Hello, I am looking at buying a iFlight CineFlow 5. In rrgards to batteries I was looking at both the
SMC HCL RS 22.2V 6S 1600mAh FPV Racing Lipo Battery Pack – XT60
smc-hcl-rs-22-2v-6s-1400mah-fpv-racing-lipo-battery-pack-xt60/
I wa wondering in your opinion what woudl you say would be better suited to that drone . Many thanks
Hi Nick good day,
Thanks for reaching out to us!
There is not a huge amount in it between these two packs, so you could honestly argue this either way.
However, I would always recommend using the biggest battery which is practically possible.
Great, that is as clear as mud, let me try explain.
A drone that is way to heavy just flies terribly. A drone which is incredibly light will probably also not feel great as the smallest breeze or gust of wind will throw it around all over the place, but performance will probably be incredible albeit for a short period.
So there is definitely a middle ground here, but generally speaking lighter is better. It does have to fly after all. This is an important point to reiterate, it has to fly! Nothing in this context is clear cut and black and white, everything is a trade-off.
Why then do I recommend the biggest battery possible? I suggest the biggest battery, which is practical, so that the battery itself doesn’t get damaged as quickly.
Remember batteries, and in particular LiPo batteries only last for so many cycles. Why is this? Basically, like tread on your car tyre, you only get so many miles out of the chemistry in your battery. Heat build up within your pack when you charge and discharge your battery is the quickest way to burn through the miles in your battery. Current draw is what causes a battery to heat up, and pulling the same current from a larger and smaller pack will cause the smaller one to heat up quicker and heat up more than the bigger pack.
Heat is really not good for LiPo’s and bigger packs can generally deal with the demands placed upon them better then a smaller capacity battery. Meaning you will get more cycles out of your slightly bigger pack than your slightly smaller pack.
A huge portion of this decision is based on flying style, freestyle or smoother cinematic flying for example. You might want more performance for a freestyle feel, so a slightly lighter pack would be better. Maybe you want a drone which doesn’t get thrown around as much in the wind and you are looking for smoother and more crisp video as you want that perfect cinematic shot, go with a slightly heavier pack.
My suggestion would be to try packs of different sizes, maybe you can borrow a friends packs for a couple flights just to compare? If not pick up one of each and test them out for yourself.
Also when you finish a flight, feel how hot your pack is. It should feel warm to the touch, it should no way feel hot. If it does, you are probably working the pack too hard or it is too small.
Lastly always charge at 1C, it takes longer but your packs will last much longer.
I hope this incredibly long winded response is helpful.
If there is anything else I can help with please do let me know?
Regards,
David
Unmanned Tech Support