Anafi Battery Mods?

[Dronographer]

I am surprised there are few people modding their Anafi's, antenna, battery etc. Not sure what to make of that but possibly reflects the sales numbers of Parrot Anafi.

Anyway I would like to gain more air time per flight. I expect it is too much to expect that one could mount a supplemental battery and plug it into the stock Anafi battery USB-C port in the aft section of the drone? That is the charging port....

A dorsally mounted 3800maH cell with pigtail (minus mount attachment weight) would be about 5 1/2 oz. A pair of 1500maH cells mounted bilaterally would be less. Of course other considerations would be aircraft center of gravity, need for onboard Halon fire suppression when the eBay cells ignite in flight etc...

Feedback from the engineering crowd would be appreciated. Does anyone know which eBay/Amazon lips brands to avoid or better yet any that seem to be of better quality? Thoughts, recommendations appreciated!

 

[Liger 1956]

Have you seen this video

where the stock battery is taken apart and the PCB used with another battery?
I think that there is a better video somewhere but I just cannot find it at the moment.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

There are lots of battery mods for the Anafi, most are done to reduce weight. People want a UAV below 250 grams and stripping down the battery is the first step.
Youtube and google are your friends. Simple searches on either will bring you a wealth of information.

 

[Dronographer]

I did try Google without any results.....will explore further. Helpful if they are in English.

If my high school French of 35 years ago is correct, he was getting 18 minutes flight from the smaller battery pack? Not bad. But do not have 250g restrictions and want more flight time.
If anyone has a worn out Anafi battery to sell I would be interested in hacking it.

 

[Dronographer]

There are lots of battery mods for the Anafi, .

I searched more, and found nothing for added range, period. Found one person asking about, without answers.

So if anyone could answer me just this:

If I tap an external 7.6v Lipo cell pack into the charge port of the stock Anafi battery (using a spliced usb-c cable), mounted piggy back as close to center of gravity, will it work? Ignite half way into the flight? Inquiring minds want to know....

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Without doing my guess it would work but why would you want to try that. The Anafi already gets a true 24-25 minutes of flight time.

 

[Dronographer]

Without doing my guess it would work but why would you want to try that. The Anafi already gets a true 24-25 minutes of flight time.

A) It is windy near where I live and I don’t think I am ever seeing 25 minutes, not sure what conditions you fly in. I do not do much close in selfie type filming but need to film more distant subjects. So I would like to extend my flight times. Some may be happy with less, not me.

B) I am awaiting internal cables to complete my antenna mods. If I do obtain better range than what I get now, added battery duration will be very helpful.

 

[Landbo]

I did try Google without any results.....will explore further. Helpful if they are in English.

If my high school French of 35 years ago is correct, he was getting 18 minutes flight from the smaller battery pack? Not bad. But do not have 250g restrictions and want more flight time.
If anyone has a worn out Anafi battery to sell I would be interested in hacking it.

If I use subtitles and let Youtube translate them into Danish, the man says 12 minutes hover with the modification.

Regards, Leif.

 

[Landbo]

Have you seen this video

where the stock battery is taken apart and the PCB used with another battery?
I think that there is a better video somewhere but I just cannot find it at the moment.

Regards Leif.

 

[Dronographer]

I would love a used up battery to hack into but at $99 a pop, am not going to butcher one of the two good ones that I have.

 

[Efliernz]

I searched more, and found nothing for added range, period. Found one person asking about, without answers.

So if anyone could answer me just this:

If I tap an external 7.6v Lipo cell pack into the charge port of the stock Anafi battery (using a spliced usb-c cable), mounted piggy back as close to center of gravity, will it work? Ignite half way into the flight? Inquiring minds want to know....

Background:
All the below numbers are theoretical/ideal.
I'm a comms engineer/tech support guy where...
I've been flying electric-only for 15 years and I been designing & building multi-rotor stuff since the days of individual gyros and tricopters! here's my approximate take on the numbers!

Numbers...

Assuming 100% battery usage (instead of a probable 80-90%) and...:

1. The Anafi battery is 2700mA @ 7.4v (ideal numbers).
2. USB-C maximum charge rate (quoted by Parrot) is 24W - that's 3.2A max charge rate.
3. Anafi power usage: 2700mA / 0.4 hour (24 minutes) = 6.75A draw.

If the Anafi 'intelligent battery' would allow you to charge while flying (which I have no idea about), there is a possibility of some extra flight time... BUT!!!

Any extra weight adds to the current draw needed to fly. A 1000mA 2S 20C pack (Hobbyking) weighs in at about 60g including a piece if tape to hold it onto the Anafi. Now we go from 320g up to 380g... so your Anafi now draws 8A to fly at the new weight instead of 6.75A. At this new 380g weight and the higher 3700mA capacity, we get 0.46 hours - or 27.75 minutes of capacity.

3.75 minutes (if the USB-C charging thing works) increase to get a drone that was never designed to fly at that weight...

1. so then there's the extra heat/performance required from the motors
2. extra strain on the props (which have been known to say 'sod this' and come apart already)

I can't wait to see someone try this - but these numbers will give you an approximate heads-up of how well it will work.
Us electric modellers have played with this battle long before the high-discharge lipos arrived on this planet. It gets to the stage where adding battery capacity in needed to carry the weight of extra batteries!!!

 

[Dronographer]

So if I understand correctly, the usb-c in to the stock anafi battery is a choke point, amps wise?

And thank you

 

[Efliernz]

So if I understand correctly, the usb-c in to the stock anafi battery is a choke point, amps wise?

And thank you

I suspect so - but adding anything in weigh/drag to this engineering masterpiece makes you a test-pilot. Saying that - I've had so much fun in 30 years of model flying by not being normal!!!

 

[davinchi2000]

A) It is windy near where I live and I don’t think I am ever seeing 25 minutes, not sure what conditions you fly in. I do not do much close in selfie type filming but need to film more distant subjects. So I would like to extend my flight times. Some may be happy with less, not me.

B) I am awaiting internal cables to complete my antenna mods. If I do obtain better range than what I get now, added battery duration will be very helpful.

I without modifying any antenna, simply putting an accessory created by me, I have achieved this.

 

[Dronographer]

That is AMAZING! It looks like you manually selected a band in the 5ghz range? Also, your battery was the weak link, it looks like you could have flown further otherwise. I would love to see how far you would have gone with a fresh battery and NO reflector, to compare with stock configuration. Pretty ideal flying country for long range, flat and no obvious wifi interference. I fly "noisy" urban locations or very hilly with tall trees, but I will try this.

 

[davinchi2000]

[CITA = "Dronógrafo, publicación: 13807, miembro: 1981"]
¡Esto es increíble! ¿Parece que seleccionaste manualmente una banda en el rango de 5ghz? Además, su batería era el eslabón débil, de lo contrario parece que podría haber volado más lejos. Me encantaría ver hasta dónde podría haber llegado con una batería nueva y sin reflector, para comparar con la configuración estándar. País de vuelo bastante ideal para largas distancias, plano y sin interferencias wifi obvias. Vuelo en lugares urbanos "ruidosos" o muy montañosos con árboles altos, pero intentaré esto.
[/CITAR]
no, 2,4ghz channel 1