Keeping batteries charged?

[ffbones]

I’ll fly a Mavic 2 dual enterprise for a Fire Dept. Besides the fly more kit, we have a Colorado battery bank charger. My question is , should I leave the batteries charging all the time so they will be fully charged at a moments notice? I have noticed they will drain down some within a week if not used. We just want full batteries when we deploy. Thanks.

 

[THE CYBORG]

Normally I would say no you shouldn’t have them at 100% all the time but it’s different in your case as you say you may require them at a moments notice.
The worst that should happen is it will result in a shorter overall life span of the batteries.

 

[Meta4]

should I leave the batteries charging all the time so they will be fully charged at a moments notice?

The circuitry in the batteries cuts off the charging when the batteries are full so they won't stay fully charged.
And Keeping Lithium Polymer batteries fully charged (or empty) is bad for them and shortens their life.

 

[StantonZ]

I have noticed they will drain down some within a week if not used. We just want full batteries when we deploy. Thanks.

This is truly the exception to the rule (about battery storage). Under normal circumstances, you would want to "store" these type of batteries ~50%, but given the public safety aspect, you will probably want/need to re-enter the charge cycle within a couple of days (each time). The trade-off is you may (significantly) shorten battery life, but that can be managed by monitoring battery health (with something like AirData, etc.).

 

[Jay241]

You may also consider having a timer that will turn off/on the plug automatically like every 3 days so the charging cycle will start w/o having to plug/unplug the device.

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

Set the batteries for discharge at the max of 10 days and cycle them on/off every 9th day, that'll do the trick.

^ Jays idea is pretty good too, a programmable plug that turns on for 12 hours 1/week is a good way to automate.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

We have always kept are batteries on the charger since day 1 with the phantoms and the Mavics and have never had any issues. My recommendation is that you get a good Multiple battery Charger and you will be fine.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic 2 in the Rain and Land on Water.

 

[SpitFire]

Here is some info. Battery Care is More Important than You Think - DJI Guides
I fly in Chicago, winters can get cold here. I take a lot of precautions while flying in the cold.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

I find this an interesting dilemma, how would you keep a battery ready for instant use in this scenario? I would think that always have 1 battery fully charged on the 10 day cycle and then let it discharge after the 10 days as it should then start recharging the next to full (with some overlap) for the next period and so forth and so on. I'm sure somebody could build a charger that would accomplish that without even removing the batteries from the charger. Not sure how that would affect battery health but just curious how to keep at least 1 battery at 100% at all times.