5 inch FPV Battery Testing: Round 1 🛎️

[@josephrsalexander4589]

Something that is really important for racers is how many abusive cycles a pack can take before it starts being puffy. The tattoo batteries are very sensitive and tend to degrade - while CNHL start with less power but degrade slower. It would be interesting to understand the internals and why some are better than others.

[@LZRFPV]

I've noticed the opposite. My Tattu take far more abuse and bounce back like nothing happened. But my CNHL degrade almost instantly after a hard flight.

[@DrooniMedia]

​@@LZRFPV my experience is identical to you. I have bunch of 1200mAh 5.0 R-Lines and they are like new after one summer of racing and some freestyling last winter. My CNHL Blacks have all but one died and Ministars are nearly as bad. This test was great for me since it tested almost all of my 6S batteries (have some from Swedish retailer called Droneit in addition to these) and these tests match perfectly to my experience.

[@RCracingSLO]

Rline 1200mAh 150C.. 1000cycles @10C charge, 40-50cycles per day and 40A discharge.. no problem with minimal loss in energy

[@DrooniMedia]

@@RCracingSLO that's some extreme abuse! I'm seriously impressed if those batteries are still fine with 1000 full cycles considering that's beyond expected life span for current battery tech.

[@RCracingSLO]

​@@DrooniMediaI was also surprised, so were at Gens Ace HQ. The materials they use are top notch. The packs begs to be fast charged and discharged immediately after charging. So 2 packs are enough for non stop flying with field charging. CNHL barely survived 17cycles with swelling, the other CNHL pack survive only 70 cycles at 4C charging..

[@aviphysics]

For most people, I think performance after 100 cycles would be more interesting than initial performance.

[@BenToogood]

Why wasn’t GNB part of the comparison? They’re the largest brand of available lipos in the UK

[@jessehoffman5302]

I'm also disappointed. Especially would love to see their LIHVs compared. Maybe he'll do another video with just lihvs.

[@stevejakab]

Nice. I’d love to see you test the GNB 1500mah HV 6S battery. It’s my favourite, looks great and has a nice square cross-sectional form factor.

[@propabilityfpv]

That intro was fantastic 👌Also, its seriously pathetic that we have to rely on FPV community member testing to obtain accurate data that isn't fake news. Manufacturers: please do better! Thank you Chris for all that you do! Your efforts are much needed and definitely appreciated! 🙏

[@ChrisRosser]

Yeah, but this is the rule not the exception across all consumer products, Gamers Nexus, RTings etc. It's not in the manufacturers interest to do a fair comparison against competitors. That's where I come in!

[@andyhoughtaling6319]

I gave up on Tattu 5.0 batteries. They perform great, but cells kept going dead on them. I had 5 CNHL Blacks and 4 Tattu 5.0 batteries, and I had the CNHLs for like 6 months longer than the Tattus. All 4 Tattus had a cell die. Only 1 of the CNHLs lost a cell. Granted, it's not enough data to get a solid answer, but it was definitely enough to cause me to never buy Tattus again. Given your data, I think I might try TheFPV, and see if they're more durable than Tattus. Thank you so much for doing this video!

[@wingsounds13]

More please... MUCH more. 🙂

[@TAGE_FPV]

Lovely test. I would have loved to see the ThunderpowerRC 1100mah 6S battery tested here. Especially consdering it's one of the most expensive but best performing batteries out there. Also the lighest by quite a large margin.

[@SuprDlux]

Concur

[@baggszilla]

Great testing Chris!! Love what you do for our hobby buddy! Cheers!

[@ProximityFPV]

Yes. That's why I bought rline 5.0 for freestyle. Thanks Chris 😎

Most of the packs available today provide enough amps for freestyle and really what's important is their longevity we need packs that can do at least 200 recharges and still perform. Tattu FunFly are the only ones I've had last over 2 years of abuse.

[@captaincrazy9287]

Perfect timing for this vid. Thanks Chris!

