Just for grins, before trying to piggyback a small battery in an attempt to gain flight time, I taped my extra Anafi battery on top of the mounted battery and untidily linked them with a usb-c cable. The extra battery would go into sleep mode....until I plugged it into the mounted battery, afterwhich it remained on.
Fun with Batteries, or, how to abuse your Anafi....
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I started Anafi with the just the controller, no phone, and lifted off for a hover at about 4’ elevation (1.25 meters). I was going to time the flight to see how much time the second battery might provide, if any.
I was careful not to cover the fan outlet or sensor on the underbelly with tape. Unfortunately approaching the one minute mark Anafi started darting left and right and losing all flight composure, so I went to ground.
I am not sure if the load was out of balance, poor center of gravity, and the drone became overwhelmed trying to remain stable, or of the fact that I was not using my phone connected to the controller had anything to do with it. I was using the phone to take photos and time the flight.
It is also possible that the forward part of the second battery, was blocking the GPS receiver inside the drone, thereby
interfering with it’s ability to maintain position. I mounted it forward a bit
trying to keep the airframe more or less balanced.
I was careful not to cover the fan outlet or sensor on the underbelly with tape. Unfortunately approaching the one minute mark Anafi started darting left and right and losing all flight composure, so I went to ground.
I am not sure if the load was out of balance, poor center of gravity, and the drone became overwhelmed trying to remain stable, or of the fact that I was not using my phone connected to the controller had anything to do with it. I was using the phone to take photos and time the flight.
It is also possible that the forward part of the second battery, was blocking the GPS receiver inside the drone, thereby
interfering with it’s ability to maintain position. I mounted it forward a bit
trying to keep the airframe more or less balanced.
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Dirk_ANAFI
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Dirk_ANAFI
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It was also a huge extra strain you put on poor Miss Anafi's shoulders. Battery 125 grams + 25 grams for the cable. Anafi weighs 317 grams when she is ready to fly.
You can certainly not get a longer flight time out of the experiment. On the contrary, I would guess you can draw 1/3 of the flight time in the air if Anafi can carry the load.
This is not because you did not use FF6 on the flight. However, it would be smart to see which error messages came to Anafi during such a drastic attempt.
If I guess you will get the log from the flight set to your phone the next time it is connected, provided you had an SD card mounted and let it sit the next time you start up your Anafi.
Regards, Leif.
AaronB
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To maintain position the Anafi motors would need to work much harder than usual, in other words a higher current draw from the ESC's. This may cause the ESC's to overheat and may explain the sudden erratic behaviour due to thermal noise. You may be at risk of damaging the Anafi electronics !? As others have pointed out, the charging port is not for high current draw so it will have negligible affect in terms of prolonging flight time.
Kudos for your curiosity though - this old dog is always willing to learn new tricks
Kudos for your curiosity though - this old dog is always willing to learn new tricks
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Thanks. I read that the stock battery has a small circuit that communicates with the Anafi socket pins, so that needs to be maintained. Just wonder if a pin out between the battery and drone or from the stock battery to piggy back a small extender cell in parallel would work.
Probably not worth it but if a small 1500 maH cell would give 6 or seven minutes added flight I would be happy.
Some of the Mavics are carrying extra batteries for long range, but that is a bigger bird to begin with.
Probably not worth it but if a small 1500 maH cell would give 6 or seven minutes added flight I would be happy.
Some of the Mavics are carrying extra batteries for long range, but that is a bigger bird to begin with.
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