dgrams2000

So, I got a Syma X5C for Christmas.
When you load your battery in, you have to push the connector down 'into' the quadcopter to make a connection with the wires coming off the receiver board.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...3L._SX300_.jpg

Well, frequent connects and disconnects will cause the male end of the connector (which is attached inside to the frame of the quad) to come loose and drop into the hull of the quadcopter.

It doesn't just snap back into place, so I ended up buying some
Losi 2-Pin,Extension Cable 26 AWG Male to Female Length cables... this allows me to connect into the end that is inside the quadcopter, and run the excess to the outside, where I hook up my battery
(see attached file)

So, with a small modification to the battery cover, allowing the wires to come outside the quadcopter... I can easily work with both ends of the cable when putting a battery in.

It worked great when I ran the wires outside the quad for both the receiver board and the battery, but it was kind of tight as the wires on the receiver board were not that long....
but now that I have the 4 inch LOSI extention cable added, I have the following issues:

1) Battery Drains in about 2 minutes vs. 7 minutes
2) Random strange fluxuations in flight when flying it.

So, I didn't really change anything except add the extension cable between the receiver board and the battery.
Can adding that extra wire really have that kind of effect on a battery and flight?

I'm about to go in and pull the 2-pin extension cable out and I expect it to fly normally, but should an extension cable really cause all this grief?

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

It sounds like you have a loose connection.

dgrams2000

Possible the extension wire is just bad? Maybe with a bad connection like you said? When I bought the extension, I actually got a 5 pack, so I could try a different wire...

So just by having an extension for the battery, I shouldn't notice any difference in operation?

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

You should not notice any difference. I would guess you just have a bad connector. My personal preference would be to replace everything with JST connectors but you would have to cut and solder them on.

dgrams2000

So, I took the Syma apart and removed the Losi 2-Pin,Extension Cable 26 AWG Male to Female, hooked up a battery right to the wires attached to receiver and got a good 7min flight out of it.

Put a different Losi 2-Pin extension on and took it for a test hover in the house and once again only got about 4min or so out of it.

There is definitely something to using the extension cable that drains the battery and causes it to drain quicker.

Ugh. I'm a little unhappy about the design of the battery connection.

. These are the cables I have on when the battery is draining.

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

That's really weird. I'm guessing there's something in the wire causing resistance and it's not really draining the battery, it's just not allowing it to discharge completely.

dgrams2000

The wire for the extension 'looks' a tad thinner than the wires on both the battery and the receiver. You can KIND of see it in the picture. Maybe a different AWG than what is normally used? I'm no electrician, but maybe a mismatch there causing the issues.

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

It could also be that the jumper could be a different kind of wire. Maybe the battery and the quad have copper wires and the jumper could be silver? Or vice versa? Maybe the jumper is acting like a resistor

dgrams2000

Could be. I had a hard enough time trying to fine one or two vendors on ebay that even sold these wires.
I'm sure I would never be able to find one where I have a choice of types of wires.

I guess if I want to pursue this further, I will have to put my own wire together and solder it to the receiver....

But if I am going to go that far, I may as well use it as is, with the original wire getting slightly pulled on once and a while as I load/remove the battery.
If the wire comes off... well, then it will force me to put a different one on (and investigate further, what the wire is made up of)

I guess for now - case closed.

Dave_T.

See if the wire is magnetic. These are just cheap plated wires. Use a DMM to measure the resistance of the extension cable. Get some heat shrink and shorten the extension cable and re-measure the resistance. The shorter the wire the less the resistance.You can use some hot glue to keep the stress off of the receiver connection. Copper wire is better as it has the best conductivity. See if any portion becomes warm or hot to the touch, resistance causes heat. Most times the Chinese use cheap materials instead of the more expensive copper.

dgrams2000

Well, the wire is not magnetic. I was wondering if length of cables causes issues with the connection/battery/resistance. Good ideas. Maybe I will try to shorten cable, and check for heat. Will try this out when I have time. :

crazy-eagle

The X5C-1 is a very good quad for its price. And is almost indestructible
The short control range is the only disadvantage of this quad, but it can be extended with this little mod: X5C range hack

gearbester

Did you try the battery on the other quadcopter? also charge it completely and check the voltage with multimeter