Topping Off Air 3 Battery To 100%

[TerryOregon]

I just discovered that the charging cradle will not start charging until the battery has discharged to 95% or less.

Not significant, but good to know if you want to start your flight at 100%.

 

[mavic3usa]

Good to know but I only fly about 75% of my battery from take off to landing so for me, it's not really a big deal which portion of the 0-100 I use precisely; unless I have a mission that needs something like 95% to barely complete.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I just discovered that the charging cradle will not start charging until the battery has discharged to 95% or less.

Not significant, but good to know if you want to start your flight at 100%.

Yes, that is one of the most annoying things about the current battery charging. You cannot top off a 96% battery to 100%, or add any charge to the battery, without first somehow bleeding it below 96%. I use a small fan for that purpose, as part of an aftermarket charger that will bleed a battery down to a storage charge without waiting 7 days.

I consider it significant, as every minute counts, and losing 4% before even turning the battery on affects both flight time and safety, if one doesn't go through the above convoluted process, to top it off to 100% from 96%, which is the charge from days 3 through 10, after a full charge to 100% on day 0.

 

[mavic3usa]

Yes, that is one of the most annoying things about the current battery charging. You cannot top off a 96% battery to 100%, or add any charge to the battery, without first somehow bleeding it below 96%. I use a small fan for that purpose, as part of an aftermarket charger that will bleed a battery down to a storage charge without waiting 7 days.

I consider it significant, as every minute counts, and losing 4% before even turning the battery on affects both flight time and safety, if one doesn't go through the above convoluted process, to top it off to 100% from 96%, which is the charge from days 3 through 10, after a full charge to 100% on day 0.

I get your point and this would be nice if I just had to consider a drone or two; however, there are so many circumstances and situations involved that it is impossible to micro manage the situation to this extent. With nearly a dozen drones and probably more than 50 batteries to look after, I wouldn't be able to fly if I had to top off every battery so thank goodness DJI makes it possible to spend as little time as I can on these batteries without adversely affecting the safety of the flight. Would love to but having multiple chargers and multiple charging stations has allowed me to spend less time trying to figure this out and more time ad hoc flying. However, I would never take off with a battery charged to less than 50% unless it was an FPV drone.

Hopefully DJI works on this for the Air 3 and any other future drones that have similar.

 

[fcarfan]

Does anyone know if topping up to 100% affect battery longevity? The recommendation for BEVs is not to charge beyond 80%. Does the same recommendation apply to current generation drone batteries?

 

[msinger]

The recommendation for BEVs is not to charge beyond 80%. Does the same recommendation apply to current generation drone batteries?

While an 80% charge might be sufficient for the average daily commute, that's not good advice to follow when flying a drone. You should always aim to start with a fully charged battery (or as close to 100% as possible) to ensure optimal performance and safety.

 

[LindeSmac]

I just discovered that the charging cradle will not start charging until the battery has discharged to 95% or less.

Not significant, but good to know if you want to start your flight at 100%.

Your 5% reserve is only 2.4 minutes of the theoretical 46 minutes. You are flying missions leaving only 2.4 minutes left to 0%? Hope you have fully covered hull loss insurance!

 

[fcarfan]

While an 80% charge might be sufficient for the average daily commute, that's not good advice to follow when flying a drone. You should always aim to start with a fully charged battery (or as close to 100% as possible) to ensure optimal performance and safety.

I understand what you are saying, but you are missing my point. What I am asking is if one charges regularly to 80%, does this charging pattern prolong battery life? If one has three batteries, even an 80% charge gives plenty of flying time.

 

[WanderLost]

Does anyone know if topping up to 100% affect battery longevity? The recommendation for BEVs is not to charge beyond 80%. Does the same recommendation apply to current generation drone batteries?

Keeping it at 100% for periods of time is bad. Like if you left the battery on the charger all the time.
I charge to 100% with my Mini 3 Pro and my Mavic 3E, remove it right away from the charger and then rely on the self-discharge cycle to bring it down to 60% over the next 9 days. My Matrice M30 battery station allows 3 charging modes - 100%, 90% and 60%. After a flight, I'll just charge to 90% and then the self-discharge cycle will take it down by itself.
DJI recommends charging the batteries once every 90 days if not being used and then let the self-discharge take them to storage level.

 

[msinger]

What I am asking is if one charges regularly to 80%, does this charging pattern prolong battery life? If one has three batteries, even an 80% charge gives plenty of flying time.

You'd have to experiment to answer that question. DJI recommends that you "fully charge the battery before each use", so they don't have data to confirm or deny that.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Workaround: Use the charge concentrator feature of the hub to get one of the batteries to full charge, then the other 1 or 2 batteries may be below 96% and accept charging?

Force this by only having two 96% batteries in the hub, use the concentrator feature (I don't know what else to call it), repeat with the third battery and the one being discharged, now you have two at 100% and one low enough to trigger charging in the hub from an external source.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I understand what you are saying, but you are missing my point. What I am asking is if one charges regularly to 80%, does this charging pattern prolong battery life? If one has three batteries, even an 80% charge gives plenty of flying time.

As a general rule with li-ion chemistry charging until the CV phase and then stopping will extend the service life of the battery significantly. This is generally around 80%. Side benefit is it cuts charging time about in half.

Many smartphones are shipping now with a switch to cut off charging at 80%... my Galaxy Fold 4 has this.