Mavic Batteries and Charging Best Practices

[FlyingAround]

Just popped in a fresh charged battery and was flying about 8 mins and this alarm went off I have never heard. Took me a few mins to figure out I was under 30% !
At 8 mins??? I normally go close to 20 mins before even thinking of landing.

So the question is do I leave all 3 batteries on charger all the time 24/7 ? (that's what I have been doing)
Do I have a bad battery?
Will the DJI insurance I bought or their warranty cover a bad battery?

What is the best way to charge and keep charged batteries?

Thanks

 

[Mr. Salty]

So the question is do I leave all 3 batteries on charger all the time 24/7 ? (that's what I have been doing)

Good god no! Good way to kill your batteries prematurely.

Read the battery manual here: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/mavic/Mavic+Pro+Intelligent+Flight+Battery+Safety+Guidelines-EN.pdf

 

[FlyingAround]

O crap. Hope I didn't damage anything. I just pulled all off the charger and unplugged it. Thanks...

 

[locoman]

Also, once the battery is off the charger, and just sitting there it self discharges based on the setting in GO4. the default is 10 days I think to about 50-60%.

 

[tcope]

If you did not know that the batteries auto discharge, please read the entire online manual a few times.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

And further to auto default 10 days, not sure if this is in the manual, but in the Go4 when battery is in the drone, you can in the battery menu in settings charge discharge right down to a short period.

I'm thinking of changing to say 5 days, and just plan flights better . . . usually I find now I am looking to fly just with good fine weather, still air, and those are pretty easy to pick up day before.

If I want to do spur of the moment flights, if at 60% or so, with 3 batteries I can probably get my fix, or charge for an hour befroe heading off, and of course even have one charging on the 12v in the car anyway.

 

[Phlier]

I like to do stuff without reading the manual on a lot of things, but the Mavic isn't one of them. The Mavic is definitely one of those things where you really *need* to RTFM. Twice.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

I treat them just like the rest of my RC Lipo batteries.

Keep them at a safe storage charge, then just charge them up the night before I know I'm gunna fly.

Then I either charge or discharge to a safe storage charge within 24 hours.

Never let a fully charged batt sit for more than 24 hours

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

How's the discharge heat, has anyone noticed ?
They are supposed to get quite warm, and they say this is normal during discharge, but if you had your say 3 batteries discharging in the flymore bag, could they generate too much heat and possibly cause some issue ?

 

[locoman]

I usually fly in the evening, a little cooler out and the batteries are warm to the touch, but I would say they are really hot. I check the GO4 app temperature once and it was 50c.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Might be fine then, was thinking more in the confined space, maybe against plastic shell of the mavic through the bag wall, could it deform perhaps.
Think I'll get one discharging immediately next week and see what the heat's like in a pants pocket.
Having one for a hand warmer in winter weather might come in handy !!

 

[Hambone]

Hey all, new to the forum. Just bought the mavic pro. Having an issue with controller losing charge faster than the drone battery. Is this normal? All my other r/c's the controller last through several flights b4 needing a charge. Any advice will be helpful. Thnx

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

No, not normal.
Controller should probably run at least several drone batteries worth of operation..

 

[FlyingAround]

Ok I just did a 23 min flight with no battery warnings. Will test other 2 batteries today as well.
Now the battery I just flew with I sat aside. I will do the same with the others. Also I did not plug in the controller either. Its only at 96%.
So basically if I understand the replies and the manual I should charge up the batteries I want to fly with around 2 hours before flying or until they are full.
After flying, unless immediately going again, just set them aside to cool and discharge.
Sound right?

 

[dscline]

Having an issue with controller losing charge faster than the drone battery. Is this normal? All my other r/c's the controller last through several flights b4 needing a charge.

Make sure your phone is charged up too. The controller will charge your phone while it's connected, so you may be loosing much of your RC's charge to your phone. Having a full charge on the phone before you connect it to the RC can help minimize that.

 

[Phlier]

Make sure your phone is charged up too. The controller will charge your phone while it's connected, so you may be loosing much of your RC's charge to your phone. Having a full charge on the phone before you connect it to the RC can help minimize that.

Yup. I'd be willing to bet that's the problem.

 

[Hambone]

That very well could be. Thnx. Also, do the intelligent flight modes deactivate in restricted areas? I have to unlock every time just to practice in my cul-de-sac. Sucks, but it is what it is. Just can't get active track or follow me to work. Thanks guys for the great input.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

My IT son told me that the phone or iPad etc devices aren't really charging the controller.
It just comes up as charging but is some sort of fake signal that allows app to work only with the device.
He told me what it's called but I can't remember the process name.
Maybe others here know, or I can ask him to explain it to me agin and make notes to post up.
I've never seen my controller battery level go down by other than the usual amount, and that is somewhere near 4 Mavic batteries of use.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Looking through a couple of other past posts, it could be that Android devices might charge the controller device, whereas i devices don't . . . partial confirmation . . .
Mavic Controller Battery Life...

 

[daveeeee1975]

Never fly unless you have full batteries! Never!!!!!!