Biggest battery that fits a stock phantom 1.1.1

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Can anyone please tell me 1:if I may need to post this elsewhere as I'm new here and 2: what's the biggest battery I can possibly fit in the phantom battery compartment?
 
The biggest one that I'm aware of is Mad Dog 2700, best bang for the buck.
 
The 2700 mad dog fits but if your going to jam the wires inside you will run into issues sooner or later.
I just filed a couple cutouts on the body and door so I can connect from the outside.
1510804_10201493178866508_1763018247_n.jpg
 
I DEFINITELY agree with what you did gbshovel. I use the MadDog 2700's and I was putting it into the Phantom wires first and it somehow shorted out something on the LED board, which was covered with that piece of tape, and it melted one of the wires going to the NAZA from the LED board. I ordered a new LED board and while waiting for it to arrive, I replaced the one wire and it worked fine, but I didn't trust it, so I still replaced it. So, BEWARE. If your pushing your battery into the Phantom wires first, something eventually WILL go wrong. gbshovels fix is EASY to do and well worth it, IMHO. As far as the MadDog 2700 batteries, I get the most flying time from them. I don't have any HARD Data, that is to say that I haven't actually gone out and done what you would call a scientific experiment on the flying time, but I do have the 2 timers on my Futaba Receiver and the last 3 times that I flew my Phantom with 2 of the MadDog 2700s attached (One on each side attached to Carbon Fiber battery holders with Velcro straps) I got over 14 Minutes of flying time. I don't have a Scale, so I don't know the exact weight but this is what it has on it.

1 Phantom V1.1.1 with Futaba T8J Receiver/Transmitter
2 MadDog 2700 Batteries mounted on the side of the body
1 C&C Gimbal (with Pitch Control)
1 DJI PMU
1 DJI Mini iOSD
1 Fat Shark Predator V2 Transmitter
1 GoPro Hero3

Everything is powered by the 2 MadDog 2700's.
 
The biggest you can possibly fit?? Two 2700s side by side, but it requires modding of the shell. :) Specifically, the battery compartment allows for roughly 108mm x 56mm x 36mm.

JTheed, nice to see another dual mad dog user. What voltages do you run down to? Conservatively I can get 18+ min on 5400mah, pushing it I can get 21+.
 
gbshovel said:
The 2700 mad dog fits but if your going to jam the wires inside you will run into issues sooner or later.
I just filed a couple cutouts on the body and door so I can connect from the outside.
1510804_10201493178866508_1763018247_n.jpg

Wondering if you had some side pictures of where you did your cut-outs? Also, couldn't you just file open some spots on each side of the battery door itself?
 
ElGuano said:
JTheed, nice to see another dual mad dog user. What voltages do you run down to? Conservatively I can get 18+ min on 5400mah, pushing it I can get 21+.

I have it set to the Default 10.7 and 10.6 under load. The 5400mah, that's a single battery?
 
I have enlarged the battery door of my Phantom 1 and raised the internal controller circuit board in order to fit a couple of 2750mah batteries sourced from FirstPersonView based in the UK. This gives me 5500mah in total with a combined battery weight of 408grams. I have not given this a proper test as I have only carried out 1 flight just hovering, however I can report from this that with an all up weight of 1347g I get a flight time of 16 mins before red light starts flashing indicating battery getting low. I get a further 3 minutes before forced landing takes place. Still quite responsive in flight, which surprised me considering weight, and hovers fine without the need to adjust any gains.
 
Jtheed-the 5400 is two maddogs combined into one battery.

Djidan, those are great results, what are your voltages set to for alarm and auto-land?
 
ElGuano said:
Jtheed-the 5400 is two maddogs combined into one battery.

Djidan, those are great results, what are your voltages set to for alarm and auto-land?

They have not been adjusted, therefore they will be what ever the defaults are. I think I could possibly lower these to give me even more flight time, but don't want to damage my batteries.
 
djidan said:
ElGuano said:
Jtheed-the 5400 is two maddogs combined into one battery.

Djidan, those are great results, what are your voltages set to for alarm and auto-land?

They have not been adjusted, therefore they will be what ever the defaults are. I think I could possibly lower these to give me even more flight time, but don't want to damage my batteries.

