Want to make sure I don't ruin my batteries...

J

JG-rn

Member
Hey guys,

So I have an f450 and this is my first real MC. I purchased the quad from Tony at RC-Drones as a RTF package. I bought the f450, radio, and batteries from him. After spending $1300, he won't even email me back to let me know how he set the quad up. Communication has been horrible even during the build but now that he's shipped it there is NO communication. I emailed him 2 days ago right after I recieved it with a couple basic question, no response. I emailed him today, no response. Just terrible. Very disappointed. It looks as though he built a kick *** f450 as he told me he ran three lipo packs through it and has a video of it on his youtube page, but I can't get past the communication issue.

Anyway, I have four 4s 45c 3300mah battery packs. I just bought a PL6 and power supply, but I'm worried about discharging the battery too much during flight. It says on the packs to use a 3.4v minimum autocut and flight timer.

I don't know what or if he set an autocut for one, and I'm a Mac user so getting to the naza assistant is going to be a little hard. I do have parallels installed but it runs ungodly slow so I never use it but I can give it a try.

Is this something that is easily set in the assistant software? If I plug the unit into the USB attached to my computer will that power on the naza or do I have to plug the lipo in? He sent me batteries without any connectors so I can't even do that right now.
 

T

tstrike

pendejo grande
You mean the batts just have bare wires? You'll have to get the naza assistant working eventually though. You have to turn on your transmitter, plug the usb between the naza and your computer, then plug a battery into your 450. The usb won't power your naza. Oh and take the props off before you do any of this.
 

olof

olof

Osprey
I run bootcamp on a MBP, it works better than my HP with W7. Bootcamp is really the way to go.

Once you figure out Naza Assistant it is very easy to use. And the best way to tune your machine (trim the gains etc). You can also easily control a gimble.

I would suggest getting a battery tester. I use the EOS Sentry by Hyperion.

Never let your battery drain below 20%, or at least try not to, I have gone down to 15% and the world or the battery did not end.

I find the timer on your transmitter is the best way to fly within safe specs for the battery.

With the portable EOS Sentry or similar you can quickly figure out flight time versus % or voltage left, it also helps to check cell balance though a good charger does this as well.

Bear in mind that cooler temps drain batteries faster, so keep them warm as if you are using a bunch in the winter.

You can contact me directly if you need more info/help, I use Skype a lot and it is a great way to show setups and demo how to set something up.
 

J

JG-rn

Member
tstrike said:
You mean the batts just have bare wires? You'll have to get the naza assistant working eventually though. You have to turn on your transmitter, plug the usb between the naza and your computer, then plug a battery into your 450. The usb won't power your naza. Oh and take the props off before you do any of this.
Click to expand...

Yeah just wires. He could have told me I needed deans connectors or even solder them on for me....I threw a lot of money his way.
 

J

JG-rn

Member
olof said:
I run bootcamp on a MBP, it works better than my HP with W7. Bootcamp is really the way to go.

Once you figure out Naza Assistant it is very easy to use. And the best way to tune your machine (trim the gains etc). You can also easily control a gimble.

I would suggest getting a battery tester. I use the EOS Sentry by Hyperion.

Never let your battery drain below 20%, or at least try not to, I have gone down to 15% and the world or the battery did not end.

I find the timer on your transmitter is the best way to fly within safe specs for the battery.

With the portable EOS Sentry or similar you can quickly figure out flight time versus % or voltage left, it also helps to check cell balance though a good charger does this as well.

Bear in mind that cooler temps drain batteries faster, so keep them warm as if you are using a bunch in the winter.

You can contact me directly if you need more info/help, I use Skype a lot and it is a great way to show setups and demo how to set something up.
Click to expand...


Thank you. I think I'll go with bootcamp. What's windows cost nowadays for a full copy?

I appreciate the advice.
 

T

tstrike

pendejo grande
JG-rn said:
Thank you. I think I'll go with bootcamp. What's windows cost nowadays for a full copy?

I appreciate the advice.
Click to expand...

I was going to run bootcamp too but the full home version of win 7 at the time was like 50 bucks cheaper then just buying a low end hp laptop running win 7, so I went that route and didn't pollute my mac.
 


OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
It is a shame some dealers are like that. Well it is their loss, not yours, just find another one that wants the business and I am sure someone can give you a heads up on that.

Right now you can get windows 8 for $40 online at the Microsoft store, I am along the same lines as you. I have Windows machines, but my laptop is a Macbook Pro. I just bought parallels for it, I used it a while back as a test and it seemed to work fine for me, running Win 7.

Might have to look into bootcamp too.... :) Hope you get sorted out..
 

D

drdrums

Member
Eh, forget about the LV warning - just do it the old-fashioned way, with a cell checker and a timer!

With your pack on an F450 I'd expect at least 12 minutes of average flight. Start with your timer at ten minutes, then charge and see how much you put back in. Take the number of mah you put back in and divide by ten, and you have your per-minute draw.

Then divide 2640 (that's 80% of 3300, your target discharge capacity) by your per-minute draw, and you have the number to set your time for to keep you at 80%. I'd round down to the nearest half- minute to include a margin of error.
 

Hartz

Hartz

Herpaderpinator
For those of you who have not already purchased Parallels I suggest you give Oracle VirtualBox a go. It's free and works a treat across many platforms.
 

J

JG-rn

Member
Hartz said:
For those of you who have not already purchased Parallels I suggest you give Oracle VirtualBox a go. It's free and works a treat across many platforms.
Click to expand...

Is windows included in the oracle free download or would I have to buy it?
 

OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
Windows is not free to anyone, you would need a licensed copy of Windows to install if you do any of the suggested routes, I.E. Parallels needs Windows, bootcamp needs windows and I should imagine Oracle VirtualBox will need a Licensed Windows.

Kinda sucks that the Naza assistant is not written for a Mac....
 

homer911

homer911

Member
I usually land at about 3.6 or 3.5 but when I land it jumps back up to 3.8 or 3.7V. I know I shouldn't let my voltage drop below 3V per cell but is that loaded or unloaded voltage???

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 



J

JG-rn

Member
Hey guys,

I was just looking at the features on the radio I'm using, the Devo 10. It has a telemetry function that displays voltage from the F450. It will show you on the screen the current battery voltage and you can set a buzzer to go off at a certain voltage.

Is this basically the answer to my problem?

Edit: I think I need a telemetry module for this to work.
 
Last edited by a moderator:


L

linter

Member
My buddy just bought a f450 rtf w/ devo 10 from rc-drones and basically had the same customer-service experience as you. curt few-words answers to questions, no info from tony about how he sets things up and no evident willingness to explain or help. my pal definitely feels like he should have gone with thequadman.com.

meanwhile, he has the same question about telemetry in the devo 10. have you found out definitively whether you need a module to make it work? sure would be nice if it was built in!
 


J

JG-rn

Member
linter said:
My buddy just bought a f450 rtf w/ devo 10 from rc-drones and basically had the same customer-service experience as you. curt few-words answers to questions, no info from tony about how he sets things up and no evident willingness to explain or help. my pal definitely feels like he should have gone with thequadman.com.

meanwhile, he has the same question about telemetry in the devo 10. have you found out definitively whether you need a module to make it work? sure would be nice if it was built in!
Click to expand...

Sucks. It's ashame some dealers are like this. I just bought a power supply for my PL6 from a guy named Mark on RCgroups and the CS he provided just for a PS was incredible. I wish more people were like him.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.
Top