Mini 3 battery test

[3rdof5]

Greetings Pilots,
Testing out my mini 3, and as I do with all my birds, I fully test everything before flying anywhere.
Tested the flight time just now. Regular 249G flight battery, second flight. First flight was 13 minutes and I landed at 58% battery at 28C with an air temp of 12C.
Second flight just now, 28 minutes until it autolanded on critical battery, battery temp was 32C.
The flight was in my yard below fence height, recording 4K at 30 FPS, in a medium wind where it had to fight alot, in an air temp of 4C.
I expect the battery to still get better after a few cycles but not bad!

 

[alexjo55]

How much better does the battery get?
I didnt know that.

 

[3rdof5]

I haven't tested flight time until auto landing again but I did recently fly both my batteries (1 regular and 1 plus) down to 50% for storage and I got 17 and 21 minutes respectively.
Update:
So I did a test flight of the regular 249G battery. Freshly and fully charged to 100% with a 30 watt charger (not a DJI charger).
Outside temp 22C. Temp of battery after forced auto landing was 44.8C.
I started recording at 4K 30FPS in Auto mode for camera settings immediately before I started the props and stopped recording immediately after the props stopped after Forced Auto landing.
Recording time was exactly 28 minutes.
It should be noted that the forced auto landing still asks for confirmation if the landing area is suitable before it will actually land and I paused and waited to confirm until it hit 28 minutes. I have no idea what happens if you never press confirm, will it hover until the battery actually shuts down?

 

[3rdof5]

Just did the exact same test with the exact same conditions with the plus battery. 38 minutes until forced auto landing and battery temp at 47.8C.
So basically the plus battery gives you an extra ten minutes of flight with slighty better stability in the wind. But you lose the relaxed flight restrictions due to the extra weight.

 

[X Ray]

Just did the exact same test with the exact same conditions with the plus battery. 38 minutes until forced auto landing

This is in line with what I'm getting. Usually right around 40 minutes.

 

[3rdof5]

Well after the May long weekend here in Canada, where I did plenty of flying with my mini and my Classic, cycling the batteries, I just flew my mini with the Plus battery freshly charged to 100% and a starting battery temp of 30C in a flight temp of 22C.
I landed when I first noticed the 3rd battery led starting to flash at 62% with a flight time of 20 minutes and a final battery temp of 36.2C.
This was an actual flight (not simply hovering) at altitudes up to 35M and within 10 meters horizontally of the homepoint in medium wind.
Not bad!
I'm thinking a real world flight time of 45 minutes with the Plus battery.

 

[FlushVision]

How much better does the battery get?
I didnt know that.

After a few cycles (maybe 7 or 8) from new a battery can improve it's like for like time in the air by as much as a couple of minutes and then it will slowly decline it's performance over time. How much it declines in performance depends on the care you give it and if you are in the habit of running it down too far. Best to be on the ground by the time it reaches 20% if you want it to last in my opinion. I usually like to be on the ground by 30% but that's just me. It still gives me around 20 minutes in the air.