When choosing batteries for your build, you have to ask yourself a couple questions :
- What style of flying are you doing?… freestyle, cinematic, long range or other
- How long do you want your flight time to be?
- How much weight (battery size) can your FPV drone carry?
- How much power can your electronics take?
- What name brand and cost will you consider?
Flight Style
Your style of flight will greatly influence your battery selection. Freestyle, long range and cinematic have different amperage, capacity and discharge requirements.
For freestyle, you want to balance weight and capacity to have a longer flight without sacrificing flying characteristics. For a standard 5 inch freestyle build, you’d be looking at either a 4s 1550mah or a 6s 1200-1300mah.
For long range, you want to have the highest efficiency for your flight. You’d then be looking for the highest Wh amount for the lowest weight possible. For long range, lithium Ion batteries are preferred for most drone sizes. They offer more wattage for their weight. For a standard long-range 7 inch build, a 6s 4000mah or 6s 8000mah are usually used. For cinematic, your battery choice will depend on your required flight time. Research in rc groups and forums will be necessary to figure out the ideal battery for your use.
C rating
The ‘C’ rating on batteries is the discharge rate that those batteries support. A C rating of 100 means you can discharge at a rate 100 times higher than the amperage of the battery (1.3A at 100c would mean you can pull 130A safely from that battery). For freestyle, you need a high C rating to not damage batteries during punchouts and dive recoveries. For long range, it’s less of a concern, since you want to maximize efficiency.
Brands
You’ll want to stick to reputable brands, batteries are dangerous on their own, and can cause a lot of damage when they fail. Well known reputable brands have better quality control and better quality packs, which are less likely to fail. Brands such as CNHL, Tattu, Dogcom, GNB, Lumenier, Gens Ace, Ovonic and GepRC all have quality packs at different price points and in a wide variety to cover all your needs.
In conclusion, selecting the right battery for your drone depends heavily on your flight style, whether it's freestyle, long range, or cinematic. Each flight style has specific requirements in terms of amperage, capacity, discharge rate, and efficiency. Understanding the 'C' rating on batteries is essential, as it indicates the discharge rate the batteries can support. High C ratings are crucial for freestyle flying to withstand demanding maneuvers, while efficiency takes precedence over C rating for long-range flights.