Horizon v-3 split power mod

[Ed209]

My uneven discharge rate between the externals and main battery may be the reason why I'm not seeing a gain. The externals have more voltage left in them. Perhaps the main is what is reporting voltage to the GO App. So I'm seeing 50% left when I land but in reality if the two battery sets where discharging evenly I would see/gain a little bump in voltage remaining.

I wonder if this is discharging unevenly because we were told to connect both the balance lead from the externals and the XT60 connection? I mean the balance lead is working. When charging the whole thing it is doing a good job balancing all 8 cells. I may try leaving the balance lead disconnected tomorrow just for kicks to see what happens.

I'm pretty sure the Go app is only reporting the main battery voltages. With the Horizon mod, the balance leads are spilt for each cell so you have 4 leads for the 4main cells. Each of these are split to provide balance to the 4 cells in the 2x2S configuration. So it's not actually able to monitor 8 individual cells. I'd say it's worth a shot trying without the balance leads. I can verify that the discharge is even among 8 cells without balance leads using externals such as Hyperions or even my own split DJI pack.

 

[BeauS]

My uneven discharge rate between the externals and main battery may be the reason why I'm not seeing a gain. The externals have more voltage left in them. Perhaps the main is what is reporting voltage to the GO App. So I'm seeing 50% left when I land but in reality if the two battery sets where discharging evenly I would see/gain a little bump in voltage remaining.

I wonder if this is discharging unevenly because we were told to connect both the balance lead from the externals and the XT60 connection? I mean the balance lead is working. When charging the whole thing it is doing a good job balancing all 8 cells. I may try leaving the balance lead disconnected tomorrow just for kicks to see what happens.

Phantom751874- I'm kinda new to using duel battery mods, but I sent Midwest Horizon my two brand new batteries and I had my mod after two business days!

Anyway I flew today, lost signal on the DJI app so I cant give accurate results today. Anyway, I thought my flight time was longer than with just the standard battery. Not at 34 minutes though.

Do you guys use the flight record in DJI Go to calculate total flight time? Once I lost signal, I was getting 1 minute intervals until it landed.

 

[Phantom751874]

I'm pretty sure the Go app is only reporting the main battery voltages. With the Horizon mod, the balance leads are spilt for each cell so you have 4 leads for the 4main cells. Each of these are split to provide balance to the 4 cells in the 2x2S configuration. So it's not actually able to monitor 8 individual cells. I'd say it's worth a shot trying without the balance leads. I can verify that the discharge is even among 8 cells without balance leads using externals such as Hyperions or even my own split DJI pack.

Ya I think because it's a parallel setup the battery board still see's only a 4s battery so it's balancing only 4 cells but since the balance leads are split it should balance all 8 cells indirectly. The wiring is there and as I have seen it gets everything really close after charging. I'm just stumped as to why the voltages are so out of whack discharging.

I'll let you guys know tomorrow. It won't take long to test. **** cold front moved in so I get to hover the thing near the porch in my backyard while I stand inside on the other side of a windowed door to stay warm.

 

[Phantom751874]

Phantom751874- I'm kinda new to using duel battery mods, but I sent Midwest Horizon my two brand new batteries and I had my mod after two business days!

Anyway I flew today, lost signal on the DJI app so I cant give accurate results today. Anyway, I thought my flight time was longer than with just the standard battery. Not at 34 minutes though.

Do you guys use the flight record in DJI Go to calculate total flight time? Once I lost signal, I was getting 1 minute intervals until it landed.

I do. Once you start up the motors the flight time starts. You can see it ticking in the battery view from the GO App. Toggle over and it shows it. It is also shown in your flight log after your flight.

I am trying to eliminate as many variable as possible to see how much more time the mod will supply. That's why I'm just hovering in place. Rather boring stuff but we have only seen two people report the 30+ minute figure of actual flying time. Horizon and a fella here on the forum (Unknown Caller). At least 3 of us have tested and we are not getting anywhere near what has been shown by the creator of the mod or by Unknown. And I am using the exact same setup as Unknown.

 

[Luap]

Ya I think because it's a parallel setup ....

