goraplx
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F550 Starting Motor Issues - Naza or Not??
- Thread starter PCMAerial
- Start date
Motopreserve
Drone Enthusiast
I would say that 3.0 volts is too low to be safe. If you fly to 3.2-3.5 it's safe. Under load it can drop a little lower in my experience, and then bounces to the safe level when you land and rest a second.
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Motopreserve
Drone Enthusiast
To clarify and make it much easier - I would get yourself a battery warning monitor (they can be as cheap as $3) or better yet, get the FrSky voltage monitor for the X8R so you can see/hear when a low voltage point is reached. If you set an alarm for 3.5V (under load) you will then know to land, and the battery will then bounce to 3.7V at rest. That's right where you want to be.
The other thing to wrap your head around - as if there isn't enough already
- is the 80% rule. This is calculated and tracked by watching how many mah your battery takes from the charger to bring it back to full charge. I keep an excel sheet to keep tabs on this - because at a certain point, batteries performance will drop.
For example: your 3300mah battery can be safely used by depleting 2640mah of its charge (3300 * .8). So when you slap it on the charger after a flight, you should be putting back no more than 2640mah, or you have used too much, and have over-discharged the battery. If you discharge too much, you will decrease the performance and lifespan of the battery.
Along with Bart's sticky about Lipos, I've found THIS site to have great info regarding all thing RC power related.
The other thing to wrap your head around - as if there isn't enough already
- is the 80% rule. This is calculated and tracked by watching how many mah your battery takes from the charger to bring it back to full charge. I keep an excel sheet to keep tabs on this - because at a certain point, batteries performance will drop. For example: your 3300mah battery can be safely used by depleting 2640mah of its charge (3300 * .8). So when you slap it on the charger after a flight, you should be putting back no more than 2640mah, or you have used too much, and have over-discharged the battery. If you discharge too much, you will decrease the performance and lifespan of the battery.
Along with Bart's sticky about Lipos, I've found THIS site to have great info regarding all thing RC power related.
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To clarify and make it much easier - I would get yourself a battery warning monitor (they can be as cheap as $3) or better yet, get the FrSky voltage monitor for the X8R so you can see/hear when a low voltage point is reached. If you set an alarm for 3.5V (under load) you will then know to land, and the battery will then bounce to 3.7V at rest. That's right where you want to be.
The other thing to wrap your head around - as if there isn't enough already
For example: your 3300mah battery can be safely used by depleting 2640mah of its charge (3300 * .8). So when you slap it on the charger after a flight, you should be putting back no more than 2640mah, or you have used too much, and have over-discharged the battery. If you discharge too much, you will decrease the performance and lifespan of the battery.
Along with Bart's sticky about Lipos, I've found THIS site to have great info regarding all thing RC power related.
Thanks man. Time to read, and re-read once again! Never enough research to fully understand these batteries. I know they are nothing to play with, so I'll keep reasearching and also look into a monitor. I already need new props so I'm going to order at the same time when I can find the right prop nuts
Here's a picture of my charger. So is this about full? My amps dropped from 3.3 to 2.0 while it was charging, trying to comprehend..lol
View attachment 17937
(I PRE-rotated this picture multiple times and still, it uploads upside down, sorry folks)
Also thanks for the new site Scott! About to log in some hours reading on that one
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Motopreserve
Drone Enthusiast
The amps listed on the charger show the amps it's using from the power supply to put juice back in the battery. For a 3300mah battery, if you have it at 3.3A (which I think you did), it would be charging at 1C rate. That's the safest for the life of the battery (open to interpretation - but definitely a safe charge rate).
When it gets to the end of the charge you will notice the amps will get very low, that's when it's trickling it in to balance the cells.
The number on the lower right of the actual charger - not your upside down photo is the mah being put back into the battery. Based on a 3300mah battery, you should never be putting in more than 2640. That would be the 80% rule.
When it gets to the end of the charge you will notice the amps will get very low, that's when it's trickling it in to balance the cells.
The number on the lower right of the actual charger - not your upside down photo
is the mah being put back into the battery. Based on a 3300mah battery, you should never be putting in more than 2640. That would be the 80% rule.The amps listed on the charger show the amps it's using from the power supply to put juice back in the battery. For a 3300mah battery, if you have it at 3.3A (which I think you did), it would be charging at 1C rate. That's the safest for the life of the battery (open to interpretation - but definitely a safe charge rate).
