Mavic 3 Pro realistic flight time

[Suren]

TBH this has been a big revelation to me that M3 can fly for another 2 minutes with the FlyApp showing 0% battery level. I thought 0% means completely depleted battery discharged down to near 0 voltage. Apparently not so in this case. DJI must have taken a different approach for a safety reason and 0% does not really mean 0% .
I come from hand build RC planes and helicopters and used to measure the LiPo batteries with dedicated battery tester. I was tought to time the flight
to have 20% capacity left upon landing. That was not only for safety reason but also to prolong the lifespan of batteries. Discharging down to 0% was a big NO NO as repeating this bad practice just a few times would pretty much kill the battery rendering it swollen and anusable pretty quickly. But they were just simple batteries, not "smart" batteries with protective circuits etc.
If your information is indeed true and correct I might adopt different approach to how I operate M3 and not land with battery showing 20% capacity left as I have been doing but perhaps flying down to 5%. BTW is this mentioned anywhere in the Manual that flying down to 5% or 0% is actually safe and ok??

Since the original Mavic Pro, you could fly a wee while at 0%. I was once out 1.5km away and was at 0% with the Mavic Pro and reached back safely, heart was pounding but drone landed by me, just had to keep pushing the stick upwards so it does not force land.

 

[Filmarik]

It's been that way since the Phantom 4. DJI now holds back two minutes of flight time after displaying 0% battery remaining. Battery damage only occurs when any cell voltage drops below 3.3V. Voltage at 0% is still above 3.5V on each cell. Below 3.0V, it's going to crash quickly. It goes from 3.3V to below 3.0V in mere seconds after the two minutes below 0%! Not for the feint of heart! Hardest part is controlling the drone below 10% under Autoland. If you haven't practiced that, don't go below 10%, unless you are already ready to land with the drone directly above you. Hand catching is also highly recommended.

So what's the srcret to prevent autolandig when the battery level gets below 10%? I want to know and practice. Not that I will adopt this as a regular flying routine but it would be very useful skill to have in case of an emergency.

 

[Suren]

So what's the srcret to prevent autolandig when the battery level gets below 10%? I want to know and practice. Not that I will adopt this as a regular flying routine but it would be very useful skill to have in case of an emergency.

keep pushing the stick upwards so it does not force land.

 

[Filmarik]

keep pushing the stick upwards so it does not force land.

Keep pushing upwards meaning exactly to hold the throttle stick up to the max limit all the time after the autolanding starts? Or repeating pushing it up and relaxing to neutral position and pushing up again and keep repeating this?

 

[Meta4]

There are no prizes for squeezing an extra minute out of your battery.
But the potential for losing your drone is a real penalty.
It's better to be conservative and bring the drone back earlier to allow for unexpected issues coming home.

 

[Filmarik]

There are no prizes for squeezing an extra minute out of your battery.
But the potential for losing your drone is a real penalty.
It's better to be conservative and bring the drone back earlier to allow for unexpected issues coming home.

In agreement 100%.

 

[GadgetGuy]

So what's the srcret to prevent autolandig when the battery level gets below 10%? I want to know and practice. Not that I will adopt this as a regular flying routine but it would be very useful skill to have in case of an emergency.

Make sure you have enough altitude before reaching 10%, to fly all the way back on a descending glide path above all intervening obstacles, without needing to ascend, so you can gradually let go of the full upstick. The max forward speed is reduced as is the response to full upstick once it reaches 10%. Turning off Autolanding in the parameters with DroneHacks also makes it a lot easier, so you aren't also having to fight forced descent, that can otherwise be overridden to prevent descent, but only allows for minimal elevation increase even with full upstick. Practice it in a safe environment, but still plan to land when it reaches 5%, to not stress the battery too much, as taking it down to 0% or below can modestly affect future flight times with the same battery.

 

[GadgetGuy]

There are no prizes for squeezing an extra minute out of your battery.
But the potential for losing your drone is a real penalty.
It's better to be conservative and bring the drone back earlier to allow for unexpected issues coming home.

When "Icarus" has inadvertently flown too far, the prize for squeezing that extra minute out of your battery can prevent the real penalty of losing your drone, and at least get you to a safe and dry ditch point, if not all the way home. Saltwater landings never end well. LOL!

 

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

According to 'Airdata UAV', the longest flight time I have had so far with my 'DJI Mavic 3 Pro' drone is 30 minutes and 27 seconds. I had 12% battery left that time. So, I could probably push it to 33-34 minutes.

 

[GadgetGuy]

According to 'Airdata UAV', the longest flight time I have had so far with my 'DJI Mavic 3 Pro' drone is 30 minutes and 27 seconds. I had 12% battery left that time. So, I could probably push it to 33-34 minutes.

I can corroborate those numbers with my own.

