Should I regularly drain the battery of the mini 1?

[QueenZ77]

I recently bought a mini and have been following a lot of the advice I have ready here, stick to vlos, avoid flying far away when at less than 40% battery, and storing my batteries at about 50% when not in use. But since getting it I haven't really brought my battery down below 40%, I usually would rather swap it out with a fresh one. Should I be regularly discharging these to close to 0%?

 

[slup]

Not necessary ... Li-Ion batteries doesn't suffer from any memory effect.

 

[QueenZ77]

Not necessary ... Li-Ion batteries doesn't suffer from any memory effect.

Good to know, Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Barry4]

Let me tell you what I do. I’m not saying that this is right or wrong but it’s my way. Let’s say you get up one morning and you say to yourself, hey let’s go out with the drone. Now at that moment to you actually want to start charging your batteries? If you have a few of them then you will spending all morning plugged in and charging. What do I do? I have a Mini 1 & Mini 2, mainly fly the 2. I always have my batteries charged at 100%. I know some of you reading this are fainting from this admission. But when I want to go out and fly that is exactly what I want to do, not sit and charge batteries. I have eight of them and I’m always ready to fly. Now some of you might say that I’m reducing their life span. To that I say SO WHAT!! You can just go out and buy more. Incidentally, with eight batteries I’m able to rotate their use which will keep them around for a longer time. You got this drone to take pictures and video. Not to sit and watch them charging.

 

[slup]

... I always have my batteries charged at 100%.
...Now some of you might say that I’m reducing their life span. To that I say SO WHAT!!

A shortened life span can be handled & can for some be a valid trade off when it comes to shorter preparation time ... fully agree with that.

But you forget other thing's that will happen ... when keeping the batteries on 100% constant, the chemistry breaks down much much faster ... that lead to increased internal resistance in the battery & increase the risk for internal gassing (swelling). That increased resistance affect the usable flight time ... but it also makes the battery much more prone to larger voltage drops during higher amp draw. If any of the battery cells drop below 3V DJI firmwares command forced autolanding without previous warning. If over water or something else where you can't negotiate the drone to a safer landing spot you are toasted.

 

[StantonZ]

I recently bought a mini and have been following a lot of the advice I have ready here, stick to vlos, avoid flying far away when at less than 40% battery, and storing my batteries at about 50% when not in use. But since getting it I haven't really brought my battery down below 40%, I usually would rather swap it out with a fresh one. Should I be regularly discharging these to close to 0%?

Not sure this has been addressed directly...so I will try.
The short answer is: no. Lithium batts (especially the LiPo batts in our drones) do not like to be discharged below 10% or so; similarly, they do not like to be charged to 100% and "sit". Having said all that, if you notice reduced flight times or have a battery die unexpectedly, it might help to cycle it from 100% to something around 10% (and then charge again at least a bit) to re-calibrate the BMS.
One last tip: I typically charge my batts (to 100%) the night before/morning of flight (so they can cool down)...and then make sure I discharge (at least) down to 50% (and then let them cool again before charging--which for me is usually a few days). YMMV.

 

[QueenZ77]

Not sure this has been addressed directly...so I will try.
The short answer is: no. Lithium batts (especially the LiPo batts in our drones) do not like to be discharged below 10% or so; similarly, they do not like to be charged to 100% and "sit". Having said all that, if you notice reduced flight times or have a battery die unexpectedly, it might help to cycle it from 100% to something around 10% (and then charge again at least a bit) to re-calibrate the BMS.
One last tip: I typically charge my batts (to 100%) the night before/morning of flight (so they can cool down)...and then make sure I discharge (at least) down to 50% (and then let them cool again before charging--which for me is usually a few days). YMMV.

Sounds like we have basically the exact same battery practices. I never charge directly after a flight and usually charge the night prior to flying my AC.