Quick battery test

davedrone 178 · Saturday at 2:10 PM

Just did a quick battery test with my 5Pro with the standard battery. Weather conditions were good: sunny, very light wind, temperature about 70 degrees. Ran the battery fully charged (100%) to well depleted (8%).
Put her in normal mode, cruise control on, brought her back to hover for half the time. Total time 17:08. Rather disappointed to say the least.

MS Coast · Saturday at 2:33 PM

davedrone 178 said:
Just did a quick battery test with my 5Pro with the standard battery. Weather conditions were good: sunny, very light wind, temperature about 70 degrees. Ran the battery fully charged (100%) to well depleted (8%).
Put her in normal mode, cruise control on, brought her back to hover for half the time. Total time 17:08. Rather disappointed to say the least.

Hovering is less efficient than forward flight for flight endurance. That explains part of the shortfall.

From the DJI specs:
This measurement was obtained by testing the aircraft in a windless, sea-level environment. The drone flew forward at a constant speed of 21.6 kph in photo mode, with the Obstacle Avoidance Action set to Brake, until it was forced to land due to low voltage.

davedrone 178 · Saturday at 3:07 PM

Will try to replicate the same test tomorrow with my Mini 4 Pro.

davedrone 178 · Sunday at 12:31 PM

In my second test with the 5 Pro, I dialed back the top speed in normal mode to 29mph. This drone is substantially quicker than the Mini 4 Pro. Sent her off with cruise control enabled. Very light wind, sunny and about 70 degrees. No hover time. Ran her down to 2% for a total flight time
of 21:48. Still disappointing. PS. She tried to force land at 10% but you still have full control.

MS Coast · Sunday at 12:47 PM

davedrone 178 said:
In my second test with the 5 Pro, I dialed back the top speed in normal mode to 29mph. This drone is substantially quicker than the Mini 4 Pro. Sent her off with cruise control enabled. Very light wind, sunny and about 70 degrees. No hover time. Ran her down to 2% for a total flight time
of 21:48. Still disappointing. PS. She tried to force land at 10% but you still have full control.

With standard battery?

What speed did you set for cruise control? 29 mph? DJI rates duration for 21.6 kph, or 13.4 mph.

davedrone 178 · Sunday at 2:20 PM

MS Coast said:
With standard battery?

What speed did you set for cruise control? 29 mph? DJI rates duration for 21.6 kph, or 13.4 mph.

Yes, the standard battery. You can set the top speed in normal mode up to 33.6 mph. I tweaked it back to a little over 29 mph.

MS Coast · Sunday at 2:44 PM

davedrone 178 said:
Yes, the standard battery. You can set the top speed in normal mode up to 33.6 mph. I tweaked it back to a little over 29 mph.

22 minutes is surprisingly low. But, your results will probably come closer to the DJI rating if you set the flight parameters closer to DJI's rating parameters. You might try reducing speed to 13.4 mph.

I'd check the duration on my Mini 5, but I have only the plus batteries.

GadgetGuy · Sunday at 11:10 PM

davedrone 178 said:
Yes, the standard battery. You can set the top speed in normal mode up to 33.6 mph. I tweaked it back to a little over 29 mph.

That is still more than twice the recommended speed for optimal flight time. Maintain a constant normal speed of the optimal 13.4 mph, and take it out of cruise control, which isn't the same as constant tension using the throttle. Maybe use the tension of a rubber band on the throttle for constant speed at 13.4 mph, if doing so manually is too much trouble. Anything between 12 and 14 mph should be fine compared to 29mph.