Battery question

[The-CROW]

Hello All,
First time P4 owner, I have no experience whatsoever but was always fascinated with Phantoms, so I recently pulled the trigger on a P4. I only flew it for a couple of minutes just to check if everything was ok.
I want to thank all of you guys for your threads, inputs and replies on this forum as it is a great deal of help for first timers like me.

I've been meaning to ask about battery storage and care, in my case I cannot fly my P4 very often due to weather and because I live in the city. So I would like to know all there is to know about how to store my batteries, fully charged or not, discharge days setting (what it means) and everything.

Can I fly if I have for example 85% battery or it is better to always top the batteries off before flying? Will it harm their life on the long run? What about the remote controller?

If there is a guide for this, I would really appreciate it if someone can post a link to it.
Thank you again and sorry for the long post, it is my first one here

 

[jamesb72]

I am no expert, but have been using lipo batteries for RC for quite a few years (helis/planes) before using the DJI 'Smart' batteries which try to take care of themselves.

Lipo batteries are very energy dense, which has a few side effects one is there internal resistance (ie how hot they get how quickly when you discharge them at high current) varies depending on how they are treated, over discharging or leaving fully charged for weeks on end will increase IR so reduces their ability to provide high current for flight, so if you treat them carefully they will last significantly longer (in cycles ie charge/discharge) before they lose the ability to store/deliver high current required for flight. The transmitter battery only has to provide low current, so is not really affected by this, so they are fine to leave fully charged for months on end, as even if their IR is high it won't be an issue as they are only discharging maybe 1 amp in normal use.

Best battery life (ie cycles before it cannot provide the high current for flight) is if storage is around 50% charge and sensible temperature (ie not too hot or cold), the P3 (and I am sure P4 also) batteries have circuitry built in to automatically discharge to around 65% if unused for 3-10 days (adjustable through app on battery settings per battery).

I am in the same situation as you, my advice is to get another charger so if weather/opportunity arises, you can charge twice as fast.

I did a video on battery tips for P3, most of it will be same for P4.

 

[The-CROW]

Thank you James. Any other info is greatly appreciated.

 

[jamesb72]

Just its best to always top batteries off before flying trip (ie 100% for first flight, its fine to land/take off again below that, but generally I wouldn't take off under ~50% and at 30% warning I always come back and land, as taking the last few % out of a battery will give you a couple of minutes of flight, but reduce battery lifespan.

If treated carefully you should get 100+ cycles from a battery (some people are getting 300+ flights), so cost per flight is tiny proportion of your 'spend' so just enjoy flying and don't worry about 'wasting' cycles.

If battery is nearly full LEDs won't light when you plug into charger, just 'switch on' the battery and it will top off last few percent.

For std RC flying I buy very cheap lipos (ie ~10% the DJI smart battery cost, but they are just a basic lipo in heatshrink, no smart features/fuel gauge etc) and treated badly I still get 50 cycles out of them before they 'go soft'. You can tell when they are on their way out as they will not give the 'punch' of power when flying, also they will feel hot after a flight (and eventually will start to puff/swell if you over discharge them). Quads are significantly harder on lipos than even heli's (planes are much less demanding).

DJI batteries take care of almost all of this for you, so you just need to be aware its still happening behind the scenes, so you can get best use out of them in flight time and cycles.

 

[normr]

Has anyone seen a battery discharger for the P4 yet?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Erised]

P4 batteries will auto discharge to 50% after 10 days (default). The days to discharge is programmable.

 

[Dirty Bird]

The batteries will automatically discharge themselves into a storage state of 60-65%. By default this occurs after 10 days & may be programmed for from 1-10 days. I have mine set to auto-discharge after 3 days. I recommend always fully charging your batteries before flying.