Battery Question

[propflux01]

I have a couple of questions about the batteries. Not only in the drone but in the RC controller. The book says the batteries from the drone shouldn't be left at 100% at all time. I get that just fine and understand why. Then comes the supposes 9 day self discharge if non-used. That I still have to wait and see. But what about the RC controller? Does it also need to be brought down to 60%, or does it matter if it's left fully charged? I don't remember seeing much about it. Thoughts?

 

[old man mavic]

@propflux01 the RC batteries are not subject to the same issues as the drone ,in as much as the RC will not just drop to the ground if the charge gets to low ,in normal use say flying 3 or 4 batteries through the drone in a session then you will more than likely have at least 2 lights still showing on the RC ,which is perfectly ok for the RC to be stored at for quite a few weeks
if on the off chance you have fully charged the RC ,and for whatever reasons, you realise that you are not going to be able to fly for several weeks ,then just turn on the RC and let it consume some power, untill it beeps to tell you its still on, and once it turns itself off ,then depending on how many lights are still illuminated ,just repeat the process, leaving it fully charged for a few days will not really do any harm though

 

[propflux01]

Cool, Thank you!

 

[shb]

I have a couple of questions about the batteries. Not only in the drone but in the RC controller. The book says the batteries from the drone shouldn't be left at 100% at all time. I get that just fine and understand why. Then comes the supposes 9 day self discharge if non-used. That I still have to wait and see. But what about the RC controller? Does it also need to be brought down to 60%, or does it matter if it's left fully charged? I don't remember seeing much about it. Thoughts?

If you read my other post, I was able to fully charge my Platinum RC battery after 5 years of no use. It was at 0%. I think a rc battery is more like a mp3 player battery or other dumb electronic device.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

RC batteries are not subjected to the same current demand and stresses that the battery powering your drone are. It's not as important to store them discharged as it is your flight batteries.

 

[Droning on and on...]

The RC contains a lithium ion battery, and like all li-ion cells, will last longer (more charge cycles) if stored at 50-60% charge. The various DJI remote controllers do not automatically discharge to a storage level if left unused for a period.

In general, just don't charge your RC after every flight. Wait until it is down below 50% to trigger a charge. since it is charged relatively infrequently compared to the drone batteries. The small amount of time it sits over 95% is only briefly after charging before flight, and if you follow the only-charge-below-50% rule, you'll never notice any performance degradation due to being stored at too high a charge.

All that said, it's probably a good idea to let the RC run down to below 60% if you know it's going to be unused for months.

 

[EssenYVR]

@propflux01the RC batteries are not subject to the same issues as the drone ,in as much as the RC will not just drop to the ground if the charge gets to low ,in normal use say flying 3 or 4 batteries through the drone in a session then you will more than likely have at least 2 lights still showing on the RC ,which is perfectly ok for the RC to be stored at for quite a few weeks

While the RC may not be physically damaged when the battery runs out of juice, letting that happen or storing the battery at 100% charge for a long period of time is hard on it. If your battery capacity dwindles due to this kind of abuse there's nothing you can do because it's built in. At least with the drone you can buy new batteries.

If you read my other post, I was able to fully charge my Platinum RC battery after 5 years of no use. It was at 0%. I think a rc battery is more like a mp3 player battery or other dumb electronic device.

My experience with Li-Ion batteries is that as they age they still charge to 100% just fine, but they drop off the cliff when they get down to, say, 50%. So "100%" doesn't mean that you have a full charge any more.

The RC contains a lithium ion battery, and like all li-ion cells, will last longer (more charge cycles) if stored at 50-60% charge.

In general, just don't charge your RC after every flight. Wait until it is down below 50% to trigger a charge. since it is charged relatively infrequently compared to the drone batteries. The small amount of time it sits over 95% is only briefly after charging before flight, and if you follow the only-charge-below-50% rule, you'll never notice any performance degradation due to being stored at too high a charge.

All that said, it's probably a good idea to let the RC run down to below 60% if you know it's going to be unused for months.

Good advice!

 

[shb]

So "100%" doesn't mean that you have a full charge any more.

I agree with this. 100% means 100% of what they have left, but not 100% of what they originally had.