When it gets to the end of the charge you will notice the amps will get very low, that's when it's trickling it in to balance the cells.
The number on the lower right of the actual charger - not your upside down photo
Okay that's starting to make sense to me now as far as charging goes. Next is discharging. I saw my amps dropping quick so I freaked out not knowing. BUT the battery was fully charged.
I took the 550 out and put my gopro on there. Got about 5mins of flight time, and then I saw the Naza LED blinking RED, RED, RED so I'm assuming it was telling me the voltage is low. I calculated around 7min of flight time before flying, but I guess 4-5min is all I'm getting right now before my LED starts blinking. This is with alot of landing and taking back off (when things get hairy).
Edit:
So I plugged my battery back in to balance charge after my LED was blinking during flight (GPS was good, guessing battery voltage). After doing the calculations In Bart's thread. (If I'm correct) I only used 27% of my battery. hmm
Only took me 22min to charge back to full, that seems a little quick though. Put 898 back into the battery. Guessing I wasn't THAT low in the first place. Odd
View attachment 17938
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Motopreserve
Drone Enthusiast
Yes, you landed too quick for the battery to be spent - but exactly the right time for the red blinking light!
find out what that blinking red light means. It's never good to muscle through flight when something is screaming at you like a red light.
find out what that blinking red light means. It's never good to muscle through flight when something is screaming at you like a red light.
Yes, you landed too quick for the battery to be spent - but exactly the right time for the red blinking light!
find out what that blinking red light means. It's never good to muscle through flight when something is screaming at you like a red light.
After a ton of looking I'm convinced its the battery voltage blinking on the NAZA LED. For my first 5-6min of flight I get nothing but green GPS LED. And then right around 6-7min of flying I get a red blinking LED. When I land my rig and power off the motors the LED stops blinking and right back to Green. I'll try to power back up and the motors will run but not enough power to lift off the ground.
Motopreserve
Drone Enthusiast
Is there a setting for low voltage alarm in the Naza Assistant? Maybe it's set too high? Not sure why that would be it - but worth a check.
i think it's called "low voltage cutoff?"
i think it's called "low voltage cutoff?"
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Yes there is a voltage monitor on the Naza. I think it cuts in too soon, and usually turn it off in assistant, and use a low voltage beeper set to 3.5 volts. You can adjust the settings in assistant though. The first stage in the Naza, is the flashing red light you describe. If you go much past that point, it will slowly loose power, and land. You'll notice it as it will take more and more throttle, to maintain a hover. And it comes on pretty quick, after the initial red light warning.
to much jerking around
I also am having arming problems. I have a Devo 10 tx. It has a "monitor" function that allows me to see the stick movements, it shows 2 (A & R) that need to be reversed, to move in the correct direction, but it says all over the forums NOT to reverse anything, or is that rule in the Naza software only? Speaking of which, everybody videos shows solid pointers, all mine twitch around, especially with the 3-position GPS slider, twitching in and out GPS and failsafe. I of course suspect this could be my problem, or at least, a problem.
I seen one comment that said his Throttle lock was on, he said it was in Inhibit in his tx too. I checked mine, same thing, I set to Active and the motors started but I could not control them, throttle didn't seem to shut them down, motors seemed to rev up and down on their own (maybe because of the twitching).
I also am having arming problems. I have a Devo 10 tx. It has a "monitor" function that allows me to see the stick movements, it shows 2 (A & R) that need to be reversed, to move in the correct direction, but it says all over the forums NOT to reverse anything, or is that rule in the Naza software only? Speaking of which, everybody videos shows solid pointers, all mine twitch around, especially with the 3-position GPS slider, twitching in and out GPS and failsafe. I of course suspect this could be my problem, or at least, a problem.
I seen one comment that said his Throttle lock was on, he said it was in Inhibit in his tx too. I checked mine, same thing, I set to Active and the motors started but I could not control them, throttle didn't seem to shut them down, motors seemed to rev up and down on their own (maybe because of the twitching).
Motopreserve
Drone Enthusiast
I would watch the videos that Bartman did for the Naza in the review section. He explains it very well. He has one segment that shows how to get the mode switch to line up. It should be solid on each mode when you're done, not flickering.