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LOW FLIGHT TIME

My summery so far.

The Bird, Air 3S or DJI 4 Pro?

No flight log that show the facts?

Rod ..
 
Welcome from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, USA. We have a Member's Map in the Upper Right of the Title Bar. Click on "Members" and then Click on "Member's Map…" Check it out and you might find some new flying friends.


My DJI Drone and its three batteries are almost 4-years old. The three batteries are all pushing 80-charges each. They are numbered and I rotate them so all get about the same usage…

Even now, when I launch, the Fly App reports Flight time in the High 20's (27 to 29-minutes of flight time). I have not performed an actual time check against a secondary timer, but I am satisfied that the app is accurate within the parameters at the time of reporting… the variation in time would be based on the usage during the flight.

Flying in Sport mode, or in windy conditions will run the batteries down faster than initially reported when the drone took off…

If this situation was only one battery then it would be pretty obvious that the battery is a weak one… but you report this is true of all three of your batteries… So the only common denominator here is the drone, your charging method/system, and you…

If one of the motors is overdrawing power due to some condition it would probably be warmer, even hot, to the touch.

The DJI batteries are smart batteries and they should stop charging when they are full, so the question is what are you using to charge the batteries. As a "scientist" have you been experimenting with some method to "super-charge" the batteries?

Finally, there is you, are you following the charging instructions. Perhaps you leave them in a constant state of charge with the batteries all recharging, hoping the get them to 100%...

When DJI Batteries do not hold a charge it is often caused by the intelligent self-discharge feature, damage from physical impact or extreme temperatures, using an underpowered charger, or leaving the battery in an over-discharged state (meaning the batteries are always being charged, day-in, day-out…

Inquiring Minds Want to Know…
The most common explanation for such short flight times would be batteries that had partially discharged.
Easy to confirm if this was the case by checking the flight data.
 
The most common explanation for such short flight times would be batteries that had partially discharged
I was going by what the OP wrote, " I charge the batteries accordingly" so I believe the batteries are now defective, probably by some action on the part of the OP, (ie: letting the batteries freeze, letting the overheat in a hot car, leaving the batteries on charge long after they read 'fully charged...', using a 'third party charger that pushed too much voltage at a time during the charge cycle, etc...)
 
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For my flight time tests today I flew the drone up to 10 meters and noted the time. It hovered there for 15 minutes and 5 seconds on # 1 battery and then landed automatically. #2 and #3 batteries did not do better. I do not think my expectations are unrealistic at all. I am a scientist in the aircraft design and development sector. When DJI makes a statement about flight time they should be able to back it up accordingly.
If you Design aircraft for a living, Then why on earth would you hover a drone to get an idea of how long the battery will last!? I don't have to explain to you why that wont work!...Do I?
 
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If you Design aircraft for a living, Then why on earth would you hover a drone to get an idea of how long the battery will last!? I don't have to explain to you why that wont work!...Do I?
I doubt that he does. His whole post seems like rubbish.
 

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