Discharging battery MA

[Heijst]

What is the function of discharging a battery?
Who is doing this, how often, which result?
Advice much appreciated.

 

[old man mavic]

@Heijst lipos dont like being stored fully charged for long periods of time ,it eventually lowers there ability to take on a full charge
another thing to be aware of is, when fully charged they pack quite a punch if they are damaged in any way or if the contacts are shorted out
if you fly every day or 3 to 4 times a week then they can be stored with their remaining charge say 25% after use, then when they have cooled down charged fully for their next outing
if you dont intend to fly for a couple of weeks then store them between 45 to 65 % ,and if you have still not flown after say a month check them and see how much charge if any they have lost, dont let them get really low around 10% as this can prevent them from taking on a charge if left for a long time

 

[Gaffa22]

So say you were intending to fly so fully charged 3 batteries, but the weather turns bad and you know you won’t get out again for a few weeks
How would you discharge them down to 50%

 

[old man mavic]

you can get a adaptor that has a USB outlet on it which plugs into the battery terminal and when turned on will charge a phone or your controller or any other USB device i dont know if you get one with the MA flymore combo but i did for my MPP and i believe you can get them from DJI you could of course just let your drone run with the props off for safety but it will take come time to reduce the charge level and it is best to have a small desk fan blowing across the drone to keep it from overheating there are also chargers that have a built in discharge feature that you can purchase

 

[Unknown Pilot]

DJI has designed the Air's batteries in such a way that they will automatically discharge to the level they have set, iirc 60%, after 10 days. Why not let nature take its course.

 

[old man mavic]

DJI has designed the Air's batteries in such a way that they will automatically discharge to the level they have set, iirc 60%, after 10 days. Why not let nature take its course.

yes of course you can always go down that route its any bodies choice what method they use

 

[Lastrexking]

On my Air I use the adapter that turns the batteries into a USB charger and charge my phone and ipad up. But, they're designed to discharge themselves as @Unknown Pilot said - so I tend not to worry about it too much.

 

[msinger]

So say you were intending to fly so fully charged 3 batteries, but the weather turns bad and you know you won’t get out again for a few weeks
How would you discharge them down to 50%

It's always best to not charge them unless you're going to use them. But, it's not going to hurt anything if you do this sometimes and allow them to auto discharge. Attempting to manually discharge them is okay too, but you're likely not going to gain anything from it unless you're going through this process of not using your charged batteries multiple times per week.

Check out this guide for more battery care tips:
HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI Mavic batteries

 

[White Swan]

Thank you all. I found this discussion easing and helpful.

 

[Heijst]

It's a pity that the auto discharge time for the Mavic Air is fixed to ten days.
I would prefer maybe 2 days.
I now charge my batteries (automatically with another charger) to 55%.
And load them all at the same time (not one by one) when needed.
Hopes this this keep them in good shape.

 

[Duggy]

Thank you all. I found this discussion easing and helpful.

It's always best to not charge them unless you're going to use them. But, it's not going to hurt anything if you do this sometimes and allow them to auto discharge. Attempting to manually discharge them is okay too, but you're likely not going to gain anything from it unless you're going through this process of not using your charged batteries multiple times per week.

Check out this guide for more battery care tips:
HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI Mavic batteries

It's always best to not charge them unless you're going to use them. But, it's not going to hurt anything if you do this sometimes and allow them to auto discharge. Attempting to manually discharge them is okay too, but you're likely not going to gain anything from it unless you're going through this process of not using your charged batteries multiple times per week.

Check out this guide for more battery care tips:
HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI Mavic batteries

Very good question and answers. Hopefully ok to ask , bought new battery for my M.A. Looking at info/ videos online, Am I right not to charge it until i need to use it?

 

[old man mavic]

Very good question and answers. Hopefully ok to ask , bought new battery for my M.A. Looking at info/ videos online, Am I right not to charge it until i need to use it?

depends how much charge it has already, they normally come with a pretty low charge when they are new, so you should charge it to around 50% if you don't plan on using anytime soon

 

[Tfscott]

Another reason to want to be able to discharge them is your batteries when going through TSA to fly an airline want them to be at <30%. As I understand it.

 

[Unknown Pilot]

Another reason to want to be able to discharge them is your batteries when going through TSA to fly an airline want them to be at <30%. As I understand it.

I'm not sure about that. TSA refers you to FAA

Lithium batteries with 100 watt hours or less in a device
Carry On Bags:
Yes
Checked Bags:
Yes (Special Instructions)
Lithium batteries with 100 watt hours or less may be carried in a device in either carry-on or checked bags. Loose lithium batteries are prohibited in checked bags. For more information, see the FAA regulations on batteries.
For more prohibited items, please go to the 'What Can I Bring?' page.

And the FAA doesn't seem to mention a level.

 

[Tfscott]

I'm not sure about that. TSA refers you to FAA



And the FAA doesn't seem to mention a level.

You're correct. It was probably just a safety tip that I read somewhere else. Carry on.

 

[DanMan32]

It's a pity that the auto discharge time for the Mavic Air is fixed to ten days.
I would prefer maybe 2 days.
I now charge my batteries (automatically with another charger) to 55%.
And load them all at the same time (not one by one) when needed.
Hopes this this keep them in good shape.

I believe you can change the days to discharge in the app for the MA. It was only the M2 that had it fixed at 10 days but because of the large number of batteries swelling last summer, DJI enabled the setting in the app and set the default to 5 days.

Once discharge starts, it takes a day or two to reach the target SoC.