Keeping track of batteries

[dubuqueone]

I will be numbering for my Mavic Mini, hope to grab some additional and another charger in the future. I use Airdata, and I noted in the battery section the number I assigned. You can do a quick look at the battery part of the program, and it will tell me which battery has been used most/least on what flights etc. I like it, it will keep some for free (100 flights) but I signed up for a more premium one, Its awesome how the flight data can be exported to Google Earth and show the flight on their as well

 

[Thomas B]

Again what are you going to do when they're down to 10- 15 min per flight? Throw them away and buy 3 new ones? Buy 1- 3 new ones to supplement? Now you have a house of unequal batteries. I don't want my batteries to be equal.

With proper care that won’t happen. After the first 4-5 flights where they lasted 25-26 min, all decreases to the 20-22 min I quoted above. Hundreds of full time flights on each. So I don’t believe your presumption is correct.

 

[Joe Blow]

With proper care that won’t happen. After the first 4-5 flights where they lasted 25-26 min, all decreases to the 20-22 min I quoted above. Hundreds of full time flights on each. So I don’t believe your presumption is correct.

Once again I don't know how many ways I can ask the same question and at this point in time I'm not going to dispute your numbers nor google search the accuracy of them at this point in time as it's irrelevant to my question.
What are you going to do WHEN the 3 or however many you have get down to 10 to 15 min of flight time? Throw them away and buy 3 new ones? Buy 1- 3 new ones to supplement? Now you have a house of unequal batteries.
How far down will you go before you do something and, when you decide to do something what is your plan?

 

[Joe Blow]

Question ya'll. How many min of flight time will you let your "equal" batteries go down to before you do some thing and what will you do to make your self happy again?
If you buy new one/ones will you pitch/recycle the old ones or continue to use them?

 

[GK-Mavic2P_Pilot]

Crude but effective, a label on each battery on which you make a mark each time it is charged, arrang the marks in groups of 4 with 5 being a strike through. ( like in the movies where a prisoner is counting days by making marks on the wall of their cell)
That or keep a log book of battery usage.

I simply have a piece of paper where I record the battery number (each battery number-labeled with a black marker) and the date last used and the number of times it has been charged. I have 3 batteries and rotate accordingly in my M2P.

 

[Thomas B]

Once again I don't know how many ways I can ask the same question and at this point in time I'm not going to dispute your numbers nor google search the accuracy of them at this point in time as it's irrelevant to my question.
What are you going to do WHEN the 3 or however many you have get down to 10 to 15 min of flight time? Throw them away and buy 3 new ones? Buy 1- 3 new ones to supplement? Now you have a house of unequal batteries.
How far down will you go before you do something and, when you decide to do something what is your plan?

I do not believe your assumption will ever be fact.... ie, never see them down to 10-15 min flight time...
At this time no plan is needed since after the initial decrease flight time and hundreds of flights they have all given 20-22 min over about 2 year’s use.

 

[Joe Blow]

I do not believe your assumption will ever be fact.... ie, never see them down to 10-15 min flight time...
At this time no plan is needed since after the initial decrease flight time and hundreds of flights they have all given 20-22 min over about 2 year’s use.

OK i have your opinion. I would now like to get other peoples opinion

 

[Malcx]

OK i have your opinion. I would now like to get other peoples opinion

The same as Thomas B - I've not flown my mini enough to have an opinion, but my MP1 has a couple of hundred flights over 3 years and still delivers around 21-22 min per battery.

Maybe being careful with them has helped or maybe the batteries are just well made. Either way I'm going to carry on doing what I'm doing rotating through them, as it's minimal effort and seems to be working. No plans to replace those as they'll no doubt keep useful until the MP3 replaces the whole set up.

 

[Joe Blow]

I can't believe I'm crazy enough to try this again.
Question: What will you do WHEN your batteries max flight time is down to XXX minutes? (X= the number of minutes you feel you have to do something) #1 Buy new ones and recycle the old ones?
#2 Buy new ones and continue to use the old ones for shorter flights to get everything you can out of them?
#3 ????
Now then I don't want to know how long you've had them, how many flights you've had with them, or what model of drone you have.

 

[DanMan32]

Even my swollen M2 batteries only lost 2 or so minutes of flight time.

 

[Gratton]

I can't believe I'm crazy enough to try this again.
Question: What will you do WHEN your batteries max flight time is down to XXX minutes? (X= the number of minutes you feel you have to do something) #1 Buy new ones and recycle the old ones?
#2 Buy new ones and continue to use the old ones for shorter flights to get everything you can out of them?
#3 ????
Now then I don't want to know how long you've had them, how many flights you've had with them, or what model of drone you have.

