The Air 3 is currently 20% OFF at DJI!!

[davidarmenb]

The official DJI website is currently having a 20% off sale on the Air 3, including the fly more combos with either RC.

For example, the Air 3 RC2 Fly More Combo is down to $1,239 from the original $1,549.

 

[Fat Pappy]

I wonder what, if anything, they know…

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I wonder what, if anything, they know…

It looks like they are also reduced by 20% in the UK, £1379 to £1099 etc. so there may not be an ulterior motive.
Don't DJI frequently temporarily reduce the price of new lines every once in a while, I bought my mavic mini during one such reduction and I think it proved to be a temporary reduction.

 

[Fat Pappy]

It looks like they are also reduced by 20% in the UK, £1379 to £1099 etc. so there may not be an ulterior motive.
Don't DJI frequently temporarily reduce the price of new lines every once in a while, I bought my mavic mini during one such reduction and I think it proved to be a temporary reduction.

I have heard talk of the Air 4. It’s all rumors at present, but a 20% cut could help reduce inventory of current stock.

 

[Jurgen]

I was thinking the Air 4 must be coming... But DJI Power is also on sale. What a disservice Congress is doing to all of us right now.

 

[davidarmenb]

It’s just a sale. It’s not to reduce inventory. The price will go back up to normal. No Air 3 successor is coming any time soon, in my opinion.

 

[mavic3usa]

I was thinking the Air 4 must be coming... But DJI Power is also on sale. What a disservice Congress is doing to all of us right now.

Both DJI Power 500 and 1000 are "on sale" and it appears to be a semi-permanent reduction. I bought the 1000 with a M3 cable and now I intend to buy the 500, it's really a good deal. Yeah, if DJI banned that could mean cameras, mics, power, gimbals, and other stuff besides just the drones.

 

[careless]

I have several DJI drones but think Air 3 is the best for the money and now is the time to buy.

 

[BobbyLashley]

My friend is looking for a drone to buy and keep in his closet. Keeping it for emergency uses for security.

This might be the lowest price we see the Air 3?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

My friend is looking for a drone to buy and keep in his closet. Keeping it for emergency uses for security.

This might be the lowest price we see the Air 3?

It is unlikely that that would work, batteries discharge and would need regular topping up.
These drones don't like to fly on old, residual charge and that can lead to problems.
It is also probably not a good idea to leave a battery connected to a switched on charger.

 

[BobbyLashley]

It is unlikely that that would work, batteries discharge and would need regular topping up.
These drones don't like to fly on old, residual charge and that can lead to problems.
It is also probably not a good idea to leave a battery connected to a switched on charger.

But if you charge the batteries every 3 or 4 months that should be fine no?

He said he likely won't use it anyways. He had a drone a couple years ago that he had for 4 years and he used it once.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

But if you charge the batteries every 3 or 4 months that should be fine no?

No !
After a few days the batteries will probably be in self discharge mode.
As the charge ages the battery's behaviour becomes erratic and he may find his drone way up in the air with "critical" battery warnings and the drone in a forced descent.

 

[GFields]

I suspect to see even lower price in the near future

 

[BobbyLashley]

No !
After a few days the batteries will probably be in self discharge mode.
As the charge ages the battery's behaviour becomes erratic and he may find his drone way up in the air with "critical" battery warnings and the drone in a forced descent.

Okay so what would be the best for him if he plans not using the drone and it will sit there all the time?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Okay so what would be the best for him if he plans not using the drone and it will sit there all the time?

If he is thinking of flights to heights of a couple of hundred feet and any distance away from the take off point then, with these batteries, there isn't really a solution to spur of the moment flying. Unless he want to get a set of batteries and, with respect to charging, cycle through them so that the freshest charge is, perhaps, less than a week to ten days old, and even at a week I'd be wary.

They are meant to be flown on a fairly recent charge

I've flown drones on old charge but I doubt I went higher than 70ft and further away than 50ft and I could get the drone to a safe landing site.
Go snooping after bad guys on an old charge and he's quite likely ti run into diffs.
That's the best I can do, sorry.

 

[BobbyLashley]

If he is thinking of flights to heights of a couple of hundred feet and any distance away from the take off point then, with these batteries, there isn't really a solution to spur of the moment flying. Unless he want to get a set of batteries and, with respect to charging, cycle through them so that the freshest charge is, perhaps, less than a week to ten days old, and even at a week I'd be wary.