[@Igortkmp]

I wanted to ask, in what units is it correct to measure capacity? A/h or W/h? After all, what is most important to us is the energy stored in the battery; when discharging with a high current, the voltage can immediately drop significantly and multiplying it by voltage we get less power. in general, we are interested in the area of ​​the entire graph, for example, with the voltage results at 50% capacity, it was not indicated in relation to which units it was measured. and is it possible to perform a discharge without relying on current? and discharge power? After all, when the voltage decreases, the drone flies differently. electronic loads allow discharge in different modes (stabilization of current, voltage, power or resistance). Unfortunately, my workload is intended for slightly different tasks and it is not possible to conduct research in this vein, maybe the data will be slightly different, or maybe there is no point in this, but as food for thought it is an interesting option.

[@mattdena8070]

First build with the cnhl blacks and they was okay, least I thought. Then I got some tattu 5.0 and mannnn not only can you extremely tell the power difference but they are so much smaller and lighter. Not only that but Amazon has the tattu 5.0 1200 on prime deal for $32 bucks.

[@SuprDlux]

Thunderpower got left out somehow? Best batteries u can buy

[@MysteryD]

I will bet someone actual currency that at some point in the next 24 months, Rosser has CNHL put his name on a label and Rosser will tell you its the best lipo in existence.

[@ChrisRosser]

You're on, shall we say $1m?

[@johhny303]

aye and it'll be a 1500mah battery labelled as 1300 ;) lol

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic testing and comparison, Chris! Thanks a bunch! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@mcronfpv8736]

i bought so many drones i don't have money for batteries anymore

[@Loki_Morningstar666]

That was really interesting. I've been running the CNHL Black 1300mah batteries on my 5 inch freestyle quad just because they are on the cheaper side of the price range. I definitely notice the voltage sag towards the end of the pack, but I'm fairly happy with them overall. When I get around to building a 5 inch racing quad I'll probably go for the R line Tattu battery since that's when you really need the extra performance. It would be interesting to see a power per dollar comparison too to see which battery is the best value.

[@gliZzyFPV]

Great video, thank you for putting in the time and effort to show us these comparisons!

[@olafschermann1592]

Thank you for your efforts and sharing

[@janne612]

I have both the cnhl black and tattu r-line. Haven`t really noticed any difference between them with my 3,5 inch cinewhoop as a newbie but there seems to be some.

[@mongfpv]

Great work Chris 👏

[@Fozzedout]

"getting into a thermal runaway which I want to avoid" sounds like you had some... exciting explosive testing while getting this set up 😂

[@subspectacle]

Thanks for the testing, would love to see gnb 1100 6s non hv testes.

[@erikvf7]

For me the most important is the price. We normally get quite good deals on CNHL Black's.

[@olacfpv]

Very interesting test, great job !

[@Mead33]

This really helps thanks a lot Chris!

[@mab4195]

great tests, as usual! :)

[@JohnIn2SonAZ]

Tattu R-Line batteries have always outperformed any brand I have tested. And hold their power for much more cycles out of any other brand. And the R-line have way less voltage sag as well.

[@Stoof_FPV]

Another amazing video

[@WKfpv]

One thing I keep in mind when choosing packs is durability, I recently had to replace a lot of packs and ended up buying several different brands. All my packs before were CNHL whites, some of them were 3 years old. They are heavy, they don't perform close to other brands but men, 3 years of abuse is a lot. If I spend double the money on a tattu I need to ask the same durability from them.

[@reedfpv]

I am more interested in Energy degradation. Brand new batteries can perform well, but cycle through 15-20-30 times, and see which battery holds up better on a long-term

[@MrAndreybch]

Hi ...do you think that , the battery packs for one time use atcking drone should be different ?

[@richardheedfpv9626]

Good work Chris.

[@5li3ret]

that was one hell of an intro … you should let your inner mad scientist loose more often!

[@vladimirdudunov7048]

Chris !!! Thanks a lot!!!! You’re the best!!!

[@jas-FPV]

Killer Test 👍🏻 What will be unknown: how manufacturers will keep the quality. TheFPV, never heard them, also CNHL are alledged for buying random cells and high variance between time of purchase and performance

[@chrisbee5481]

The high spread in quality of calls are worse in ovonic batteries. Cnhl seem pretty consistent to me

[@Killshot_FPV]

Hey Chris I have a few questions about a frame an a tune or preset it. I really really really could use from advice.

