My new CinePro has three different locations to mount the battery on top, Forward, Middle, or Aft. In my logical thinking I should place it as center as possible, but I think I remember somewhere else saying to place batteries forward because the quad is always pointing down anyways for forward movement. So what is best???

That's a really interesting question.

Can't see the batteries being placed to the front or back would be ideal but in saying that I reckon it would make turning easier as you are moving the weight of the battery the least if at the front or harder/slower if at the back as moving the weight of the battery more.

I look at the battery placement similar to how a pendulum would react.

What is best is whatever works best for you. I like my batteries on the bottom

I usually center mine under the belly. I like the way low CG flies. Whether the pack is forward or aft does not seem to matter for the way I fly. Also, in a crash the low position will result in the craft coming down on only the battery instead of flipping upside down in falling crashes. It really is personal preference and how you fly.

For optimal handling characteristics you want the COG of the quad to be smack bang in the middle, this keeps all of the motors working the same amount. If you were a racer you would even keep it centered as at speed gravity is not affecting the movement of your quad so much as much as momentum.

If you place the battery further forward the front motors work harder, and this does not level out at a 50 degree quad angle because the front motors then still have to accelerate more weight and would be working harder (gravity here is less than 10%, all momentum). Therefore I would recommend central is ideal, but make sure you balance it on a pen or a stick or something to make sure with the battery centered that the COG is centered i.e you may have to offset the battery to compensate for the unbalanced weight of something else.

Personal preference as already mentioned, but every review I've seen of the CinePro has shown the LiPo being mounted on top in the middle so I think maybe that was the original design intention. It might feel better balanced with the LiPo on top but I don't have a CinePro so i don't know, and there is nothing stopping you from breaking with tradition anyway and putting the LiPo on the bottom if you so desire.

(16-Mar-2020, 10:54 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: Personal preference as already mentioned, but every review I've seen of the CinePro has shown the LiPo being mounted on top in the middle so I think maybe that was the original design intention. It might feel better balanced with the LiPo on top but I don't have a CinePro so i don't know, and there is nothing stopping you from breaking with tradition anyway and putting the LiPo on the bottom if you so desire.

I think he is asking if he should mount it front/middle/back on top, no question about mounting it on the bottom

(16-Mar-2020, 10:59 PM)bffigjam Wrote: I think he is asking if he should mount it front/middle/back on top, no question about mounting it on the bottom

Ahhh yes, you're right. It appears I got confused and blindsided by the other replies that mentioned putting it on the bottom

(16-Mar-2020, 10:41 PM)kaitylynn Wrote: I usually center mine under the belly.  I like the way low CG flies.  Whether the pack is forward or aft does not seem to matter for the way I fly.  Also, in a crash the low position will result in the craft coming down on only the battery instead of flipping upside down in falling crashes.  It really is personal preference and how you fly.

I never thought about under the quad, thanks, I will give that a try.

You want the battery at center of gravity(COG/CG).  Not all quad's CG is at the center of the frame..  For instance a standard X quad the CG is at the center.  But on a deadcat frame CG is aft of center.  Plus as you place items on the quad it affects CG .  You want CG to be as close to perfect as possible.  If CG is off, the motors need to make up for it.  If CG is off enough, the motors will be working to just keep the quad flying and may not have enough perfomance left to do what you want it to do.

A battery on top is a better choice for tricks.  A battery on the bottom is better for stability. The heavier the battery the more this is true.

I prefer bottom mount because it leaves the top deck open for other things like HD cam, GPS, etc.  Also when the battery is on the bottom you have all that room to move the battery to fine tune your CG.

I will try to mount it on the bottom, But I also suffer from NOOB flying and bounce the quad a lot. I hope my battery survives ;-)

Yep I am a pretty good bouncer. I'm at the stage where I don't care really and try to land on something soft so I can just disarm and drop . Mucking around landing when I am looking at the sky annoys me so I try to avoid this when possible.

I do this to all my batteries because of this.

   

(16-Mar-2020, 10:41 PM)kaitylynn Wrote: I usually center mine under the belly.  I like the way low CG flies.  Whether the pack is forward or aft does not seem to matter for the way I fly.  Also, in a crash the low position will result in the craft coming down on only the battery instead of flipping upside down in falling crashes.  It really is personal preference and how you fly.

Hi Kaity, both my EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle and GEPRC Phantom mount batteries on top (basically centered on the top plate) and seem to fly really well form. On the other hand, I had not considered that bottom mounting the batteries tend to land right side up in a crash. Very interesting. I might consider changing to bottom mount and give it a try. 
Thanks.

(17-Mar-2020, 06:32 AM)donwie63 Wrote: I will try to mount it on the bottom, But I also suffer from NOOB flying and bounce the quad a lot. I hope my battery survives ;-)

There are printed skid plates for bottom mounted batteries to protect them.  Or you can put landing gear on the quad that keeps the battery off the ground when landing.  Most settle for a skid plate.

(18-Mar-2020, 01:19 AM)iFly4rotors Wrote: Hi Kaity, both my EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle and GEPRC Phantom mount batteries on top (basically centered on the top plate) and seem to fly really well form. On the other hand, I had not considered that bottom mounting the batteries tend to land right side up in a crash. Very interesting. I might consider changing to bottom mount and give it a try. 
Thanks.

Budgeting led me to bottom mpountin more than anything.

https://youtu.be/6CxDYDV9jcQ?t=152

The battery was top mounted.  That crash took out the antenna, GPS module and camera lens.  Oh, and it also took out the battery as well.  Likely most of the damage outside of the pack could have been avoided had the craft hit on the bottom plate instead.

I have now been flying for three years.  I am not the fastest or most agile.  I fly for pleasure and have no desire to compete in any way, but I do push things when I find the urge   I guess a racer might find the top mounting provides some sort of advantage, but for just flying around...bottom mounting feels more stable in flight and I have only damaged two packs in my three years due to rough landings. 


There are many opinions (and that is exactly what my above ramblings are) and everyone has their reasonings.  There are plenty of experiences, each unique.  Looking back, had a really fun time when I was initially learning!  I truly love flying now, I can see something I would enjoy and it just happens...but the first practice I was partaking in, the nerve racking times and all were truly good experiences.  Enjoy the beginnings! 

After three years of nothing but bottom mount I finally managed to do a full freestyle build with top mount battery (Marmotte frame)
There isn’t a huge difference if you’re just everyday flying but for pure racing (I am NOT a pro racer) I personally prefer bottom mounted lipo as it feels more stabilized in hard corners keeping the mass to the outside vs balancing that mass to the inside. Natural physics will pull the mass to the outside is how I picture it all in my head