Dual Battery Mod

[MVodhanel]

Yeah in the description if says he uses a DJI battery, you send him 2 DJI batteries and he mods one with the wires and the second one he splits up.


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Oh!, I see, so it is basically double the standard capacity. I did describe the DJ battery as 'heavy' in a previous message, but that isn't really true. I meant it in the context of this ball and chain we have been stuck with attached to the smart battery cntroller. The reality is that the DJ battery is extremely light in terms of power to weight. This must be what Horizons is going for, and I bet they are getting good results. It is very easy to check what I am saying here: take the capacity and weight of the DJ battery and see if you can come close to it with another commercial pack. Now see what Horizons is doing by removing the weight of the smart battery overhead on the second, parallel, battery, and be further impressed.

The downside is lifespan, I think. These are high, high, high, performance batteries. They will tire out faster. Nothing is free....

 

[Ed209]

Oh!, I see, so it is basically double the standard capacity. I did describe the DJ battery as 'heavy' in a previous message, but that isn't really true. I meant it in the context of this ball and chain we have been stuck with attached to the smart battery cntroller. The reality is that the DJ battery is extremely light in terms of power to weight. This must be what Horizons is going for, and I bet they are getting good results. It is very easy to check what I am saying here: take the capacity and weight of the DJ battery and see if you can come close to it with another commercial pack. Now see what Horizons is doing by removing the weight of the smart battery overhead on the second, parallel, battery, and be further impressed.

The downside is lifespan, I think. These are high, high, high, performance batteries. They will tire out faster. Nothing is free....

The Hyperion G6 2400 4S is the only thing close in terms of weight at 204g ea. The DJI battery is the lightest out there from a power to weight standpoint.

 

[KyleMaxxUAV]

Oh!, I see, so it is basically double the standard capacity. I did describe the DJ battery as 'heavy' in a previous message, but that isn't really true. I meant it in the context of this ball and chain we have been stuck with attached to the smart battery cntroller. The reality is that the DJ battery is extremely light in terms of power to weight. This must be what Horizons is going for, and I bet they are getting good results. It is very easy to check what I am saying here: take the capacity and weight of the DJ battery and see if you can come close to it with another commercial pack. Now see what Horizons is doing by removing the weight of the smart battery overhead on the second, parallel, battery, and be further impressed.

The downside is lifespan, I think. These are high, high, high, performance batteries. They will tire out faster. Nothing is free....

Yes exactly, in my reading online they seem to be pretty solid when looking at weight to power ratio, but like you said their longevity sometimes can suffer. With that said, it seems like running them all through the "smart cap" to handle charging / discharging/ etc will give them the best change at a long life !!
You could also set up the smart cap of the battery we take apart to serve the slave packs as a charger. ie, have all the leads setup so when you want to charge the slave pack you just plug the cells back into the original smart cap if I'm making sense .
Now before I start hacking my batteries apart to do this I want to see some real life times with this mod. If people are getting solid times and flights then it may be worth sacrificing a stock battery, but if the gains are the same as using a cheaper pack then it doesn't make sense.


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[KyleMaxxUAV]

It would be nice to see what weight people's slave batteries are coming in at as well to compare the added weight to flight time increase. Help us find the "sweet spot" better although I don't know DJI was far off when they designed these things.


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[dirtybum]

You guys are having too much fun!
Just get a couple GOOD lipo's and get out there and fly. I took a flight finally this weekend. It was warmer, but the wind was strong and not coming from exactly the right direction I like to fly a long distance in, i dinked around got 4 1/2 landed with 41%!
Most of my lands are 2%ave.
These lipos on the market have potential to make it 9-10 without all this other jive.

 

[Phantom751874]

Has anyone looked up the DJi E310 Propulsion specifications for takeoff weight recommendations? It says 400 grams per motor when using a 4S battery. The P3 weights 1280 grams so there's only 320 grams of weight remaining there. I've looked at HK Nano-Tach batteries and their 4S 25c 1800 mAH batteries weigh 188 grams each. So that's 56 grams over 320 grams. Plus you need to add the weight of the battery mounts, 48 grams according to Hobby King. Now that's 104 grams over or about .23 pounds.

That's not that much over but placing larger batteries and adding more weight are we concerned the motors will wear out much faster? I'm on the v1 motors so for sure those are less efficient and probably generate more heat. I may end up going with the 1800 batteries and calling it a day. If I get 4-5 more minutes of real flight time (for easy distance runs) I'll be happy I think (18min --> 22/23min).