They are meant to be flown on a fairly recent charge

I've flown drones on old charge but I doubt I went higher than 70ft and further away than 50ft and I could get the drone to a safe landing site.
Go snooping after bad guys on an old charge and he's quite likely ti run into diffs.
That's the best I can do, sorry.

So in other words its bad for the batteries to have them sit all the time unused. What do you mean by residual charge? I thought as long as the batteries are fully charged, that means it's good?

 

[Felix le Chat]

So in other words its bad for the batteries to have them sit all the time unused. What do you mean by residual charge? I thought as long as the batteries are fully charged, that means it's good?

Long-term storage depends on whether the batteries have been 'woken up' from hibernation.

Batteries that have been charged once (woken up) will start to chemically degenerate with every successive charge.

Batteries that have been bought and are still in their original packaging remain in hibernation mode and will have a pretty long shelf life (years). **As long as they are protected from extremes of temperature and humidity**

Residual charge means whatever charge remains in each cell of the flight battery. Flight batteries have a number of individual cells wired together to create a single battery with a much larger capacity.

Each individual cell has to be charged so that it holds exactly the same voltage as the other cells in the flight battery, referred to as being 'balanced'.

As a battery degenerates (is charged and recharged numerous times), the cell chemistry reacts differently in each individual cell. One cell may 'age' more quickly than the others in the battery pack.

If one cell doesn't hold the same charge as the other three: it discharges much faster than the others and will result in you getting a "critically low voltage" message MUCH sooner than you'd get if that flight battery carried a full and balanced charge... after which, if you're lucky, the drone will automatically land exactly where it is.

This is why balancing the charge in flight batteries is so important.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

So in other words its bad for the batteries to have them sit all the time unused. What do you mean by residual charge? I thought as long as the batteries are fully charged, that means it's good?

I suggest you read the following articles

Page 63 etc. of https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/DJI_Air_3/UM/2023/DJI_Air_3_User_Manual_v1.4_EN.pdf

Also

Introduction to DJI Intelligent Flight Battery Auto-Discharging Rules

To figure out how the intelligent flight battery automatically discharges, you may need to learn the principles of two auto-discharging modes: self-discharge and auto-discharging function. Please refer to this article for help.

support.dji.com

Battery Routine Maintenance Guide

Battery Routine Maintenance Guide

support.dji.com

And any articles that you can find via a google for "DJI battery storage"

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

So in other words its bad for the batteries to have them sit all the time unused. What do you mean by residual charge? I thought as long as the batteries are fully charged, that means it's good?

Additionally, these batteries have a circuit board inside their case. If the battery voltage drops too low in storage then a chip on that board is switched to open circuit, if that happens the battery is effectively dead.

 

[BobbyLashley]

Long-term storage depends on whether the batteries have been 'woken up' from hibernation.

Batteries that have been charged once (woken up) will start to chemically degenerate with every successive charge.

Batteries that have been bought and are still in their original packaging remain in hibernation mode and will have a pretty long shelf life (years). **As long as they are protected from extremes of temperature and humidity**

Residual charge means whatever charge remains in each cell of the flight battery. Flight batteries have a number of individual cells wired together to create a single battery with a much larger capacity.

Each individual cell has to be charged so that it holds exactly the same voltage as the other cells in the flight battery, referred to as being 'balanced'.

As a battery degenerates (is charged and recharged numerous times), the cell chemistry reacts differently in each individual cell. One cell may 'age' more quickly than the others in the battery pack.

If one cell doesn't hold the same charge as the other three: it discharges much faster than the others and will result in you getting a "critically low voltage" message MUCH sooner than you'd get if that flight battery carried a full and balanced charge... after which, if you're lucky, the drone will automatically land exactly where it is.

This is why balancing the charge in flight batteries is so important.

I suggest you read the following articles

Page 63 etc. of https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/DJI_Air_3/UM/2023/DJI_Air_3_User_Manual_v1.4_EN.pdf

Also

Introduction to DJI Intelligent Flight Battery Auto-Discharging Rules

To figure out how the intelligent flight battery automatically discharges, you may need to learn the principles of two auto-discharging modes: self-discharge and auto-discharging function. Please refer to this article for help.

support.dji.com

Battery Routine Maintenance Guide

Battery Routine Maintenance Guide

support.dji.com

And any articles that you can find via a google for "DJI battery storage"

Wow I didnt realize the batteries on these drones are not your typical Li-Ion Polymer batteries found in every other electronic device. So basically by having drone batteries sit around and not being used is bad for the batteries long term and can damage them.