The battery is what powers the entire operation. There are many different options for which type of battery to purchase (they differ in the type of chemistry that is used inside of the battery) but the most popular drone hobbyist battery is the LiPo. This stands for Lithium Polymer battery. These aren’t your typical household batteries and are more prone to leak and catch fire if you don’t take care of them properly. 

 

In my build, I used a power distribution board (PDB) to hook up all of the electronic speed controllers to the battery. It’s cleaner and requires much less wire cutting and rejoining. Using a PDB is not necessary although I recommend one. Click on the image of the power distribution board for more information and to purchase one. 

 

Depending on where you place your power distribution board, you might also need an XT60 plug extension cable. I had to use one for the X525 frame. You solder the ends of the wires on the through holes on the PDB and this gives you flexibility when it comes to connecting and disconnecting the PDB to the battery. There is no off switch so you want to make sure this is easily accessible by hand. Check it out here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012IQ7AJ2/?coliid=I8RE52XM1UJ49&colid=24BQOSGDEM1YE&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

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There are several important things to understand about a Lipo battery.

First things first is the cell count. This is usually denoted by the letter “S”. A 3S battery is 3 cell battery that is connected in series. This is rare but if you see a “P” that denotes battery cells connected in parallel. Something else you might see is a large number followed by “mAh” which stands for milliamp hours. This number represents the capacity of the battery. You generally wanna aim for one that is around 3000 mAh. Most people tend to think if they get a larger battery size like 5000 mAh for example, then they will get a longer flight time. However, that is not the case. More capacity means more weight and the additional weight forces the motors to work harder and decreases the flight time back to probably around the flight time you started with. The final thing you might see is a number followed by “C”. This is the discharge rate.

 

Below is an excerpt from http://www.droneybee.com/lipo-battery-tutorial/ , an excellent Lipo battery description and care guide.

 

“ Discharge rate (‘C’ rating) is directly tied to the capacity reading. This is the measure of how much of the capacity of the battery can be pulled off at a time.

 

To give you a concrete example, if you pick a battery with a capacity of 1000 (mAh) and a 10 C discharge rating, you could potentially pull 1000 * 10 = 10000 mAh (10 A) power off that battery continuously, without damaging it."

 

With the battery name you might also see a plug type. There are several different ones such as the T-connector or Deans plug or the XT60 plug. The power distribution board to the right comes with an XT60 plug so I would recommend that one because you can easily plug it in the board (after you solder the necessary connection).

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IMPORTANT: MUST READ

 

http://www.droneybee.com/lipo-battery-tutorial/

 

You must read everything in the link copied above. Lipo batteries can be extremely dangerous if not taken care of properly. Follow link above for how to charge, discharge, and properly understanding how to use a LiPo battery. See the additional materials page to see the ones I purchased for my project.

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ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE:

In most cases, if you charge or discharge at a high rate immediately after a flight, there will be a high chance of the battery catching on fire. Batteries heat up during flight so let it cool down before charing/discharging.