Battery test Mavic 3 Classic (updated)

[3rdof5]

Greetings Pilots,
So I did a test with my new Classic for the following items:
1, how long will the battery actually last until forced auto landing
2, what will happen when hovering over and close to the homepoint when low battery RTH occurs
3, how accurate will the forced auto landing be
First, I didn't actually time the flight, which I should have, but Airdata reports the flight as 33 minutes long.
This is on battery marked number 3, and next in rotation for flight, and charged 3 cycles. Final battery temp was 51.7C
Second, low battery RTH did nothing except warn me to activate it. Which I didn't.
Which I expected being less than a meter directly over top of my landing pad and so close to the home point.
And 3rd, and I don't know if this made any difference, but Obstacle avoidance was active in brake mode with the take off point recorded visually in landing protection, but on critical battery autolanding it landed dead center of my pad perfectly.
To sum up, all was great except the 33 minute flight time on a new battery in plus 16C air temp (hovering and dealing with a mild wind). Rated at 46 minutes???
Hmmm.....

 

[GadgetGuy]

• Max Flight Time​

• 46 minutes
• 
  
• Measured in a controlled test environment. Specific test conditions are as follows: flying at a constant speed of 32.4 kph in a windless environment at sea level, with APAS off, AirSense off, camera parameters set to 1080p/24fps, video mode off, and from 100% battery level until 0%. Results may vary depending on the environment, actual use, and firmware version.
  

• Max Hovering Time​

• 40 minutes
• 
  
• Measured in a controlled test environment. Specific test conditions are as follows: hovering in a windless environment at sea level, with APAS off, AirSense off, camera parameters set to 1080p/24fps, video mode off, and from 100% battery level until 0%. Results may vary depending on environment, actual use, and firmware version.

DJI Mavic 3 Classic - Specs - DJI

View DJI Mavic 3 Classic specs for detailed information about features, functions, and configurations. DJI Mavic 3 Classic is equipped with a 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad camera that can record 5.1K video. It also supports a 15km max transmission range, omnidirectional obstacle sensing, and a max flight...

www.dji.com

Replicate these parameters, and you might be able to reproduce their results.
Key is 100% to 0% (critical battery landing is at 10%) and no use of the camera or any other functions.

 

[3rdof5]

• Max Flight Time​

• 46 minutes
• 
  
• Measured in a controlled test environment. Specific test conditions are as follows: flying at a constant speed of 32.4 kph in a windless environment at sea level, with APAS off, AirSense off, camera parameters set to 1080p/24fps, video mode off, and from 100% battery level until 0%. Results may vary depending on the environment, actual use, and firmware version.

• Max Hovering Time​

• 40 minutes
• 
  
• Measured in a controlled test environment. Specific test conditions are as follows: hovering in a windless environment at sea level, with APAS off, AirSense off, camera parameters set to 1080p/24fps, video mode off, and from 100% battery level until 0%. Results may vary depending on environment, actual use, and firmware version.

DJI Mavic 3 Classic - Specs - DJI

View DJI Mavic 3 Classic specs for detailed information about features, functions, and configurations. DJI Mavic 3 Classic is equipped with a 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad camera that can record 5.1K video. It also supports a 15km max transmission range, omnidirectional obstacle sensing, and a max flight...

www.dji.com

Replicate these parameters, and you might be able to reproduce their results.
Key is 100% to 0% (critical battery landing is at 10%) and no use of the camera or any other functions.

I was not using the camera except for having it pointed downward to see how accurate the hover was. No recording or pics. OA active on brake mode. Full GPS (21 satelites) and it had to fight abit in the wind to maintain position. Which it held perfectly ( a great test of the downward positioning system which clearly worked flawlessy) but I could see it was thrown around easier than my Phantom.

 

[3rdof5]

Anyway, I'm guessing a good 30 minutes of usable safe flight time with a nice reserve to come home.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Anyway, I'm guessing a good 30 minutes of usable safe flight time with a nice reserve to come home.

Key takeaways from their qualifications are flight times are 15% longer than hovering times, and starting at a 100% and ending at 0% instead of 10% will add another potential 10% to your flight times, by disabling Critical Battery Auto-landing in parameters at 10%.

Realistically, flight times in normal use are 32-34 minutes for me from 100% to 6% or so with 10-15 mile winds at sea level with continuous 4k 30fps video recording.

