How long have your batteries been sitting around?

[Former Member]

If you havent flown in a while, meaning more than a few weeks, have you checked the charge condition of your batteries? It's been a long winter for many folks, and if you left your batteries in a cold place, below freezing, then you might want to give them some care now, before flying season gets here.

DJI Lipos are pretty sturdy batteries if you take care of them.They like to be exercised, and dont like being neglected. If youre not going to fly, then at least check on them frequently to make sure the charge levels have not dropped below 20%. Once they get that low, bad things can happen quickly.

Spring has sprung in the USA. Now get out and fly!

 

[Drone Master]

Would you believe Rob, that I have had the best luck with all my DJI batteries! As we all know, following the right lipo maintenance is the key!
DJI has worked hard on their battery algorithm for years! So many of us put our faith in the FW in the batteries. I say be sure to stay on Official authorized OEM
DJI Batteries no matter what! I have tried aftermarket batteries for the MP. Never was happy with them. Many issues!
My MP Batteries are closed to 3 years old and still have many flights left. Many of my Phantom batteries are also still providing me with joy!

 

[Former Member]

Would you believe Rob, that I have had the best luck with all my DJI batteries! As we all know, following the right lipo maintenance is the key!
DJI has worked hard on their battery algorithm for years! So many of us put our faith in the FW in the batteries. I say be sure to stay on Official authorized OEM
DJI Batteries no matter what! I have tried aftermarket batteries for the MP. Never was happy with them. Many issues!
My MP Batteries are closed to 3 years old and still have many flights left. Many of my Phantom batteries are also still providing me with joy!

I believe it. You must take care of your equipment. Ive some old ones too but its a pain having to maintain them all. Round robin on the chargers. P2, P3, P4, MA, MP, M2, Spark, Inspire.

I agree what you said about OEM DJI batteries. Some people have had good luck with Powerextras, but I try to stay with DJI brand except on my crew cab Mavic project. I had to use aftermarket on that one because they are higher mah than OEM DJI.

 

[zocalo]

+1 on regular power cycling of the batteries being good for longer battery life. Numbering your batteries so you can cycle through them and ensure you don't accidentally have one sat on the shelf is a good idea here.

If battery care really matters to you and you have the FlyMore pack then you'll have a little attachment that lets you use a battery as a USB PowerBank. That means you can charge your batteries up, then use them to charge USB appliances - phones, tablets, actual powerbanks, etc. - to take them back down to ~50% or so, giving you a way to safely cycle the power when you can't fly for an extended period.

 

[sgrinavi]

I fly my drone every few days and rotate the batteries, so I guess they sit for a week or-so, no issues here.

+1 on regular power cycling of the batteries being good for longer battery life. Numbering your batteries so you can cycle through them and ensure you don't accidentally have one sat on the shelf is a good idea here.

If battery care really matters to you and you have the FlyMore pack then you'll have a little attachment that lets you use a battery as a USB PowerBank. That means you can charge your batteries up, then use them to charge USB appliances - phones, tablets, actual powerbanks, etc. - to take them back down to ~50% or so, giving you a way to safely cycle the power when you can't fly for an extended period.

Awesome idea to use the batteries to charge other stuff! Thanks!

 

[Former Member]

+1 on regular power cycling of the batteries being good for longer battery life. Numbering your batteries so you can cycle through them and ensure you don't accidentally have one sat on the shelf is a good idea here.

If battery care really matters to you and you have the FlyMore pack then you'll have a little attachment that lets you use a battery as a USB PowerBank. That means you can charge your batteries up, then use them to charge USB appliances - phones, tablets, actual powerbanks, etc. - to take them back down to ~50% or so, giving you a way to safely cycle the power when you can't fly for an extended period.

All excellent points. That little attachment is called the power bank adapter, and is really helpful to have around.



For a faster discharge, you can try one of these that will discharge batteries at 1c. Might take 30 minutes to get battery down to 60%.

Phantom Angel

Inspire, Mavic and Phantom batteries discharger. Calibrate your LiPo batteries and extend battery life.

phantomangel.rocks

 

[Dave A]

Actually I just cycled my batteries yesterday. It's been a hard winter here so all my drone gear has been stored for the last 3 months. The MPP batteries were at 30% so I gave them a full charge then drew them down to 70% and will let the internal programming reduce the charge further in 5 days. Still snowy, cold, and wet here so probably 3 weeks away from decent flying weather. I also cycled the battery within the FC and the CS battery.

