Discharging the battery

[Bwoody321]

Decided to cancel my flight for today and will be busy most of this week so I need some help on how to “discharge the battery to 30-50% to ensure longer battery life” Many thanks

 

[AnotherMavicPilot]

Do you have one of these?



If so, you could do this:



And charge your phone and tablet etc.

 

[msinger]

The battery will auto discharge down to the storage level on its own. Just don't make this a habit and all will be fine

 

[SteveCA]

you could simply turn on the drone in the comfort of your home and leave it on for 45 minutes. I’ve done this on numerous occasions.

 

[AnotherMavicPilot]

you could simply turn on the drone in the comfort of your home and leave it on for 45 minutes. I’ve done this on numerous occasions.

I hope you don't mean with the drone running, ie props spinning?
Thought it best to clarify that.

 

[SteveCA]

I hope you don't mean with the drone running, ie props spinning?
Thought it best to clarify that.

no, you don’t have to start the props. Just turn it on and it will discharge enough just being on for 45 minutes. You just need to bleed off the top 10-20 percent of charge. It will do the rest automatically after 10 days.

 

[CanadaDrone]

You have several options:

- Do nothing and let it auto-discharge. This is fine but not best practice if you're going to be doing it often.
- Hover it for a little bit until you are down to 60%
- Simply turn it on and let it sit (least preferable IMO due to both time and heat)
- Charge your phone or tablet or something off of one of the batteries until it is around 60%

 

[vanderzyde0]

The Air comes with an attachment to use the batteries as power packs. So attach the battery to your phone, tablet, whatever and let it discharge.

 

[Bwoody321]

The Air comes with an attachment to use the batteries as power packs. So attach the battery to your phone, tablet, whatever and let it discharge.

View attachment 59028

Newbie mistake my bad guys. I don’t have the fly more combo so therefore do not have the charger thing - will get one within the next week or two definitely

 

[THE WOMBLE]

Newbie mistake my bad guys. I don’t have the fly more combo so therefore do not have the charger thing - will get one within the next week or two definitely

Just let the battery discharge itself. No need to buy the adapter.

 

[John Kyte]

If you are in a hurry just remove props and start your motors, you will get to 40% in a couple of minutes.

 

[JMagnus]

Do you have one of these?

View attachment 58970

If so, you could do this:

View attachment 58977

And charge your phone and tablet etc.

Thank you for pointing this out! I'm a new and had no idea what this was for. It's amazing how much valuable information I can find in these forums! Thanks again!!

 

[Bwoody321]

Just let the battery discharge itself. No need to buy the adapter.

I swear that isn’t good for the battery though

 

[AnotherMavicPilot]

I swear that isn’t good for the battery though

It's certainly better than holding a full charge, which WILL damage the battery over time.

 

[msinger]

I swear that isn’t good for the battery though

It's not if you do it often. One time though? No worries.

 

[JMagnus]

I'm confused as to why DJI would include this item with its drones if it is not good for the batteries. It seems to me this would be an acceptable way to drain the batteries safely or DJI wouldn't include it.

 

[msinger]

I'm confused as to why DJI would include this item with its drones if it is not good for the batteries

It's perfectly safe to use with the batteries. What made you think it's not?

 

[travishozi]

This is all very helpful information. I recently joined this forum and it is tremendous how much I already learned from everybody.

I just have one question: Is it really important to take such meticulous care of these batteries and practice this regularly if not in use?

As a full-time dental student in University, I find myself limited in time to even touch my drone during the semester. It is truly unfortunate, since I used my Mavic Air extensively over the summer, or during breaks when I have time to take it outside. During school I still try my best to check on it, turn it on for about 10-20 min and let it sit there to drain some of the charges stored in the battery.

I don't do this regularly however, and my practice is rather sporadic and contingent on whether I find the free time to do so. I know that these batteries aren't cheap and would personally love to maximize their life-spans as much as I could, but my current situation doesn't allow me to do so regularly.

Is it okay to just let them auto-discharge, charge them back up once in awhile, store it and repeat this cycle for 4-5 months? I don't want to obsess over battery life as I do have other priorities, but it is something to consider and definitely an attribute I'd like to optimize for my future uses. I don't conduct any of these "practices" for my phone, tablet, nor my laptops simply due to the fact that I use them on a daily basis. I can't really draw a parallel with my mavic batteries since they currently spend 99% of their time sitting in my case waiting to be used...

 

[vanderzyde0]

You are going to get a lot of opinions on this topic. I have been using LiPos for about 2.5 years now in electric RC cars and trucks and now drones for 6 months.

I have been doing almost exactly what you are proposing- I properly discharge them for storage and about every 45 days I check them and bring them back up to a storage charge. I have had no issues so far.

The DJI batteries have a smart discharge technology built right in so I have been charging them up every 45 days or so and then discharging them about 10% and letting the DJI smart discharge circuitry bring them down to a safe storage charge.

My other LiPos I just bring up to a safe storage charge using an intelligent charger.

This website has more than you will ever want to know about LiPos-

A Guide to Understanding LiPo Batteries — Roger's Hobby Center

 

[msinger]

Here's a guide that explains how to care for DJI batteries specifically:
HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI Mavic batteries