Is it really a parallel setup?
I'm wondering as the main leads connecting to the auxiliary batteries are soldered at the + and - leads of the stock DJI Battery as seen in the picture.
This is the same place you connect the DJI charger. So you have the Smart Cap doing its thing (voltage, current monitoring....) on the main DJI battery and not the auxiliary batteries.
If it were a real parallel setup the main DJI battery and the auxiliaries should be connected together before the smart cap. And this doesn't work well as smartcap has a built in capacity check for 4480mAh.
Just a thought.

 

[sp0di]

Coahbllx
L Q

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

Is it really a parallel setup?
I'm wondering as the main leads connecting to the auxiliary batteries are soldered at the + and - leads of the stock DJI Battery as seen in the picture.
This is the same place you connect the DJI charger. So you have the Smart Cap doing its thing (voltage, current monitoring....) on the main DJI battery and not the auxiliary batteries.
If it were a real parallel setup the main DJI battery and the auxiliaries should be connected together before the smart cap. And this doesn't work well as smartcap has a built in capacity check for 4480mAh.
Just a thought.

this was all explained in a previous post , you can use any externals as the secondary cell as long as they are Hi voltage.

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

MINE DOESNT!
And please dont get me wrong, i'm a fan of your antennas, not just a complainy poster!

you have something else going on there , firmware , props may be the cause.

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

all the test and comparison you guys are doing we have already done multiple times before we put it for release . Your main enemy is weight , the UAV has to carry this so its a balance , also the way you mount the Lipos to the UAV if you put them in the prop wash it just takes
More motor current to hold it on the air . Some firmware variations will change the current to the motors also, So take care when you mount the lipos , try a variation of different external lipos , The power mod V3 is all you need done to the Main DJI lipo and yes there ARE in parallel .

I have actually got 36 mins in hover.


here is a flight we did recently just to show we are telling it as it is.

here are the two Top Pilots on Fltrex with the P3 Pro , both using the Power mod V3.

Flytrex - Quadcopter and Multirotor Pilots Network

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

2nd Horizon v3 Battery Mod Test (worse):

100% to 50% Hover.

Battery Starting Voltages
Main Starting 17.5, 4.35, 4.37, 4.37, 4.37
EXT Starting 17.5, 4.36, 4.37, 4.38, 4.38

Battery Ending Voltages
Main Ending 15.5, 3.87, 3.86, 3.88, 3.89
EXT Ending 15.9, 3.96, 3.96, 3.98, 3.97

14 Minute Hover Flight Time.

No Bueno. The ending voltages remain a mystery. The ~.10 voltage differences should be a concern as we have learned from healthy drones that kind of variation in cells is no good. The external batteries and main P3 battery are not discharging at the same rate. Perhaps Horizon can shed some light on this. I measured each right after the other approximately 25 minutes after flight and the main and externals were charged together.

I will do another test tomorrow but doubt I will see anything different. My setup is minimalistic (cut-down carbon fiber battery boards).

All looks ok , check you balance connector !!

 

[dirtybum]

you have something else going on there , firmware , props may be the cause.

Hey, Will,
Tried (2) different aircraft one pro 1.19 & one Adv. 1.6. New props. I've tried and tried to make this work. It may be you need to take it back and investigate cause i get 2 extra min. over the main bat!
And you say all looks good in this post above( #133)so whats diff about that setup and my pic(#68) you said "that wont work"??

 

[Phantom751874]

Is it really a parallel setup?
I'm wondering as the main leads connecting to the auxiliary batteries are soldered at the + and - leads of the stock DJI Battery as seen in the picture.
This is the same place you connect the DJI charger. So you have the Smart Cap doing its thing (voltage, current monitoring....) on the main DJI battery and not the auxiliary batteries.
If it were a real parallel setup the main DJI battery and the auxiliaries should be connected together before the smart cap. And this doesn't work well as smartcap has a built in capacity check for 4480mAh.
Just a thought.

I don't think the smartcap can tell mAh when the batteries are all connected in parrallel. We believe it's merely monitoring voltages and reporting mAh's based off the voltages. When the external batteries are connected to the + and - leads they are then connected in parrallel and show up to the smartcap as 1 big 4s battery.

 

[Phantom751874]

All looks ok , check you balance connector !!

Balance connector is good. Will can you help me determine why my ending external voltages are higher than the main batteries (.10 difference across all cells)? As instructed I am flying with both the balance connector and XT60 connector plugged into the main battery and I am started the main battery before plugging in the externals.