 

[Ed209]

Has anyone looked up the DJi E310 Propulsion specifications for takeoff weight recommendations? It says 400 grams per motor when using a 4S battery. The P3 weights 1280 grams so there's only 320 grams of weight remaining there. I've looked at HK Nano-Tach batteries and their 4S 25c 1800 mAH batteries weigh 188 grams each. So that's 56 grams over 320 grams. Plus you need to add the weight of the battery mounts, 48 grams according to Hobby King. Now that's 104 grams over or about .23 pounds.

That's not that much over but placing larger batteries and adding more weight are we concerned the motors will wear out much faster? I'm on the v1 motors so for sure those are less efficient and probably generate more heat. I may end up going with the 1800 batteries and calling it a day. If I get 4-5 more minutes of real flight time (for easy distance runs) I'll be happy I think (18min --> 22/23min).

That's right. 320g of weight to play with. I think some people are trying to be conservative and go for reliability...Some are going extreme. Just replace motors sooner

 

[GadgetGuy]

All the autochannels are in sunhans 2.4-2.5g range. Without amps i was using higher channels but not anymore, they just wont work good enough.

Thanks for the clarification! Autochannel it is! Goodbye channel hack.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I had tony move the amp to the inside of the bird which helped out . The 1300 and the 1600's fit good but the 2200's don't fit very well. I'm in the process of trying to find another way to get those on.

Can you take a couple of photos of the aircraft to show the new antenna and how much room there is for the extra batteries?
How much extra weight do the booster and new antenna add to the bird?
Will the larger P2 battery plate sold by Paul at fpvcusoms.com still fit on your mod? It gives more room outside the width of the struts to accommodate the bigger batteries.

 

[GadgetGuy]

It would be nice to see what weight people's slave batteries are coming in at as well to compare the added weight to flight time increase. Help us find the "sweet spot" better although I don't know DJI was far off when they designed these things.


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I'm getting 28-29 minutes, on new motors, with 10% remaining battery, using two MaxAmps 2800 mAh, which weigh in at 247g each (well above the max load), but no issues in 50 flights. With old motors, I was at 26-27 minutes. I was getting 15 minutes from my stock battery, before the addition of externals.

 

[dirtybum]

Has anyone looked up the DJi E310 Propulsion specifications for takeoff weight recommendations? It says 400 grams per motor when using a 4S battery. The P3 weights 1280 grams so there's only 320 grams of weight remaining there. I've looked at HK Nano-Tach batteries and their 4S 25c 1800 mAH batteries weigh 188 grams each. So that's 56 grams over 320 grams. Plus you need to add the weight of the battery mounts, 48 grams according to Hobby King. Now that's 104 grams over or about .23 pounds.

That's not that much over but placing larger batteries and adding more weight are we concerned the motors will wear out much faster? I'm on the v1 motors so for sure those are less efficient and probably generate more heat. I may end up going with the 1800 batteries and calling it a day. If I get 4-5 more minutes of real flight time (for easy distance runs) I'll be happy I think (18min --> 22/23min).

Its not just a concern, its a reality.
Just because your p3 can hold a 2800 hyperion or a split dji bat mod, it will add a short lifespan.

 

[dirtybum]

I'm getting 28-29 minutes, on new motors, with 10% remaining battery, using two MaxAmps 2800 mAh, which weigh in at 247g each (well above the max load), but no issues in 50 flights. With old motors, I was at 26-27 minutes. I was getting 15 minutes from my stock battery, before the addition of externals.

Flying long and straight w/ full throttle or hovering in your livingroom?

 

[Kevin M]

Thanks for the clarification! Autochannel it is! Goodbye channel hack.

You got that right,
I have been flying on channel 30 for months,
and when I changed to channel 22 BINGO!!
I got much better distance!!!!!!!!!!!! with video that is.

 

[UnknownCaller]

I actually got the power Mod v 3 from horizon it's a split P 3 battery 4480 2s lipos are made from it. It's very light think the whole thing weighs 307 grams I just glanced at these post so I think that's what you're talking about. I unfortunately did not get a chance to test it my drones were stolen out of my car Friday. William from horizon showed me a hover test with this setup at 34:38. I'm going to buy another P 3 to try it I can tell you if you guys end up buying it it will only fit on his brackets. The leads are too short to be mounted safely on standard brackets. I plan on buying another p3 so when I do I'll be sure to post my actual flight time with this new battery mod.