 

[Lawman]

Someone had a chart for battery maintenance, percentage levels and such. I saved it and was going to print it and forgot. Now I can't find it. Can someone post it on this link again?

 

[msinger]

Someone had a chart for battery maintenance, percentage levels and such. I saved it and was going to print it and forgot. Now I can't find it. Can someone post it on this link again?

Maybe you're thinking of this guide?
HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI Mavic batteries

 

[Former Member]

Maybe you're thinking of this guide?
HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI Mavic batteries

It seems like there is a lot of information there that just pertains to the Mavic Pro and not the Mavic 2 such as ability to set discharge time period. Also I'm not sure that I agree with allowing batteries to self discharge even though it is an option. If you're going to charge it then fly it.

There are a few more points that I don't agree with but give you the chance to update that link before I do comment.

 

[msinger]

It seems like there is a lot of information there that just pertains to the Mavic Pro and not the Mavic 2 such as ability to set discharge time period.

As the guide notes:
"If your drone does not show this setting in DJI GO (like for the Mavic Air), then 10 days is the only option for your drone batteries."

There are a few more points that I don't agree with but give you the chance to update that link before I do comment.

Feel free to comment when ready.

 

[rhberg]

I have one battery that I have not used yet (it is still in the condition that it was received in (hibernation?)). I have only been using my other two batteries, waiting to use the third when I travel. Is this a mistake?

 

[Lawman]

That was it, thanks, I got it marked this time.

 

[msinger]

I have one battery that I have not used yet (it is still in the condition that it was received in (hibernation?)). I have only been using my other two batteries, waiting to use the third when I travel. Is this a mistake?

Yes, that could cause permanent damage to that battery. Follow the suggestions in my guide above.

 

[Ken Bartley]

How can I find the date of a battery? Thanks

 

[Commander]

So what happens to the controller battery? It doesn’t auto-discharge. Crystal sky batteries too. Should I be leaving the controller turned on to discharge it or doesn’t it matter so much?

 

[msinger]

So what happens to the controller battery? It doesn’t auto-discharge.

It doesn't auto discharge, but it will slowly lose its charge over time if you don't use it.

 

[zocalo]

So what happens to the controller battery? It doesn’t auto-discharge. Crystal sky batteries too. Should I be leaving the controller turned on to discharge it or doesn’t it matter so much?

My assumption is that the controller's use an embedded Li-Ion battery rather than a LiPo, so are not quite so needy of TLC to ensure a long lifespan. Just leaving it on the shelf with slightly less than 100% charge and letting the charge bleed away over time while you're not flying still isn't ideal, but it's not as bad for wear and tear as with a LiPo. Ideally you want to keep some charge in the cells when its not in use, but some advice also suggests avoiding a full charge for storage, so put it back on the shelf at 50-70% charge and you should be fine for most no-fly periods.

Again though, if you want you can cycle the battery easily enough by charging it up then just leaving it sat powered on and trying to connect to a drone for a few hours. Or speed up the process by using it to charge your Android phone (I don't think the controllers will charge iPhones) while it sits.

 

[DrRobin]

Cycling batteries is always good for battery life, but remember all batteries have a design maximum number of cycles so I wouldn't get too aggressive.

What really reduces a batteries life is leaving it discharged for periods of time.

Lipo has quite a high self discharge, but very few memory effects and since the batteries self discharge after 10 days, it is enough just to let them discharge and then recharge after a couple of weeks, or even longer, say every month.

Cycling more frequently or leaving it discharged will probably shorten battery life.

 

[Former Member]

Cycling batteries is always good for battery life, but remember all batteries have a design maximum number of cycles so I wouldn't get too aggressive.

What really reduces a batteries life is leaving it discharged for periods of time.

Lipo has quite a high self discharge, but very few memory effects and since the batteries self discharge after 10 days, it is enough just to let them discharge and then recharge after a couple of weeks, or even longer, say every month.

Cycling more frequently or leaving it discharged will probably shorten battery life.

I would be less worried about the number of cycles, and wouldnt let that influence my decision whether or not to charge. I have some Lipos that have 500+ cycles on them.

What also reduces battery life in addition to leaving them discharged for periods of time, is leaving them charged for long periods of time. More than a few hours on a fully charged lipo is too much. Charge before you fly, discharge after youre done. Yes, DJI gives you the toption to allow the battery to self-discharge after 10 days, but you would not want to do that if you love your batteries. Also, you cant just trust teh self discharge function, because it is set up for optimal conditions. If the ambient temperature gets to be above 100° and that Lipo is near fully charged, youre going to have a problem.