Phantom 3 Transmitter Battery Life?

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I'm close to pulling the trigger on a P3, I've got all of the logistics worked out that will let me fly for as long as there is daylight with short breaks while traveling between jobs, but the one spec I cannot find anywhere is how long the P3's transmitter battery will last on a single charge.

Has anyone ran their transmitter until the low voltage warning kicked in? I need the transmitter to work for approximately 3-5hrs on a single charge or I will need to add it's charging requirements to my mobile charging solution.
 
You should be easily able to get 3 hours out of it, with about 40% battery remaining.

4-5 hours seems a bit less realistic.

I usually fly 3 batteries for around 18 minutes each, and that drops the transmitter battery by 20%
 
The Tx battery spec is 6Ah and the Tx drain spec is 1.2A. 6/1.2=5 hours (in a perfect world!).
 
You should be easily able to get 3 hours out of it, with about 40% battery remaining.

4-5 hours seems a bit less realistic.

I usually fly 3 batteries for around 18 minutes each, and that drops the transmitter battery by 20%

Thanks, that's the data I was looking for. The full 5hrs would be rare, so I think I can live with not charging the transmitter between flights. Based on those numbers it sounds like 3.5-4hrs would be pretty easy to do when absolutely necessary.
 
Thanks, that's the data I was looking for. The full 5hrs would be rare, so I think I can live with not charging the transmitter between flights. Based on those numbers it sounds like 3.5-4hrs would be pretty easy to do when absolutely necessary.

I did 30 flights before it was down to 30%.
That begs the question 'were they full length flights?' Because at 18 min per that would be 9 hours with 30% left..... hmmmm
 
I'm planning on going with one of these which will charge a P3 battery ~14x on a single charge:

http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-852-...806&sr=1-1&keywords=duracell+powersource+1800

(51Ah / (4.480Ah - (4.480Ah * 0.20))) = 14.229 charges. I allowed for landing with ~20% left on each battery. Realistically I'm typically landing with around 30% remaining. Ok probably not that exact product since it has terrible reviews, but something similar.

So needless to say I will have plenty of left over power to charge the transmitter if need be and no more worrying if my car battery will die. This will be a clean way to not have to deal with DC inverters, killing the car's battery, etc.
 
Unsure what this has to do with controller charging usage vs charge time.

if the controller is charging your monitor, it would stand to reason that your controller would not last as long
 
if the controller is charging your monitor, it would stand to reason that your controller would not last as long
Read it wrong, sorry. If we're splitting hairs, yes, it won't last as long in the order of seconds. Not applicable to the OP regardless.
 
Read it wrong, sorry. If we're splitting hairs, yes, it won't last as long in the order of seconds. Not applicable to the OP regardless.

Seconds? Not a chance. With your display at full brightness, your processor streaming 720p, and charging the battery on top of all that... it will have a huge effect on how long the RC's battery will last. It would easily double how long the RC battery lasts if it was instead connected to an iOS device.
 
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Read it wrong, sorry. If we're splitting hairs, yes, it won't last as long in the order of seconds. Not applicable to the OP regardless.

yeah at 500ma you're not going to notice it.. This is why most devices wont even go into charge mode when connected.
 
Seconds? Not a chance. With your display at full brightness and your processor streaming 720p, it will have a huge effect on how long the RC's battery will last. It would easily double how long the battery lasts when using an iOS device.

This would do nothing on the internal battery of the tx, max output is 500ma
 
This would do nothing on the internal battery of the tx, max output is 500ma

That's a lot if you ask me.... You only have 6000mAh in battery capacity. Lets do the math... If the RC battery is expected to last 5 hours, that translates to 1200mA load when connected to an Android device. If you're saying that the RC is powering the Android device at 500mA, then that's almost what the RC uses by itself.

6000mAh / 5h = 1200mA RC + Android

1200mA - 500mA = 700mA RC alone
 
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I'm planning on going with one of these which will charge a P3 battery ~14x on a single charge:

http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-852-...806&sr=1-1&keywords=duracell+powersource+1800

(51Ah / (4.480Ah - (4.480Ah * 0.20))) = 14.229 charges. I allowed for landing with ~20% left on each battery. Realistically I'm typically landing with around 30% remaining. Ok probably not that exact product since it has terrible reviews, but something similar.

So needless to say I will have plenty of left over power to charge the transmitter if need be and no more worrying if my car battery will die. This will be a clean way to not have to deal with DC inverters, killing the car's battery, etc.
OK, that is an inverter, supplies 110VAC only, meaning your math is off. You will have to use the OEM charging unit for the batteries. Not sure of the numbers for this one but the inverter in my MH draws 15AH with the DJI charger charging a battery. DC>AC via a inverter is not very efficient. You would be better off with a 300 watt inverter that plugs into the accessory port in your car. Doesn't make sense to go DC>AC>DC again, lots of loss.
 
This will be a clean way to not have to deal with DC inverters.
This product is a 51AH rechargeable AGM battery connected to an 1800 watt inverter.
So you are still dealing with a DC inverter - just not powering it from your car's 12V system.
How many batteries are you planning to run?
 
That's a lot if you ask me.... You only have 6000mAh in battery capacity. Lets do the math... If the RC battery is expected to last 5 hours, that translates to 1200mA load when connected to an Android device. If you're saying that the RC is powering the Android device at 500mA, then that's almost what the RC uses by itself.

6000mAh / 5h = 1200mA RC + Android

1200mA - 500mA = 700mA RC alone
You're forgetting that the 2S controller battery is double the voltage of the Android device. So the controller battery only sees 1/2 the mA load or about 250 mA. Much less significant.
 

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