Maintaining Intelligent Flight Batteries according to DJI

[daisy-girl]

Battery Care is More Important than you Think

which is part of the series

Product Care & Safety Archives - DJI Buying Guides

 

[Former Member]

Quote from the guide, "Storing a battery with full power may accelerate the aging of the battery."

My opinion is for prolonged battery life, best to discharge after every flight. DJI gives the option for up to 10 days. Bad for your battery.

 

[RayOZ]

I think for first time owners, they tend to fully charge their batteries after flight, so they are ready to fly again as soon as they get a chance. I did that initially, until a friend told me not to leave them fully charged too long. I was flying almost every other day, so that way fine. But now, I plan my flight and charge only when I am going to fly the same day or next.
I've read that guide before. Forgot about the detail that the batt might catch fire or explode if temp > 70C
Not sure about discharging to 5% before taking in a flight though. I discharge to ~20%.

 

[projockey]

Can you go into that opinion just a tad further please, maybe with an explanation as to why it is bad?
Thank you, PJ.

 

[tictag]

I believe the optimum 'storage' voltage is 3.8V per LiPo cell (or 11.4V at the battery terminal for a 3S Mavic Pro flight battery), which translates to about 40% capacity. This, of course, has nothing to do with what an airline might require of you!

 

[kakao]

Battery Care is More Important than you Think

which is part of the series

Product Care & Safety Archives - DJI Buying Guides

Vary helpful, thank you.

 

[Woody59]

Interesting post. I too have started off by recharging my batteries immediately after a flight and storing them fully charged. If it’s a few days before my next flight however, the batteries start each flight at about 60% and restrict my flight time. So I’ll be trying a ‘store discharged and charge before flight’ regime from now on.

 

[4wd]

Since they discharge themselves after ten days anyway if unused, recharging soon after flying is less damaging than leaving them too low - they can't gain charge to reach optimum.
You might consider charging to about 50% then top up when needed, and definitely a good idea to bring forward auto discharge. I have it set on three days.

 

[daisy-girl]

Quote from the guide, "Storing a battery with full power may accelerate the aging of the battery."

My opinion is for prolonged battery life, best to discharge after every flight. DJI gives the option for up to 10 days. Bad for your battery.

I've now reached the same conclusion: charge them to 100% only when about to use them.

 

[daisy-girl]

Not sure about discharging to 5% before taking in a flight though.

At 5%, I'd be worried the battery would go into hibernation and refuse to wake up. I'd want to see the bottom LED still solid = about 25%.

 

[Grizzo]

I’ve been around Lipo batteries in RC for years now and have learnt a lot about how to treat them.

This is how I treat my Mavic batteries. Only fully charge just before your flight. Lipos don’t like staying at full charge for too long. I don’t even like leaving them full for a day.
Don’t discharge too low. Don’t go below about 15%. This will prolong their life.
Don’t leave the batteries low. Charge to about 38% after use for storage, then fully charge just before you want to use it.
Sometimes I just fly to 38% and store them at that until I need it again.

Also, I’ve worked out that if I stop flying at 15%, I can then set a timer and charge for 12mins and that will bring the battery to 38% capacity for storage.

 

[MountainMan2017]

I set my batteries to begin discharge on day 5 of I haven't flown by then. Make note do not push power button during waiting to fly period. It will start count down all over again. Best to store batteries at 3.80 volts per cell or 20% of rated pack voltage. Thats if we are talking about your basic lipo pack. But these smart packs will draw them selves down to DJI's reccomend level after your selected days picked. Best to charge the day your going to fly.

 

[daisy-girl]

I’ve been around Lipo batteries in RC for years now and have learnt a lot about how to treat them. Charge to about 38% after use for storage, then fully charge just before you want to use Sometimes I just fly to 38% and store them at that until I need it again.

I'd like to see the bottom LED solid and the second from the bottom flashing so from now on I'm going to start to land at 40% and be shut down by 35%, per your advice. The next time I do that, i will check how long it takes for the 50W DJI charger to bring the RC from 35 to 100% with nothing else on the charger.

 

[Grizzo]

I'd like to see the bottom LED solid and the second from the bottom flashing so from now on I'm going to start to land at 40% and be shut down by 35%, per your advice. The next time I do that, i will check how long it takes for the 50W DJI charger to bring the RC from 35 to 100% with nothing else on the charger.

Do you mean the RC or the drone battery? The RC charges roughly 1% per minute. The drone battery takes about 50 mins from 38% (storage) to 100%.
Just on the RC. I rarely fully charge this as I also want to store it at about 38% after use. I estimate how long I will fly for and charge that amount. I use up about 10-15% RC per Mavic battery.

 

[Grizzo]

At 5%, I'd be worried the battery would go into hibernation and refuse to wake up. I'd want to see the bottom LED still solid = about 25%.

You won’t do anything that bad if you discharge down to 5%. It won’t go into hibernation. Just make sure to charge it to storage as soon as possible. Saying that, don’t make a habit of discharging so low if you want to maximise the life of the battery,

 

[swooshdave]

Since they discharge themselves after ten days anyway if unused, recharging soon after flying is less damaging than leaving them too low - they can't gain charge to reach optimum.
You might consider charging to about 50% then top up when needed, and definitely a good idea to bring forward auto discharge. I have it set on three days.

How do you set the auto discharge?

 

[4wd]

How do you set the auto discharge?

There's a section about battery in the app, you might have to go into advanced options or scroll down to see the part about changing the delay.

 

[MountainMan2017]

My advice: Order one of those Yx FS labs fast chargers for the Mavic Pro ,{they have them for the Air now too} they sell on E bay. I know one is in my grocery cart and will be coming soon. That way you can set auto discharge at 5 days and if you wake up on a day that was predicated to be a no fly day and its beautiful out ,you can fast charge 3 of your packs at once and enjoy the day flying vrs sitting there watching your packs charge for hrs one at a time. Lets hope the Mavic Pro 2 has a better charging system .

 

[msinger]

@swooshdave, that setting is available for all current Mavic models except the Mavic Air.

 

[swooshdave]

The assumption is that the Mavic Air has a default setting. Has anyone figure what it is yet?