on July 9, 2015 at 10:28am

How low are you guys draining your battery per flight?

I have been testing it slowly, 20%...8% etc...

What I am wondering is if this smart drone will leave enough juice to return home based on how far away it is from that location?

I have been hitting the 20 min mark when I land below 10%

Next flight I will hover 1-2 feet off the ground above home and see how low will it go.

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  • This reply was deleted.
    • RPM July 24, 2015 at 5:11pm
      DMM = digital multi-meter

      Get yourself one they are used often in this business. I don't trust offset voltage readings or cheap sensors but I can always trust the multi.
      Welcome to DIY!
  • Chris Moore July 19, 2015 at 8:22pm

    It will automatically RTH at 5%

  • Marc Dornan July 18, 2015 at 9:59am
    That is an expensive battery to be be taking down to 10% and under. Surely you can test this without pushing your battery so hard.
  • Richard Kennedy July 15, 2015 at 4:47pm

    I would be interested to know if it's possible to replace the actual battery inside the hard case of the smart battery??  I would also like to know if the smart battery renders itself un-flyable after a certain number of charge cycles and or notices a large drop in capacity? If so can this be re-set to allow a new lipo to be installed. Obviously what I'm getting at is they are very expensive so it would great if those able and willing have the option to replace the lipo itself. DJI goes out of it's way to make sure this can't happen for $$ reasons only. Hope 3dr doesn't. Sorry hope I'm not OT too much on your thread RPM. 

    • Richard Kennedy > Richard Kennedy July 17, 2015 at 7:58am

      To me this is a deal breaker. If I can't install my own batteries and use my own charger I won't be buying a solo no way am I paying $400-$600 a year on batteries. My homeowners insurance is about that!! Would I get the same level of coverage from a smart battery? Lol nope.

    • Marc Dornan > Richard Kennedy July 18, 2015 at 10:14am
      I could live with the smart batteries. I think that is the way all UAVs will go and it should come with real benefits that justify paying $$ to 3DR for probably fairly so so lipos. The Solo looks very promising. I still think it is bit of a beta device. Let's see how the gimbal behaves. I really do not understand why the marketing got so far ahead of the engineering. Launching without a gimbal is odd. I also have concerns about wifi control and its ability to deal with noisy environments.

      When all of that has been proved or improved and fixed I will happily buy one. I have often thought of just breaking down and buying a Phantom 3. I love my fleet of DIY arducopters. They are just so much work to do aerial videography with. Something that packs into a case and is a proven system would make life easier.
    • DG > Richard Kennedy July 17, 2015 at 4:50pm

      I thought about that, and it almost prevented me from keeping my solo, but I want a good video copter that fits easily in a case, gets about 15+ minutes flying with the video gear and automates the process. It is for specific events or places I know will not require long flights (already have 30-40 minute copters), will easily fit in a case to put in the back seat or trunk without the props, gps and antennae getting in the way. Plus, I don't have to spend time tuning the darn thing; basically a turnkey solution to something I've not done much with, that being using a camera; only have had a FPV. I spent the past 2 years becoming a good flyer and learning AC, building MR's and such, now I figured it's time to get into video.

      I don't mind paying extra money for something that does what I want, and it is good quality. Hopefully the batteries aren't from HK :) :)

      I bought it with the idea that if I had problems it would get brought back to Best Buy. Well, I haven't had the problems reported from the initial release, it locks on GPS well and is very easy to fly. It also handles wind well enough.

      Once 3DR assured me running Tower/MP on Solo would not void the warranty, and changing parameters is allowed as long as they aren't found to be the cause of a crash or flyaway, I decided to keep it.

       I just received a Vertigo 27x zoom camera http://vertigofpv.com/ to put on the Spy 750. That should be interesting.  Now to figure out how to mount it :)  It has the same mounting hole pattern as a Tarot gimbal. Anyone out there familiar with a Sky Hero Spy know where to get a mount that would work for the Vertigo?

    • RPM > Richard Kennedy July 17, 2015 at 7:51am

      Not at all Richard, I am sure we are not the only ones wondering these things. They are $199 here and looks like I need to buy 3 more yet to make a decent attempt at mapping large areas.

      I would be happy if there was a balance port adapter so I could use a better charger. Right now the packs take 2 hours to charge.

      Does anyone know what the type of connector is? Not sure if it is proprietary or standard.

    • Richard Kennedy > RPM July 17, 2015 at 8:07am

      re-Does anyone know what the type of connector is? Not sure if it is proprietary or standard.

      I think it has slots or something that connects as it slides in place so yea proprietary. I can understand that it makes it easier to change and uses  less space.... I could deal with that much.  

  • RPM July 13, 2015 at 9:10pm

    Lots of great info here. Thank you!

    A distance from home based battery RTH feature could be really helpful. If not a full FS then a warning. There is a lot to monitor especially if you are focusing on a shot and it could be hard to judge in some situations.

    For battery % I was not thinking of it in that way, really good points.

    Tonight I kept the solo close at 20% and flew it until the battery remaining showed 8% then next time I looked it was displaying N/A so I landed.

    Measured 14.6v after the flight and it was showing 16.6v  in the app before the flight. I never timed it exactly but it was very close to 20 mins. I love flying this thing aggressively with the performance all the way up it is rock solid.

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