Lowest percentage you take your batts to.

[atariman]

Hi,

I always fly my p4 to around 18-20% power left on display. Is it ok to leave them for a few days like this if not flying? When the new batteries arrived from Dji HQ, they had 24% in them anyway, so I am assuming it would b ok considering these delivered batts would have been sitting in warehouse for quite some time.


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[Mark The Droner]

Personally, I'd charge them for a few mins to get them to the recommended storage rate of 30%-50%.

 

[msinger]

DJI recommends storing them between 30-65% charged when not in use.

While doing what you're suggesting might not damage the batteries in the short term, it could cut down on their lifespan. The only way to really prove it wouldn't harm them would be to do what you're suggesting with one battery and keep a second battery at the recommended level. Then, compare them after 100 or so charges.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Awright - I just read the battery safety sheet on the P4 site.

It seems these percentage numbers fluctuate a bit with the introduction of a new craft, a new year, a new season, and the time of day. I've seen DJI recommended storage percentages of 30-50%, 40-50%, 40-65%, and 30-65%, and today it reads 40-65%.

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/pha...igent_Flight_Battery_Safety_Guidelines_en.pdf

Bottom line: It's best to store the LIPO battery at about a 50% charge or close to it.

 

[Norval]

Is it safe to Keep flying until the battery reaches a critical level, say 8-12%?
Would this "kill" the battery life?


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[WetDog]

Is it safe to Keep flying until the battery reaches a critical level, say 8-12%?
Would this "kill" the battery life?


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Going down that low risks dropping it even further. Sometimes you can't land exactly when you want to. It's not a bad idea to give you some buffer room. Also dropping really low can cause all sorts of excitement when it decides it's landing no matter what you want to do.

In general, I think it's easy to get all paranoid about the batteries. Yes, they're a bit expensive but worrying about the difference between storing at 20% vs. 50% is also expensive. Bear in mind that the 50% level is for LONG TERM storage - months or more. If you are going to fly next week, I really doubt it makes much difference.

Personally, I just leave the batteries where they were when i quit flying and charge them the night before using them. I keep one battery on 'hot standby' - in the charger at all times. I'm OK with that battery perhaps not lasting as long as it could but I'm not OK missing a chance to photograph something because I'm waiting for the charger and I'm really not OK flying on a partially depleted battery** and risking a crash.

When I crash the thing I want it to be my fault.

Anyway, my point is not to obsess about the battery life.


** That is the one common thread of 'my Phantom crashed but it said I had xx% (xx being between 40 and 95%) left'. Then it turns out that the battery has been sitting there for a number of days and bog only knows exactly how much charge was left.