I know what the manual states and I understand leaving them fully charged will shorten their life. But my question is by how much?
I have already had my fill of trying to leave the batteries at a partial charge. I bought the Mini for its portability and want to have it with me when out and about and happen on to an interesting subject to shoot. But I have no way of knowing if that will happen in the next 10 days. Low wind, good lighting plus a worthy subject is just not that predictable. But when I do find it I want full batteries, not 40%. Nor do I want to wait an hour to have a serviceable battery. If I can't fly it when I need it - what's the point of having it?
Not to mention I am actually losing flight time per charge cycle if I fly it down to only 40% or 50% but then recharge it back to 100%. It is my understanding that battery life is measured by the number of charge cycles. So, although storing at mid charge will theoretically yield more charge cycles my actual hours of flight time may actually be reduced by a similar amount. And NO, I won't mess around launching with a 40% charge. For me, if it is not at least at 80 it's not worth the time.
Unless I find it will kill the batteries in short order I am to the point I think I will ignore the manual on this point. I want to fly when I want to fly.
Although at the present it seems availability is somewhat limited, once that is remedied the batteries really aren't that expensive. So what are we talking here - reduced life cycle of 10%, 25%, 40%? Does anyone have anything more than a guess about this?
I have already had my fill of trying to leave the batteries at a partial charge. I bought the Mini for its portability and want to have it with me when out and about and happen on to an interesting subject to shoot. But I have no way of knowing if that will happen in the next 10 days. Low wind, good lighting plus a worthy subject is just not that predictable. But when I do find it I want full batteries, not 40%. Nor do I want to wait an hour to have a serviceable battery. If I can't fly it when I need it - what's the point of having it?
Not to mention I am actually losing flight time per charge cycle if I fly it down to only 40% or 50% but then recharge it back to 100%. It is my understanding that battery life is measured by the number of charge cycles. So, although storing at mid charge will theoretically yield more charge cycles my actual hours of flight time may actually be reduced by a similar amount. And NO, I won't mess around launching with a 40% charge. For me, if it is not at least at 80 it's not worth the time.
Unless I find it will kill the batteries in short order I am to the point I think I will ignore the manual on this point. I want to fly when I want to fly.
Although at the present it seems availability is somewhat limited, once that is remedied the batteries really aren't that expensive. So what are we talking here - reduced life cycle of 10%, 25%, 40%? Does anyone have anything more than a guess about this?