Battery Level Question

[propflux01]

I may have missed this, but since I've always heard never, never let your batteries run down to 0%, is the 0% on the level meter on the controller screen mean 0% as in totally dead, or 0% as in its at the batteries lowest safe level?

 

[Cafguy]

0 is 0 meaning zero in the battery- You should try your best to not let your battery get below 12% EVER - I land at 15. Also don't use that battery indicator on the controller as a "gas gauge" It will drain at varying amounts as you fly.

 

[rgarjr]

Either way you don’t want to get that low

 

[MS Coast]

Others of us make it a point to have the drone on the ground with the motors stopped with at least 20-25% indicated in the battery.

It's not just a safety thing. You can damage the batteries by discharging them to low charge levels.

 

[propflux01]

Cool, Thank you. That is what I needed to know!

 

[msinger]

I've always heard never, never let your batteries run down to 0%

If you mean while flying, doing so will cause the battery to shut off mid-flight. In most cases, the drone will auto land on the ground (or closest object beneath it) before the battery reaches 0%.

It's not possible to deplete the battery to a dangerously low level by flying since the battery auto shuts off to protect itself. However, you could damage the battery by keeping it at a very low charge for an extended period of time.

For keeping your batteries healthy while not in use, follow this guide:

HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI Mavic batteries | Mavic Help

Mavic Help is a site for help with DJI Mavic drones. Find the latest fixes, how-tos, guides, accessories, modifications, and more.

www.mavichelp.com

 

[GadgetGuy]

I may have missed this, but since I've always heard never, never let your batteries run down to 0%, is the 0% on the level meter on the controller screen mean 0% as in totally dead, or 0% as in its at the batteries lowest safe level?

At 0% on all recent DJI drones, you still have well over two minutes of remaining flight time before the drone shuts off in midair when a single cell drops below 3.0 volts, potentially ruining the battery and crashing. Flying to 0% or below 0% and landing safely does take a toll on the future battery flight time, and is best reserved for emergencies. My personal goal is to land between 5-10%, with the last 5% plus 2 minutes as an emergency reserve. You will need to fight autoland after 10% and deal with the heart attack beeping (turn volume down to 0% and disable all sounds on the RC), but you can still maintain altitude and actually increase altitude with full left stick at under 10% battery, while you fly the drone back to yourself, for a safe, quick hand catch on a glide path. If you suspect you will need to fight autoland, do not prematurely descend, saving altitude for a gentle glidepath back. Using the free version of Drone-Hacks, on older FW versions you can actually disable Autoland altogether, which maintains normal flight behavior under 10%, albeit at lowered power levels and slower speeds, making full use of the battery's advertised flight time much easier.

 

[Cafguy]

saving altitude for a gentle glidepath back

Gentle Glidepath?
When it comes to drone Knowledge GadgetGuy I have huge respect for you. BUT I gotta call you on this statement

 

[GadgetGuy]

Gentle Glidepath?
When it comes to drone Knowledge GadgetGuy I have huge respect for you. BUT I gotta call you on this statement

It's an acquired skill from 8 years of manual landing at under 10%. Not for the faint of heart, though. Repetition builds confidence. Nothing to fear except fear itself. Find the drone in the sky, and just fly it straight back to yourself, and grab it from underneath with your right hand, as you kill the motors with the left stick.

 

[marcosvc]

The battery has a chip processor in it. It needs power to work. If you continue to fly after 0% you may drain the remain power and make it dead. The battery will not be able to recharge again

 

[msinger]

If you continue to fly after 0% you may drain the remain power and make it dead. The battery will not be able to recharge again

The battery should shut itself off before any type of permanent damage like that occurs.

Know of any documented cases where that occurred?

 

[GadgetGuy]

The battery has a chip processor in it. It needs power to work. If you continue to fly after 0% you may drain the remain power and make it dead. The battery will not be able to recharge again

You seem to misunderstand 0% remaining battery, as displayed by the app. It is no longer a true 0% where the battery can no longer sustain flight, which DJI even won't let you reach. DJI shuts off the battery when any one cell drops below 3.0V, even if in flight. This happens roughly 2.5 minutes after reaching 0% remaining battery in the app. At 0% remaining battery, the lowest cell voltage is typically still roughly 3.5V, leaving plenty of remaining voltage for flight, if needed.

 

[Yaros]

The battery should shut itself off before any type of permanent damage like that occurs.

Well, in theory yes, but I had a Mavic Air battery die when flown beyond 0%, it overdischarged beyond 3.0V per cell, which made the BMS lock the battery out.

It's quite hard to get a battery to that state though, because you have to fly the battery about 2 minutes after it reaches 0%. How did my friend damage the Air 1 battery? Well, by flying way too high and far, when he lost signal, the battery was around 2% at 100 meters, and it didn't have time to descend by itself before discharging down to 2.8V and falling.

That said, DJI gives you a margin of error when it comes to 0%, just don't fly a battery to 0 if possible.

DJI shuts off the battery when any one cell drops below 3.0V

Not 100% correct, it won't just shut off the battery, the drone will land super quickly, technically almost hit the ground. But it will let you drop below 3V, it will just not let you charge the battery anymore, you can use some DIY methods to reprogram the BMS controller to let you charge, but it's not safe.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Well, in theory yes, but I had a Mavic Air battery die when flown beyond 0%, it overdischarged beyond 3.0V per cell, which made the BMS lock the battery out.

It's quite hard to get a battery to that state though, because you have to fly the battery about 2 minutes after it reaches 0%. How did my friend damage the Air 1 battery? Well, by flying way too high and far, when he lost signal, the battery was around 2% at 100 meters, and it didn't have time to descend by itself before discharging down to 2.8V and falling.

That said, DJI gives you a margin of error when it comes to 0%, just don't fly a battery to 0 if possible.


Not 100% correct, it won't just shut off the battery, the drone will land super quickly, technically almost hit the ground. But it will let you drop below 3V, it will just not let you charge the battery anymore, you can use some DIY methods to reprogram the BMS controller to let you charge, but it's not safe.

It's hard to distinguish a free fall from "landing super quickly" in a hard landing, when below 3.0V on any one cell, while in forward motion, during a glide path. In any event, the cell voltage drops so fast in flight below 3.0V that it is almost academic. At some point, the drone can no longer sustain flight. it's a matter seconds when below 3.0V.

Earlier DJI battery algorithms did, in fact, shut off the battery when any one cell dropped below 3.0V, even in flight. I had a P3P fall from 200 feet directly above me, during a quick test flight in cold temperatures on a battery that displayed 85% remaining battery in the app, that unbeknownst to me, was discharging with grossly unbalanced cells. A single cell had dropped to 2.99V during the quick ascent in the cold. Crashed some 10 feet away from me and shattered onto concrete! Now that was a hard landing! Dodged a bullet there, as it easily could have killed me, had it landed on my head, instead!