 

[jpd]

So when I read he title of the thread I was excited, after reading all 7 pages of it my eyes are crossed and I'm scratching my head going huh? So I guess the jury is still out on this one, I'm just glad the it look like the testers are the right ones for the job I look forward to hearing your results!!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Luap]

I don't think the smartcap can tell mAh when the batteries are all connected in parrallel. We believe it's merely monitoring voltages and reporting mAh's based off the voltages. When the external batteries are connected to the + and - leads they are then connected in parrallel and show up to the smartcap as 1 big 4s battery.

I've checked the dat files (GUI Version of DatConverter) of quite a few dual battery flights and off single stock battery flights.
The average current draw for single battery flight is between 10-15 amps and around 8 amps for dual batteries (depends on capacity of the dual batteries) per below graphs.
This suggests current and hence mAh is measured in the smart cap but only for the single stock battery even when you have auxiliary batteries connected. If it were measuring current draw for all 3 batteries It would be higher than 10-15 amps .
I highly doubt the smart cap is only monitoring voltage and reporting mAhs based off the voltages from these graphs.

 

[Phantom751874]

 

[dirtybum]

What r u showings here, '75?

 

[Phantom751874]

What r u showings here, '75?

Nothing, that was just from yesterday to show the v3 mod and how it was attached for testing.

I will likely hover in the garage here in a little bit and I might try to hover with the external batteries on the floor so the P3A isn't carrying any weight at all.... I think if I can do that it will be definitive. No wind, no additional weight. We'll see.

I don't know how many different ways there are to connect the wires for this mod but it may be the case that somehow Midwest US has cabled this incorrectly inadvertently. Unknown got his setup from the UK.

 

[Ed209]

We all know weight/power is a delicate balance. But if we're getting better times with Hyperion G6 2400s @203g ea 406g total then the split mod should be much better. I weighed my split mod with Y harness and it came in at 351g. I'm sure the Horizon mod is around the same. Regardless, it's less weight than the G6 2400s. So we shouldn't be worried about shaving that much weight with mounts vs taping. I'm just not convinced this is the best mod. It all sounds good in theory and with 2 30+ min flights claimed. But we are a bunch of knowledgeable people in the P3 mod game. It's not like we're not familiar with this stuff. Every response from Will is sounding like we are a bunch of newbs who don't know what we're doing over here.

 

[Phantom751874]

Test #3: Horizon v3 Power Mod
Stock P3A Weight (Ext Batteries Resting on the Garage Floor)
No Wind (In the Garage)
Hover 100% to 50% (< 1ft off the Ground)

Beginning Cell Voltages:
Main P3: Total 17.5, Cells: 4.37 | 4.37 | 4.42 | 4.36
DJi Ext: Total 17.5, Cells: 4.37 | 4.37 | 4.42 | 4.36

Ending Cell Voltages:
I messed this up as I started charging the main P3 battery and forgot to record the voltages but it was as before with each cell in the external packs ~.10 volts higher than their equivalent main P3 battery cells.

With Horizon v3 Power Mod (100% to 50% Battery Garage Hover):
23:28 (Twenty Three Minutes Twenty Eight Seconds)

In The DJI GO App Flight Light Battery Time Remaining:
@ Flight Time 00:45 _ _/_ _ Changes to 25:00 - 100% Battery Remaining
@ Flight Time 17:50 25:00 Changes to 24:26 - 63% Battery Remaining
@ Flight Time 23:28 18:24 Time Remaining - 50% Battery Remaining

With only v3 Modified DJi P3 Main Battery (100% to 50% Garage Hover)
12:01 (Twelve Minutes One second)

In The DJI GO App Flight Light Battery Time Remaining:
@ Flight Time 00:37 _ _/_ _ Changes to 21:40 - 98% Battery Remaining
@ Flight Time 12:01 9:11 Time Remaining - 50% Battery Remaining

What have we learned? The external batteries are providing extended power and flight time. I think we knew this. The only question now is how much of a flight time penalty is their weight and their weight alone causing? I will tape them to the P3A next (tomorrow) and try to distribute their weight evenly. The tape basically weighs nothing. And at a hover in the garage (100% to 50%) there’s no wind just like the other tests. We will see what I get and what it extrapolates out to.