[@MrBlarok]

Interesting Video! It would be nice if you could redo these tests after 20/40 full discharges with each battery, to test their durability. We did something similar this year: We found the Dogcom batteries to be our favorite over tattu, and this was our field testing: Me and my friend each use 12 batteries for our racing training. my friend got dogcom and i tattu's this year. We mixed them up a little at start of the season and found the dogcom to be both more robust in crashes as well as being more consistant with voltagedrops over several charges. We found that after Roughly 20-30 dischages per battery, the Dogcom to start performing better than the Tattus. (a full discharge depending on skill and "time on track" between 1:20 and 3 min). As of now, ALL dogcom batteries perform noticably better than the tattu's, to the point that i will buy a complete new set of dogcom for next year, and my friend will keep his old ones for warmup. The difference is mainly in the voltagedrops that occur during punchouts.

[@pav2k]

Letting manufacturers send you the batteries isn't the best idea, they will always send you the best batch they could produce

[@lambda7652]

Would be interesting to see whats the Absolute Max power or Current they can give you for lets say halve a second. If you Pull them from 100% SOC to lets say 2.5V Or What current is need to make them sag below a usable limit.

[@Mxoderberg]

Which battery manufacturer makes the "the Fpv" battery? GNB?

[@ChrisRosser]

Great question! I'd love to know.

[@peculiarhumanbiped]

Do you also test 6s HV lipos? I'm very interested what the numbers are for the GAONENG GNB 1300mAh 120C lipos. Of course I would be happy to buy you one.

[@ChrisRosser]

Yes, I'll test it! Drop me an email at chris (At) aos-rc.com

[@lixxfpv]

Could you test the new CNHL Ultra Black Series?

[@testpilotian3188]

Interesting results since in our club we found the opposite, I.e. best overall performance were CNHL black with little puffing and taking lots of abuse, while something like a Tattu was so sensitive that looking at it sideways and taking it anywhere near 3.5v would see it puff up immediately, the worst performer overall was the dogcom and FPV batteries, although not bad as in the true sense of the world, we got significantly less flight time on them than others. So how long until we see an AOS battery? LOL

[@maxxtraxxfpv]

Great video :) would live to see the cnhl ultra black, I would send you one but I don't have any yet. Happy charging!

[@lebeast9158]

I always wonder which batterys decay faster

[@LostCloudx4]

Gods work.... Especially now I'm basically solely sticking with CNHL Blacks lol

[@hrmny_]

Why do the measuremed capacity charts have y=0 in the chart (where its not important), but energy density where y=0 would be relevant as they are relative to each other does not have it I also think a percentage difference in something like energy density would be better than an absolute number

[@genjitsu7448]

Nicely done. What is next? I seem to use a lot of 4s batteries from 450-800 mah, perhaps some around 1000mah. I like all sorts fo flying, but generally i gear towards freestyle with the occasional cinewhoop flight. I have to imagine that this is a fairly popular range of sizes.

[@fluoxethine]

Please test and also make motors for 8S. Thank you

[@pc2522]

Should we expect a new version of the AOS 3.5 frame? It flights great but hoping you could shave a few grams so i can match my Babyhawk O3 flight times.

[@ERICHOEHNINGER]

Great work! Can you do impedance spectroscopy? Would you mind sharing the data files?

[@fpvgiggles]

Very interesting test!

[@a-rad4139]

Cool! I only buy CNHL because they get me in the air or Tattu because they were top on the line a decade ago when I was into RC buggy’s. Do 4s plz!

[@DRONEPOISON]

Great job

[@10fantic]

I wish you tested the new CNHL Ultra black packs that just came out:

[@user-rs8zg8ey2b]

1. I wanted to see IR of the packs on a reputable testor (wayne gills) meter (typically at storage 3.85v/cell and 70F temp). 2. Also should show battery temp (and temp rise) after running the packs. 3. A IR camera can show issues with the cells, construction (cell tabs) and soldering of the packs. I really believe your hurting the life cycles taking the batteries that low, especially at high currents. If I am not getting 1000 cycles in my quad I wont buy them packs again. And usually another 1000 to 1200 cycles with that pack in my planes (yes, 2000+ cycles). After 2+ decades of racing on-road RC cars at a top level (4 national championships, and 1 world title), having MFG send you packs (or motors) for testing is prime for sending prime packs/motors that typical users cannot buy, seen this happen all the time. Thanks for sharing!