 

[Filmarik]

According to 'Airdata UAV', the longest flight time I have had so far with my 'DJI Mavic 3 Pro' drone is 30 minutes and 27 seconds. I had 12% battery left that time. So, I could probably push it to 33-34 minutes.

I can corroborate those numbers with my own.

My typical mileage is around 26min with healthy margin of about 18% left in tank. I never managed to get over 30 min. I want to be near Home Point and close to ground before the first low battery warning sounds.

 

[hurunge1]

I never understand people that lands when its like 20% battery left.

I have gone to zero many times and below 10% most of my flight and i have not seen any big decrease on my dji mini 3 and i have had hundreds of flights.
I dont really care if the battery lasts 2-3 minutes less beccause the batteries are not that expensive to buy brand new.

 

[Filmarik]

I never understand people that lands when its like 20% battery left.

I have gone to zero many times and below 10% most of my flight and i have not seen any big decrease on my dji mini 3 and i have had hundreds of flights.
I dont really care if the battery lasts 2-3 minutes less beccause the batteries are not that expensive to buy brand new.

Thanks for letting us know about your practices.
Do you also drive you car to the last drop of fuel in the tank? The worst that can happen with car is that it stops. With anything flying when it stops it falls from the sky and crashes to the ground usually with dire consequences. Any comprehension of this when you fly your drone to 0%??? Just wondering...

 

[hurunge1]

Thanks for letting us know about your practices.
Do you also drive you car to the last drop of fuel in the tank? The worst that can happen with car is that it stops. With anything flying when it stops it falls from the sky and crashes to the ground usually with dire consequences. Any comprehension of this when you fly your drone to 0%??? Just wondering...

Its not that hard to calculate how long it will take for you to get back from a certain distance, so often times the drone is like only 200 meters from me when its at 2%, and 0% when it lands.

Also,its very rare that the drone crashes.
Most of the time you realise you will no be able to get to the homepoint and can land safely somewhere.
Most dronea will be able to land in the bushes without any significant damage.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Thanks for letting us know about your practices.
Do you also drive you car to the last drop of fuel in the tank? The worst that can happen with car is that it stops. With anything flying when it stops it falls from the sky and crashes to the ground usually with dire consequences. Any comprehension of this when you fly your drone to 0%??? Just wondering...

0% is not 0% any more.
It's actually about 7% of the true battery capacity for flight, leaving 2 minutes more of remaining flight time.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Its not that hard to calculate how long it will take for you to get back from a certain distance, so often times the drone is like only 200 meters from me when its at 2%, and 0% when it lands.

Also,its very rare that the drone crashes.
Most of the time you realise you will no be able to get to the homepoint and can land safely somewhere.
Most drones will be able to land in the bushes without any significant damage.

Exactly! You can easily land in a preplanned ditch spot, short of all the way home, for an easy recovery, if it gets too close to "empty."

 

[Filmarik]

Its not that hard to calculate how long it will take for you to get back from a certain distance, so often times the drone is like only 200 meters from me when its at 2%, and 0% when it lands.

Also,its very rare that the drone crashes.
Most of the time you realise you will no be able to get to the homepoint and can land safely somewhere.
Most dronea will be able to land in the b

ushes without any significant damage.

0% is not 0% any more.
It's actually about 7% of the true battery capacity for flight, leaving 2 minutes more of remaining flight time.

I take your word for it but I am not going to change the way I fly. I have enough batteries and thus enough flight time to land between 10 and 20%. To me it is about safety and responsibility. Flying down to 5% is niether safe nor responsible, IMHO. But to each his own

 

[Filmarik]

Exactly! You can easily land in a preplanned ditch spot, short of all the way home, for an easy recovery, if it gets too close to "empty."

That would work particularly well when flying above water.

 

[hurunge1]

That would work particularly well when flying above water.

There are 3 places im extra careful of flying with low battery,and that is:

1. Over big lakes or the ocean, obvious reasons that not have to be explained.

2. Over citys.
Its not that fun to land on a 10 story building and not be able to get om the roof, or if you have to land on a road so a car drives over it.

3. Snow.
Not only can the heat from thr drone melt the snow it lands on so it gets water or moist in the drone but also its not that fun trying to walk in deep snow and in cold temperatures.
The positive thing is that you can land in the snow quite hard and the drone wont be destroyed.

 

[GadgetGuy]

That would work particularly well when flying above water.

Sorry. I should have been more specific.
You can easily land in a preplanned dry ditch spot, short of all the way home, for an easy recovery, if it gets too close to "empty."

I have even ditch landed on an island once, when it became obvious that it wouldn’t make it all the way back across the bay, after setting a distance record on the out leg, back in the day. Finding and recovering it in the dark in the middle of a closed dog park was the real challenge. LOL!