What do you guys recommend battery care wise,is it ok to leave my battery 20-40% for a week or 2 or should i always charge up to 40-50 after each flight.
Battery care
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alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
so when i get back from flying charge it back up to 100%or just leave it as is till im ready to charge up for next flight
msinger
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It's best to store your batteries between 30%-50% charged. If you're above that when you're done flying, then you can keep the battery as-is and it'll self discharge down to a safe storage level. If you're below 30%, then charge your battery up until the 3rd battery light starts blinking.
alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
Yes if you have discharged to 20% after flying, better charge up to full. Idea is that we don't want to store batteries at 10-20% charges. If you are going for long, batteries first will self discharge if they were ~70% or more to a safe value of 50-60% and then they will discharge based on internal loss. You should ensure that you charge them back at regular intervals so that they don't go to a low charge level.
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I've also heard that storing batteries that still have some discharge left in them (65% or over) should have some ventilation in storage, so I at least leave the case open.
I copied this info from my Yuneec Q500+ manual. It seems that maybe we should reference and post some battery "care and feeding" from the battery manufacturer themselves. After a flight with my Q500+ and Q500 4K, I (automatically) charge/discharge my batteries to 3.85 volts on each cell. However, I partially charge my Phantom P3Pro batteries and then top them off before I fly, or the night before I fly.
Is the DJI 10 day discharge cycle optimum?
More discussion with battery manufactures recommendations are needed.
Also are there several different types of LiPo batteries- some with 4.2 volts per cell and some with 4.3 volts per cell at full charge??
Joe
KC7GHT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Yuneec Q500+ manual:
IMPORTANT NOTE: It’s safer and better for the longevity of the battery to
store it only partially charged for any length of time. Storing the battery
approximately 50% charged (which is around 3.85V per cell) is typically
best, however, it will take some careful management of the charge time and
the use of a volt meter to achieve this voltage. If you have the equipment
and skills to achieve the 50% charge level for storage it is recommended. If
not, simply be sure to not store the battery fully charged whenever
possible. In fact, as long as the battery will be stored at approximately room
temperature and for no more than a few weeks before the next use, it may
be best to store the battery in the discharged state after the last flight (as
long as the battery was not over-discharged on the last flight).
Is the DJI 10 day discharge cycle optimum?
More discussion with battery manufactures recommendations are needed.
Also are there several different types of LiPo batteries- some with 4.2 volts per cell and some with 4.3 volts per cell at full charge??
Joe
KC7GHT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Yuneec Q500+ manual:
IMPORTANT NOTE: It’s safer and better for the longevity of the battery to
store it only partially charged for any length of time. Storing the battery
approximately 50% charged (which is around 3.85V per cell) is typically
best, however, it will take some careful management of the charge time and
the use of a volt meter to achieve this voltage. If you have the equipment
and skills to achieve the 50% charge level for storage it is recommended. If
not, simply be sure to not store the battery fully charged whenever
possible. In fact, as long as the battery will be stored at approximately room
temperature and for no more than a few weeks before the next use, it may
be best to store the battery in the discharged state after the last flight (as
long as the battery was not over-discharged on the last flight).
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Both of my batteries are at the 3rd battery light at solid (75% I assume) and I have discharge set at 5 days. I'm in the entertainment business and at this time of year in Florida I work 7 days a week so no time for flying my P3A [emoji36]. Is it okay to leave discharge at 5 days or should I go less (or more)? The way my schedule is looking now the next time I'll be able to fly is Easter weekend. ****, ****, ****!!!
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There are many threads on this.... and a few new ones right now, I just responded to another thread:
I had terrible luck with the P2 batteries... and I've been using LiPo's for over 10 years. I am hoping the P3's are better... so far so good for me, but I take extra precautions like:
1) I set the auto discharge to 3 or 5 days max. the default 10 days is too long in my opinion.
2) If available after a flight I put the battery in a cool place until I can recharge it.
3) When I store batteries for longer than a week or so I keep them at 50% and in a cool place.
4) I take them from my cool place after a discharge and charge them when cool.
I will add to this post:
5) I do not go below 20% discharge during flight unless an emergency.
Above I keep referring to "cool"..... meaning my refrigerator or if remote situation my igloo ice chest. I'm not sure I recommend my home refrigerator method 100% as I have read that normal fridge temps (37 to 40 degrees) can cause condensation within the battery pack.... but so far so good for me. I have considered a $99 wine cooler fridge from Home Depot to store my batteries in.... at about 50 degrees.
If you have let your batteries in full charge for more than a month and they did not discharge they could already be toast.
My general perception is that the P2 batteries were total crap... the P3's seem to be better... so far.
This is all from experience, I have no absolute solid data to back up my methods
only the apparent better longevity so far on my P3 batteries. It could be better quality control or some of my methods or both.
Hope this helps.
I had terrible luck with the P2 batteries... and I've been using LiPo's for over 10 years. I am hoping the P3's are better... so far so good for me, but I take extra precautions like:
1) I set the auto discharge to 3 or 5 days max. the default 10 days is too long in my opinion.
2) If available after a flight I put the battery in a cool place until I can recharge it.
3) When I store batteries for longer than a week or so I keep them at 50% and in a cool place.
4) I take them from my cool place after a discharge and charge them when cool.
I will add to this post:
5) I do not go below 20% discharge during flight unless an emergency.
Above I keep referring to "cool"..... meaning my refrigerator or if remote situation my igloo ice chest. I'm not sure I recommend my home refrigerator method 100% as I have read that normal fridge temps (37 to 40 degrees) can cause condensation within the battery pack.... but so far so good for me. I have considered a $99 wine cooler fridge from Home Depot to store my batteries in.... at about 50 degrees.
If you have let your batteries in full charge for more than a month and they did not discharge they could already be toast.
My general perception is that the P2 batteries were total crap... the P3's seem to be better... so far.
This is all from experience, I have no absolute solid data to back up my methods
only the apparent better longevity so far on my P3 batteries. It could be better quality control or some of my methods or both.Hope this helps.
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Newer lipos are a lot better and it's less and less sensitive every day to storage, charge, etc.... main concern should be to push it to the limits like discharging the battery to under 10% and leave it without charge for days/weeks after that . As the batt naturally will keep losing charge and soon be very deeply discharged ... leaving it full charge to long it's a fire hazard but dji took care of that with the auto discharge ....
if you make the battery discharge to soon you may end up charging them again a few days later to fly and adding another extra cycle to the battery and in the end that will short it's life even more that another day stored charged .... that's probably why dji like to default at 10 days as a conservative setting that may extend the battery life with less charging cycles and wasted energy.
if you make the battery discharge to soon you may end up charging them again a few days later to fly and adding another extra cycle to the battery and in the end that will short it's life even more that another day stored charged .... that's probably why dji like to default at 10 days as a conservative setting that may extend the battery life with less charging cycles and wasted energy.
Also - If you press the button on the lipo to check the charge level it resets the discharge timer - I have my lipos set to 1 day discharge - and managed to test this by keeping 1 lipo charged at full/100% for 1 week.. by pressing "reset" each day.
