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Battery charging cycles

I have batteries with hundreds of charges on them. Take care of them and they will outlast your drone. Thats why I tell people not to buy too many batteries. Same thing as SD cards, you dont need a big one, just one or two that always work.

If you start seeing shorter flight times, or batteries that wont charge to 100%, time to see whats wrong.

DJI makes absolutely solid batteries.
 
I got out to 13000 feet, and had 58%, got the return to home warning. I was cruising around 35-40mph. Modded controller, soft modded bird(mixed firmware). Seems like I should get closer to the results others have had, I’m about a mile or so short. I can’t think of anything other than battery that would only get me to 13k feet before RTH. Any insight on how to improve this?
 
Cycles are discharges and charges of any degree. With that said, I think common agreement is 300 cycles or so. When you do the math on this, one battery might last 2 years. But most people have multiple batteries. So multiple batteries can easily outlive the use of the drone.

This excludes batteries that go bad before their time.
 
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With lipos frequently when they start going bad the internal resistance of the individual cells increase but not necessarily at the same rate. So you will get cells that vary in voltage after charging or discharging. You can track the voltage of the individual cells in the Go app. Haven’t had my Mavic long enough to see that with the DJI batteries but that’s what I have experienced with my rc plane and heli batteries. When I see a significant discrepancy in cell voltage after charging or cannot get a cell to charge to 4.2 volts for non high voltage lipos I dispose of the battery
 
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I have Mavic batteries with over 100 cycles that are still at or near full capacity as measured by flight time and distance. But... I was very careful to never let them sit at full charge for any longer than necessary. I stored them at 50-60% charge and only charged them shortly before flying. If I didn’t use them, I would discharge them below 75%. I set the self discharge to 2 days to take care of the remaining charge.

I learned the hard way with very expensive lipos for my RC helis. That lesson cost me over a thousand dollars in bricked 6s 5000mah lipos.
 
I am new at this, and in light of that, the one major concern among pilots are the batteries: charging, discharging, maintenance, storage etc. I've read the dji manual and countless posts and I know there are thousands more posts and videos, but is there no one resource that provides a simple solution? Is there a charging hub system that allows you to connect a battery or batteries then select whatever process you want it to do for each battery instead of setting calandar reminders on your phone to maintainiance your batteries. I would imagine the individual battery functions like: full charge, full charge and short- term storage discharge, full charge and long-term storage discharge, transportation mode, hibernation mode, etc.
This sounds basic, but I dont have the experience to know more at this point. I can value lessons that are best experienced first hand, but there has to be a better battery system? Is there one other than the $1,500 dji station and that's not even a mavic product?
 
If you want longevity, always store at around 3.7V per cell (do the math for 3s or 4s packs).

Another way is to charge to 90% or around 4.1V per cell. This lessens the per cycle capacity but extends lifespan. Not certain that this is even possible with the DJI gear though.
 
Two of my 3 Mavic batteries have about 100 cycles. They are puffy. In fact, when I last flew one it was so swollen it almost broke the clips holding it in place, popped off when I removed it. I was fortunate it didn't pop off in mid air. I've started shopping for new ones.
 
I've been flying my Mavic Air every day, cycling through my original three (DJI) batteries (I use a log to keep track).

Today, when I removed one of my batteries from the MA, I noticed it was puffy on the bottom. I'm letting it sit on a fire-proof surface for now, but the temperature is coming down.

Is the rule of thumb puffy battery = instant retire?
 
I've been flying my Mavic Air every day, cycling through my original three (DJI) batteries (I use a log to keep track).

Today, when I removed one of my batteries from the MA, I noticed it was puffy on the bottom. I'm letting it sit on a fire-proof surface for now, but the temperature is coming down.

Is the rule of thumb puffy battery = instant retire?
Put it in the fridge. It will be fine. I see a lot of people flying in the heat. Battery 2-3-4 get puffy. It’s heat from the bird. Gassing the cells.
 
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Put it in the fridge. It will be fine. I see a lot of people flying in the heat. Battery 2-3-4 get puffy. It’s heat from the bird. Gassing the cells.

The battery swelling reduced back to the original flat surface after letting it cool down. No cracks, no other visible damage. No "major" anomalies in the cells per Airdata.
 
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Ahh okay. So what -are- the criteria for replacing a battery? Are there key indicators to look for?
Reduced flight time is the biggest sign. However that being said, reduced flight time doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad battery either. The capacity reduces after longer use. If you have a balanced charger, or a way to balance the cell, it will help if you are getting battery errors.
 
Two of my 3 Mavic batteries have about 100 cycles. They are puffy. In fact, when I last flew one it was so swollen it almost broke the clips holding it in place, popped off when I removed it. I was fortunate it didn't pop off in mid air. I've started shopping for new ones.
I would cease the use of this battery.
 
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I've been flying my Mavic Air every day, cycling through my original three (DJI) batteries (I use a log to keep track).

Today, when I removed one of my batteries from the MA, I noticed it was puffy on the bottom. I'm letting it sit on a fire-proof surface for now, but the temperature is coming down.

Is the rule of thumb puffy battery = instant retire?
I would not fly with one. It’s begging trouble... worst cases are 1) increased swelling leads to loss of battery power while in the air.... these things don’t glide or autorotate. ...or 2) an autoland at a distant and poorly accessible location when a cell collapses and/or battery life suddenly declines

I just took on of my M2P batteries out of service for a slight bulginging... but I got about 165 flights, many in the heat of Arizona desert. I’ll use it for updating, etc while it will still function, but I won’t risk my drone to it.
Just my $0.02
 
I would not fly with one. It’s begging trouble... worst cases are 1) increased swelling leads to loss of battery power while in the air.... these things don’t glide or autorotate. ...or 2) an autoland at a distant and poorly accessible location when a cell collapses and/or battery life suddenly declines

I just took on of my M2P batteries out of service for a slight bulginging... but I got about 165 flights, many in the heat of Arizona desert. I’ll use it for updating, etc while it will still function, but I won’t risk my drone to it.
Just my $0.02

Yeah, I feel a little...cheated?...only getting about 60 flights out of a single battery, when other folks are talking about 100+. I did buy these back in February of last year, and didn't do much flying for a year, so my guess is, the inactivity didn't help. I'll be more careful when I buy the next round.

Today, when I was out flying my Battery 2, I could feel the additional tension on the battery clips, and when I tried to gently press it back in, it didn't want to go. Cooling the battery makes the swelling go down to flat. But it still worries me a little.

Also, I'm flying in moderate weather. Almost always sub-80°F, and relatively low humidity. Hmm....
 
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