I'm so far from defaults I don't even remember what they are! They're fine for starter values, but a couple of observations i've made:

1) Mad dogs behave differently from DJI 2200s. They hit the alarm later in their discharge cycle and level 2 triggers faster, so they're worth keeping an eye on.

2) the Naza low voltage alarm can act a bit off with large parallel setups. I've had a few discrepancies between it and multimeters or buzzers, so another reason not to use it as your sole flight indicator.

Imo actively monitoring battery health and usage is the best way to not only get the most out of them, but also ensure they're staying healthy!
 
Very good points. I've noticed when I pull out my single maddog 2700 mah, that the exit voltage is about .10th lower than a standard battery. Normally, a DJI 2200mah will come out at 11.25 or so...while the MD will come out at 11.15.
I never wait for the 2nd level, always landing at 1st level. My Phantom is a pig-and trying to land it with 2nd level warning, on my "heli-tub" is just too difficult.
When I see 10.9 volts-loaded, on my iOSD-it's time to take the Goggles off, and the Phantom is always right in front of me. I use a time on my remote to remind me.

Also-I write in a log every flight-all my batteries are numbered(I think I have 14 or 15 now-including 5 maddogs). I write down the voltage in/out, and after 5 minutes(or when I finish the next flight), I record the voltage of the battery...I'd like to see at least .10 volts returning.
Also, I monitor the difference between the 3 cells. I think someone mentioned no more than .70 of a volt between the 3? Anymore than that, and it might be time for a replacement?
 
havasuphoto said:
Very good points. I've noticed when I pull out my single maddog 2700 mah, that the exit voltage is about .10th lower than a standard battery. Normally, a DJI 2200mah will come out at 11.25 or so...while the MD will come out at 11.15.
I never wait for the 2nd level, always landing at 1st level. My Phantom is a pig-and trying to land it with 2nd level warning, on my "heli-tub" is just too difficult.
When I see 10.9 volts-loaded, on my iOSD-it's time to take the Goggles off, and the Phantom is always right in front of me. I use a time on my remote to remind me.

Also-I write in a log every flight-all my batteries are numbered(I think I have 14 or 15 now-including 5 maddogs). I write down the voltage in/out, and after 5 minutes(or when I finish the next flight), I record the voltage of the battery...I'd like to see at least .10 volts returning.
Also, I monitor the difference between the 3 cells. I think someone mentioned no more than .70 of a volt between the 3? Anymore than that, and it might be time for a replacement?

Good practices. I set my level 2 to 10.2 or something, basically low enough where I never have to worry about hitting it.

0.7 between cells is extremely high! I've never had an instance where cell voltage differed by more than 0.05.
 
havasuphoto said:
gbshovel said:
The 2700 mad dog fits but if your going to jam the wires inside you will run into issues sooner or later.
I just filed a couple cutouts on the body and door so I can connect from the outside.

Wondering if you had some side pictures of where you did your cut-outs? Also, couldn't you just file open some spots on each side of the battery door itself?


The reason I didn't just do the door is because I did not want the cables to bind or crimp on the ridge that runs around the opening. I took just enough off that they route freely. I used a small rat tail file. That whole door section can be replaced and I have a spare from a shell I trashed.

998139_10201497053123362_1022347624_n.jpg
 
Thanks...I just ordered the "big battery door", and will go that route. However, I have to say with the reverse mounting of the single maddog 2700mah, I'm getting the hang of it. It now slides right in(takes a bit of technique)....but, I'm still worried about "smoking" the LED.

I never thought about lowering my 2nd level...though that may not be a bad idea. Right now everything is default-and I've disciplined myself to always use the OCD timer of the Go Pro, and I start the camera, wait 50 seconds, then I'm ready to take off. I just subtract 1 minute from the timer on that, and watch my voltage and count the beeps of my remote. I audible say; "1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes"...sounds kinda ****, but I guess I'm funny that way. I just never want to have the aircraft so far downrange, that it will enter FS and start returning due to low voltage(1st level), and have it land somewhere.

Funny thing-I was so used to around 5:30 with the stock 2200mah batteries(remember-I'm at 1250 grams), that when I started using the Maddog 2700 mah, I didn't know what to do for another 2 minutes........LOL
Guess I'll get used to it, now that I have 5 of them ;)
 

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