Battery life

[asmith61]

Hi my first post on this forum having only had my bebop 2 for a few weeks I am only getting flight times of 8 mins from one battery and 12 mins from the other one, I read that I should be getting 20-25 mins of flying time ? I bought my drone second hand it was in excellent condition with 3 baterries and the big sky controller and I would imagine the correct charger which charges In 30 mins, any help would be appreciated many thanks

[asmith61]

Hi this is the charger I got with the drone just wondering if there is a better model I need to buy or higher ampage battery ? Hope the pic works any information would be appreciated

[dries_w]

The OEM charger type is OK, but does it work allright, thats the question you should ask imo.
Second question should be is my LiPo battery allright?
You can measure that easely by connecting the Parrot charger cable to the battery and measure with a multi/volt-meter the two outside pins on that cable at the end. (Dont measure on the battery, short cirquit damage your battery)
After full charge it should read something like 12V. If the reading is less then 9 volt, one or more cells from your LiPo battery is damaged and you can not use this battery.

[asmith61]

Hi dries_w
Thank you for your reply, I have since bought a new battery which is excellent and has made so much difference but I will try what you suggested and see what the results are, I have numbered my batteries now and the weakest one I will use on my sky controller ( I trust this will be ok to do this ?)

[dries_w]

Using your 'weakest' battery in the SC2 is not OK, because you do pilot you BB2 with it. If the LiPo battery is 'empty' in your SC2 you can not controll anymore and have to hope that RTH kicked in and bring your BB2 home.
If your 3 serial cells Lithium Polymere battery can not be charged to (nearly) 100% it has at least one damaged cell and it is a huge risk to fly/pilot wwith that.

[asmith61]

Hi thank you for your reply.

Ok that makes sense I will check to see if the batteries are charging fully if not I will buy 2 more batteries, I got the new one from Amazon £59.00 I did see some on eBay cheaper but thought I would stick to the correct parrot ones, I am loving my bb2 just wondered what the laws are on public flying ( for example flying in a public park ) I am in the uk.

Thank you in advance

[dries_w]

Regulations for flying a drone defference per country, even in Europe. In my country Im not allowed to fly over (crowded-) people or within 50 meters from buildings etc. You have to follow the UK country regulations. Have fun

[IronSpear]

Hi thank you for your reply.

Ok that makes sense I will check to see if the batteries are charging fully if not I will buy 2 more batteries, I got the new one from Amazon £59.00 I did see some on eBay cheaper but thought I would stick to the correct parrot ones, I am loving my bb2 just wondered what the laws are on public flying ( for example flying in a public park ) I am in the uk.

Thank you in advance

Hiya mate!
Look for a good phone app that will tell you definitively if you can fly where you are.
In Australia we have an app called literally "Can I fly here"
Also check your countries "Federal Aviation Authority" rules for max altitudes etc etc
Also check for Local Gov/Council Rules, Good luck and have fun.

[asmith61]

Hi guys
Thank you ironspear and dries_w for your replies here in the uk I believe altitude max is 400 feet, I work on a farm so there is so much room to fly and only animals to fly over I will check my country’s rules and regulations happy flying guys

[asmith61]

Hi
My new battery that I bought for £59.00 has had 3 charges now and I am getting flight times of over 22 minutes
Which is brilliant

I will buy another battery or 2 when I next get paid

Actually I have seen some batteries on eBay a lot cheaper just wondered if they were ok or is it best to stick with the official parrot ones ?

Thank you in advance.

[happydrew]

I did use some non Parrot batterys ad GIFI and ABBY but I rather stay with Parrot as good quality battery.

[asmith61]

Hi happydrew

Thank you for your reply

That is what I thought you carnt beat an original item, worth asking though

[hogshawrabbit]

A word of warning regards the Gifi battery, a YouTuber 'Anthony Vlog' posted an article a while back where he took apart and compared the original Parrot battery and the Gifi and it was very different. The Parrot had a more sophisticated cct board and also the cells looked a little neater. He also noticed some swelling on the Giff cells which tells me that they are failing probably due to inferior material or charging.
I guess as long as you use a balanced charger (BC) for the Gifi you would be fine as you could inspect the internal resistance and charge optimally. I use a BC all the time and I think it helps. That said Parrots cct board is there to balance charge so maybe the standard product is fine as long as you use Parrot original batteries.

I use the Turnigy Accucell 6
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turnigy-Accuce ... ry+charger

and the PS201 power supply
https://www.amazon.co.uk/13-8V-200W-Ben ... wer+supply

You then need to make or buy the Bebop2 charge lead. I got the info to make the charge lead from MRKENT.com website

http://www.mrkent.com/cables/index.htm

Safe flying

Mike

[asmith61]

Hi mike

Thank you for your reply
When I bought my BB2 it was second hand it came with 3 batteries the fly time is not very good on all 3 about 10-12 mins, it was interesting to read what you said about swelling of the Giff cells
As my 3 original batteries are showing signs of swelling to

As I said on my earlier post I have since bought a new parrot battery which is spot on
I think I will buy a balanced charger thank you for the links

Regards Alby

[dries_w]

Please dont make no mistake, 'swollen battery cells' are not only occur on GIFI cells, it occurs on any brand LiPo battery cell when not stored (longer period) with 60-70% charge.