DJI 450 flamewheel and Naza Controller going above battery specs

[bensid54]

Wanting more flight time I did some asking on this forum on how to get more. Increase battery MHA and add a cell was the answer I got plus some examples of their own setup and experience. My stock 450 Flame wheel with eight inch props recommends 2200mha 3 cell lipo batteries so I ran two of those in parallel at first it seemed like the thing to do. First thing I noticed was the handling it was much slower to stick commands and in home lock mode it would twitch at random times something I never noticed with a single 2200mha battery. I don't believe I fried anything but I'm going back to what the manufacturer specs for battery size just to be on the safe side because I would rather shorter flights than no flights at all. I want to increase flight time but being so new at this and with my RC helicopter I've learned to be very wary of any reactions as a result of changes I've done.

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

Wanting more flight time I did some asking on this forum on how to get more. Increase battery MHA and add a cell was the answer I got plus some examples of their own setup and experience. My stock 450 Flame wheel with eight inch props recommends 2200mha 3 cell lipo batteries so I ran two of those in parallel at first it seemed like the thing to do. First thing I noticed was the handling it was much slower to stick commands and in home lock mode it would twitch at random times something I never noticed with a single 2200mha battery. I don't believe I fried anything but I'm going back to what the manufacturer specs for battery size just to be on the safe side because I would rather shorter flights than no flights at all. I want to increase flight time but being so new at this and with my RC helicopter I've learned to be very wary of any reactions as a result of changes I've done.

Bensid, it sounds like, to me, all you need to do is work on your gains for the heavier load. I have an F450 with 3S 6000mah batteries, plug gimbal and landing gear. It doesn't seem like you are pushing the limits of the F450 by going to dual 2200mah, but rather just some tuning. Just my 2 cents...

 

[OneStopRC]

A 450 Flame wheel with 8" props requires a 4s battery, 10" requires 3s battery, as per DJI instructions.

I moved from the standard prop sizes on my TBS Discovery and went to 9x5 Graupners, standard DJI motors (for now), 4500 mAh 4S Lipo and I now get 16 minutes flight time with about 1 minute on the ground. I am also running off the same battery, 600Mw VTX, 12 Volt Camera off of the TBS core, Eagle Tree OSD.

The discovery is not much different to the 450, and I am sure you can also get around them times with a similar setup.

 

[Bowley]

I get nearly as much flight time with my F450 as Deanot, depending on payload, also 9" Graupners and 4000mAh 4S

 

[bensid54]

I think I need to do two things here 1. change props to 10 inch (not ready to replace all my batteries just yet). 2. reset my gains I think that is why I'm having trouble with the homelock setting I think it should be as far into the blue as possible. Reason I mounted the 8 inch props was because I figured if it got away on me it won't crash as hard into a structure, starting out in RC helis made me this way!

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

I think I need to do two things here 1. change props to 10 inch (not ready to replace all my batteries just yet). 2. reset my gains I think that is why I'm having trouble with the homelock setting I think it should be as far into the blue as possible. Reason I mounted the 8 inch props was because I figured if it got away on me it won't crash as hard into a structure, starting out in RC helis made me this way!

Ben, just to make clear, when we say tune your gains, we aren't talking about adjusting the homelock setting so that it is in the blue. That's a transmitter issue, and if it's in the blue, you should be fine.
When we say "gains" we're talking about the 6 percentage numbers, 2 for roll and pitch, 1 for yaw, and 1 for altitude.
Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

 

[bensid54]

Thanks Propilot my mistake I didn't mention that when I have the homelock switch on it sometimes locks in or it will jerk then lock in that's why I figure I need to go deeper into the blue of homelock. The gains seem OK I've tweaked them about three times to get it right it is very well behaved otherwise. When it does work in homelock I have to be on guard otherwise I'll try to fly it like an RC helicopter and will end up with a crash and I want to get the operation of my quad down pat before I try FPV flying.

 

[bensid54]

Found out what my twitching problem is. I would start flying before 30 seconds passed and the Naza had not locked into a sixth satellite but once it does it would react and hence that bad twitch or jerk. So from now on I wait 30 seconds and check for a sixth satellite if all that is in place I will turn on the home lock otherwise if less than six I will leave the switch off.

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

Found out what my twitching problem is. I would start flying before 30 seconds passed and the Naza had not locked into a sixth satellite but once it does it would react and hence that bad twitch or jerk. So from now on I wait 30 seconds and check for a sixth satellite if all that is in place I will turn on the home lock otherwise if less than six I will leave the switch off.

Recommendation: don't go by time either. Just wait until you don't get any red flashes. At 5 satellites you were getting a single red flash, and that flash goes away when you acquire the 6th. Glad you found your issue.