Battery usage and maintenance during flights at short intervals (few days)

[bernek]

Hello !

I'm using my P2V sometimes 3-4 times / week sometimes only once / week. If I don't fly for a few days maybe 4-5 days should I discharge to 40-50% ? or 70% sounds more reasonable ?

I don't want to put a lot of cycles on the battery just for discharging for storage and I fly after 3-4 days again.

Do you charge you batteries after flight ? if you get them down to let's say 20-25%.

I really wish I could use 70% between flights so I don't have to charge a longer period of time since the flight window can be short. It is very tricky to anticipate the weather and if I have time to fly so this charge level should be ok ?!

I'm currently discharging by letting the P2V spin motors at idle speed until it gets to 70%.

What about the RE500/700 what storage charge should be applied ? (since it takes a long time to fully charge).

Thanks.

P.S. what would be a good technique to use for charging/discharging considering the flight pattern that I use ?

 

[Mark The Droner]

I like to keep my batteries as close to 50% as possible, whether they are high or low. If they're 40-60%, that's okay. I would not keep a battery at 70% because you promote the "puffy" syndrome, if you know what I mean.

However, if you're willing to shorten the life of your battery in exchange for having them closer to 100% ready mode, I suppose that choice is yours. I'd keep them in an ammo tin though.

I use a discharger for discharging, they can be found on eBay and Amazon. Sometimes I have to charge up - so I just use the charger and a timer. I figure around one minute per percent. So if the battery is 25%, I start to charge it and set a timer for 25 mins.

These batteries don't have a memory like the original Li-Ions, so you don't have to worry about that.

Hope this helps.

 

[bernek]

I'm trying to discharge as I post and getting them down even to 70% is painfull since it takes a long time with engines idling. I really have to consider a device to discharge them or to only charge them partially with a timer and to check leds to be around 50% (2 out of 4). I can't fly outside now since its raining and I had them fully charged since Friday.

I know about the "puffy" syndrome but I think that is affecting them if they are left fully charged (or high charged) in a long period of time ? a few days at 70% could cause it ?

Grounding the Phantom and applying a little bit of thrust will help discharge for sure but I don't know about motor fatigue or heat up since I can't estimate the amount of thrust is normally applied during flight. (I don't want to kill my engines trying to discharge the battery anyway so idle discharge is the best option for me so far).

Thanks for your quick response !

 

[Mark The Droner]

70% for a few days should be okay, but I wouldn't want to be in the habit of doing that or doing that repeatedly.

MP

 

[bernek]

70% for a few days should be okay, but I wouldn't want to be in the habit of doing that or doing that repeatedly.

MP

Sounds good then I've finished discharging to 70% both my batteries. We celebrate Easter in the next days and we will have quite some rainfalls so I decided its better to keep the Phantom safe inside. When the summer will be here I will better know my flying schedule and act accordingly to it.

Did you try charging only half way ? From your posts I understand that 1% would equal roughly to 1 minute of charging. When I will charge again I will take in account this and set a timer for 30 minutes on my iPhone to check the charge level.

I really wonder how many cycles will I be able to get from my batteries if I take proper care of them. I'm hoping to reach the 300 cycles recommended by DJI.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I don't know if anybody has made 300 cycles. That might be a pipe dream.

Good luck!

 

[bernek]

I don't know if anybody has made 300 cycles. That might be a pipe dream.

Good luck!

Yep it might be a dream Anyway thinking about buying spare batteries for this summer ! I plan a family vacation in the mountains and taking some nice aerial footage would be awesome !
Also looking to get a car charger so I can remotely charge the LiPos.