Flight times went from fantastic to terrible

[tak004]

Here are my setings

No Load: 11.30v.
Loss: .50
Loaded: 10.80v

No Load: 11.00v
Loss: .50
Loaded: 10.50v

IMHO your numbers were to high and you had no LOSS.

I'm using a Onyx 3S 6400 35C and my max flight time right before the first red light blinks is at 11:30 minutes.

I usually land at nine minutes and when I put the battery back on the charger I have about 25 percent battery left.

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Hi,
I used your settings, and tested to day. Used to batteries in parallell; 1Haiyin 4000/35c, and 1 MaxPower 4200/35c - mostly hovering, but in quite heavy winds, so the drone had to "work" all time. Got a hover time of 18 minutes....

Safe flying

 

[FangsCPO]

You must be flying a F450.....to have gone 18 minutes. That would be awesome for a F550.

 

[tak004]

Any chance your charger is not charging the lipo accurately? Any chance your lipo or one of the cells has gone bad? Can your charger check individual cell status>

I know my voltage is displayed on my screen when I first start flying at 12.5v and within 2-3minutes it drops to 11.8v but then it stays there for a while. Just a few things to consider. Good Luck!

Just came back from my testflight after getting the drone to act normal. Used two batteries in parallell ;Haiyin 4000/35c, and MaxPower 4200/35c --Hovering (in quiet heavy wind conditions, made the drone work) I got a time of 18minutes effective. Back home, the 4000 was down to 11,22v and 4200 was 11,27..................
FangCPO: used your settings in Naza. Very satisfied

Safe flying

 

[tak004]

You must be flying a F450.....to have gone 18 minutes. That would be awesome for a F550.

Saw your last just now, but this is true - 18 minutes on a F550 Total weight: 1.958 kg....... air temp. about 15 celcius....

 

[FangsCPO]

You must be flying a F450.....to have gone 18 minutes. That would be awesome for a F550.

Saw your last just now, but this is true - 18 minutes on a F550 Total weight: 1.958 kg....... air temp. about 15 celcius....

That is amazing....are you carrying a Go-Pro? Is that bird just motor and props? No skids? How much battery was left when you put it back on the charger....just fumes?? LOL!!! I know you ran two lipos for a total of 8200 mAh but still that is amazing considering the additional weight two batteries can add to your F550. Can you post a photo of your F550 and list of what's on it?

 

[SammyB]

You must be flying a F450.....to have gone 18 minutes. That would be awesome for a F550.

Saw your last just now, but this is true - 18 minutes on a F550 Total weight: 1.958 kg....... air temp. about 15 celcius....

That is amazing....are you carrying a Go-Pro? Is that bird just motor and props? No skids? How much battery was left when you put it back on the charger....just fumes?? LOL!!! I know you ran two lipos for a total of 8200 mAh but still that is amazing considering the additional weight two batteries can add to your F550. Can you post a photo of your F550 and list of what's on it?

What the heck, haha I'd also love to see what your complete setup is. 18 minutes out of a complete F550 setup would be amazing.

 

[ericty]

What the heck, haha I'd also love to see what your complete setup is. 18 minutes out of a complete F550 setup would be amazing.

Thanks for starting this thread SammyB. I'm experiencing the same issues. Just built the 550 with similar equipment added on (H32D w/GoPro, Immersion 250mw VTX, can hub, mini iOSD, E300 motors, Naza V2, retractable landing gear, 3S 5500mAh battery). Getting only 5:30 of flying. I'll need to weigh it as now I'm beginning to think the retracts are adding too much weight at the expense of flight time.

 

[FangsCPO]

It's your retractable landing gear....it adds more weight in my opinion. Check your 1st snd 2nd warning settings. I put mine in here a few posts ago. Try that out.

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[tak004]

Hi again,
I can see you have problems believing me, but it is true. Again, it was only hovering, in windy conditions though. F550 with motors/propellers (composit)/Naza V2 w/GPS/alu simple landing gear, no gimbal or camera. These batteries are quite heavy themselves, so the weight was as mentioned (1.958 kg). After this I've tried it with one of these batteries at a time, and it gave a flighttime of around 8:30 minutes each.......... So ecxept for the motors/Naza, I've nothing else using power.

Best regards

 

[OI Photography]

Hi again,
I can see you have problems believing me, but it is true. Again, it was only hovering, in windy conditions though. F550 with motors/propellers (composit)/Naza V2 w/GPS/alu simple landing gear, no gimbal or camera. These batteries are quite heavy themselves, so the weight was as mentioned (1.958 kg). After this I've tried it with one of these batteries at a time, and it gave a flighttime of around 8:30 minutes each.......... So ecxept for the motors/Naza, I've nothing else using power.

Best regards

I don't think it's an issue of not believing you, it's just that the numbers you present don't add up in some places, so that may indicate inconsistencies in your testing procedure. For example, if you get 18 min on two batts but only 8:30 on one (assuming they're the exact same weight/capacity), then there has to be some other factor at play that isn't being measured.

 

[tak004]

Hi,
well this is what happened......... The two batteries have different weight, so the 8:30 mins is an average, and that would be around 17-18 mins with both, as the first test showed. I can't explain it further than this........

 

[OI Photography]

Hi,
well this is what happened......... The two batteries have different weight, so the 8:30 mins is an average, and that would be around 17-18 mins with both, as the first test showed. I can't explain it further than this........

Well you're reporting that adding a second battery gives you 100% or more increase in flight time, which means that one of the numbers isn't reliable. You may just be not getting the full flight time you should when you use one battery, but if all other test criteria are the same (such as ending voltage, etc), the results you posted aren't really possible on the surface.