dismal battery life

[Alejoviade]

Cold temperatures have a very significant effect on LiPo batteries. If you were flying with batteries that had been stored where their internal temperature was in the 40-50 degree F range, you were probably flying with a battery that had a significant reduction in power output. Make sure your battery has been warmed up to about 70-80 degrees F prior to flight for optimum performance. There are many good online articles about cold LiPo batteries and their reduced performance. Here's one: TECH TIPS: COLD WEATHER AND LIPO BATTERIES — Castle Homepage

WOW !! yes, I was aware of cold weather and Lithium batteries (I did quite a bit of professional photography and all my cameras used Lithium) but perhaps that type of Li batteries did not suffer as much as the polymer ones (?). I will read the article you sent (I appreciate that !!). Are there warmers or something for them? The batteries were not stored in cold temperature area, they were in the living space in the house ... but we keep the house on the cooler side at about 65-67 degrees so I'm not sure 3 degrees would make such big difference... but again, I just don't know enough about this subject. Now, it was rather cold outside and that apparently might have played a big role on this issue....
thank you

 

[Alejoviade]

yeah me too was very dissapointed with battery life when i bought it i was think occu sync awesome 31 minutes battery life awesome, as it happens i very lucky to get 22 mins flying time from it before critical low battery.

Maybe you can get some "ideas" as of why this might be happening from the responses I received (?), Seems that flying in cold weather (0 to 5 degrees Celsius) dramatically reduces the battery "life"

 

[NDWildBill]

Remember, all the specs from DJI, battery life, distance range, etc. are under "ideal" conditions. Real life you are most likely going to get shorter battery life and shorter range, even with occusync. There are many variables for both, such as temp, wind, speed, interference from trees or buildings, etc. Most are out of control of DJI or the pilot.

 

[Jeff.K]

I don't have any suggestions, but will say it doesn't seem normal. I've only got a dozen or so flights with my mini 2, but all were at temps under 40 degrees F several below 32. I'm also well above 4200 feet in elevation yet I get 20 minutes or so before I start getting the 20 percent battery remaining warning.

 

[jshreen]

How many minutes of flight time you get from a particular battery depends on several factors. Here are my top three (from experience):
1. Battery's internal core temperature. Cold is bad. Hot is bad. Warm is good.
2. Excessively high wind speed. The motors work harder, drawing more current out of the battery.
3. Jerky flying style. Sharp turns and stops also cause the motors to work harder resulting in increased current draw.

Also remember that recharging a cold battery increases the chance of internal damage to the battery's chemistry resulting in future problems with poor run time.

Take good care of your batteries and they will take care of you. You should be keeping a log of every flight, noting the battery used, percentage of battery remaining, and how long the flight lasted. With that data you'll be able to see which of your batteries is developing sub-par performance.

Unfortunately, airdata.com is not able to track flight data for the Mini or Mini2.

 

[boblui]

The battery % indication can be incorrect. Once again, I would suggest you to get the flight logs from the phone and post them here for further analysis. Right now it's all guessing.

One thing I will do is checking whether the discharge curve is consistent with the battery % figure. This is from the log of another Mini 2 :

 

[DanMan32]

Those graphs show very low run times. You should get more than 9 to 15 minutes down to 0% SoC.

 

[netfolks2000]

Hello Just curious but the very first time that you charged your smart batteries, did you charge each battery individually on the single power cord or did you use the multi charger first? I think on about page 24 of the owners manual, they mention something about charging each battery one at a time on the first charge when the batteries are brand new. Any comments?

The hub does exactly that....charges each battery one at a time. It does not, ever, charge more than one.

 

[WithTheBirds]

The hub does exactly that....charges each battery one at a time. It does not, ever, charge more than one.

The other thing the Hub doesn’t do is connect the charge power supply directly to the battery. That’s us what DJI is saying should be done for the first charge.

 

[boblui]

Those graphs show very low run times. You should get more than 9 to 15 minutes down to 0% SoC.