 

[KyleMaxxUAV]

I actually got the power Mod v 3 from horizon it's a split P 3 battery 4480 2s lipos are made from it. It's very light think the whole thing weighs 307 grams I just glanced at these post so I think that's what you're talking about. I unfortunately did not get a chance to test it my drones were stolen out of my car Friday. William from horizon showed me a hover test with this setup at 34:38. I'm going to buy another P 3 to try it I can tell you if you guys end up buying it it will only fit on his brackets. The leads are too short to be mounted safely on standard brackets. I plan on buying another p3 so when I do I'll be sure to post my actual flight time with this new battery mod.

Jeeeeez that sucks man !!! Hopefully insurance covers it??
Awesome to hear you got one of those kits though !! Would you mind sending me or posting some photos of it ? I'd love to take a closer look at it!!


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[UnknownCaller]

Jeeeeez that sucks man !!! Hopefully insurance covers it??
Awesome to hear you got one of those kits though !! Would you mind sending me or posting some photos of it ? I'd love to take a closer look at it!!


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Sure when I get home from work today I put up some pics.

 

[Ed209]

I actually got the power Mod v 3 from horizon it's a split P 3 battery 4480 2s lipos are made from it. It's very light think the whole thing weighs 307 grams I just glanced at these post so I think that's what you're talking about. I unfortunately did not get a chance to test it my drones were stolen out of my car Friday. William from horizon showed me a hover test with this setup at 34:38. I'm going to buy another P 3 to try it I can tell you if you guys end up buying it it will only fit on his brackets. The leads are too short to be mounted safely on standard brackets. I plan on buying another p3 so when I do I'll be sure to post my actual flight time with this new battery mod.

**** that sucks man to lose all that stuff. Do you think having a newer P3 (presumably not able to downgrade to fw 1.1.9) is going to hold you back? I remember reading one of your posts where you mention that having 1.1.9 was instrumental in your record setting run. Hope you get back better than ever.

 

[Ed209]

Its not just a concern, its a reality.
Just because your p3 can hold a 2800 hyperion or a split dji bat mod, it will add a short lifespan.

I'm not running 2800s but what type of shortened lifespan are you referring to? I'm trying to figure out what type of real issues anyone with the battery mod is experiencing that has experienced shortened lifespan. I think people are assuming that the motors will burn out soon which I could understand and the easy solution is just replace them; they're cheap enough. I don't think the added weight will burn out the board/esc.

As for the voltage difference between LiHV and the DJI LiPo: I think the jury is still out on that. I'm monitoring all batteries and cells closely and haven't seen any issues yet. I don't leave my battery mod connected to the externals unless I'm ready to take off. I am thinking of plugging low voltage checkers into the external batteries and setting the alarm for <3.9v so that I can see how long it takes for the external batteries to lose the added 10% voltage under flight conditions.

 

[dirtybum]

**** unknown, I didn't know that was your car! Just kidding bro, that hurts!losing one on a distance run is one thing.but I bet that one really stings. Was that your Matrice?

 

[MVodhanel]

I have some great news to report!

Yesterday was lousy.. (not the news, btw...) I put my test P3, DJI, smart battery together without the embedded battery. If you remember, I was working toward separating the smart battery technology from the battery to allow more flexibility in extended flight configurations. I went to test the setup and found that it would not remain on. It would start OK and looked healthy otherwise, but I could not get the **** thing to stay on.

I didn't want to report anything cause there were too many variables including pilot error. So I did check all of my connections and found no problems. The other possibility I felt highly likely was that the board from my experimental battery was subject to too much abuse from myself, and I, to rule out this possibility, pulled another battery, known to work. And to my amazement, that was it.

So, would you believe this concept actually works? I have just done a few basic tests to satisfy myself that the battery is doing what it is supposed to be doing. I will try to do something a little more convincing for those more skeptical such as put a bird through a flight , or something. As I can digest what I have right now, compared to the master/slave concept we have been using, this would be superior since there is less to go wrong, and there are more available battery configurations. Configurations like: one big battery, 2 bigger side board batteries, etc...

Of course, this is raw, maybe thee is a gotcha... Here are some pics.. The configuration I am working towards for my next extended flight vessel was described by Canada the other day. My little twist is that it will have two side board 4s's w/everything in parallel. Battery & cells. If the bird lost an entire battery, it would probably still be ably to get home. This is the type of redundancy that makes sense for aircraft.



And hey, the controller had no hesitation accepting another battery to control. This was my original concern. I was afraid there would be big pauses, etc. Nothing so far....