[@macwilson4171]

Would be great to see 4s testing in the future

[@ridewithandrei]

One aspect not addressed is durability; my Tattu batteries endure twice as long as a typical CNHL battery.

[@GaweNowakowski]

I was currently mainly using cnhl black due to price but i am reconsidering buying cnhl ministar or rline instead. Thank you for these test, it is really hard to judge which battery is better so I was just choosing the cheapest one from reputable brand.

[@mattdena8070]

I started with cnhl and bought the tattu 5.0 1200mah and there so much better. Smaller lighter more powerful and they fly longer than the cnhl black 1300mah

[@testpilotian3188]

@@mattdena8070but what happens if you accidentally go below 3.5v per cell? On the V4s one guy in our club accidentally went to 3.4 and the thing puffed up like a puffer fish.

[@mattdena8070]

@@testpilotian3188 I take mine down to 3.2. I try not to but many times have. The quality of the cnhl imo degrade a lot faster. Brand new they had good flight time. Start charging with 2c and put some use on them they will start draining quick. You can tell after buying the tattu that the cnhl are cheaply made and show it

[@primoziskra6394]

It will be interesting to make some cycles (maybe 200) and than make same test again. So we can see how batteries perform when they are a bit old.

[@narnasqueneth]

great video- just subbed

[@brokenbonesmedia26]

Great video as usual. Could you do some tests with CNHL G+ series batteries too? I have some G+ and Black series cells and in my experience the G+ seems to perform much better.

[@CrucibleMediaLabs]

I'd love to see some higher-cap packs tested. I fly both the Lumenier N2O Featherlite 1550s and the same spec CNHL Ultra Blacks. I wonder what the difference really is considering they're specced the same but one costs almost twice as much.

[@onemanmob6756]

Chris, you started your wider FPV community presence by testing frames - this day you have your own stable of frames, you tested motors - you have the first Supernova for sale and plans to expand the range. Are you looking into making other FPV components that you subject to testing? ESCs? Batteries?

[@DriftaholiC]

I hope he does, it's better for the consumer.

[@captaindronieversefpv]

4S battery Test Please

[@chrisshepherd8082]

4s packs please I'm old school 😬

[@theringoffire3228]

Extremely controversial topic here. What about the CNHL ultra Black 150C. I heard they are the literal identical exact same insides as MCK batteries. Can you please debunk this?

[@theringoffire3228]

@chrisrosser

[@NickRO19]

This grear testing! I think it would be helpful if you could compare the same capacity batteries per video. So all brands at 1400mah. I think when buying a battery most pilota look at a size/capacity and then go from there

[@lebeast9158]

you should try the ovonics pls

[@artemsloytsev1052]

Million hudreeeed Seeee !

[@RudisFPV]

🧔‍♂👍Very interesting and professional test in a yet compact video. Thanks for that. But the results don't surprise me, as I've had exactly these experiences with CNHL-Black and Tattu R-Line over the last few years (felt, not measured). What cannot be assessed in the test is the lifespan and in my opinion Tattu R-Line is very durable, which puts the price into perspective. 🔋🔋🔋

[@chrisbee5481]

It would be a good idea to test the burst ratings in Watt. That would take the current flow A and voltage sag V in considerarion. Thanks for testing.

[@ChrisRosser]

The max power chart shows exactly that information for you 👍

[@thedirtykitchenpysic]

@@ChrisRosser No it does not. It's rather a "high current discharge test" than a "burst max current test". You simply cannot reach 100C+ with the max power test conducted

[@phiveone]

Good stuff! I have been buying Tattu and Dogcom MCK since they came out. Never looked at ONBO but now they are on my list. I could really feel what you have presented in the data. We need to get Power Density to be an industry standard for sure!

[@ctvxl]

I wish battery manufacturers would start labeling with the chemistry type. I would buy only pure LCO cathode batteries as they have by far the best power density.

