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Controller Battery empties very fast

screambmachine

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Hi,

until some days ago i could empty ~4 drone batteries before i had to charge the controller.
then i went out with 55% power left, flew away quite a bit and after 5-10min suddenly the controller began beeping, because it was at 15%.
i immediately switched to sports mode and rushed home, losing 1% every 20-30sec...
with 4% left i landed the baby.

the conditions were cold, around 2°, with medium wind, i could fly with 45km/h directly to the wind.

today i updated the software (had no wifi for the last week) in warm conditions but the problem persists.

any ideas, what could possibly have changed in such a short time?

i mean that is not the normal rate, a battery loses capacity, is it?
 
I can usually fly 7-8 flights with my M2P on one controller battery charge. It is about 11 months old and used 3-5 x/week.

can you tell us more about the equipment used in the flight? Just wondering if the controller was charging another device while you flew.

I have noticed that the decline in charge level accelerates for my drone battery as it is used and the last 50% charge goes much faster. Not sure if this is true for all DJI batteries, just a thought.
 
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If you are using iOS device, you can turn off charging from USB (remote) in the app.
That's not available on the Android app. I believe that's an Android limitation.

For Android, best bet is to be sure the mobile device is fully charged before flying, so it won't take as much from the RC.

Cold weather diminishes the capacity of lipos. On the AC, there's enough power being drawn that the battery warms up, but not so for the RC.

You can connect a power bank to the side port of the RC while you use the bottom port to connect your Android. I'd advise connecting the power bank first with RC off, then turn on RC while it's charging. I tried connecting a power bank while doing a hover test and it messed up my connection.
 
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Thanks for the replies.

my mavic is just over a year old, and i fly 3-4 times a week, too.
As i have an android device, i can't choose whether my phone is charged or not. it just will be charged. but that explains 4 ac batteries emptied to your 7-8. now i'm down to one all of a sudden.
also i flew in cold conditions before with no dramatic drop and yesterday i just turned everything on after the update in the warm car and waited. still 1% rc every 30s...

@Dan

as you mentioned, android devices will always be charged, even at 100%.
But the tip with the power bank is a really good one, at least for the moment.
sadly it doesn't solve the problem and seemingly there is no real explanation.

can you replace the rc battery on your own?
 
just out of interest do you have your android device fully charged before you fly as well as the controller,and do you use it just for your drone the GO4 app uses a lot of processor power and memory during use so it is best to disable all apps not required for flight ,and stop cache to device which lowers the amount of memory required in the device and power drain,also if it is a phone it will be using power in the background which will shorten run time and will draw more power from the controller battery, i used to use a Android device and after 5 batteries of around 18-20 mins each my controller battery would be around 35% and my device at around 25-35%, now i have a ios device and with the same 5 batts flown i end up with 60-65% in the controller and 70-75% in my device after both starting off at 100%
 
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Android doesn’t charge at 100 percent.it has overcharge protection
Huh? My battery always says 100 % when charged i have a one plus 7 pro, note 9, and my old s9 + used to also
 
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Some systems, particularly laptops, often vary the limit it stops charging to minimize chance of swelling. The upper limit might be based on history of time on charger.
 
Hi,

until some days ago i could empty ~4 drone batteries before i had to charge the controller.
then i went out with 55% power left, flew away quite a bit and after 5-10min suddenly the controller began beeping, because it was at 15%.
i immediately switched to sports mode and rushed home, losing 1% every 20-30sec...
with 4% left i landed the baby.

the conditions were cold, around 2°, with medium wind, i could fly with 45km/h directly to the wind.

today i updated the software (had no wifi for the last week) in warm conditions but the problem persists.

any ideas, what could possibly have changed in such a short time?

i mean that is not the normal rate, a battery loses capacity, is it?
Most likely a symptom of cold weather if you are experiencing a cold spell.
Try keeping the controller somewhere warm before flight and during breaks, I have a chemical hand warmer that i place in my bag in cold weather.
 
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It will say 100 but won't charge at 100.it can't chatge past 100 percent because the over charge protection prevents it.
U mean it can't charge to 100%?? Idk the only phone that i knew that did that was the note 7 because of battery issues...samsung limited charge to 70% or 50% .....and if our phones did not charge to 100% or the "100%" number itself was just a facade consumers would be ticked to find out android phones are not charging to 100%.....anyways my one plus 7 pro battery stats is 100% of its life still available. It tells me that out of 4000mah i have 3998mah available.... And when I charge every night the phone does go to 100%
 
Last edited:
If you are using iOS device, you can turn off charging from USB (remote) in the app.
That's not available on the Android app. I believe that's an Android limitation.

For Android, best bet is to be sure the mobile device is fully charged before flying, so it won't take as much from the RC.

Cold weather diminishes the capacity of lipos. On the AC, there's enough power being drawn that the battery warms up, but not so for the RC.

You can connect a power bank to the side port of the RC while you use the bottom port to connect your Android. I'd advise connecting the power bank first with RC off, then turn on RC while it's charging. I tried connecting a power bank while doing a hover test and it messed up my connection.
The manual says not to use both ports at the same time. is it advisable to power the side one while using the the other for connection to tablet ?
 
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