The y axis started at 50%, not 0%

edit : correction. I meant 30%, not 50%.

 

[WithTheBirds]

The y axis started at 50%, not 0%

Might be considerably above 50% taking into account voltage sag while under load.

 

[karlblessing]

Whenever I hear about battery life being crap from the get go, three conditions come to mind that I'd want to know about.

1) Wind Speed, the battery life quoted by DJI is only good for minimal wind conditions. The more wind, the harder it has to fight to maintain position which eats up more battery.
2) Temperature, as mentioned earlier, the colder the environment the short the battery life is, especially if it can't keep up optimal voltage.
3) Altitude, the closer you get to the maximum take off altitude (in the case of the Mini 2, it's 4,000 meters above sea level), the more spin is required to create lift, which also increases the power draw. ie: Someone flying above 3,000 meters is going to have significantly lower battery life as it works harder to keep lift in thinner air density than someone right at the beach at sea level.

Other factors can be improperly installed props, as it being out of balance can cause more power draw to compensate, or if there's any additional weight attached.

 

[MTP]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but with the release of the latest DJI FlyApp there have been reports of battery life depleting quickly. This may be your problem.

 

[DanMan32]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but with the release of the latest DJI FlyApp there have been reports of battery life depleting quickly. This may be your problem.

I'd like to know how. It isn't likely an app can affect battery usage on an AC. Firmware maybe, but not an app.

Perhaps it was the mobile device whose battery life was draining fast?

 

[DanMan32]

The other thing the Hub doesn’t do is connect the charge power supply directly to the battery. That’s us what DJI is saying should be done for the first charge.

There was an issue on initial release with some MA2 batteries bricking if not woken up directly connected to the charger, but that's been fixed with subsequent battery firmware update. DJI is just saying to be sure to charge it fully before using it, just like all other manufacturers with devices using LiIon batteries. Besides, they have to be woken out of Shipping mode by applying charge voltage. Doesn't matter if you charge them through the hub.

 

[WithTheBirds]

There was an issue on initial release with some MA2 batteries bricking if not woken up directly connected to the charger, but that's been fixed with subsequent battery firmware update. DJI is just saying to be sure to charge it fully before using it, just like all other manufacturers with devices using LiIon batteries. Besides, they have to be woken out of Shipping mode by applying charge voltage. Doesn't matter if you charge them through the hub.

The MA2 issue, and in particular DJI advice to connect directly to charge supply for first charge is what I was referring to.

 

[DanMan32]

The MA2 issue, and in particular DJI advice to connect directly to charge supply for first charge is what I was referring to.

That's long past though. It was corrected within weeks of the issue.
Besides, his batteries aren't bricked.

 

[WithTheBirds]

That's long past though. It was corrected within weeks of the issue.
Besides, his batteries aren't bricked.

What are you on about? Go back and read the post I responded to and one back in the relevant history.

Mr Mint raised the direct connection issue (from the MA2 manual). My clarification was relevant.

DanMan you think you can assure everyone that the MA2 batteries that they purchase might have the updated firmware? Of course you can’t.

 

[Hi-Flyer]

I first saw the advice to charge each Mini 2 battery separately for the first time on a (private) Youtube video. That's what I did. Owning the Air 1, Air 2, Mini 1 and Mini 2, I never got anything approaching the max flying time promised by any of them, but I do get reasonable flying time. Incidentally, I number my batteries and rotate their use. I have owned quite a few cars in my lifetime, almost all of then new, and never got from any of them the mileage promised by the car companies. [I once had a small Fiat 127. I went to the dealer who handled it and complained that I was only getting 8km to the liter. He asked me what the problem was. I replied that I had a friend who said he got 10km to the liter. He replied "You should say the same thing!"]

 

[GadgetGuy]

Unfortunately, airdata.com is not able to track flight data for the Mini or Mini2.

Airdata.com is now able to track Mini 2 flight data, as well as Mavic Mini flight data.
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