Air2 and Mini 2 Battery flight times

[kalimah]

Batteries fully charged Wednesday night. Went out Friday morning and only got 16 minutes on one and around 11 minutes on the rest - 3 for each bird. Don’t have an enormous amount of flight time on any of them. Beautiful day, no wind, etc. Should I have expected that?

 

[a2tomm]

Batteries fully charged Wednesday night. Went out Friday morning and only got 16 minutes on one and around 11 minutes on the rest - 3 for each bird. Don’t have an enormous amount of flight time on any of them. Beautiful day, no wind, etc. Should I have expected that?

something is not right ,you should expect 20 minutes or more from each battery ,consider battery updates and a different charger

 

[kalimah]

something is not right ,you should expect 20 minutes or more from each battery ,consider battery updates and a different charger

“Battery updates” - how is that done?

 

[shawgod]

When you have the batteries in did you look at the battery health at all? How many charge cycles do you have on the batteries? What was the temperature outside? These are things that I look at when I put the battery into drone every time.

 

[kalimah]

When you have the batteries in did you look at the battery health at all? How many charge cycles do you have on the batteries? What was the temperature outside? These are things that I look at when I put the battery into drone every time.

Yes. I do the same. Only 22 cycles on batteries. It was around 75-80 degrees, winds 5mph or less.

 

[mashman]

Yes. I do the same. Only 22 cycles on batteries. It was around 75-80 degrees, winds 5mph or less.

I have the Air2 with 35 cycles on each battery same temp outside much heavier winds and got about 24 on each today. Flew 2 batteries out something not right.

 

[kalimah]

I have the Air2 with 35 cycles on each battery same temp outside much heavier winds and got about 24 on each today. Flew 2 batteries out something not right.

They’re fully charged and I’m going to see what happens. Don’t understand “battery update” as has been suggested. Do you know anything about that?

 

[kalimah]

They’re fully charged and I’m going to see what happens. Don’t understand “battery update” as has been suggested. Do you know anything about that?

I did figure out the battery update process and they’re all good. We’ll see what happens.

 

[moldorf]

how much battery was left when you landed?

 

[kalimah]

how much battery was left when you landed?

Low battery warning (landed right away:
Mini 2 - 20%
Air 2 - 10%

 

[moldorf]

I have the Air2 with 35 cycles on each battery same temp outside much heavier winds and got about 24 on each today. Flew 2 batteries out something not right.

you had to be landing with less than 10% of your battery left?....especially with "heavy winds"
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my experience with Mini2, Mini3, and Mavic3 batteries is that whatever DJI says is the max flight time I have to assume the practical flight time is only 80-85% of that number, in the best case. And that's just the theoretical maximum practical flight time because I want to RTH with at least 15% battery; 20% is better

For instance, DJI says the max flight time of the Mini 3 (regular battery) is 34 minutes in perfect conditions. Adjusting it for imperfect conditions drops that down to 27 minutes. Adjusting that number to add that 20% safety margin for battery level at landing, gets it down to 22-23 minutes.

and I do not know if those DJI listed maximum flight times include the battery running the camera at 4K, 30fps for the entire flight. My hunch is you need to subtract camera operation from flight time

but there's another reduction in flight time and that's however long I spend hovering on the flight. Mainly, I could be hovering to take photos; or hovering while I adjust settings or check readings

my experience is that I assume a comfortable flight time for DJI batteries is 60-65% of their listed maximum. And maybe 75% if you're willing to land with 5% battery or less, which I'm not

 

[moldorf]

Low battery warning (landed right away:
Mini 2 - 20%
Air 2 - 10%

ok, I'll look at the Mini 2...which I'm assuming had the 16 minutes left?

DJI says the maximum flight time is: "31 mins (measured while flying at 4.7 m/s in windless conditions)"

* so, start by adjusting for 20% battery left, or 80% used...which would puts the theoretical flight time at 25 minutes. They also fly at sea level so if you were flying at any significant elevation above sea level you'd need to subtract a minute or two

* next, DJI gauged by flying at 4.7 m/s which equals 10.5 MPH. That's only around 45% of the speed of normal mode. I don't have enough info to adjust the 'extra' battery usage involved in the difference between 22-24MPH and 10.5MPH, but I have to assume it's approaching a significant number

* how much time did you spend hovering and were you recording in 4K? Both of those will subtract from the ideal maximum flight time. For instance, for the Mini 3 DJI says maximum flight time is 34 minutes but max hover time is 30 minutes. Meaning that hovering reduces flight time at an 11-12% rate. Roughly, if a flight minute = 60 seconds, a hover minute = 52-53 seconds. That can add up
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I started with a Mini 2 and probably flew well over 100 flights. My experience was that an average flight time if I landed with 20% battery was under 20 minutes. So 16 minutes doesn't seem to big a departure from my experience

an 11 minute flight time is a problem though

 

[kalimah]

ok, I'll look at the Mini 2...which I'm assuming had the 16 minutes left?

DJI says the maximum flight time is: "31 mins (measured while flying at 4.7 m/s in windless conditions)"

* so, start by adjusting for 20% battery left, or 80% used...which would puts the theoretical flight time at 25 minutes. They also fly at sea level so if you were flying at any significant elevation above sea level you'd need to subtract a minute or two

* next, DJI gauged by flying at 4.7 m/s which equals 10.5 MPH. That's only around 45% of the speed of normal mode. I don't have enough info to adjust the 'extra' battery usage involved in the difference between 22-24MPH and 10.5MPH, but I have to assume it's approaching a significant number

* how much time did you spend hovering and were you recording in 4K? Both of those will subtract from the ideal maximum flight time. For instance, for the Mini 3 DJI says maximum flight time is 34 minutes but max hover time is 30 minutes. Meaning that hovering reduces flight time at an 11-12% rate. Roughly, if a flight minute = 60 seconds, a hover minute = 52-53 seconds. That can add up
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I started with a Mini 2 and probably flew well over 100 flights. My experience was that an average flight time if I landed with 20% battery was under 20 minutes. So 16 minutes doesn't seem to big a departure from my experience

an 11 minute flight time is a problem though

Thanks for the info. Those are all things to consider.