Battery Management Practices

[blackbirdsr72]

Good day Folks.

How are you maintaining your Air 2S/ Air 2 batteries? I am talking specifically on charging the battery fully every 3 months, as shown in the underlined bullet screenshot taken from the manual. Am I supposed to drain the battery to 0% and charge it to 100% once every three months? Or is there any other indication that I am missing? Appreciate your inputs.

 

[slup]

For all kinds of storage you first of all should have the cell voltage on 3,7-3,8v/cell...

For the complete battery that correlates roughly to a percentage equivalent of 30-60%.
Or a LED light equivalent between 1 solid + 1 blinking up to 2 solid + 1 blinking.

You should try to not leaving your batteries outside this state (over or under) for longer than approx. 48h.

For long term this above state still applies ... & the batteries should be fairly stabile there. But to be on the safe side it's a good practice to cycle them approx. once each 3 month period by ... take a battery on storage voltage, fully charge it & then drain it down to storage voltage again by either hover it down or charge something else with the battery if you have a usb add on fitting the battery (I got one included in the Fly More Kit for my Mavic Air 1). After this you're good to go for a new 3 month period.

So no need to drain to 0% ... doing this will only put large strain on your battery & waste a charge cycle. It was a common practice in the past when the BMS (battery management system) in the batteries needed to be calibrated to show the correct percentage ... nowadays that's not needed.

 

[blackbirdsr72]

For all kinds of storage you first of all should have the cell voltage on 3,7-3,8v/cell...

For the complete battery that correlates roughly to a percentage equivalent of 30-60%.
Or a LED light equivalent between 1 solid + 1 blinking up to 2 solid + 1 blinking.

You should try to not leaving your batteries outside this state (over or under) for longer than approx. 48h.

For long term this above state still applies ... & the batteries should be fairly stabile there. But to be on the safe side it's a good practice to cycle them approx. once each 3 month period by ... take a battery on storage voltage, fully charge it & then drain it down to storage voltage again by either hover it down or charge something else with the battery if you have a usb add on fitting the battery (I got one included in the Fly More Kit for my Mavic Air 1). After this you're good to go for a new 3 month period.

So no need to drain to 0% ... doing this will only put large strain on your battery & waste a charge cycle. It was a common practice in the past when the BMS (battery management system) in the batteries needed to be calibrated to show the correct percentage ... nowadays that's not needed.

Thanks for the detailed bits & bytes, very informative & on point.

I do not & have never drained the batteries to 0%. I keep them between 50% to 60% when storing for 3-12 days and charge them full right before the flight. Then I fly until 35% remains in each of them and charge them for storage to above percentage.

Looks like I don't have to do anything at all if I keep doing what I am doing so far.

 

[SpitFire]

Thats the way I store my battery's as well, LED light, between 1 solid +1 blinking up to to 2 solid + 1 Blinking. Have had the same batteries now going on 5 years.

 

[kerryp24]

I bought one of these.... it does Battery Safety Storage charging. Makes life easy.

Amazon.com

 

[Tonben]

I own an Air 2s and a Mini 2 both fly more packages.
I label the batteries A,B,C and rotate charging and flight use accordingly.

 

[blackbirdsr72]

I bought one of these.... it does Battery Safety Storage charging. Makes life easy.

Amazon.com

I have got a similar one with a built-in LCD display. It is great.

 

[blackbirdsr72]

I own an Air 2s and a Mini 2 both fly more packages.
I label the batteries A,B,C and rotate charging and flight use accordingly.

I have numbered mine on day one and I charge and drain all three of them together.

 

[Tonben]

I have numbered mine on day one and I charge and drain all three of them together.

most effective practice.

 

[Bebopperoo]

Slup, thanks for your amazing knowledge. You state that draining to 0 percent places huge strain on the battery, but i sometimes get close because I'm having so much fun. I aim at landing on 30 percent, but what is the lowest percentage i can drop to before badly straining the battery?

 

[slup]

... I aim at landing on 30 percent, but what is the lowest percentage i can drop to before badly straining the battery?

Battery abuse isn't a constant thing ... & it builds up the total wear on the battery.

You can severely abuse it with near instant consequence or you can have use habits which stretches the limits, border lining to "abuse" which in the longer run give you a shorter usable battery life, increased risk of swelling & an increased risk of deeper voltage drops when using the batteries when it's really hot or cold due to an increase in the internal resistance (& if one of the cells falls below 3v... your craft will force land).

30% is a somewhat conservative "shut-off" limit though ... it's a nice limit if you don't want to mess around after the flight & charge them up to storage voltage ... at 30% the cell voltage should be around 3,7v/cell ... so already at the lower limit of storage voltage.

I would say that if you keep the battery percentage above 15% when you shut them off (not only land) ... on a regular basis, and otherwise look after your batteries regarding storage voltage, storage temperature, specified operational ambient temperature & taking it easy with the sticks to keep the amp draw low when it's near the ambient (high/low) limits ... your batteries should live a long life with a good performance.

 

[Bebopperoo]

Thanks Slup, you are truly an asset to this forum. Swedes rule.