Battery Level?

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Sorry for the dumb question...

Is there a certain meter one can buy that will show what % of the battery is charged?
 
JohnFlight said:
Sorry for the dumb question...

Is there a certain meter one can buy that will show what % of the battery is charged?

yes there are. (I'm still trying to understand the terminology tho, as apparently these batteries are considered empty even tho they're at 60%?),.
but here's a bunch of them
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... ories.html

I got this one (ordered from the US warehouse so it only took a half week to arrive:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... ecker.html
 
For the Phantom, it is recommended that you should not run the pack down pass 80% usage. This mean a 2200 mAh pack when fully charged, it should take about 1760 mAh. If you charged you pack and the charger says, it took 2000 mAh which means you almost drained the whole pack down. This pack will have a sure short life.
Note also that, you should balance the pack so that all cell has similar voltage and make sure you keep a cell voltage over 3.2 volts to be safe. If a cell dies, the pack is useless.
 
tanasit said:
Note also that, you should balance the pack so that all cell has similar voltage and make sure you keep a cell voltage over 3.2 volts to be safe. If a cell dies, the pack is useless.

Above is the most important part I think! So the total voltage shouldn't be lower than 9.6v.

I have stupidly run an entire battery down to 4.2v which killed it. It was swollen and very very hot.
 
i have always found the warning LED blinking red is a great indicator of when to land and change battery. just my 2 pence, but keeping it simple would be nice here.
 
DomKane said:
I wonder how easy it might be to install a beeper into the red LED source so that when the battery indicator flashes, it also bleeps?

Very easy, just tap the power from the balance lead of the battery pack as seen below:

P1240972Small_zps81cbb8d1.jpg

The LED below is for the orientation only.

It is only a few dollars and it gives the reading of each cell and the total voltage of the pack and the beep can be set at different level too.

Buy a couple because it can be use as a battery tester in case you mixed up the packs at the field, this little gem can be used to test if the pack is fully charged or used.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-in1-RC-Lipo-B ... 43b2b4abe4

Did I say that it can be used for 1 to 8 cells and the beep from 2 buzzers can be heard from afar. :D

Another variation below:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maxpro-Battery- ... 5654d923f9
 
Amazing! Thanks for the links too :)

As for the on-field battery testing, I use white electricians tape and a sharpie to number all my batteries, so if I'm on battery #4 then I know #1, #2, and #3 are dead, and the rest are good. :)
 
DomKane said:
Amazing! Thanks for the links too :)

As for the on-field battery testing, I use white electricians tape and a sharpie to number all my batteries, so if I'm on battery #4 then I know #1, #2, and #3 are dead, and the rest are good. :)
It is fine if you fly "all" the packs every time, otherwise pack #1 & 2 may get used the most.
 
I fly my three batteries, which I have numbered, in order. One session, I fly 1-2-3. On the next, 3-2-1. Repeat.

I've also got cutouts in my carrying case's foam for three batteries. I make sure I store them in the sequence I plan to use them.

Over about 100 flights, the discharge records for the three batteries (reported via the PT2 Assistant Software), has shown me that my battery usage has remained pretty close to even between the three using 1-2-3, 3-2-1 strategy.

If I notice that the numbers are getting out of whack, I figure I'll just start using them in a different order. For instance, if #1 get's ahead of the others, maybe I'll switch to using them in 2-3-1 and 3-2-1 for a while. The cutouts in the foam helps keep track.
 

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