ModalAI Forum

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.

I have purchased the voxl starling 2 max with no TOF. I now want to purchase the TOF sensor and attach it to my drone so that I can use the voxl-mapper feature.

This is the TOF sensor that voxl sells: https://www.modalai.com/products/m0178?variant=48528287793456

Is this a component that I can just plug and play into my drone, or is official soldering required?

this is the wire diagram for the voxl computer on our starling 2 max: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-d0014/#voxl2---d0014-4-cxx-m22-tx

Thank you

We are using the voxl starling max 2
we are following this tutorial: https://docs.modalai.com/setting-up-voxl-mapper/ and have used this set up
however nothing appears on our mapper in the voxl web portal.
please see me .conf file:
{
"config_file_version": 1,
"en_localhost_mavlink_udp": false,
"localhost_udp_port_number": 14551,
"en_vio": true,
"vio_pipe": "qvio",
"secondary_vio_pipe": "ov",
"vfc_vio_pipe": "ov",
"en_reset_vio_if_initialized_inverted": true,
"vio_warmup_s": 3,
"send_odom_while_failed": true,
"horizon_cal_tolerance": 0.5,
"en_hitl": false,
"offboard_mode": "trajectory",
"follow_tag_id": 0,
"figure_eight_move_home": true,
"robot_radius": 0.300000011920929,
"collision_sampling_dt": 0.1,
"max_lookahead_distance": 1,
"backtrack_seconds": 60,
"backtrack_rc_chan": 8,
"backtrack_rc_thresh": 1500,
"wps_move_home": true,
"wps_stride": 0,
"wps_timeout": 0,
"wps_damp": 1,
"wps_vfc_mission": true,
"wps_vfc_mission_loop": false,
"wps_vfc_mission_to_ramp": 25,
"wps_vfc_mission_to_kp": 0.10000000149011612,
"wps_vfc_mission_cruise_speed": 1,
"en_tag_fixed_frame": false,
"fixed_frame_filter_len": 5,
"en_transform_mavlink_pos_setpoints_from_fixed_frame": false,
This is what the mapper looks like:
voxl-version:
starling2-max (D0012):~$ voxl-version
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
system-image: 1.8.04-M0054-14.1a-perf
kernel: #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Mar 24 22:31:58 UTC 2025 4.19.125
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
hw platform: M0054
mach.var: 1.0.1
SKU: MRB-D0012-4-V2-C28-T9-M11-X0
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
voxl-suite: 1.5.0
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Packages:
Repo: http://voxl-packages.modalai.com/ ./dists/qrb5165/sdk-1.5/binary-arm64/
Last Updated: 2023-03-02 12:58:39
WARNING: repo file has changed since last update,
packages may have originated from a different repo
List:
libfc-sensor 1.0.7
libmodal-cv 0.5.18
libmodal-exposure 0.1.4
libmodal-journal 0.2.6
libmodal-json 0.4.7
libmodal-pipe 2.13.2
libqrb5165-io 0.5.0
libvoxl-cci-direct 0.3.3
libvoxl-cutils 0.1.5
modalai-slpi 1.2.0
mv-voxl 0.1-r0
qrb5165-bind 0.1-r0
qrb5165-dfs-server 0.2.0
qrb5165-imu-server 1.1.3
qrb5165-mini-tof-server 0.2.2
qrb5165-rangefinder-server 0.1.5
qrb5165-slpi-test-sig 01-r0
qrb5165-system-tweaks 0.3.6
qrb5165-tflite 2.8.0-2
voxl-bind-spektrum 0.1.1
voxl-camera-calibration 0.6.0
voxl-camera-server 2.2.4
voxl-ceres-solver 2:1.14.0-10
voxl-configurator 1.0.2
voxl-cpu-monitor 0.6.0
voxl-docker-support 1.3.1
voxl-elrs 0.4.7
voxl-esc 1.5.4
voxl-feature-tracker 0.5.2
voxl-flow-server 0.3.6
voxl-gphoto2-server 0.0.10
voxl-joystick-server 0.0.6
voxl-jpeg-turbo 2.1.3-7
voxl-lepton-server 1.3.3
voxl-lepton-tracker 0.0.4
voxl-libgphoto2 0.0.4
voxl-libuvc 1.0.7
voxl-logger 0.5.3
voxl-mavcam-manager 0.6.0
voxl-mavlink 0.1.5
voxl-mavlink-server 1.4.9
voxl-modem 1.1.8
voxl-mongoose 7.7.0-2
voxl-mpa-to-ros 0.3.9
voxl-mpa-tools 1.4.0
voxl-open-vins 0.4.19
voxl-open-vins-server 0.3.12
voxl-opencv 4.5.5-3
voxl-osd 0.1.8
voxl-portal 0.7.11
voxl-px4 1.14.0-2.0.105
voxl-px4-params 0.7.5
voxl-qvio-server 1.2.0
voxl-remote-id 0.0.9
voxl-reset-slpi 0.0.1
voxl-state-estimator 0.0.5
voxl-streamer 0.7.5
voxl-suite 1.5.0
voxl-tag-detector 0.0.5
voxl-tflite-server 0.4.1
voxl-utils 1.4.8
voxl-uvc-server 0.1.7
voxl-vision-hub 1.8.23
voxl-vtx 1.4.7
voxl-wavemux 0.0.1
voxl2-io 0.0.3
voxl2-system-image 1.8.04-r0
voxl2-wlan 1.0-r0
We expect a Map like this as per the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGJwPyVU71g&ab_channel=ModalAI

I have a voxl starling 2 Max which comes with 2 Batteries which are specified to be: Sony VTC6 3000mah 2S, or any 2S 18650 LiIon battery with XT30 connector as per the datasheet (https://docs.modalai.com/starling-2-max-datasheet/).

We got the red LED flashing, which according to the LED guide https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-leds/ which is Red: Fault condition present (Over/Under Voltage, Thermal)

We charged it with s65 AC balance smart charger at 3A and 7.4S. It was working and all of the sudden no longer works.

Could you please advice what the problem might be with the battery charging and if you sell the batteries as replacement.

Thank you