There are so many types of drones that use very different sources of energy.

Hobby, toy, and recreational drones such as your DJI drones generally run on lithium-ion polymer batteries, or also known as LiPo batteries. On the other hand, larger commercial and military-grade drones such as the Predator UAV runs on power produced by an engine just like any other plane.

Keep reading to find out what batteries hobby drones use, and what exactly makes them so different.

What Kind Of Batteries Do Drones Use?

‘Flight’ is very sensitive to weight. So for a drone to be able to fly efficiently, it needs a power source that is light, that has a lot of energy packed in as little space as possible to reduce weight, and that could deliver energy very quickly. This is something your conventional style batteries such as the NiMH and NiCad, (Nickel-cadmium) rechargeable batteries have no chance of ever achieving. They are simply too outdated.

In 1991 LiPo batteries became widely available which opened up the limits of what’s possible with remote-controlled aircraft and drones

Today, hobby drones like the DJI, Hubsan, and Autel Robotic drones use LiPo batteries, (also known as lithium-ion polymer batteries.) These batteries are capable of storing, and delivering a lot of energy quickly which makes them perfect for drones.

What’s the difference between LiPo batteries and normal batteries? Well, LiPo batteries use polymer electrolytes instead of liquid electrolytes. This is what makes them so much more powerful and efficient.

How Long Do LiPo Batteries Last?

This all depends on how much energy the LiPo battery stores, how much weight they are carrying, and the amount of energy the motors need to produce lift. However, to give you an idea, here’s a table that shows the different drone types, the batteries they use, and how long they should be able to fly.

Drone Type:	Lithium Battery Wh:	How Long They Last, (flight time):	Time To Charge Per Battery: (Rough estimate.)
Syma X20 Mini Drone	0.66 Wh	5 minutes	70 minutes
DJI Ryze Tello battery	4.18 Wh	6 minutes	90 minutes
Propel Star Wars X-Wing battery	6.2 Wh	9 minutes	45 minutes
DJI Spark battery	16.87 Wh	15 minutes	80 minutes
DJI Mavic Mini battery	17.28 Wh	30 minutes	80 minutes
DJI Mavic 2 Pro + 2 Zoom battery	59.29 Wh	31 minutes	70 minutes
DJI Mavic Air battery	27.43 Wh	21 minutes	55 minutes
DJI Mavic Air 2 battery	40.42 Wh	34 minutes	–
DJI Mavic Pro battery	43.6 Wh	27 minutes	70 minutes
DJI Phantom 3 battery	68 Wh	23 minutes	70 minutes
DJI Phantom 4 battery	81.3 Wh	28 minutes	70 minutes
DJI Inspire 2 battery	97.58 Wh	27 minutes	90 minutes
Yuneec Typhoon H battery	79.9 Wh	25 minutes	120 minutes
Autel Robotics EVO battery	49.02 Wh	30 minutes	80 minutes
Parrot Anafi battery	20.52 Wh	21 minutes	90 minutes
Parrot Bebop 2	35.52 Wh	25 minutes	55 minutes

Can You Put A Bigger Battery In Your Drone?

The truth is with hobby drones like the DJI type, there is a lot of design work that goes into making them fly as efficiently as possible. When it comes to flight, every gram of weight matters! So any changes might disrupt this perfect balance.

That being said, you could probably put a bigger battery in your drone, however, this could actually cause your drone to lose flight time because it wasn’t originally designed to carry the weight of the bigger battery.

The added weight can also cause all sorts of other issues, for example, you could overload your drone’s motors, or you could place unnecessary strain onto the drone’s internal components.

Obviously there’s only one caveat to this, and that is if your drone is custom made, or if it was designed to take a bigger battery. But this is extremely rare because most hobby drones that are being used are pre-made by big manufacturers at scale. And they all come with pre-installed batteries.

If longer battery life and flight time won’t be achieved with bigger batteries, then how can you give your battery some more life?

How To Extend Drone Batteries Life And Flight Time

If longer flight time is what you’re after, rather try to extend the battery life of the battery that you already have installed. Here are some simple ways that you can do this.

• Remove excess weight. “Flight” is extremely sensitive to weight. Try to remove unnecessary accessories from your drone such as prop guards. The less weight on the drone the less energy your drone will need to stay in the air, which means longer battery life.
• Don’t race your drone. The faster and more aggressively you fly your drone, the quicker your battery will run dry. So make sure you fly slowly and steadily.
• Don’t fly when it’s windy. The windier it is, the more you’re drone will have to fight to stay in place, which uses up a ton of energy. If you fly on a clear day you’ll be able to squeeze at least a few minutes more of flight time out of your drone.
• Make sure your batteries are fully charged before the flight.

If you stick to these tips you’ll be able to keep your drone in the air for at least a few more minutes.

How To Extend Lifetime Of Your Batteries

Are All Drone Batteries The Same And Interchangeable?

You might be wondering if you could use a single LiPo battery on more than one type of drone.

Not all drone batteries are interchangeable or universal. Each drone battery has been specifically designed for the drone that it came with. In-fact, each drone battery holds enough energy that closely matches the drone weight, range, and it’s flight capabilities.

So when you try to interchange them, you’ll more than likely upset the drone’s efficiency, and it could even damage the drone by providing more energy than what it was designed for. It’s definitely a practice I wouldn’t recommend.

If you’re going to go ahead and try interchange batteries anyways, make sure that the battery’s voltage and capacity closely matches the battery you are going to replace.