 

[3rdof5]

Key takeaways from their qualifications are flight times are 15% longer than hovering times, and starting at a 100% and ending at 0% instead of 10% will add another potential 10% to your flight times, by disabling Critical Battery Auto-landing in parameters at 10%.

Realistically, flight times in normal use are 32-34 minutes for me from 100% to 6% or so with 10-15 mile winds at sea level with continuous 4k 30fps video recording.

Sounds about right.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Sounds about right.

This is also proportionally consistent with flight times from the Mavic 2 Pro, rated at 31 minutes max, which actually delivers 21 to 23 minutes for me, flying in the same manner as I fly the Mavic 3.

Generally, the realistic DJI flight times are 65-75% of the advertised max, which is to be used as a comparative relative number among different DJI aircraft, like the advertised MPG for cars. When DJI advertises 46 minutes max vs. 31 minutes max, expect roughly 50% more flight time than you were getting out of the advertised 31 minutes before.

 

[Deleted member 162835]

I get around 30 mins on my Mavic 3 Cine with a combo of videoing, pictures, hovering, and flying around in N mode. I typically have around 30-20% on the battery when I land depending on variables.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I get around 30 mins on my Mavic 3 Cine with a combo of videoing, pictures, hovering, and flying around in N mode. I typically have around 30-20% on the battery when I land depending on variables.

That's a realistic expectation. 30+.

 

[JoelP]

• Max Flight Time​

• 46 minutes
• 
  
• Measured in a controlled test environment. Specific test conditions are as follows: flying at a constant speed of 32.4 kph in a windless environment at sea level, with APAS off, AirSense off, camera parameters set to 1080p/24fps, video mode off, and from 100% battery level until 0%. Results may vary depending on the environment, actual use, and firmware version.

• Max Hovering Time​

• 40 minutes
• 
  
• Measured in a controlled test environment. Specific test conditions are as follows: hovering in a windless environment at sea level, with APAS off, AirSense off, camera parameters set to 1080p/24fps, video mode off, and from 100% battery level until 0%. Results may vary depending on environment, actual use, and firmware version.

DJI Mavic 3 Classic - Specs - DJI

View DJI Mavic 3 Classic specs for detailed information about features, functions, and configurations. DJI Mavic 3 Classic is equipped with a 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad camera that can record 5.1K video. It also supports a 15km max transmission range, omnidirectional obstacle sensing, and a max flight...

www.dji.com

Replicate these parameters, and you might be able to reproduce their results.
Key is 100% to 0% (critical battery landing is at 10%) and no use of the camera or any other functions.

How is it possible to turn the video mode to off? What does that mean? The camera needs to be on to navigate, doesn’t it? Or, does this mean to have the camera on, but you are not capturing any video?

 

[Hrodnand]

From what I've heard, max battery capacity is reached after about 10 charge cycles during which one should land at 40-45%. (This also improves battery life btw.) Perhaps you should repeat the test under similar conditions to see if you get similar results?

 

[3rdof5]

From what I've heard, max battery capacity is reached after about 10 charge cycles during which one should land at 40-45%. (This also improves battery life btw.) Perhaps you should repeat the test under similar conditions to see if you get similar results?

I've been breaking in my 3 batteries slowly, they all have 3 charge cycles now, and until this test flight all have been landed at around 40% and stored at that level until charged before the next flight. All 3 have been rotated between flights and all have no cell voltage deviations.
This particular flight I hovered until it force landed on critical battery just to test that it worked and to see the flight time. I thought 33 minutes was abit short, but like you say, brand new batteries still that need to be used abit.

 

[Jorge Vergara Latoja]

Greetings Pilots,
So I did a test with my new Classic for the following items:
1, how long will the battery actually last until forced auto landing
2, what will happen when hovering over and close to the homepoint when low battery RTH occurs
3, how accurate will the forced auto landing be
First, I didn't actually time the flight, which I should have, but Airdata reports the light as 33 minutes long.
This is on battery marked number 3, and next in rotation for flight, and charged 3 cycles. Final battery temp was 51.7C
Second, low battery RTH did nothing except warn me to activate it.
Which I expected being less than a meter directly over top of my landing pad and so close to the home point.
And 3rd, and I don't know if this made any difference, but Obstacle avoidance was active in brake mode with the take off point recorded visually in landing protection, but on critical battery autolanding it landed dead center of my pad perfectly.
To sum up, all was great except the 33 minute flight time on a new battery in plus 16C air temp (hovering and dealing with a mild wind). Rated at 46 minutes???
Hmmm.....

