Battery cycle count for Mavic Mini

[bfindlay]

I own a P3S and am looking at purchasing a Mavic Mini. I am creating a maintenance schedule based on suggestions I've read online. Things like replacing the props every 200 flights, deep cycling the battery every 20 charges.

I am wondering, how many cycles can you get out of a mavic mini battery before it no longer holds a charge or is safe for flight? I seem to remember the Phantom batteries being good for approximately 200 cycles.

Blake

 

[Thomas B]

A good question for DJI if it’s not in the full 60 page online only manual for the drone or batteries or one of the files on this webpage... scroll down a little for the files:

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www.dji.com

 

[Detritalgeo]

The cells in the Mavic Mini pack are Samsung INR18650-25R. Their cycle life from testing at 20A draw is shown below. You can deduce that the cycle life at the lower amp draw of the mini would be slightly better.

They will loose capacity over time but will not be unsafe. There is a CID protection feature on the 18650's that the pouch cells don't.

https://www.powerstream.com/p/INR18650-25R-datasheet.pdf

 

[bfindlay]

Awesome! Good to know that the battery will still be safe to use provided no errors are appearing on app and no visible signs of leakage or swelling. The thing to watch for would just be reduced capacity. You could probably mitigate this a little by doing the deep cycle every 20 cycles which in a way resets the battery. Even around the 200 cycle range there it looks like you can get anywhere from 12-16 minutes probably with the reduced capacity.

 

[Detritalgeo]

Yeah, assuming the cells don't loose balance and degrade in a similar fashion..

The best thing you can do is be vigilant with storing the cells at about 3.7 when not needed.

 

[TDZHDTV]

Awesome! Good to know that the battery will still be safe to use provided no errors are appearing on app and no visible signs of leakage or swelling. The thing to watch for would just be reduced capacity. You could probably mitigate this a little by doing the deep cycle every 20 cycles which in a way resets the battery. Even around the 200 cycle range there it looks like you can get anywhere from 12-16 minutes probably with the reduced capacity.

Would be so kind as to explain how you go about doing a deep cycle?

 

[Detritalgeo]

I would suggest a 'deep cycle' is not required with Li ion chemistry cells. At minimum it contributes to the overall cycle count. There is no memory effect such as that on Ni-Cd type..

These Li-ion packs have a battery management IC that tracks discharge, charge, current, capacity, cycle count and much more. Drawing them down beyond 0 will simply activate the under-voltage cut-off.

 

[blakamin]

At minimum it contributes to the overall cell count.

+1
As someone who gave up smoking by vaping, I have about 50 matched pairs of 18650s laying around. Some are 8 years old and still fine (I use them in torches now).


Against most advice here, I do NOT deplete the batteries before storage.
I have various brands (sony, lg, samsung), including the very samsungs used in the MM. Time will tell, but I'll be storing mine the way I store all my others.
We'll see what the difference is in a few years I suppose.

 

[tinker]

i have been flying( elect planes) for over 10 years, frist off you never deep cycle lipos, if you try to do that make sure your out side were nothing will burn, 3.7 to 3.6 volt is fine, if you dont use them for 30 days put them to sleep, each cell 3.7 or around 30 to 40% used

 

[bfindlay]

i have been flying( elect planes) for over 10 years, frist off you never deep cycle lipos, if you try to do that make sure your out side were nothing will burn, 3.7 to 3.6 volt is fine, if you dont use them for 30 days put them to sleep, each cell 3.7 or around 30 to 40% used

I found this on the DJI forums. This is what I was referencing with deep cycling the LiPo batteries

There's a section dedicated to deep cycling (8% battery)

Comprehensive DJI Battery Guide

With the holiday season coming up, many of you may become new DJI owners. Whether it be the pocket-sized Spark or the well-equipped Phantom 4 Pro, they all run on the same thing: a battery. While they are intelligent batteries, they can’t do everything. The batteries can’t control how they are...

forum.dji.com

 

[rambo6]

Please take note that the Mini uses Li-ion batteries and NOT Li-po packs.
For Li-pos (Mavic Air, Mavic Pro etc), the batteries need to discharge to lower voltage (around 3.7v per cell) if stored for a long duration like a few months or the battery will bloat up. That's why the Mavic pro batteries have self-discharge feature built-in to discharge the batts to mid level if you fully charges them and store them over a week.
For Li-ions used on the Mavic mini, it doesnt encounter this issue. Li-ions are the same type of batteries used on our cell phones and does not require discharge for long term storage. Another advantage is there's no memory effect on the batts, so you dont need to fully discharge and recharge them every few months.
Thus to summarise, Li-ion batts for the minis are much easier to manage for normal users....which is a good thing.

 

[Antaire]

So on these Mavic mini batts you don’t need to discharge to around 50% if being stored for 10+ days ?

 

[TDZHDTV]

So on these Mavic mini batts you don’t need to discharge to around 50% if being stored for 10+ days ?

Yes you do have to deplete, DJI are very specific regards the values in the manual, don’t recall the reagent but I store at 50%

 

[zeusfl]

I am a Flashlight collector. In the Flashlight community, we use those Samsung IRN 18650 batteries very often as well as the Sony VTT6. Those batteries are known for hold over 80% of the capacity after over 300 full cycles and this is using it in Flashlights that drain more aggressively than a Mavic mini.

 

[rambo6]

So on these Mavic mini batts you don’t need to discharge to around 50% if being stored for 10+ days ?

I read in another forum where the DJI moderator suggested to discharge to 50% if not using for more than 3 months.
I think it is not necessary to discharge for storage for short period like a few weeks.

 

[Detritalgeo]

I read in another forum where the DJI moderator suggested to discharge to 50% if not using for more than 3 months.
I think it is not necessary to discharge for storage for short period like a few weeks.

Store at about 3.7V anytime you can. Leaving the cells at full charge is never recommended but a week or 2 likely has a only a small impact.

 

[Detritalgeo]

I read in another forum where the DJI moderator suggested to discharge to 50% if not using for more than 3 months.
I think it is not necessary to discharge for storage for short period like a few weeks.

Yeah, store at about 3.7V anytime you can. Leaving the cells at full charge is never recommended but a week or 2 likely has a only a small impact.

 

[rambo6]

Store at about 3.7V anytime you can. Leaving the cells at full charge is never recommended but a week or 2 likely has a only a small impact.

The Mini comes with Li-ion batteries and NOT Li-po batteries!
Their behaviours are totally different.
Li-ion batteries does not require frequent discharges for storage.

All these 3.7v discharge norms for batteries are for Li-pos used in Mavic Pros, Phantom and the Mavic Air.

 

[tinker]

if you going to let them sit over the cold weather, run them for 10 mins, that will be about the right volt and amp..........you just dont leave them at 100%................

 

[Detritalgeo]

The Mini comes with Li-ion batteries and NOT Li-po batteries!
Their behaviours are totally different.
Li-ion batteries does not require frequent discharges for storage.

All these 3.7v discharge norms for batteries are for Li-pos used in Mavic Pros, Phantom and the Mavic Air.

I am very familiar with the 18650 Li-ion cells. You never want to leave any Li-chemistry stored at full 4.2V. You definitely can safely but over time it will take a toll on capacity. Just look at a laptop that has been left plugged-in at home for a year..