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Strange battery behavior on RC

bassDrone

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May 18, 2019
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Hi Everyone,

I just recently purchased a Zoom, and pardon my newb question, but I have what I think is a fairly strange battery issue with the RC. First off, I'm using a Galaxy Note 5 with with the RC and I have updated to the latest firmware on everything. I've taken it out 4x now, and I have experienced the same situation every flight.

With fully charged everything (phone, bat, RC) I get about 10 or so minutes into the flight, and the low battery warning on the RC goes off.. and the battery indicator reads 25%. So my initial reaction is holy crap, the battery in the RC can't even last one battery?? That doesn't seem right.

I have noticed that the note 5 gets really hot during the flight, and I read on another forum that in order for the android to keep an active usb connection, the phone has to be charging from the RC during the entire time. So that might explain some of the battery drain, but for the RC not to be able to last 10 min, seems ridiculous.

Here's the even more strange part. After the flight, I start the charging process over again (figuring my RC is down to 25%), and when I plug it in to charge, it will usually say it's 75-80% full. *blink blink*... so that is telling me that the battery indicator on the RC during flight is possibly...inaccurate?

One test I haven't tried yet is flying it till I get the low battery indicator on the RC screen, landing, powering everything off, waiting a min, and trying again to see if the RC will report a more accurate battery level.

The other thing I'm considering doing is switching over to my ipad, since it's my understanding that they don't require a continual usb charge to stay active... maybe that will jive better with the RC?

Thoughts?
~Nick
 
Try using the bottom port to connect the tab to the controller. That will prevent the controller from trying to charge your tab. Here is what I use, and have been really happy with them. I simply attach my stock charging cable from my tab to the extender, and off to the races.


Here's my contraption with optional powerbank installed for eternal controller battery life. The powerbank is plugged into the controllers side MicroUSB port with a reversible cable so no damage to the port:

Eternal controller power 3.jpgEternal controller power 2.jpgEternal controller power 1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Wow, cool.. what a great idea. So you're using an external charger plugged into the side, and that's charging the RC while you fly?

If you don't mind my asking, what is a reversible cable? Not familiar with those.

Will any external power charger work, or are some better than others?

thanks for the info!
 
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Wow, cool.. what a great idea. So you're using an external charger plugged into the side, and that's charging the RC while you fly?

If you don't mind my asking, what is a reversible cable? Not familiar with those.

Will any external power charger work, or are some better than others?

thanks for the info!

Yes I use the controller until it's down to around 45% then I turn on the external power bank and it recharges and powers the controller while it's turned on.

Reversible USB cables make it impossible to insert it incorrectly. You can insert the cable top or bottom and it won't break the micro usb port on the controller.

Reversible Micro USB Cable,JianHan [3-Pack] Braided Micro USB Charging Cable for Samsung Galaxy S7 S6 J7 Edge,Note 5,LG G3 G4,Kindle,Xbox,PS4,Nexus,Motorola,Android Phones (1.5ft /3.3ft /6.6ft Red) Amazon.com: Reversible Micro USB Cable,JianHan [3-Pack] Braided Micro USB Charging Cable for Samsung Galaxy S7 S6 J7 Edge,Note 5,LG G3 G4,Kindle,Xbox,PS4,Nexus,Motorola,Android Phones (1.5ft /3.3ft /6.6ft Red): Computers & Accessories
 
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