Batteries

[CardiacKid]

Is it ok to store them fully charged?

How often to you want to drain it fully (below 5%)




Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Mark The Droner]

You should read your Phantom manual.

No, you should not store your Lipos fully charged for more than a day or so. The less time the better. If you're not going to fly a battery for a while, about 50% is a good charge target. I believe DJI says 30%-50% for storage.

Regarding a "deep discharge", there is some debate about what is best. Some say you should take it down to 8% every 20 cycles, and that's recommended by DJI. Some will argue this is not necessary and bad for the battery and that we should never perform a deep discharge. Some will take it down to even lower than 8% ( e.g. 3%). Personally I think we should follow the suggestions of DJI.

 

[The Springs]

You should read your Phantom manual.

No, you should not store your Lipos fully charged for more than a day or so. The less time the better. If you're not going to fly a battery for a while, about 50% is a good charge target. I believe DJI says 30%-50% for storage.

Regarding a "deep discharge", there is some debate about what is best. Some say you should take it down to 8% every 20 cycles, and that's recommended by DJI. Some will argue this is not necessary and bad for the battery and that we should never perform a deep discharge. Some will take it down to even lower than 8% ( e.g. 3%). Personally I think we should follow the suggestions of DJI.

I had two batteries then was given one still in the unopened box. do I need to do anything to the boxed one or can I just leave it as it is since I am not intending to use it for a while

 

[Mark The Droner]

Although it might be okay to leave the boxed one boxed, if it was me, I would bring out the boxed battery and start using it. I would rotate it with the older battery.

 

[msinger]

CardiacKid, the batteries will start to auto discharge themselves down to 65% after a maximum 10 day period. You can lower that to a minimum of 1 day in the DJI GO app. I like to set mine to 2 days do they are not fully charged for a long time in cases where I charge them and end up not flying.

 

[dirtbird]

No, you should not store your Lipos fully charged for more than a day or so. The less time the better. If you're not going to fly a battery for a while, about 50% is a good charge target. I believe DJI says 30%-50% for storage.

Just for clarity, I fly once every 3 - 10 days. Based on what you've reflected here I should NOT be fully charging the battery once I return from flying to have it ready to go when I fly next. I should instead leave it discharged (typically, I'm around 30% - 40% anyway) and then fully charge it right before I know I'll be flying again.

 

[tcope]

Just for clarity, I fly once every 3 - 10 days. Based on what you've reflected here I should NOT be fully charging the battery once I return from flying to have it ready to go when I fly next. I should instead leave it discharged (typically, I'm around 30% - 40% anyway) and then fully charge it right before I know I'll be flying again.

That is correct.

 

[Mark The Droner]

For clarity, you can do whatever you want. They're your batteries. Maybe you don't care if the life of the battery is minimized somewhat because you're trading that for the convenience of having a fully charged battery on hand at all times. That's certainly a valid argument.

Personally, I rarely abrubtly run out and fly. So the 45 mins or so it takes to charge is not a problem.

 

[dirtbird]

For clarity, you can do whatever you want. They're your batteries. Maybe you don't care if the life of the battery is minimized somewhat because you're trading that for the convenience of having a fully charged battery on hand at all times. That's certainly a valid argument.

Personally, I rarely abrubtly run out and fly. So the 45 mins or so it takes to charge is not a problem.

Good point. I guess I inquired because my process seemed to be the exact opposite of what was recommended. I'm still a newbie with maybe only 30 flights and I have only one battery. After flying I would let it rest for maybe 30 minutes and then fully charge it afterwards. This way I was ready to go the next time I flew and didn't need to wait to charge.

I might change my process, but good to know that there really isn't anything technically wrong with my current process. It could just reduce the life of the battery.

 

[Emil Cost]

CardiacKid, the batteries will start to auto discharge themselves down to 65% after a maximum 10 day period. You can lower that to a minimum of 1 day in the DJI GO app. I like to set mine to 2 days do they are not fully charged for a long time in cases where I charge them and end up not flying.

On this topic of auto discharge, does the battery have to be left in the Phantom for auto discharge to work? I always remove the battery after a flight to let cool and to store until the next flight. Does the "smart" battery have it's own micro-controller to oversee the discharge? Also, if you have more than one battery, do you have to program auto discharge times for each separately? I once read that the auto discharge programming is reset to ten days if you change batteries. I always fly them down to around fifty percent and then I feel good about storing for a few days. Anyway, this is a little off topic, but I was just wondering.. Thanks!

 

[msinger]

does the battery have to be left in the Phantom for auto discharge to work?

No.

Does the "smart" battery have it's own micro-controller to oversee the discharge?

Yes.

do you have to program auto discharge times for each separately?

Yes -- you must set that setting in DJI GO while each battery is in your Phantom.

I once read that the auto discharge programming is reset to ten days if you change batteries.

It'll reset back to 10 days whenever you update the firmware on the batteries.

 

[Emil Cost]

No.


Yes.


Yes -- you must set that setting in DJI GO while each battery is in your Phantom.


It'll reset back to 10 days whenever you update the firmware on the batteries.

Wow.. fast reply! thank you so much for the information!

 

[RodPad]

Good point. I guess I inquired because my process seemed to be the exact opposite of what was recommended. I'm still a newbie with maybe only 30 flights and I have only one battery. After flying I would let it rest for maybe 30 minutes and then fully charge it afterwards. This way I was ready to go the next time I flew and didn't need to wait to charge.

I might change my process, but good to know that there really isn't anything technically wrong with my current process. It could just reduce the life of the battery.

If a couple of days or more have past, I would top it off just to be sure. To make sure it is topped off, hook it to the charger and power battery on like it was in the phantom.

Anybody not like this?

 

[Mark The Droner]

If it had been fully charged days earlier, and a couple days passed, and then I wanted to fly, yes, I would definitely top it off, and force the charge as needed. So yeah I like it.

 

[Wolfiesden]

I will add also that I believe that hitting the power button on the battery (even to check the power level) will reset the discharge timer. So if you let the battery sit for 9 days and then check power (leds), its going to sit another 10 days before discharging. At least that has been my experience thus far. Not sure if that has changed in later firmware or not.

 

[msinger]

I will add also that I believe that hitting the power button on the battery (even to check the power level) will reset the discharge timer. So if you let the battery sit for 9 days and then check power (leds), its going to sit another 10 days before discharging.

Yes -- this still occurs.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Thanks for confirming that Mike.

 

[RodPad]

Thanks +1, I was going to search for that info the other day for some other thread.