School me: Battery % vs V

[Charles.mabry]

Ok, gents. Sometimes things just dont "click" with me... Im a very hands on person and sometimes its a bit difficult just reading something and fully comprehending whats going on. Thats why I despise the FAR's haha.

Ive never been able to fully grasp what is going on with the % vs V on the battery life and my last flight was a quick reminder I need to get my butt in gear. I updated the controller, battery, and aircraft. Went out flying and my battery suddenly dropped to 30% out of nowhere. I was only doing some flights testing video modes so I quickly flew it home. Im currently doing the battery reset but want to learn more about the % vs V.... If you guys could help me out that would be great!

Thanks in advance.

 

[The Editor]

Ok, gents. Sometimes things just dont "click" with me... Im a very hands on person and sometimes its a bit difficult just reading something and fully comprehending whats going on. Thats why I despise the FAR's haha.

Ive never been able to fully grasp what is going on with the % vs V on the battery life and my last flight was a quick reminder I need to get my butt in gear. I updated the controller, battery, and aircraft. Went out flying and my battery suddenly dropped to 30% out of nowhere. I was only doing some flights testing video modes so I quickly flew it home. Im currently doing the battery reset but want to learn more about the % vs V.... If you guys could help me out that would be great!

Thanks in advance.

I'm afraid that's vertually impossible to correlate
Percentage v voltage is one of those things that if you ask 10 people you will get 10 different answers.
Personally I never fly by percentage as it is just not accurate.
I fly by voltage which is absolute.
I normally fly (land) at circa 3.45v per cell under load.
Once landed, the rebound will bring the pack up to around 3.7v per cell which is perfect.

Trying to get an absolute figure for voltage v percentage will have you tearing your hair out because the discharge curve of a Lipo is very flat up until the plateau where it drops off rapidly.
Additionally any graphs you may find on the internet showing voltage against percentage are almost certainly for standard Lipos whereas the Inspire packs are HV Lipos which push the cell voltages higher than 4.2v.

 

[Charles.mabry]

Thank you! that gives me a little more to go off of!

 

[emtea]

I use the voltage as an indication of how much punch I have left in the battery. I never really pay attention to flight times, I'm focused on getting where I need the bird and taking the shot. That being said, I get uncomfortable anywhere below 3.70V--in the sense that once I'm under 3.70V I will not fly full sticks and will go easy on maneuvers and will try to avoid rapid ascent + motion.

Not sure if that makes sense to you, but hopefully it's helpful. You'll notice that going full forward or up will cause the voltage to drop suddenly compared to hover. The idea is to stay above 3.70V at all times (for me personally).

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

It helps to regard it as NOT a completely accurate measurement. More of a guideline as it were...

 

[atlav8r]

How many cycles on the pack in question?
Pull up the battery screen in the app when flying. It sounds like you could be in the beginning stages of a cell going bad. Watch the individual cell balance as you run it and see if you are getting indications of a cell going bad.