Batteries

Gealousy · Jun 9, 2020

Raptorman said:
..... they should address these questions in forums like this.

This isn’t an official DJI forum. They do have one and it’s possible this has been answered there... it’s like saying Nissan should monitor every Nissan and Infiniti forum world wide and address every owners questions about their cars...

fGene · Jun 10, 2020

InterstateP said:
It’s funny that you ask this because I have been overly cautious with charging my batteries after seeing all those different nightmare scenarios with using the hub out of the box. I’ve only put a few battery cycles on each battery but I’m still using the single charger every time because the thought of bricking a battery at all doesn’t seem the least bit appealing to me. Like you, I’m also curious about potentially needing to take the batteries out of hibernation mode after extended non-use. Good question!

Allow me to point out that if you care about batteries, you should never allow them to enter hibernation mode. It's different from new DJI batteries requiring activation on first use -- these were charged prior to entering hibernation at the factory. If after flight you have the battery at 5%, you should charge it before storing, preferably to about 75%. 100% is also OK, the battery is smart and will self-discharge in several days of non-use to about the same level.

When you store an almost fully discharged battery, it will deteriorate fast (will go through irreversible chemical changes) and its capacity will soon diminish.

InvisibleName · Jun 10, 2020

DJI do respond to questions in their official forum:

Mavic - DJI Products forum

Raptorman · Jun 10, 2020

Gealousy said:
This isn’t an official DJI forum. They do have one and it’s possible this has been answered there... it’s like saying Nissan should monitor every Nissan and Infiniti forum world wide and address every owners questions about their cars...

There maybe a few dozen forums that represent 90% of the total forum viewers for the Mavic Air 2 and this one is probably near the top if not the top. How hard would it be for DJI to have a list of such forums and send out important information to all of them -- push of a button easy!

Brian

InterstateP · Jun 10, 2020

fGene said:
Allow me to point out that if you care about batteries, you should never allow them to enter hibernation mode. It's different from new DJI batteries requiring activation on first use -- these were charged prior to entering hibernation at the factory. If after flight you have the battery at 5%, you should charge it before storing, preferably to about 75%. 100% is also OK, the battery is smart and will self-discharge in several days of non-use to about the same level.

When you store an almost fully discharged battery, it will deteriorate fast (will go through irreversible chemical changes) and its capacity will soon diminish.

Thanks for the information. Once the batteries have been taken out of hibernation on the initial charge, can they never fall back into it? For example, I had to return my first MA2 and there was a three week period where the batteries were not turned on once. I know that the batteries are fine over that course of time but if it were extended non-use, say a couple of months, would that trigger them to re-enter hibernation mode?

GadgetGuy · Jun 10, 2020

Raptorman said:
Agreed, this should be something that is clearly specified in the documentation or, failing that, they should address these questions in forums like this. As you said and as I've been suggesting all along, we should not have to experiment to figure it out.

Brian

The early adopters are always the unpaid beta testers.

fGene · Jun 10, 2020

InterstateP said:
Thanks for the information. Once the batteries have been taken out of hibernation on the initial charge, can they never fall back into it? For example, I had to return my first MA2 and there was a three week period where the batteries were not turned on once. I know that the batteries are fine over that course of time but if it were extended non-use, say a couple of months, would that trigger them to re-enter hibernation mode?

After activation, the battery should only enter hibernation on its own if discharged below certain level (when the damage is already done to some extent). I think the battery firmware switches the monitoring circuit off it to prevent further damage. This situation should never occur during normal use.

It is a good practice to always charge smart Li-Po batteries after flight. I you store them for a long time, check them periodically and charge when needed.