Should I "exercise" my stored batteries periodically?

[umanbean]

I recently had the first in a series of eye surgeries over the next 2-3 months... and my other eye is not seeing very well at the moment either. So I'll have to be content for a while flying my Tellos inside or the backyard.

I have 6 batteries for my MPP that obviously won't see much steady use for a while. They're all currently sitting at third light blinking - storage level.

But I'm wondering if I should periodically fully charge them, hover them down to 25-30% and charge them back up just to storage level?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Just keep an eye on them (no pun intended), if they get down to 1 solid led or 2nd led flashing, charge them up to the regular discharge state, 3rd led flashing.
They should be fine for several months as they are, but check monthly to start.
Good luck with the surgeries.

 

[snowghost]

Here's a helpful link.

HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI drone batteries

Follow these tips to maintain your DJI Phantom, Mavic, or Spark batteries and ensure they are being properly stored when not in use: Don’t charge your batteries unless you’re going to fly. The batteries are programmed to automatically discharge after left unused, so there is no need to fully...

www.djidronenews.com

 

[umanbean]

Thanks for the tips and link.

I store all my batteries at recommended temps (in my case 72-78F) and SOC (50-60%). I always set the auto-discharge for 2 days, and these MPP batteries stop at the recommended 3rd light blinking and haven't discharged any further over several weeks. FWIW, my Phantom 3 Pro batteries keep discharging past 50%... don't know how low they would go, always try to catch them at 2nd light blinking and recharge.

Just didn't know if I should run them through a charge-discharge cycle once in a while for optimum health.

 

[umanbean]

Good luck with the surgeries.

Thank you!

 

[Kilrah]

Yes. Sometimes the LEDs don't update until they're actually on load. Had some that showed storage, power the drone on, within a minute it falls to 1 blinking and turns off becasue it was actually completely empty.
I try to do a full cycle at least every 6 months.
A friend who didn't ended up with several dead batteries.

 

[Scottalmas]

The answer to any question that starts with "should I exercise" is always "Yes." Whether it be your body or something mechanical or electronic. Things are built to be used and I am hard pressed to think of anything that isn't better off getting a small workout occasionally.

 

[JoelP]

I used to store at 50%, but noticed that DJI sets the batteries to discharge to 60%, so I have adopted that value.

Recently I bought a new pair of Philips hearing aids with a similar lithium rechargeable battery. The manual says that these need to be used at least once every 6 months to avoid damaging them. Perhaps this is true for my MA3 batteries too.

For my ebike the manufacturer recommends storing this lithium battery at full charge. It would seem that these should also be stored at 60%, but there is no auto discharge. In use these at least 2x each week, so it may not matter.

It would be great for a real expert in Li battery chemistry to weigh in here.

 

[chiangmaicharlies]

Here's a helpful link.

HOW TO: Maintain and store your DJI drone batteries

Follow these tips to maintain your DJI Phantom, Mavic, or Spark batteries and ensure they are being properly stored when not in use: Don’t charge your batteries unless you’re going to fly. The batteries are programmed to automatically discharge after left unused, so there is no need to fully...

www.djidronenews.com

The answer to any question that starts with "should I exercise" is always "Yes." Whether it be your body or something mechanical or electronic. Things are built to be used and I am hard pressed to think of anything that isn't better off getting a small workout occasionally.

Fabulous comment!

 

[peterc4]

I would

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

For my ebike the manufacturer recommends storing this lithium battery at full charge. It would seem that these should also be stored at 60%, but there is no auto discharge.

Teslas are the same.
Son used to keep his charged to 100% most of the time, 5 yrs old and batteries are now around 20% of original efficiency.
He just has it around town at 70% or so now max, and recharges to around that or less as needed overnight.
You can set it to charge as you like, cutting out at whatever % SOC you want.

 

[Brojon]

The single biggest complicated issue with any modern electronics - batteries.
Laptops and such included.
- if you don't use them they can swell and they're useless
- batteries have a finite number of charge/discharge cycles. They gradually degrade with each cycle.
I use Airdata to track my battery performance and it's usually one cell that starts degrading - but that's all it takes.
Some batteries seem to be more prone to this.
I finally sold my P4P as I have had all my batteries except one go bad after a relatively short period of time.
I dunno if it was heat or what but they start swelling and make it pain to get in and out.
I have my original Mavic Pro (with internal SD card!) and 4 batteries - they're all still going strong. I had 2 other previous MP batteries go bad.
I'm hoping my Air 2S batteries will behave themselves and they seem to discharge much slower than the older MP batteries. My Mini 3P will be here next week with the extra capacity batteries so I'll get to evaluate those as well.
Now I have to figure how to adequately juggle 3 drones to keep them from sitting
I know - 1st world problems and all that.

 

[Brojon]

Fabulous comment!

Problem is it may sound good. It may sound logical.
Unfortunately the argument is a logical fallacy in that you can't compare the human body to a battery.
So it may be true but what's needed is an experiment.

 

[SpitFire]

I keep my batteries at 25% charge at all times when not in use. I rotate them, have them all numbered, so they each get a chance to fly. I own a MP, one battery is 5 years old. I am watching that one very close. AS Brojon said you have to use each of them. I charged up 4, used one, this afternoon, going flying to use the other 3. And I store mine in LI-PO SAFE BAGS, also, store them in a metal container. When charging batterys, I put them in the metal container, with the top covering the batteries. Never leaving them unattended, always checking on the charging process. Why? Because one pilot had his battery, start on fire while charging, it was sitting on his living room table.
That is very rare, but it does happen.

 

[chiangmaicharlies]

Still inconclusive if you ask me.

 

[SoCal2S]

I would definitely at least check on them once a month and cycle them every 1-2 months. I've used a lot of LiPos in RC stuff before, and they do sometimes go out of balance and/or drain for no apparent reason. Not only are they not cheap, but it's also a safety issue, so I'd try to make sure they are looked after.

 

[veryzebra]

No info that's helpful from me but wanted to say good luck.