I'd probably go with #2. Theoretically, they should all degrade evenly. In practice I haven't found that to be the case with rechargeable batteries in other devices so I don't think it'll be necessary to replace them all at the same time.

mikeg

 

[Barbara]

Just to add my 2 cents worth...

I number my batteries and leave the last battery used in the drone. My understanding is that it is safer to leave a discharged battery in the drone, though you should let things cool off before packing up. For longer term storage, no batteries in the drone. They live in a battery bag.

Another trick is to use a small velcro button on your batteries. Put the button button on the next battery to be used.

 

[Barbara]

I can't believe I'm crazy enough to try this again.
Question: What will you do WHEN your batteries max flight time is down to XXX minutes? (X= the number of minutes you feel you have to do something) #1 Buy new ones and recycle the old ones?
#2 Buy new ones and continue to use the old ones for shorter flights to get everything you can out of them?
#3 ????
Now then I don't want to know how long you've had them, how many flights you've had with them, or what model of drone you have.

Likely go with No. 2. I haven't reached that point yet with my three batteries (Spark or M2Z) , but would likely reserve the new batterie(s) for when I know I want longer flights. If I had bought multiple new batteries, I would keep them separate and cycle them on their own.

 

[Malcx]

It'd have to be #3 - I just don't see this ever being a problem for me. I fly regularly and the battery life I get from my MP1 is still great after 3 years. I'm more likely to just buy a new drone when the MP3 surfaces and keep the old bird as a nostalgia piece.

I think you're not really getting answers as the question doesn't make sense to a lot of people - I mean grammatically it makes sense, but from an operational point no one is really running up against this problem so don't consider it an issue.
When you buy a brand new car, do you consider what you'd do when the engine degrades enough that it gets less than 10mpg? Yeah the obvious answer is replace it, but by that point you'd have other issues and probably have replaced the whole machine.

 

[maelstrom]

My understanding is that it is safer to leave a discharged battery in the drone

Where did you get this understanding? What happens when you leave a fully charged battery in the drone?

 

[Barbara]

Where did you get this understanding? What happens when you leave a fully charged battery in the drone?

Actually, the safest thing to do is not store any batteries in your drone. Common sense tells me that a fully charged battery contains more energy than a discharged battery and, should the worst happen, the results would be worse. Probably a moot point as either way the drone would likely be toast.

My practice is to only charge enough batteries for my immediate purposes. I fly them to about 20%, give or take, then swap to a fresh battery. WHen I'm done, all the batteries go into a fire resistant storage bag which is itself stored on a ceramic tile floor away from anything combustable. If I'm not going to be flying for a while, I check them periodically and charge them if necessary. They will then self discharge to their storage level.

Some may think I'm overly cautious, but I worked in a National standards testing Lab, and we tested LiPos, to destruction. I've seen what they can do.

 

[pjdurham]

Actually, the safest thing to do is not store any batteries in your drone. Common sense tells me that a fully charged battery contains more energy than a discharged battery and, should the worst happen, the results would be worse. Probably a moot point as either way the drone would likely be toast.

My practice is to only charge enough batteries for my immediate purposes. I fly them to about 20%, give or take, then swap to a fresh battery. WHen I'm done, all the batteries go into a fire resistant storage bag which is itself stored on a ceramic tile floor away from anything combustable. If I'm not going to be flying for a while, I check them periodically and charge them if necessary. They will then self discharge to their storage level.

Some may think I'm overly cautious, but I worked in a National standards testing Lab, and we tested LiPos, to destruction. I've seen what they can do.

I wonder who could, who would, be the first to make a "dummy" battery to put in the drone in place of a real one?

 

[Thomas B]

I wonder who could, who would, be the first to make a "dummy" battery to put in the drone in place of a real one?

What for?

 

[ilovebeermoney]

The downside to using your batteries in sequence and keeping all of them at right about the same number of charge cycles is that they'll most likely start to degrade at the same time. Say I'm going to see some degradation at 100 cycles...I'd rather one battery still be at 80 cycles by the time the other hits 100 cycles. This way, yes, you do run into less flight minutes on one battery sooner...but buying a replacement battery is not as urgent since you still have a better battery in your bag.

You can stretch that 80 cycle battery out and use it for when you really need more time in the air and just ramp up the 100 cycle battery uses for the shorter flights.

 

[Maviac]

OK i have your opinion. I would now like to get other peoples opinion

His comment was not opinion; it was his objective data.