The tests you did on your Mavic 3 are interesting…about the batteries…I think very few of us have bothered to time the actual flight time of their batteries…now keep in mind that DJI always takes refuge in the characteristics of the batteries of their drones..."the flight time was carried out in a controlled environment" does not tell you about weather conditions, winds or gusts...so the time they indicate is always relative, they are always between 5 to 8 minutes less than what they indicate….so no wonder you haven't reached the time that DJI published. Greetings.

 

[GadgetGuy]

How is it possible to turn the video mode to off? What does that mean? The camera needs to be on to navigate, doesn’t it? Or, does this mean to have the camera on, but you are not capturing any video?

Just don't record video. Set camera mode to record stills. Don't take any photos. FPV by itself doesn't record anything.

 

[GadgetGuy]

From what I've heard, max battery capacity is reached after about 10 charge cycles during which one should land at 40-45%. (This also improves battery life btw.) Perhaps you should repeat the test under similar conditions to see if you get similar results?

This has little or no effect upon the flight times, compared to the variables enumerated above, used by DJI for their testing. Longest flight times will actually be achieved with a brand new battery.

 

[GadgetGuy]

The tests you did on your Mavic 3 are interesting…about the batteries…I think very few of us have bothered to time the actual flight time of their batteries…now keep in mind that DJI always takes refuge in the characteristics of the batteries of their drones..."the flight time was carried out in a controlled environment" does not tell you about weather conditions, winds or gusts...so the time they indicate is always relative, they are always between 5 to 8 minutes less than what they indicate….so no wonder you haven't reached the time that DJI published. Greetings.

Controlled environment means indoors with no wind. Figure on 65-75% of the advertised max in real life usage. You cannot reproduce flying to 0% battery without disabling Critical Battery Autolanding at 10% in the parameters settings. That alone adds an additional 10% to the total flight time, which is at least 3 more minutes!

 

[3rdof5]

The tests you did on your Mavic 3 are interesting…about the batteries…I think very few of us have bothered to time the actual flight time of their batteries…now keep in mind that DJI always takes refuge in the characteristics of the batteries of their drones..."the flight time was carried out in a controlled environment" does not tell you about weather conditions, winds or gusts...so the time they indicate is always relative, they are always between 5 to 8 minutes less than what they indicate….so no wonder you haven't reached the time that DJI published. Greetings.

Thanks,
I did a new test just now.
First let me say that I've discovered that once the batteries have auto discharged to 96% they won't accept a top up to 100% charge unless depeleted first to at least 90%
So, this time starting with battery number 1 with 4 charge cycles starting flight at 100% I got 35 minutes and 40 seconds until it auto landed on critical battery.
I was recording 4k 60fps the entire time. OA turned off, mostly hovering at 1 meter.
Final battery temp was 47.8C and all cells equal and 1 Led flashing on the battery.
Air temp was 3C.

 

[Jorge Vergara Latoja]

Thanks,
I did a new test just now.
First let me say that I've discovered that once the batteries have auto discharged to 96% they won't accept a top up to 100% charge unless depeleted first to at least 90%
So, this time starting with battery number 1 with 4 charge cycles starting flight at 100% I got 35 minutes and 40 seconds until it auto landed on critical battery.
I was recording 4k 60fps the entire time. OA turned off, mostly hovering at 1 meter.
Final battery temp was 47.8C and all cells equal and 1 Led flashing on the battery.
Air temp was 3C.

Excellent information that you provide...we must always consider factors that will influence the performance of our batteries, ambient temperature, wind speed or gusts depending on the height at which we fly, time, sky condition, clear, covered or cloudy etc... some environmental conditions will favor us and others will affect us negatively, that is why it is important to have an App that can indicate projections of the weather where we are going to fly, to consider the climatic factors. Thank you very much for the information you have shared. Greetings.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Thanks,
I did a new test just now.
First let me say that I've discovered that once the batteries have auto discharged to 96% they won't accept a top up to 100% charge unless depleted first to at least 90%

Minor correction: While 96% batteries cannot be topped off, they only need a minor depletion to 95% to be able to be topped off. 90% works, too, but is unnecessary, when 95% will do.