Charging my batteries and store it for 3 weeks, is that effect the battery life ?!?!

[omarkatwe]

Guys one qustion . I am charging my battery's and store it in the back-bag for 2 weeks or 3 weeks sometimes,
is that effect the batteries or damage it, any hints any advices ?!?!? I alwys want to keep my batteries full as the most of time i decide to fly my bird with no alerts

 

[Buckaye]

No... the smart batteries will discharge to their appropriate storage level on their own if you wait too long to fly them (that's about 50%). It's one of the really cool features of the smart battery. You will have to charge them back up though after that period of time.

It is generally not good to store lipo's at full for more than about a week to 10 days... it reduces their lifespan, which is why the batteries are designed to discharge this way.

 

[wordsmith]

No... the smart batteries will discharge to their appropriate storage level on their own if you wait too long to fly them (that's about 50%). It's one of the really cool features of the smart battery. You will have to charge them back up though after that period of time.

It is generally not good to store lipo's at full for more than about a week to 10 days... it reduces their lifespan, which is why the batteries are designed to discharge this way.

In addition, the batteries give off heat as they discharge, so it's recommended that you store them in an open space and not confined in your backpack. And definitely do not store one in your P3.
MadRC did a great video on battery care and maintenance. Here's the link:

 

[4wd]

The auto discharge does not produce significant heat.
They'll be fine in the case if that's handy.*
You can change the period when they start to go down, a week is reasonable, it might be better on 3 or 4 days to extend the life They only go down to half so will charge up in about 30 minutes.

*It's safest to keep them separate and in a fireproof container ideally.

 

[F6Rider]

As I never fully charge my batteries until just before a flight session (or the night before) its not an issue for me, if I know I am going to store them for awhile I will charge them to 40%, otherwise I leave them at the 25% I bring them in on until the next flight. As I fly 3 or 4 times a week (so far) they never get a chance to sit for very long.

 

[4wd]

As I never fully charge my batteries until just before a flight session (or the night before) its not an issue for me, if I know I am going to store them for awhile I will charge them to 40%, otherwise I leave them at the 25% I bring them in on until the next flight. As I fly 3 or 4 times a week (so far) they never get a chance to sit for very long.

This is a good point, leaving them discharged is just as harmful and it's easy to overlook charging to 50% soon after you get in, as usually first thing you want to do is download the card!

 

[Meta4]

Here's where you can adjust the discharge time for batteries.
Of course they have to be cycled through the Phantom and app to pick up the new setting.

 

[nhoover]

I also don't charge up until right before going flying (the night before if I'm heading out early). I set my discharge times down to 2 days for each of the batteries. They like to be stored at ~50%, so that's what I do. They are expensive and deserve to be babied. It's called a smart battery so I figure I should use the smart features. I would guess that using 3 days or a bit more is ok too. I usually just leave them at whatever % they were after the flight, anywhere from 25% to 50% usually.

 

[30secs]

So much work over these batteries... I wonder if it's worth all your time and efforts.

I usually fly in the morning. Get back charge them, then fly again at night out the following morning and repeat.

 

[30secs]

In addition, the batteries give off heat as they discharge, so it's recommended that you store them in an open space and not confined in your backpack. And definitely do not store one in your P3.
MadRC did a great video on battery care and maintenance. Here's the link:

So much work over these batteries... I wonder if it's worth all your time and efforts.

I usually fly in the morning. Get back charge them, then fly again at night or the following morning and repeat.

 

[wordsmith]

So much work over these batteries... I wonder if it's worth all your time and efforts.

I usually fly in the morning. Get back charge them, then fly again at night out the following morning and repeat.

I agree. It IS a lot of work. And since I only got one battery with my P3 (the second one just got shipped out today) it was frustrating to go through the steps to conditioning it. The longest of my first ten flights was only 15 minutes. Was it worth it? I hope so, but there's just no way to tell until it finally dies of old age and I can compare how long it lasted with other users experiences. (bet that'll be a hot topic on the forum at some point in time)
I hope eventually that the price on the batteries will come down, but right now, at a little over $200 each (CAN), I'll have to stay with the two batteries I have (will have), and I'll squeeze every bit of time I can out of them. If that means a little more work up front on my part, I can live with that.
BTW, hope I can someday match your freedom to fly. I'll get there...one of these days.

 

[J.James]

Ya thats a bit to long to be keeping your battery's fully charged. If you want to get the best life out of them.
also I would not rely on the auto discharge to much.. I have yet to ever have it work in the time set on on any of my battery's.

