Controller battery care

[Terry Rodell]

Does anyone have info on the care of the controller battery please?

 

[msinger]

Make sure it's sufficiently charged before you head out to fly. Don't store it when the battery is empty and/or when it has a very low charge.

 

[kmaluo]

And like all lithium batteries, don't store it more than a week fully charged. Hopefully the controller battery can be swapped out easily in the future if need be.

 

[msinger]

Hopefully the controller battery can be swapped out easily in the future if need be.

It's quite the chore to open the Mavic remote controller. Check out this teardown.

 

[Terry Rodell]

OMG! How long would the battery last? Thanks

Sent from my HUAWEI SCL-L01 using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[msinger]

Most people should never need to replace the remote controller battery. I rarely see people doing that with Phantom remote controllers.

 

[Terry Rodell]

Thanks msinger you're always so helpful and reassuring to everyone.

 

[Kilrah]

I've never heard of a controller battery failing even on 2-year old Inspires (oldest product to use that configuration) even if you can't really care for it. You'll likely have a new toy by the time it needs replacement.

 

[Joris]

My general advise for Lithium-based batteries would be to ideally charge them up to 90% and indeed don't store them with less than, say, 15% (to avoid draining below '0%')
Does the controller work while being powered over a charging cable? That way you could even enjoy your controller when the battery is near dead.

 

[No1much]

Does the controller work while being powered over a charging cable? That way you could even enjoy your controller when the battery is near dead.

When I first got my Mavic 3 days ago, I performed my first firmware update from DJI Assistant with the controller plugged into the USB port of my PC and already connected to the Mavic, so that the PC could update the remote firmware and the Mavic's, through the remote, at the same time.

Although I waited to turn the remote on until it was 100% charged, it did connect to the Mavic and I used it to take pictures and test my gimbal before even unplugging it. At no point, even during the dual firmware update, did the controller battery dip below 100%, so I think you can use your controller while charging it. Uncomfortably, but still possible.

 

[vashon100]

What is the easiest way to get a fully charged controller to a storage voltage? I'm aware of the mavic battery management system, but sounds like the controller doesn't have a similar thing.

 

[Mavric]

It's quite the chore to open the Mavic remote controller. Check out this teardown.

Good god man! See this is why I can't have nice things[emoji23]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Eyeinthesky33]

I think it's best to treat the controller battery like any other lithium based product. Just keep it stored at 40%

 

[Skydog]

Does it auto discharge like the Mavic batteries?


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

 

[Syphon]

Should you avoid charging many times? I only bought the Mavic Fly Less version so only have one battery. After a flight, the controller is at 92%. I charge my battery back up and then fly again at 92% and it goes down to 82-84%. I do this down to the 60s before recharging. My understanding is you can only charge the battery so many times, is this a good idea? I do have more batteries coming this week so I should be able to get 3 flights in before having to pack up and go home.

 

[Eyeinthesky33]

Should you avoid charging many times? I only bought the Mavic Fly Less version so only have one battery. After a flight, the controller is at 92%. I charge my battery back up and then fly again at 92% and it goes down to 82-84%. I do this down to the 60s before recharging. My understanding is you can only charge the battery so many times, is this a good idea? I do have more batteries coming this week so I should be able to get 3 flights in before having to pack up and go home.

I would recommend to charge batteries at 75% if you're going to do that. For flight batteries I'd charge them when they hit 20-30%. Remember when you charge the controller or any lithium while they are hot/in use you will degrade performance more of you charge the battery when it's cool and not working hard.

 

[halley]

Should you avoid charging many times? I only bought the Mavic Fly Less version so only have one battery. After a flight, the controller is at 92%. I charge my battery back up and then fly again at 92% and it goes down to 82-84%. I do this down to the 60s before recharging. My understanding is you can only charge the battery so many times, is this a good idea? I do have more batteries coming this week so I should be able to get 3 flights in before having to pack up and go home.

I wrote up some very generic but helpful "lithium battery management" facts here:

Leave batteries on charger

Everything about the controller applies just as much as the mavic flight battery (and pretty much all devices from cellphones to hobby 6S packs).

 

[quaddicts]

My general advise for Lithium-based batteries would be to ideally charge them up to 90% and indeed don't store them with less than, say, 15% (to avoid draining below '0%')
Does the controller work while being powered over a charging cable? That way you could even enjoy your controller when the battery is near dead.

Upon exploring my Mavic Pro controller, I found out that if your phone is connected on the side port of the controller it eats a lot of charge because it charges your phone but if you connect your phone in the lower (bigger) USB hub/port it won't eats up the charge but make sure to disconnect the side cable in order to tether the RC to your phone. If it happens that you want to fly more and your controller is getting out of charge you can plug in a power bank on that port without compromising the connection between your phone and controller.

 

[vashon100]

Upon exploring my Mavic Pro controller, I found out that if your phone is connected on the side port of the controller it eats a lot of charge because it charges your phone but if you connect your phone in the lower (bigger) USB hub/port it won't eats up the charge but make sure to disconnect the side cable in order to tether the RC to your phone....

Will the controller discharge if powered off and side connected to a phone (your scenario, but controller off)? [ edit: tried my mini4 and didn't discharge ]

Only ask because that might be a way to drain to storage level. Otherwise, just leaving controller powered on to drain, I found it beeps at 5 minutes of inactivity. Normally I just don't charge controller when I get back, but had a couple times that I couldn't fly after full charging and was facing a week of bad weather too, so wanted to get it back down to storage.

 

[quaddicts]

Will the controller discharge if powered off and side connected to a phone (your scenario, but controller off)? [ edit: tried my mini4 and didn't discharge ]

Only ask because that might be a way to drain to storage level. Otherwise, just leaving controller powered on to drain, I found it beeps at 5 minutes of inactivity. Normally I just don't charge controller when I get back, but had a couple times that I couldn't fly after full charging and was facing a week of bad weather too, so wanted to get it back down to storage.

"Will the controller discharge if powered off and side connected to a phone (your scenario, but controller off)?"


To answer the quoted question, the answer is No, I just tried it today and it only charges the phone when the controller is on and tethered.