Poor Hover Time

[jpmassey]

I've had my M3 about 5 months now, and have gone through about 15 charges on each battery. At first I was getting 40+ minutes of fly time. Recently, I've been doing static hover hyperlapse, and consistently get 30-31 minutes max. Temperatures in the 40s, hardly any wind. This morning at 29 minutes I turn around and the drone has disappeared and returned home. I run over and the controller is beeping critical battery. Pretty disappointing. I was expecting to get at least 40 minutes just simply hovering.

 

[MA2 317]

I've read here somewhere that hovering uses more battery power than flying the drone.

 

[GadgetGuy]

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I've read here somewhere that hovering uses more battery power than flying the drone.

It does, depending upon the speed of flying. Hovering seems to be more efficient than flying at full speed in N mode. When I fly at max N mode speed during continuous video, whenever I shoot 360° panos along the way, my total flight time to the same remaining battery level increases, compared to not stopping to hover and shoot panos.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I've had my M3 about 5 months now, and have gone through about 15 charges on each battery. At first I was getting 40+ minutes of fly time. Recently, I've been doing static hover hyperlapse, and consistently get 30-31 minutes max. Temperatures in the 40s, hardly any wind. This morning at 29 minutes I turn around and the drone has disappeared and returned home. I run over and the controller is beeping critical battery. Pretty disappointing. I was expecting to get at least 40 minutes just simply hovering.

What speed were you flying at to get 40 mins initially? Wind plays a very big factor, but temperature also impacts battery duration. LiPo's don't do very well in cold. Flight time will be affected.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

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I've read here somewhere that hovering uses more battery power than flying the drone.

I thought of that too but when I checked the manual ver 1.2 DJI actually state "Max Hover Time (without wind) 40 min" on page 62, that came as a surprise.

BUT, as a slight jest, has GPS wait time been considered???????

 

[old man mavic]

Static hover Hyper lapse ,just imagine how much activity is going on within the drones control centers ,during one of these manoeuvres
it has to hover ,control the gimbal and camera, fight the elements,imagine how much battery power that is going to take

 

[RayOZ]

The spec says max flight time is 46 mins, max hover time is 40 mins. The drones are designed to be aerodynamic, which I assume the shape gives it a bit of lift during flight, so less power needed to maintain height. I've got a M2, and max flight time is when it's flying around 25kph.
If you have AirData, you can upload your flight logs there. There's a tab to for the battery trends for health and efficiency.

 

[Suren]

I have not got a Hover test time but did get uptown 38 minutes flying but that was at 20km/h no wind. For your drone to land at critical low battery at 29 minutes seems to be odd in no wind. When you fly normally, what % battery do you land at?

 

[Meta4]

I was expecting to get at least 40 minutes just simply hovering.

That's not realistic as DJI specs show a Max Hovering Time (no wind) 40 minutes.
That's the absolute maximum possible.
To achieve that, they would only lift off a few feet high and hover in still conditions until there's almost nothing left in the battery.