Symptoms:
1) ESC cuts off at around 2 minutes.
2) Battery still half full according to charger.
Cause:
There's actually another symptom: ESC is very hot. As it turned out, my ESC was cutting off because it was too hot.
Solutions:
1) Mount ESC on the side for better ventilation. I think this helped, but this alone didn't really solve the problem.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1X0p0a9hQLbs-LegMKB-uLXUdW8MKTgWY7BDPymHMI4y3Jgk03gdkCE_MvbaC0saLn1yDiDSkwLVUBmDQjo4G-NDihxbQWCw5AB__k4D2f4ESb8hSC9KT0vu6hHKPyS6DW7fXqZfWwek/s320/IMG_4724.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEganbw6RofqeoWBloDEPjufZEjMhTO4v5l2YoezywxLiWYumrzDkjjGbLRHXMmbaXqMZhcQ3xsk0TiREgVb07Gotr3F-6kdd7bQKalJsMZHlPjxWEhjuPjRA7aK2MzY1VrSatpTkjNy85w/s320/IMG_4732.jpg)
2) Reduce the drain from the motor. This was a combination of adjusting the throttle curve and the pitch curve. Please see my post about the setup here: E-Flite Blade 400 Beginner Setup for Hovering and Slow Forward Flight. (16 minutes of flight time!)
With the two solutions above. I have no problems with early cut-off anymore.
Other options you can try:
1) Fly without the canopy.
2) Replace the stock 25A ESC with one with higher rating. e.g. 35A
I hope this helps. Enjoy!