Mavic Pro Battery Mod

[TheLightSpeed!]

Also I noticed my flight remaining time read ••-•• is this normal too? I was watching the voltages across all three cells and they started at 4.12 (I think), as the Mavic battery went down I noticed I got to 55% with 15 minutes

 

[frysie]

anywhere to buy 3d battery mounts. 3dhubs wants an arm and a leg

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

anywhere to buy 3d battery mounts. 3dhubs wants an arm and a leg

I paid $20 for mine. Don't use the huger end material. Use the modeling media plastic.

However I have to say after I got mine I decided to just stick it to the sides.

 

[frysie]

I paid $20 for mine. Don't use the huger end material. Use the modeling media plastic.

However I have to say after I got mine I decided to just stick it to the sides.

what tape did you use?

 

[Ed209]

Alright guys I need some help here.
@dirtybum @MacLak @chazz @Ed209...
1. Externals first or DJI battery first? On start?
2. Same question in shut off
3. I read I think I'm not supposed to charge these MS's to 100%?
4. I kept getting a RED error that said "main Controller Data Error"? I'd land and it would go away and I would start again. Normal?
5. I noticed my Mavic battery was going down like normal, blinking dot 4, then 3 etc. does it keep going and then the externals charge the battery?

I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Please help this noob!

1 - DJI bat first. Wait for Mavic to power up completely, then plug in externals.
2 - Opposite order... Externals 1st then shut off DJI bat.
3 - Depends... I charge to 100% and only had it try to charge the main battery once. If your main DJI bat has a lot of charge cycles, it may not be reaching full capacity and thus the externals may try to charge the DJI battery. You'll know if you see the DJI battery lights doing the charge sequence lighting. Another thing you can do if you get the charging issue is to quickly spin up the motors and hover. Keep an eye on the battery lights for a few seconds to make sure it's not charging. Usually the load from hovering will discharge the externals enough.
4 - Not sure about this one. Maybe the main battery wasn't seated all the way and it was not getting data from the battery pins???
5 - The Mavic battery will discharge like normal so you will see the dots go down. It will just go down slower because you're carrying 6000mAh extra.

 

[Ed209]

Also I noticed my flight remaining time read ••-•• is this normal too? I was watching the voltages across all three cells and they started at 4.12 (I think), as the Mavic battery went down I noticed I got to 55% with 15 minutes

That's normal. DJI Go only shows up to 25:00 flight time and it was estimating above 25:00 flight time. It won't start showing a timer until you discharge some. 15 min to 55% is a little under-par. Depending on your flying style, wind, temps...etc. this can vary. On a distance runs in prime conditions I was at 19:07 at 50%.

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

That's normal. DJI Go only shows up to 25:00 flight time and it was estimating above 25:00 flight time. It won't start showing a timer until you discharge some. 15 min to 55% is a little under-par. Depending on your flying style, wind, temps...etc. this can vary. On a distance runs in prime conditions I was at 19:07 at 50%.

Thanks @Ed209!

Maybe the battery wasn't seated. I was just hovering around my yard. Fort time at it.

I am also struggling with the wire routing. The wires don't seem long enough?

I was guessing at the time of flight at 55%

This is a brand new spanking DJI battery. No charge cycles at all. I got it to replace my one I cut up.

I'm excited to got on a long flight, I'm just being cautious. All this stuff I hadn't thought of before like how would the stock battery act during discharge.

Thanks for all your help. I'm gonna go for a full discharge tomorrow.

By the way the UAV MODS Battery Clip is SUPER nice. I didn't expect that at all!

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

How's this look? Little bit forward but the wires are definitely out of the way and not bound up?

 

[Japtastic]

Looks good @TheLightSpeed! That is going to be my next setup. I had to charge my 4000mah to 4.30v per cell otherwise it would start to charge the main battery which has about 60 cycles on it.

 

[frysie]

how many volts per cell for the 3000 liHV multistars ?

 

[MacIak]

Alright guys I need some help here.
@dirtybum @MacLak @chazz @Ed209...

So got my clip today, got my two lipo 3.0 MS batteries. Charged them all up, and hooked it up for a test flight.

Can you guys answer these questions for me?
1. Externals first or DJI battery first? On start?
2. Same question in shut off
3. I read I think I'm not supposed to charge these MS's to 100%?
4. I kept getting a RED error that said "main Controller Data Error"? I'd land and it would go away and I would start again. Normal?
5. I noticed my Mavic battery was going down like normal, blinking dot 4, then 3 etc. does it keep going and then the externals charge the battery?

I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Please help this noob!

You just gotta try out how main battery reacts on the external voltage. Mine always switches off when lihv is fully charged. Does not matter really anyway.
Normally my externals lag by .04v.
As long as you get no battery errors AND the main battery is not in "charge" mode when mavic is "on" you re good.
The "main controller data error" is new to me. No idea what it means.
Point 5: all goes down normal but slower. Please keep in mind the projected time is inaccurate. Example: when i fly the 2x3000 i get 5 mins flight after 10% battery. Linear this should become 45mins with 5% remaining...off course i end up between 30-33 mins total so the drainage is not linear.

 

[MacIak]

how many volts per cell for the 3000 liHV multistars ?

Try full charge first. If no luck then 4.30v will work.

 

[frysie]

Try full charge first. If no luck then 4.30v will work.

bit of a silly question, but i have a skyrc imax b6ac....... i ahve it set to balance. will it turn off when its fully charged?

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

bit of a silly question, but i have a skyrc imax b6ac....... i ahve it set to balance. will it turn off when its fully charged?

Yes

 

[dirtybum]

Hey digdat0 I think I'm going to cut my 8 down to 3 cells...Its gona hurt a little because i don't think hobby king ill ever stock em again but i know you and DBs anxious to see this tested.

I would bet the house that you're not gonna find the MS liHv's in 6.6,8.0,&10.0 available new again. maybe not even used.
it's too bad, because they was some great long-range batteries that you could combo up in many combinations.
If you don't mind me suggesting Chazz,
and if you have the money, you should consider buying a high-capacity 8.0 that is available and split it first. This offers first off the practice of splitting a battery, and second, you can see how it flies and fits under your Mavic before sacrificing your 4S 8.0 lihv. (when you do split one cell off you should bring them down to a known storage voltage, that way you can save the leftover cell and if you ever want to go back to 4S just make sure to bring your other cells back to that storage level that way the balance won't be too far off)
I used Harris Aluminum flux and solder.
it works great on those thin metal tabs, kind of pricey, but a solid bond and a little goes a long ways, and bonds real quick which is important, because you don't want to keep the heat on the tabs too long[emoji41]

 

[dirtybum]

Alright guys I need some help here.
@dirtybum @MacLak @chazz @Ed209...


Please help this noob!

Ed209 beat me to the response, but my answer would've been exactly the same lightspeed!
btw like your new profile pic TLS

 

[Japtastic]

Why the shortage of these batteries?

 

[dirtybum]

Why the shortage of these batteries?

they discontinued the production of them, most likely because they wasn't very popular, even though a small few of us would like to get our hands on them, The really large Octacopter's usually run 12–16 and 20s, the smaller DYI quadcopters seem to usually pack the 5.2 range. Multi star got real popular one year ago with the PIII crowd, but even though it was a huge buzz with us, that was still just a small group in the scheme of things.

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

Ed209 beat me to the response, but my answer would've been exactly the same lightspeed!
btw like your new profile pic TLS

Thanks man! It's some version of MR. YUCK

 

[Japtastic]

Cheers @dirtybum I have just ordered 2x 3000mah lihvs as they were in stock at the EU warehouse.

Going forward, can we source some decent cells to build our own?