 

[30secs]

Let's say you are meticulously baby your batteries to the best of your knowledge (since we don't know its affects or worse might be over doing it), and you save 20% over a casual user.. That's a savings of $30 per battery. Time spent is several hours if not more for the life of the battery, not to mention worrying about it... I just rather use it gently, charge after fights and leave it there.

That's just me though

 

[AHill]

Let's say you are meticulously baby your batteries to the best of your knowledge (since we don't know its affects or worse might be over doing it), and you save 20% over a casual user.. That's a savings of $30 per battery. Time spent is several hours if not more for the life of the battery, not to mention worrying about it... I just rather use it gently, charge after fights and leave it there.

That's just me though

I always kept my P2 batteries fully charged so I would be ready to fly when the mood hit me, thinking the same way as you . One battery was fully bad and replaced (under 30 day return period) with only 17 flights on it. All 5 batteries suffered some damage, puffed up physically, and would suddenly drop from about 50% charge in a short time so I couldn't trust them for long flights. The batteries only have about 40 flights each on them so it dropped battery life from 300 flights (DJI specs) to less than 40, losing about $111 per battery ($129 price for P2 batteries). I realize that the batteries probably would not have lasted for 300 flights as DJI states but I used their number.

I am meticulous now with the P3 batteries, store them at about 45% charge and don't charge them until ready to fly. The inconvenience of having to charge before flying is more than offset by having batteries I can trust. I won't know for a while if it helped enough to be worth the bother as I haven't used it much so far, still just starting the break-in of 10 flights for 3 batteries as recommended on another thread. Because DJI added the auto discharge feature I assume it was a serious problem with the previous batteries.

 

[silverstoned83]

I always kept my P2 batteries fully charged so I would be ready to fly when the mood hit me, thinking the same way as you . One battery was fully bad and replaced (under 30 day return period) with only 17 flights on it. All 5 batteries suffered some damage, puffed up physically, and would suddenly drop from about 50% charge in a short time so I couldn't trust them for long flights. The batteries only have about 40 flights each on them so it dropped battery life from 300 flights (DJI specs) to less than 40, losing about $111 per battery ($129 price for P2 batteries). I realize that the batteries probably would not have lasted for 300 flights as DJI states but I used their number.

I am meticulous now with the P3 batteries, store them at about 45% charge and don't charge them until ready to fly. The inconvenience of having to charge before flying is more than offset by having batteries I can trust. I won't know for a while if it helped enough to be worth the bother as I haven't used it much so far, still just starting the break-in of 10 flights for 3 batteries as recommended on another thread. Because DJI added the auto discharge feature I assume it was a serious problem with the previous batteries.

This is excellent proof of why you must baby these LiPo's in order to get the most out of them. We're not talking about saving $20-30 by getting another 20-30 cycles out of them.... It's more like 100-200 more cycles, which equates to much more savings than many believe. It's worth the effort.... Which is nothing more than a little bit of planning and patience.

 

[30secs]

Good points. We don't know how the p3 batteries act yet. They are intelligent. I guess time will tell.

Ahill, did you store the batteries fully charged for more than a couple of days? I agree for king durations but for daily fliers does it matter that much?

 

[silverstoned83]

Good points. We don't know how the p3 batteries act yet. They are intelligent. I guess time will tell.

Ahill, did you store the batteries fully charged for more than a couple of days? I agree for king durations but for daily fliers does it matter that much?

Think of it by adding up all of the amount of time spent at a full charge. The bigger the total, the more it will degrade. It all adds up in the end. Having said that, charging it within 12-24 hours of flying will have little effect on the life expectancy as it takes a long time to add up to an amount that's worth being concerned about.

 

[AHill]

Good points. We don't know how the p3 batteries act yet. They are intelligent. I guess time will tell.

Ahill, did you store the batteries fully charged for more than a couple of days? I agree for king durations but for daily fliers does it matter that much?

Yes, they were always charged as soon as I got home from flying. I didn't use the P2 for 4 months and didn't discharge them, thinking I would use it soon, and even an almost new battery got damaged and puffed up although they still showed almost full charge after 4 months.

 

[ianwood]

Just as an anecdote, a significant amount of P2 batteries have puffed and suffered voltage sags after 40-50 cycles regardless of how well they were maintained. Hopefully with the right care, P3 batteries will fair better.

 

[30secs]

Just as an anecdote, a significant amount of P2 batteries have puffed and suffered voltage sags after 40-50 cycles regardless of how well they were maintained. Hopefully with the right care, P3 batteries will fair better.

Ian do you have any data to back this up?