Batteries Fully charges, but only 15 minutes of flight time.

[E. Dug Nidus]

I took my Mavic Air out the other day with three fully charged batteries (it is relatively new, bought it November). When I launched the drone my battery levels read that they were full but the DJI Go app was projecting my flight time at only 14 minutes. Checked all three batteries and it was the same with all three. This was not the case the last time I flew it. I took it home and proceeded to discharge the batteries and then recharged them. Launched the drone on the first fully charged battery and it said I had a 15 minutes of flight time. Did not check the rest. Conditions the day I flew it were cold, 45 degrees F ( 7 degrees C) and I had been hiking for an hour before I launched the drone. I also got a low battery temperature warning when launching but that should have fixed itself after a minute of hovering. Especially seeing that it really was not extremely cold. And, if that were the issue, then it should have be resolved when I flew it hours later in my house that was at 65 degrees F (18 degrees C) with still the reduced flight time on a full battery charge. Does anyone have any insights on my dilemma?

 

[Thomas B]

What were your flight times before?

 

[old man mavic]

welcome to the forum ,many things will influence flight time ,how long were they stored for before you charged them the temp,and whether they had balanced cells,also was there any debris in any of the motors which would cause them to draw more current

 

[E. Dug Nidus]

What were your flight times before?

20 minutes on a full charge

 

[Thomas B]

20 minutes on a full charge

FWIW, my M2P batteries are advertised at 31 min. On a fully and within the hour charged battery I will initially get about 25, maybe 26, min flight time in wind<5mph at hover. However after a few flights the max flight time is reduced to 21-23 min.
This has been true for all 10 of my batteries purchased on 3 separate occasions. So... IMHO, what you are seeing seems true to form.

 

[E. Dug Nidus]

welcome to the forum ,many things will influence flight time ,how long were they stored for before you charged them the temp,and whether they had balanced cells,also was there any debris in any of the motors which would cause them to draw more current

I cells looked balanced. Voltage looked good too. And I keep my drone pretty. No rotar debris. I hadn't flown the drone for about a month. The batteries had discharged to their storage levels before I recharged them.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

I hate to break it to you but 15 - 16 minutes is the maximum you will get. So make the best of it.

 

[old man mavic]

all good then sometimes these batteries chemical reactions get a bit sluggish if they have not been used for some time and after a few charge, discharge, cycles they tend to improve slightly

 

[BayouBill]

It is hard to believe you got 20 minutes at one time. Common knowledge among MA pilots is that 15 - 16 minutes is the best you will get. Flying in low temperatures will further reduce flight duration.

 

[hiflyer201]

I generally land at 30% but my average flight time is around ten minutes with that reserve. Like others have said...I think what you're are seeing is par for the course. I've never ventured to the advertised 21minute mark on the Mavic Air so I not sure what it did when the batteries were new

 

[InvisibleName]

20 minutes on a full charge

Sorry, but NOBODY has been getting 20 minutes out of their MA. 15-16 mins is the norm, but affected by many external influences such as ambient air temp, wind speed, use of Sport mode

 

[Heijst]

A few days ago I did a hovering time test:
in the air to about 2-3 meters, just hovering, tropical temperature, windy conditions.
After exact nine minutes of hovering the status of the different batteries was:
30% - 30% - 18% - 44%.
The last one is pretty new and had 31% after 11 minutes of hovering.

 

[hiflyer201]

A few days ago I did a hovering time test:
in the air to about 2-3 meters, just hovering, tropical temperature, windy conditions.
After exact nine minutes of hovering the status of the different batteries was:
30% - 30% - 18% - 44%.
The last one is pretty new and had 31% after 11 minutes of hovering.

Thanks for posting this info. That's exactly what I'm getting with my flights currently.

 

[Keule]

I just checked my flights with the MA.

Here the longest flight in 2018:

And here from November 2019:

 

[mavicn00b]

if you've got litchi it will tell you the actual capacity of the battery in mAh so as to remove any ambiguity. I believe airdata can also show capacity in the battery stats if you upload logs.

IMO I've never seen a MA get 20mins flight time, best I did was 18mins on a new battery and that was with 10% remaining plus emergency landing. 14-15min average with some wind on a 20% landing.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

For me, 15 minutes in the air is a pipe dream. I normally get about 13 minutes if I want to land at about 20% of battery capacity left. Flying at higher altitudes sucks!

 

[Gramps50]

I have 3 batteries & get a consistent 13 minutes from all of them. So 15-16 would be great.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I do have flighttimes between 12 and 16 minutes, depending on what rest-charge I have the MA come home. Normally, I do not fly far under 30%, when I see battery going under 50% I start the return process, possibly do some short excercises close to the landingspot.

 

[MavicFlyer]

These are all reasonable flight times. I've had the MA Fly More Combo for about 2 years now, with about 30 flights per battery.

Three big factors that affect flight time:

Aggressive flying - i.e. Sport Mode. If you have a lead foot (lead thumb?) repeatedly climbing at max rate, and max horizontal speed, you may not even get 10 minutes.

Winds - on a windy day, you have a strike against you even before taking off. Even holding position is going take more power than doing so on a calm day. Also, winds have a tendency to increase with altitude. When you hear your motors reving up and down, when you're just hovering, that means the winds are gusting, and its just trying to hold position. When you get the high winds warning, take it seriously. If the winds exceed the max speed in Normal mode, your MA won't be able to hold position, and may start going somewhere you don't want it to go. Fortunately, you can switch to Sport mode, and land in a suitable place.

Takeoff weight - last, but certainly not least, your flight time will depend on what accessories you have attached. This includes prop guards/cages, landing skid extensions, strobes, mounting brackets, GoPro, etc.

 

[Jalatta]

I went for a 3 battery flight in the Ellensburg Canyon with my M/A and 15-18 minutes seem to be the normal length of flight time. Depending on the wind will affect the time. The batteries are set for 30% return.