Batteries keep overheating and ultimately break beyond 45 minutes of being plugged in (non flight)

[Allister Lim]

Hi my voxl batteries, and other similar batteries keep on overheating and breaking when I use them with my voxl. The voxl product description for the starling says 55 minutes of flight time, however our batteries overheat and become unusable when simply plugged into the drone and used for 45 minutes. I'm not even flying the drone, i'm simply building docker images on it.

I have gone through 3 batteries. This is how i'm charging them:


I plan on getting my 5th battery for this Drone (https://hobbiesdirect.com.au/products/reedy-power-wolfpack-74v-3000mah-30c-shorty-hard-case-lipo-battery-758-40960). It is 30c, so i'm hoping that would make somewhat of a difference. please let me know if this is compatible.

i'll also be ordering this as it seems to be the official batteries used by voxl: https://phaserfpv.com.au/products/2pcs-gaoneng-gnb-lihv-2s-76v-3500mah-5c-lipo-battery-xt30-for-frsky-qx7-dg?currency=AUD&variant=42936369873067&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&stkn=4fe2a1ab9a6b&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22201512714&gclid=CjwKCAjwxfjGBhAUEiwAKWPwDq9_uqNSrIBHKt9iJMicgz_SoOjIMTQcJ4LhCWZe7rJz2H_8umHm-BoCY28QAvD_BwE

Can anyone offer any advice as to how to prevent this from happening again? My plan is to simply not have the drone plugged in for more than 20 minutes at a time, to prevent overheating.

[Alex Kushleyev]

@Allister-Lim ,

If you are not monitoring the battery voltage while working with your battery-powered VOXL, it is possible that you are over-discharging the batteries to the point of failure. Especially with LiPo batteries, it is unsafe to over-discharge them, so please be careful. (It seems that you are also using LiPo batteries, in addition to ModalAI Li-Ion batteries also shown (green)). There is nothing wrong with using LiPo batteries, but you have to be more careful with those. Over-discharged batteries lose capacity and Lipo Batteries may become dangerous.

It is a good idea to use an appropriate DC power supply when working with VOXL2 while it is powered on continuously. 12V 3-5A Power supply, connected to the APM (which will provide 5V for VOXL) should be sufficient. You should have no problem finding one, but in case you need, here is a link to the AC adapter that we sell : https://www.modalai.com/collections/accessories/products/ps-xt60

Alex