Optimal battery management solution for a casual, but impromptu user of Mavic Pro Platinum?

[45er]

I am anything but an expert on drones. I bought a Mavic Platinum and have fun using it, but certainly not daily. Most of my usage would be spontaneous, impromptu usage such as nice sunrises, sunsets, unusual activity or events worthy of drone use, etc. As someone wanting to maximize my battery life, I don't store them fully charged. Usually they sit in their little drone battery cases with 20-30% charge on them, which means if I want to fire up the drone and use it, I either have to wait 20-30 minutes while they charge or suffer a very short flight.

I was wondering if it is ok to leave the battery in the charger? Obviously you would leave it there for weeks at a time without using it, but what about leaving it there and using the battery 2-3 times a week? If I could do this, I'd run my drone a lot more often. As it is, it's sort of a PITA to have to charge it before each usage.

Is there a middle-ground that doesn't reduce the life of the battery drastically but allows "instant" access to the drone when desired?

 

[old man mavic]

not really i have 5 batts and store them at around 50-60% ie 2 lights plus third one flashing and if i know i will be flying next day i will charge them up the evening before for spur of the moment flying i have a multi charger that will charge 3 batts at the same time in about 45 mins and also top up the controller battery and my ipad as well it would not be a good idea to leave them on the charger as they would not stay charged anyway as they stop the charging process when they are full and should not be left unattended while being charged

 

[mcbutler]

Li-pos hate sitting around at full charge, hence the storage settings. You can download an app called LiPoCalc which is very useful.
Nonreal
Answer to this unless you have say three batteries. You could set one to discharge after 2 days, one after 3 days and one after 5 days. Recharging them in reverse order to keep them happy and active. They take around 4 days to reach storage capacity. That way you would always have at least one at 100%

 

[45er]

Thank you for these inputs. With my infrequent drone use however, I think I'm just going to have to accept the fact that it is not efficient in terms of long term battery service to have a 100% charged battery available at all times for instant use. That is ok.

 

[DanMan32]

If you follow how laptops operate these days, a compromise would be to leave at 90% charge. Not full, but close, and won't take as long to get full, although the last 20% (constant voltage charging phase) is what takes the longest.

I believe heat is the biggest killer, with battery more susceptible to heat damage when full. An analogy would be water in a glass jar. If the jar is completely full with water, extra heat will expand the water and break the jar. But if the jar is not completely full, there's room for expansion.