[@vdz89]

tnx

[@thedirtykitchenpysic]

Thanks for your work, but the "Power test" seems a bit confusing. With the methodology given you essentially cannot obtain max current readings from the battery: the batteries will be discharged before you hit 70C discharge rate! In order to get to 150C with 1C/sec you have to start at around 130C instead of actual 15C already. With acceleration of 2C/sec starting current should be around 100C, and with 3C/sec you could start at 70C which is around the highest discharge rate in the provided test. Essentially manufacturers write 150C on a ~1Ah pack claiming numbers of more than 3 KW of power. But in the test we can see a max 1.6KW discharge test which cannot truly evaluate manufacturer's claims. Could you actually perform max current rating test for the batteries? I'm asking not out of nerdery but because my current (pun unintended) project requires battery exploitation nearly at full throttle without caring about its longevity. Your tests could save hundreds of dollars and weeks of time (including delivery) on tests for the project I do understand that you are trying to do the tests that correspond to a typical FPV usecase but RC/makers community is more than that and would highly benefit from the information that you can provide

[@JuicySmullietFPV]

I would love to see the RCHackers tested because I feel they die VERY FAST after 3.6v/cell.

[@im_gldn]

hahaha...that intro got me...i can tell this dude binge waatch some ANIME!!!!

[@jakeclauson9863]

I don't think it's fair that companies can send products in. Who's to say they aren't sending something better than what they sell to the customer? All products should be purchased anonymously

[@24kJames]

5 out of 5 of my last r-line 6s packs dropped a cell before 20 cycles. Never buying them again. My gnb packs keep ripping for ages.

[@nitrofpv]

Nooo i can't believe you didn't test a Bonka 180c. They are the absolute sauce especially for racers 🚀

[@hrisiliev3341]

xd

[@ChrisRosser]

Challenge accepted.

[@РоманПлетнев-г3э]

12 gauge wire looks tiny on that test rig 😆

[@aphinion]

A lot less surprising results than the motor testing - it seems we handled batteries a lot more rational in the community ;) But... are you gonna make your own battery now with 30% more performance? ;D

[@Photonees]

It will be a 200C 1600mah at 50G, but not really, so dont measure the C and weight and dont put it out on the internet... as per instruction

[@aphinion]

@@Photonees xD

[@ShinyVideoStuff]

Wow, I'm super happy for getting all my TheFPV packs now! Great job unmanned tech.

[@markwilliams5654]

We will see .....made me laugh 😂😂

[@jessehoffman5302]

NO GNBs?!?!?!?!

[@ChrisRosser]

Next batch!

[@MysteryD]

1:00 Speezy Pizza

[@ChrisRosser]

Whoops, missed that one in the final review 🤣. Can't get anything past you mate! 👍👍

[@OptiquevideoFPV]

Where tf is gnb 😂

[@SiNFPVGUAM]

90c! Less is more depending on who you are....

[@DigitalCruzer]

This information is great for the racers, but I'm just a shit pilot. i personally think dependability and durability are more important to me, i like my zeees from Amazon, cnhl blacks (those only, the yellows and white suck) and the tattu v3. But every time i try a high c battery they fail far to easily for me. I would like to see several cycles of discharging down pretty low like when getting the land now on osd. I've had a couple brand new gnb, full send, and the tattu v5 drop dead before even getting the land now. Maybe you should add an air cylinder to punch the battery while high discharging to simulate getting banged around, 😂 I would also like to see some of the other popular cheap packs like the speedy pizza or whatever... Maybe even the white and yellow cnhl, I'm curious if it was just me that had a bad experience, the yellow just seemed to not have it, the white sagged alot but kept going... Anyhoo just interested in more battery info in this size of batteries, maybe do a series between 4s -8s, I only went to 6s this year after 8 years on 4s and was a little disappointed when switching to 6s, i was expecting more... and now i hear 8s is the rage

[@AtradiesInc]

Now go and run each pack hard for one week and re test them. Because I have had pizza batteries die in 3 weeks of use with no damage externally

[@gusDoTebyaDoebus]

Ovonic pls

[@Nefoedd]

I'm cheap and always buying 'TheFPV' batteries. Now I'm a smug 'cheap arse', too boot :)

[@matt777]

Oooo

[@TurboThailand]

I just had a brand new first charge CNHL blow up on me last night. first one to let me down but almost burnt my condo down. mfs... I will put a video up IF they don't reply to me fast

[@mlentsch]

ha ha CNHL just hung themselves. I wonder if their "ultra" series are any better.

[@the_reaper_fpv]

Cnhl are more expensive in the long run