Getting 5 minutes flying time out of batteries

[Lapeer20m]

OK - question for the gurus.... after a flying session - what is your procedure with batteries. Do you charge them and then put them into storage until just prior to next flight session and recharge. Or, do you leave them partially discharged and let the clever firmware do its stuff and run them down to storage level after 10 days... these are all new to me... I have come up through the generations of NiCad, NiMh, LiPo and LiFe. My practice has been to recharge NiCad and NiMh into storage - and to use a smart charger to put LiPo and LiFe into "storage" voltage as determined by the smart charger for both Lithium types... what do we do after flying the Mavic Air.... charge, or leave partially discharged.... frats,
Rosco

I understand that dji batteries will be happier for longer if they are stored partially full.

However, I’ve stored my mavic pro batteries at 100% almost continuously for the past couple of years (I bought mavic a few months after first release) and have had zero battery issues so far.

I think these batteries must be pretty robust.

Has anyone had issues with leaving batteries in a full state of charge?

 

[hewo]

OP- when you connect to the Air look down on your screen. You will see battery percentage displayed across the top. Good indicator whether you are starting with a charged battery.

yes 100% at that very moment
you can stress the battery to ascertain depletion rate, subjectively
if it plummets too fast, it may mean that initial 100% status chk could be misrepresented

 

[hewo]

Right - but the charger doesn't maintain them - it charges them and then the charging shuts down. After some number of days (default is 10 days for the MA I think) they go into auto-discharge to protect them, after which neither the lights nor the percentage are reliable.

Hold up a bit here: when mavic air & rc shipped grapevine, here honolulu all intelligent flight batteries depreciate because grapevine turnaround time extends past ten days battery auto deplete. upon replacements, all batteries display depletion, both, on djigo4v4.3.8 and on status button chk

thus the question: do or do not trust your instrumentation indications?

of course depleted batteries are prohibited from flying until full charged

 

[sar104]

Hold up a bit here: when mavic air & rc shipped grapevine, here honolulu all intelligent flight batteries depreciate because grapevine turnaround time extends past ten days battery auto deplete. upon replacements, all batteries display depletion, both, on djigo4v4.3.8 and on status button chk

thus the question: do or do not trust your instrumentation indications?

of course depleted batteries are prohibited from flying until full charged

I think that you can mostly trust the indication that the battery is no longer fully charged, but you cannot trust the estimate of the actual percentage remaining.

 

[hewo]

I think that you can mostly trust the indication that the battery is no longer fully charged, but you cannot trust the estimate of the actual percentage remaining.

at times, flight interrupts do occur, usual autonomous rth
but i takeoff with remainder charge, above seventies, and deplete battery in flight until notified battery warn default thirties
understand the key here is the battery has been full charged upon 1st takeoff and has not been turned off by its button until landing after its 2nd takeoff contiguous to the 1st

 

[Rosco01]

Thanks Dakarenduro - I am learning...... and yes, I now check the SOC on my screen when connected prior to any flight....
frats,
Rosco

 

[Dakarenduro]

Great. Have you had a chance to fly again but now with a 100% battery? Any better flight times?

 

[InvisibleName]

of course depleted batteries are prohibited from flying until full charged

Not sure you’re correct - most airlines require the batteries to be at no higher than 60% charge before than can be taken into the cabin

 

[Meta4]

Not sure you’re correct - most airlines require the batteries to be at no higher than 60% charge before than can be taken into the cabin

Can you point to where just one airline tells flyers this?
Probably not since no airline has any requirements relating to charge level for lithium batteries passengers carry onto planes.

ps. The comment you were replying to was saying that you should only fly your Mavic with fully charged batteries.

 

[hewo]

yes, sorry for the misconstrue of airliners which wasn't intended

 

[GadgetGuy]

The % indicator is only accurate when you start with a fully charged battery.
Starting with a partially discharged battery the actual % is less than indicated.

Indeed! Most importantly, the cells are also unbalanced when a battery is in an auto discharge state, which could potentially lead to a catastrophic complete battery shutoff in flight, if, under load, any one cell momentarily drops below 3.0V! Ask me how I know! Many moons ago, I flew a P3P straight up above me, on a relatively cold morning (62°F), for a 2 minute test flight, on a battery reporting 85% remaining, which was already in a partial discharge state. Bad idea! 23 seconds into the flight, it dropped like a rock from 200 feet, and shattered onto the concrete just 12 feet beside me! The battery shut off in flight, to protect the battery, when one of the unbalanced cells dropped below 3.0V! Could have landed on top of my head and killed me! Lesson learned! Never fly on a battery that has been in storage for long enough to start partial discharge, without first topping off to rebalance the cells!